VIRGINIA A driver accused of cruelty to animals and in a fine of USD 100 . He was caught carrying a goat in the trunk of his car.Deputy sheriff kote Bedford, Virginia, United States (U.S.) found bound and the goat in the trunk of a car owned by Fiona Ann Enderby. When checked, it turns out she was also drunk driving. Thus reported the Associated Press, Sunday (22/08/2010).When asked the police, the woman was declared if the goats he bought from a farmer who will be given to someone else. We found the goat looked out of breath. When measured, the air in the trunk temparatur is approximately 94 degrees centigrade.
Posts Tagged ‘Virginia,United States’
driver accused of cruelty to animals and in a fine of USD 100 . He was caught carrying a goat in the trunk of his car
Posted: August 22, 2010 in WoWTags: Associated Press, Bedford, Bedford,Virginia,United States, Biology, Culture, Deputy sheriff, driver, farmer, Fiona Ann Enderby, Goat, Human Interest, Law_Crime, Livestock, Meat, Trunk, United States, USD, Virginia, Virginia,United States, Zoology
Design of Future Aircraft NASA
Posted: May 19, 2010 in TechnologyTags: aeronautics technologies, air transportation, air transportation needs, America, associate administrator for aeronautics research, Aviation, Boeing, California, crucial technologies, developing aeronautics technologies, energy efficiency, fiber optic, General Electric, General Electric Company, Hampton, Hampton,West Virginia,United States, improved air transportation system, increased energy efficiency, Jaiwon Shin, Langley Research Center, Lockheed Martin, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts,United States, Mountain View, NASA, NASA Ames Research Center, NASA Headquarters, NASA Research Park, NASA's Glenn Research Center, NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, NASA's Langley Research Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Northrop Grumman, Northrop Grumman Corporation, principal investigator for the Subsonic Fixed Wing Project, project scientist, propulsion systems, propulsion technologies, Richard Wahls, Ruben Del Rosario, Space exploration, Supersonic transport, supersonic travel, technology development, technology research, Technology_Internet, The Boeing Company, United States, Virginia, Virginia,United States, Virtual reality, Washington, Washington,United States
An 18-month NASA research effort to visualize the passenger airplanes of the future has produced some ideas that at first glance may appear to be old fashioned. Instead of exotic new designs seemingly borrowed from science fiction, familiar shapes dominate the pages of advanced concept studies which four industry teams completed for NASA’s Fundamental Aeronautics Program in April 2010.
Look more closely at these concepts for airplanes that may enter service 20 to 25 years from now and you’ll see things that are quite different from the aircraft of today. Just beneath the skin of these concepts lie breakthrough airframe and propulsion technologies designed to help the commercial aircraft of tomorrow fly significantly quieter, cleaner, and more fuel-efficiently, with more passenger comfort, and to more of America’s airports.
You may see ultramodern shape memory alloys, ceramic or fiber composites, carbon nanotube or fiber optic cabling, self-healing skin, hybrid electric engines, folding wings, double fuselages and virtual reality windows. “Standing next to the airplane, you may not be able to tell the difference, but the improvements will be revolutionary,” said Richard Wahls, project scientist for the Fundamental Aeronautics Program’s Subsonic Fixed Wing Project at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. “Technological beauty is more than skin deep.”
In October 2008, NASA asked industry and academia to imagine what the future might bring and develop advanced concepts for aircraft that can satisfy anticipated commercial air transportation needs while meeting specific energy efficiency, environmental and operational goals in 2030 and beyond. The studies were intended to identify key technology development needs to enable the envisioned advanced airframes and propulsion systems.
NASA’s goals for a 2030-era aircraft, compared with an aircraft entering service today, are:
- A 71-decibel reduction below current Federal Aviation Administration noise standards, which aim to contain objectionable noise within airport boundaries.
- A greater than 75 percent reduction on the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection Sixth Meeting, or CAEP/6, standard for nitrogen oxide emissions, which aims to improve air quality around airports.
- A greater than 70 percent reduction in fuel burn performance, which could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the cost of air travel.
- The ability to exploit metroplex concepts that enable optimal use of runways at multiple airports within metropolitan areas, as a means of reducing air traffic congestion and delays.
The teams were led by General Electric, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northrop Grumman and The Boeing Company. Here are some highlights from their final reports:
- The GE Aviation team conceptualizes a 20-passenger aircraft that could reduce congestion at major metropolitan hubs by using community airports for point-to-point travel. The aircraft has an oval-shaped fuselage that seats four across in full-sized seats. Other features include an aircraft shape that smoothes the flow of air over all surfaces, and electricity-generating fuel cells to power advanced electrical systems. The aircraft’s advanced turboprop engines sport low-noise propellers and further mitigate noise by providing thrust sufficient for short takeoffs and quick climbs.
