Go for a virtual spin on the moon and Mars

NASA file

Neil Armstrong's shadow appears in an image that was taken during the Apollo 11 lunar mission in 1969 for a 360-degree panorama. Click on the image to play with an audio-enhanced panorama from PhotoJPL.com.

By Alan Boyle

The death of first moonwalker Neil Armstrong and the success of NASA's Curiosity rover have reignited interest in the idea of taking a spin on the moon and Mars, at least virtually. It may be a decade or two before astronauts once again walk on the moon, or take the next giant leap to the Red Planet. In the meantime, 360-degree interactive panoramas give you a sense of what those walks will be like. Here's a quick roundup of the coolest 360-degree views:

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Walking on the moon
Armstrong, who passed away last weekend at the age of 82, was the first photographer to produce a 360-degree panorama on the surface of another celestial body. The pictures that make up the all-around mosaic show crewmate Buzz Aldrin working near the lunar module, the glare of the sun in the opposite direction, and Armstrong's shadow on the lunar surface.

Every Apollo mission that made it to the surface since then has featured at least one all-around picture. In Armstrong's honor, PhotoJPL.com has produced a zoomable, spinnable 360-degree display of the Apollo 11 scene. But to get the full Apollo lineup ??including the must-see batch from Apollo 17, the last lunar mission ? you'll want to check out Panoramas.dk or Moonpans.com.?

The Lunar and Planetary Institute offers an atlas of the source images, which were taken with the Hasselblad 70mm camera used on all of the Apollo missions. If you want to find Cat's Paw Hills in Armstrong's panorama, or Hadley Delta in the Apollo 15 panorama made by Jim Irwin, this is the place.

JPL-Caltech / NASA / MSSS / Hans Nyberg

A panoramic picture from Mars shows the shadow of the Curiosity rover in the foreground as well as Mount Sharp on the horizon. Gaps in this picture have been filled out by Hans Nyberg for a pan-and-zoom panorama. Click on the image to give the interactive version a spin.

Roving on Mars
NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers have sent back years' worth of 360-degree vistas from the places they've visited, and Curiosity has already added some fantastic views to the panoramic photo album. You'll find more than 30 all-around views at the website for the Pancam imaging system used on Spirit and Opportunity, plus scores of partial panoramas and mosaics. NASA's website for the Mars Exploration Rovers also rounds up lots of panoramic views, including 3-D versions.

Pan-and-zoom versions of the Spirit and Opportunity all-arounds can be found at?Marspans.com?and Panoramas.dk. The Mars Panoramas website offers the rover all-arounds as well as 360-degree views from the Mars Pathfinder lander (1997) and the Phoenix Mars Lander (2008).

When it comes to Curiosity, Hans Nyberg of Panoramas.dk has done up a great 360-degree view of the rover's landing site in Gale Crater. To enhance the NASA color panorama, Nyberg has filled in the missing parts of the Martian sky and adjusted the lighting to reflect earthly conditions rather than the dull red of filtered Martian sunlight.

Nyberg also has a black-and-white panorama of the Martian terrain as seen on Aug. 22, after the six-wheeled Curiosity made its first move. A similar view can be seen on the PhotoJPL website. Be sure to check out the rover's tracks in the foreground.?

Arounder Mars?offers panoramas from Curiosity as well as Spirit, Opportunity and Pathfinder, although its sepia-toned view of Curiosity's surroundings doesn't include the latest pictures of 3-mile-high Mount Sharp (also known as 5-kilometer-high Aeolis Mons). PhotoJPL also has a Sharp-less panorama of the Curiosity landing site.

Over at the 360Cities website, Andrew Bodrov has updated his popular black-and-white Mars Curiosity panorama to include Mount Sharp ? and he's added some real stunners, including this full-color, 360-degree view.?The Wall Street Journal has an interactive graphic that serves up three 360s: the black-and-white and color views of the landing site, as well as a post-drive panorama in black and white only.

All these pan-and-zoom views are based on the imagery provided by NASA, of course, and there are several places you can go to get the full spread without the clickability. Here are just a few of my favorite haunts. Got more to add? Feel free to pass them along in your comments below.

More ways to satisfy your curiosity about Curiosity:

360-degree panoramic views from NBCNews.com:

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Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Source: http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/02/13529680-take-a-spin-on-the-moon-and-mars?lite

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Source: http://westlake.patch.com/events/hemophilia-walk-and-red-derby-5k-run-910a53b4

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5WPR CEO Says: Official Israel Defense Spokesperson ? Get It Right on Twitter

Written By : Ronn Torossian
September 1, 2012

Ze?ev Jabotinsky?who is considered one of the most influential Zionist thinkings ever?wrote in 1932: ? The work of the publicist is a legacy from the Prophets of Israel?Our passion is to speak, to proclaim??Shouting? is what the same audience calls it, ?we have no need for words, give us actions.? One thing that audience forgets is that speech is also an action ? Perhaps the most authentic of all other actions. Cities have been destroyed, and more will fall, but what was shouted in the wilderness thousands of years ago is alive and still relevant. The world was created by the Word. The world will be mended by the Article.?

