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June 18, 2013
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Displaying results 1 - 25 of 3307 for point. Subscribe to this search

  1. StatePoint Media protect family from cyber threats

  2. article Businessman, former attorney to initiate 2014 ballot measure on gay marriage

    Monday, June 17, 2013 2:41 pm

    Arizonans may get another chance to decide whether gays should be able to wed.

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  3. article Supreme Court strikes down Arizona voter ID citizenship law

    Monday, June 17, 2013 9:27 am

    Arizona cannot demand proof of citizenship from individuals who use a federal voter registration form, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled this morning.

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  4. article (June 17) Today's Top Headlines - The top 10 stories of the day

    Monday, June 17, 2013 8:42 am

    1. OBAMA ARRIVES AT G8 SUMMIT

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  5. article How to Protect Your Family from Cyber Threats

    Sunday, June 16, 2013 10:00 pm

    (StatePoint) Technology has swept the heartland of America, providing families new, more efficient ways to use their home computers to manage household finances, maintain personal histories and records and store precious digital photographs.

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  6. article Connect with Your Grandchildren Outdoors

    Sunday, June 16, 2013 7:27 pm

    Do you have treasured childhood memories of spending time outdoors with your parents or grandparents? Take the time to share this experience with your own grandchildren. Pack a lunch, put on some sunscreen and take them on your own hiking or fishing adventure.

  7. article Smart security steps give small-business owners peace of mind during summer travel season

    Sunday, June 16, 2013 5:00 pm

    Summer is finally here, which means peak vacation season and employees out of the office. For those who own their own companies, however, taking vacations and disconnecting is never easy, as business continues as usual while owners are away. In fact, according to the 2013 ADT Safety Data Index, more than one-third of small-business owners polled agree that running a business keeps them up at night, and the same number feel that running a business does not allow them to have work/life balance.

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  8. article How to Protect Your Family’s Skin from Summer’s Scrapes, Bites and Burns

    Saturday, June 15, 2013 2:15 pm

    Afternoons at the pool, family barbecues, outdoor sports and picnics all mean summertime has arrived. With the change in temperature comes additional exposure to the elements and the attendant skin scrapes, bites and burns.

  9. article Federal court rejects environmental group's plea for more protection of national monuments in Arizona

    Friday, June 14, 2013 2:39 pm

    A federal appeals court has rejected a bid by environmental groups to force the Bureau of Land Management to do more to protect two national monuments in Arizona.

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  10. article What's Up UA? - Happy 90th Birthday, Steward Observatory

    Friday, June 14, 2013 12:33 pm

    "We have the best location of any educational institution in America. The University ought to make itself famous with a telescope."

    With those words, part of his long and persistent effort to bring a world-class observatory to the University of Arizona campus, pioneering astronomer Andrew Ellicott Douglass set forth his best argument.

    Arriving at the UA in 1906 from the Lowell Observatory outside Flagstaff, Douglass sought almost immediately to take advantage of Tucson's dry climate and clear night skies, using his renowned 1910 Halley's Comet observations as proof of the region's unique potential. As he wrote in a 1908 guest editorial in the Arizona Daily Star, "Nothing advertises a climate better than a big telescope."

    The paper's editors agreed: "The fame of its observatory would be greater than any other institution of like character in the United States. The atmospheric conditions are such as to demand recognition and consideration from the scientific men of all nations," according to a Feb. 6, 1910 editorial.

    Douglass unsuccessfully lobbied the state Legislature for funds but in 1916 secured a $60,000 donation, at first anonymously from Oracle resident Lavinia Steward, in memory of her late husband Henry B. Steward. Construction on Steward Observatory began that year, and on April 23, 1923, the UA formally dedicated the facility, with its state-of-the art 36-inch reflecting telescope at last making Tucson an astronomer's paradise.

    "Not only was this the first big donation (to the UA), it was the start of research at the University in a very real way," says Buell Jannuzi, current director of Steward Observatory and head of the astronomy department.

    From those ambitious beginnings – the Steward telescope was nicknamed the "All-American" because it was the first astronomical telescope built using all American-made products – the observatory and astronomy department have branched out in all directions, to radio, X-ray and ultraviolet astronomy, adaptive optics, space-based telescopes and the renowned Steward Observatory Mirror Laboratory, which constructs gigantic mirrors for the next generation of astronomy, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope and the Giant Magellan Telescope.

    "Douglass wanted more than just a major telescope for the University of Arizona; he wanted Steward Observatory to produce discoveries and to share them with the world. I think he would agree that his successors have continued to develop the quality of research we're producing, using technological innovations not as the end points, but as tools to further scientific discovery," Jannuzi says. "Our aspirations are the same as those of Douglass; we are just pursuing them with more modern tools."