- With its 180-passenger D8 “double bubble” configuration, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology team strays farthest from the familiar, fusing two aircraft bodies together lengthwise and mounting three turbofan jet engines on the tail. Important components of the MIT concept are the use of composite materials for lower weight and turbofan engines with an ultra high bypass ratio (meaning air flow through the core of the engine is even smaller, while air flow through the duct surrounding the core is substantially larger, than in a conventional engine) for more efficient thrust. In a reversal of current design trends the MIT concept increases the bypass ratio by minimizing expansion of the overall diameter of the engine and shrinking the diameter of the jet exhaust instead. The team said it designed the D8 to do the same work as a Boeing 737-800. The D8’s unusual shape gives it a roomier coach cabin than the 737.
- The Northrop Grumman team foresees the greatest need for a smaller 120-passenger aircraft that is tailored for shorter runways in order to help expand capacity and reduce delays. The team describes its Silent Efficient Low Emissions Commercial Transport, or SELECT, concept as “revolutionary in its performance, if not in its appearance.” Ceramic composites, nanotechnology and shape memory alloys figure prominently in the airframe and ultra high bypass ratio propulsion system construction. The aircraft delivers on environmental and operational goals in large part by using smaller airports, with runways as short as 5,000 feet, for a wider geographic distribution of air traffic.
- The Boeing Company’s Subsonic Ultra Green Aircraft Research, or SUGAR, team examined five concepts. The team’s preferred concept, the SUGAR Volt, is a twin-engine aircraft with hybrid propulsion technology, a tube-shaped body and a truss-braced wing mounted to the top. Compared to the typical wing used today, the SUGAR Volt wing is longer from tip to tip, shorter from leading edge to trailing edge, and has less sweep. It also may include hinges to fold the wings while parked close together at airport gates. Projected advances in battery technology enable a unique, hybrid turbo-electric propulsion system. The aircraft’s engines could use both fuel to burn in the engine’s core, and electricity to turn the turbofan when the core is powered down.
NASA did not specify future commercial air transportation needs as domestic or global. All four teams focused on aircraft sized for travel within a single continent because their business cases showed that small- and medium-sized planes will continue to account for the largest percentage of the overall fleet in the future. One team, however, did present a large hybrid wing concept for intercontinental transport.
All of the teams provided “clear paths” for future technology research and development, said Ruben Del Rosario, principal investigator for the Subsonic Fixed Wing Project at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. “Their reports will make a difference in planning our research portfolio. We will identify the common themes in these studies and use them to build a more effective strategy for the future,” Del Rosario said.
These are some of the common themes from the four reports:
- Slower cruising — at about Mach 0.7, or seven-tenths the speed of sound, which is 5 percent to 10 percent slower than today’s aircraft — and at higher altitudes, to save fuel.
- Engines that require less power on takeoff, for quieter flight.
- Shorter runways — about 5,000 feet long, on average — to increase operating capacity and efficiency.
- Smaller aircraft – in the medium-size class of a Boeing 737, with cabin accommodations for no more than 180 passengers – flying shorter and more direct routes, for cost-efficiency.
- Reliance on promised advancements in air traffic management such as the use of automated decision-making tools for merging and spacing enroute and during departure climbs and arrival descents.
The teams recommended a variety of improvements in lightweight composite structures, heat- and stress-tolerant engine materials, and aerodynamic modeling that can help bring their ideas to reality. NASA is weighing the recommendations against its objective of developing aeronautics technologies that can be applied to a broad range of aircraft and operating scenarios for the greatest public benefit.
“This input from our customers has provided us with well thought-out scenarios for our vision of the future, and it will help us place our research investment decisions squarely in the mainstream,” said Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator for aeronautics research at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Identifying those necessary technologies will help us establish a research roadmap to follow in bringing these innovations to life during the coming years,” Shin said.
The next step in NASA’s effort to design the aircraft of 2030 is a second phase of studies to begin developing the new technologies that will be necessary to meet the national goals related to an improved air transportation system with increased energy efficiency and reduced environmental impact. The agency received proposals from the four teams in late April and expects to award one or two research contracts for work starting in 2011.
NASA managers also will reassess the goals for 2030 aircraft to determine whether some of the crucial technologies will need additional time to move from laboratory and field testing into operational use. The four teams managed to meet either the fuel burn or the noise goal with their concepts, not both.
A companion research effort looked at concepts for a new generation of supersonic transport aircraft capable of meeting NASA’s noise, emissions and fuel efficiency goals for 2030. NASA envisions a broader market for supersonic travel, with aircraft carrying more passengers to improve economic viability while meeting increasingly stringent environmental requirements.
Teams lead by The Boeing Company and Lockheed Martin evaluated market conditions, design goals and constraints, conventional and unconventional configurations, and enabling technologies to create proposed road maps for research and development activities. Both teams produced concepts for aircraft that can carry more than 100 passengers at cruise speeds of more than 1.6 Mach and a range of up to 5,000 miles.
Pakistani lawyers for five young Americans accused of contacting militants over the Internet and plotting terrorist attacks sought their release on bail
Posted: February 16, 2010 in breaking newsTags: 3rd millennium, Afghanistan, al-Qaeda, defense lawyer, Khalid Farooq, lawyer, Law_Crime, military, Military history, Mohammad Shahid Kamal Khan, Operation Black Thunderstorm, Pakistan, Pakistani police, Sargodha, Sargodha,Punjab,Pakistan, Taliban, Taliban insurgency, U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States, Virginia, Virginia,United States, War in Afghanistan, War in North-West Pakistan, War_Conflict, Washington, Washington,United States, Waziristan
SARGODHA,Pakistani lawyers for five young Americans accused of contacting militants over the Internet and plotting terrorist attacks sought their release on bail on Tuesday, saying the prosecution lacked evidence.The students, in their 20s and from the U.S. state of Virginia, were detained in December in the central Pakistani town of Sargodha, 190 km (120 miles) southeast of the capital.They have not been formally charged, but could face lengthy prison terms if found guilty.The case of the Americans has underscored global security dangers posed by the Internet as militants use cyberspace to evade tighter international security measures and plot holy war.
A defense lawyer for the five, who appeared in an anti-terrorism court in Sargodha, requested bail, saying allegations against them were “vague”.”No substantial evidence is available to show their guilt,” the lawyer, Mohammad Shahid Kamal Khan, told reporters.
“It’s a violation of their legal and fundamental rights to keep them in confinement,” he said, adding he expected the court to decide on the bail request on Wednesday.The five told the court earlier they only wanted to provide fellow Muslims in Afghanistan with medical and financial help.
They have accused the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Pakistani police of torturing them and trying to frame them.Pakistani authorities have denied the accusations of mistreatment, which the five repeated on Tuesday, saying authorities were trying to force then back to the United States on “phony charges”.
“We have been threatened to be tortured again if we continued to speak out the truth,” one of the five wrote on a piece of tissue paper dropped from a police van as they arrived at court.Khalid Farooq, the father of one of the accused, said they were innocent. “There is no question about that,” he said.Two of the five are of Pakistani origin, one of Egyptian, one of Yemeni and one of Eritrean origin. They were arrested days after arriving in Pakistan.
Police have said emails showed they contacted Pakistani militants who had planned to use them for attacks in Pakistan, a front-line state in the U.S.-led war against militancy.Pakistan is struggling against al Qaeda-linked militants and is under pressure from Washington to help stabilize neighboring Afghanistan, where a Taliban insurgency is raging.The United States says Pakistan must crack down harder on militants who cross into Afghanistan and attack U.S.-led troops. (Reuters)
Navy SEALs accused of punching accused Falluja plotter
Posted: November 26, 2009 in breaking newsTags: Ahmed Hashim Abed, attorney, Captain, civilian lawyer, Court-martial, Fallujah, Holly Silkman, Iraq, Jonathan Keefe, Julio Heurtas, Law_Crime, Lt. Col., Lt. Col. Holly Silkman, Mast, Matthew McCabe, military, military judge, Military law, navy, Neil Puckett, Nonjudicial punishment, Norfolk, Norfolk,Virginia,United States, Petty Officer, spokeswoman, U.S. Central Command, U.S. soldiers in 2004 walk on the bridge where the burned bodies of American contractors were hung., United States, United States Department of Defense, United States Navy, United States Navy SEALs, Virginia, Virginia,United States
Three U.S. Navy SEALs face criminal charges after the alleged mastermind of one of the most notorious crimes against Americans in Iraq accused them of punching him after his capture, the military said Wednesday.Ahmed Hashim Abed — thought to be behind the slayings and mutilation of four U.S. contractors in Falluja in 2004 and captured in summer — made the accusations against the three servicemen, said Lt. Col. Holly Silkman, a spokeswoman for U.S. Central Command.A civilian lawyer for one of three SEALs said his client and the other SEALs declined a nonjudicial resolution to the case, a step sometimes called a “captain’s mast.” The servicemen say they did not harm the detainee in any way and they want their names cleared in a court-martial so they can continue their careers in the Navy, said the attorney, Neil Puckett.
Because the charges against Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew McCabe, Petty Officer Jonathan Keefe and Petty Officer Julio Heurtas are the military equivalent of misdemeanors, they will go before a special court-martial, which is for less serious offenses than those heard in a general court-martial. If found guilty, they could be sentenced to a maximum of a year in a military prison, demotion to the lowest Navy rank, a cut in pay and a bad conduct discharge.But if found innocent of all charges, they would be able to continue their careers with no record of the case in their personnel files.The three SEALs are with their unit in Norfolk, Virginia. They will make an initial appearance before a military judge on December 7. The court-martial is scheduled to begin in January.
The attorney said he expects the SEALs will not waive their constitutional right to confront the accuser in court, which could cause a logistical challenge. Abed is believed to be in a U.S. military detention center overseas, and it is unclear if the military would want him brought to the United States for the court-martial.The four contractors, one of whom was a former Navy SEAL, were working for the Blackwater company when they were attacked in Falluja in 2004. After they were killed with hand grenades and rifles, their bodies were set on fire and dragged through the streets. The bodies of two of them were hung from a bridge in Falluja, an image that was broadcast around the world.Four days after the attack, the U.S. Marines launched a major offensive inside Falluja, in part to help find the killers.