    Built on what was then the far east side of Tucson, Steward Observatory has been overtaken by campus expansion yet remains an iconic fixture of the UA, its white brick and dome now housing the 21-inch Raymond E. White Jr. Reflector telescope, used primarily for undergraduate education and public outreach, which has been a part of the observatory's mission since its dedication. The original 36-inch scope relocated to Kitt Peak in 1963 and remains in use by the Spacewatch Project.

    Leadership for Steward Observatory has maintained a remarkable continuity, with just seven directors over its 90 years, including Peter A. Strittmatter, who served 37 years as director and led a remarkable period of growth and development.

    "I think (Douglass) would agree the soul is still there in the observatory, and we're continuing the mission he set out for us," Jannuzi says, reflecting on what drew him to astronomy in the first place. "It's fun, like philosophers or theologians do, to think about the big questions. Often times we're working on some small part of a research project, but it's all part of a larger effort to understand the universe and how we relate to it."

     

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  11. article Review: Man of Steel – Up, Up, and awry

    Friday, June 14, 2013 11:30 am

    I love the character of Superman, and although he may not be my favorite comic-book hero I still admire what he symbolizes and his rich pop culture history. So needless to say, I had very lofty expectations for Man of Steel, the latest movie redux of the Superman mythos. Unfortunately, my dreams of an exciting reboot of the film franchise, one that might potentially lead to aJustice League movie, have been laid lower than an ant in the miniature city of Kandor.

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  12. article Rep. Kirkpatrick’s VA backlog legislation passes House

    Friday, June 14, 2013 10:31 am

    VA CORE, the bipartisan legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., to help tackle the substantial claims backlog at the Department of Veterans Affairs, today passed the House of Representatives as an amendment to HR 1960, the Department of Defense reauthorization bill. The passage is Kirkpatrick’s first legislative victory for veterans during the 113th Congress, building on her veterans-related accomplishments from the 111th Congress. She is Ranking Member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

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  13. article Arizona Legislature sets taxes for catalog and online purchases

    Friday, June 14, 2013 9:38 am

    Before ending the 151-day session on Thursday, the Arizona Legislature made it where constituents to have to start paying taxes on what they buy from catalogs and on the World Wide Web.

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  14. article Heat tie finals at 2-2

    Friday, June 14, 2013 8:54 am

    The Miami Heat's LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh combined for 85 points en route to defeating the San Antonio Spurs 109-93 last night.

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  15. article How to Protect Your Family’s Skin from Summer’s Scrapes, Bites and Burns

    Thursday, June 13, 2013 10:00 pm

    (StatePoint) Afternoons at the pool, family barbecues, outdoor sports and picnics all mean summertime has arrived. With the change in temperature comes additional exposure to the elements and the attendant skin scrapes, bites and burns.

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  16. article Select Republicans side with Democrats to approve $8.8 billion budget, Medicaid

    Thursday, June 13, 2013 9:03 am

    PHOENIX -- Rolling handily over most Republicans, the state House voted early today for an $8.8 billion spending plan, including an extensive expansion of the state's Medicaid program.

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  17. article Give Your Home Jazz-Age Glamour And Sophistication

    Thursday, June 13, 2013 4:44 am

    (NAPSI)—The opulence of Art Deco and period-inspired home furnishings are trending more than ever.

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  18. article Clean-Up Tips to Get Your Backyard Ready for Outdoor Entertaining

    Wednesday, June 12, 2013 10:00 pm

    (StatePoint) After spending the cooler months neglected, backyards and patios get lots of use during the warmer months, when barbecuing and outdoor entertaining season is in full swing.

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  19. article How You Can Prevent Motion Sickness

    Wednesday, June 12, 2013 10:00 pm

    (StatePoint) Traveling this season? Whether your dream of the perfect vacation involves sandy beaches, long country drives, cobblestoned streets or endless vineyards, it probably doesn't include nausea.

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  20. article Group collecting signatures to put measure on ballot that would legalize marijuana

    Wednesday, June 12, 2013 4:22 pm

    PHOENIX -- Voters who have seen how medical marijuana works in Arizona may get a chance to extend the ability to use the drug to all other adults.

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  21. article What's Up UA? - Marks on Martian Dunes May Reveal Tracks of Dry-Ice Sleds

    Wednesday, June 12, 2013 11:41 am

    NASA research indicates that hunks of frozen carbon dioxide – or dry ice – may glide down some Martian sand dunes on cushions of gas similar to miniature hovercraft, plowing furrows as they go.
     
    Researchers deduced this process could explain one enigmatic class of gullies seen on Martian sand dunes by examining images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO, and performing experiments on sand dunes in Utah and California.
     
    "I have always dreamed of going to Mars," said Serina Diniega, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, or JPL, in Pasadena, Calif., and lead author of a report published online by the journal Icarus. "Now I dream of snowboarding down a Martian sand dune on a block of dry ice."
     
    The hillside grooves on Mars, called linear gullies, show relatively constant width – up to a few yards or meters across – with raised banks or levees along the sides. Unlike gullies caused by water flows on Earth and possibly on Mars, they do not have aprons of debris at the downhill end of the gully. Instead, many have pits at the downhill end.
     
    "In debris flows, you have water carrying sediment downhill, and the material eroded from the top is carried to the bottom and deposited as a fan-shaped apron," said Diniega. "In the linear gullies, you're not transporting material. You're carving out a groove, pushing material to the sides."
     
    Images from MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, camera, operated by the University of Arizona, show sand dunes with linear gullies covered by carbon dioxide frost during the Martian winter. The location of the linear gullies is on dunes that spend the Martian winter covered by carbon dioxide frost. The grooves are formed during early spring, researchers determined by comparing before-and-after images from different seasons. Some images have even caught bright objects in the gullies.
     
    Scientists theorize the bright objects are pieces of dry ice that have broken away from points higher on the slope. According to the new hypothesis, the pits could result from the blocks of dry ice completely sublimating away into carbon-dioxide gas after they have stopped traveling.
     
    "Linear gullies don't look like gullies on Earth or other gullies on Mars, and this process wouldn't happen on Earth," said Diniega. "You don't get blocks of dry ice on Earth unless you go buy them."
     
    That is exactly what report co-author Candice Hansen, of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Ariz., did. Hansen has studied other effects of seasonal carbon-dioxide ice on Mars, such as spider-shaped features that result from explosive release of carbon-dioxide gas trapped beneath a sheet of dry ice as the underside of the sheet thaws in spring. She suspected a role for dry ice in forming linear gullies, so she bought some slabs of dry ice at a supermarket and slid them down sand dunes.
     
    That day and in several later experiments, gaseous carbon dioxide from the thawing ice maintained a lubricating layer under the slab and also pushed sand aside into small levees as the slabs glided down even low-angle slopes.
     
    The outdoor tests did not simulate Martian temperature and pressure, but calculations indicate the dry ice would act similarly in early Martian spring where the linear gullies form. Although water ice, too, can sublimate directly to gas under some Martian conditions, it would stay frozen at the temperatures at which these gullies form, the researchers calculate.
     
    "We have seen blocks of ice sitting in the channels in our HiRISE images," said Alfred McEwen, a professor of planetary science at the UA who leads the HiRISE program who co-authored the paper. "Later, we saw them disappear by sublimation, in a matter of months."
     
    Although the HiRISE camera doesn't allow researchers to measure the blocks' composition directly, McEwen said they behaved in the right way for carbon dioxide ice.
     
    "Water ice block should be stable for much longer periods of time, and we know there is ample carbon dioxide in the area where those gullies are seen – in the higher latitudes of Mars' southern hemisphere."
     
    "The origin of these linear gullies has been a mystery," McEwen added. "This study provides some direct clues as to how they are forming. The experiments using the dry ice show that our hypothesis is plausible."
     
    Hansen also noted the process could be unique to the linear gullies described on Martian sand dunes.
     
    "There are a variety of different types of features on Mars that sometimes get lumped together as 'gullies,' but they are formed by different processes," she said. "Just because this dry-ice hypothesis looks like a good explanation for one type doesn't mean it applies to others."
     
    McEwen said the study adds an exciting new piece to growing series of discoveries about ongoing, active processes shaping the surface of the Red Planet. 
     
    "We are finding Mars is not Earth-like as it looks," he said. "Dry ice doesn't naturally exist here on Earth. MRO and the HiRISE instrument are healthy, and the longer the mission goes on, the longer we can observe and really understand these processes over the long term."
     
    McEwen said the team is planning to continue to monitor these sites to see more ice blocks in action.
     
    "We can't get any information from other instruments on the orbiter, because the features are too small," he explained. "But we are learning more about the distribution and latitude of those features and when they are active."
     
    The UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory operates the HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colo. JPL manages MRO for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver built the orbiter.
     

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  22. article Gov. Brewer calls special session, budget may pass

    Wednesday, June 12, 2013 11:03 am

    Tired of waiting for action, Gov. Jan Brewer forced lawmakers back to the Capitol late Tuesday to start approving her budget and Medicaid expansion.

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  23. article Device found in Marana is an explosive

    Wednesday, June 12, 2013 10:39 am

    Federal authorities have confirmed that the device found underneath a vehicle outside a vehicle in Marana is an explosive.

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  24. article Spooked by Hurricanes, Homeowners Make Storm-Proofing Upgrades

    Wednesday, June 12, 2013 8:05 am

    (NewsUSA) - All those monster hurricanes and tornados we've been experiencing have apparently spooked homeowners worse than just about any disaster film Hollywood ever produced.

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  25. article House panel rejects Medicaid

    Wednesday, June 12, 2013 4:00 am

    With all Republicans opposed, a House panel voted Monday to reject the proposal by Gov. Jan Brewer to use federal dollars to expand the state’s Medicaid program.

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