With these words in mind, reviewing the Twitter account of Avital Leibovich, the ?official Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson to the international press? at?http://twitter.com/avitalleibovich?is an embarrassment.??Her action for the Israeli Army is speech as Jabotinsky described ? yet she is failing miserably at least on twitter.

Leibovich rarely tweets, and when she does we read slang like ?Mazal Tov ya azizi on your birthday?, and she doesn?t use spaces after periods.???Why she isn?t tweeting?pro-Israel content all day is beyond me ? She should be contributing tweets that reporters would quote in stories, like every single other ?spokesperson? in the world does.??Twitter is a key component of media these days.

Her twitter picture is weird, fuzzy and out of focus. I don?t blame her personally ? but the State of Israel which is in a perpetual state of war must always recognize that Public Relations today is a function of war. As CEO of5WPR, a top 25 US PR firm I?d be happy to personally train her on the use of digital media ? but someone needs to fix this soon.

I hope and pray for the sake of the State of Israel this will improve.

Ronn Torossian?is CEO of and author of ?For Immediate Release.?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rightwingnews/hGmL/~3/RYq5-_sBIQs/

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China dissident Chen accepts Taiwan visit invitation

Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has accepted an invitation to visit Taiwan, Taiwanese lawmakers said Saturday, in a move likely to anger China.

"Chen gladly accepts our invitation and plans to make the visit no later than the summer next year since he is currently working on several projects," lawmaker Lin Shih-chia told AFP after meeting with Chen in New York.

Chen is expected to address Taiwan's parliament as well as meet with local human rights and legal groups in a visit accompanied by his family, Lin said, adding that details are yet to be finalised.

Lin Chia-lung, another lawmaker who also visited the activist, said the trip will be hosted by civil groups in a bid to reduce "unnecessary reactions".

"Chen is a visiting scholar in the United States and we urge that his rights to travel and free expression be respected," he said.

The 40-year-old activist has been living in New York since May after a dramatic escape from house arrest to the US embassy in Beijing.

Chen was sentenced to more than four years in prison in 2006 after exposing abuses in China's one-child policy, and was then placed under house arrest upon his release in September 2010.

His escape from house arrest and his dramatic arrival at the US embassy in Beijing highlighted China's long-criticised human rights record. After high-level negotiations between US and Chinese officials, Chen was allowed to move to the United States.

China considers Taiwan part of its territory awaiting unification, even though the two sides split in 1949 after a civil war.

However, ties have improved markedly since Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou assumed power in 2008 on a Beijing-friendly platform.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-dissident-chen-accepts-taiwan-visit-invitation-050602873.html

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Looks like Windows Phone OEMs finds it hard to keep their upcoming devices under...

Looks like Windows Phone OEMs finds it hard to keep their upcoming devices under wraps. Back in June this year, details about HTC?s Windows Phone 8 line-up were leaked, with three devices reported ? the HTC ?Zenith?, HTC ?Accord?, and HTC ?Rio? ? going from high-end to low-end. Today, images of an alleged device said...

Source: http://www.facebook.com/liveside/posts/342942685789594

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Source: http://21stcenturypoets.com/a-girl-who-never-has-the-courage-to-say-that-i-love-high-heels/

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Pluses, minuses for Romney's convention

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ? The Republican convention propelled Mitt Romney into the fall campaign on a high note, thanks to his well-received acceptance speech, an appealing cast of future party leaders and a relentless drumbeat of criticism of President Barack Obama's record and leadership. Yet the proceedings also were clouded by troubling images of Hurricane Isaac and a bizarre performance by actor Clint Eastwood that left many viewers scratching their heads.

While the convention presented a show of party unity that once seemed distant, there still were questions about how the party would tackle issues like Medicare and spending cuts.

The convention also didn't offer the game-changing shift in momentum many activists had hoped for to reverse pre-convention polls showing Romney trailing Obama narrowly in several battleground states. And the focus on next week's Democratic gathering means Romney's own convention boost is likely to be short-lived.

Republicans had a lot riding on the outcome of the Tampa conclave, which began a day late amid concerns Isaac would make a direct hit there. The nationally televised proceedings gave Romney and other Republicans their last opportunity to make an unfiltered pitch to millions of voters just now tuning in to the presidential contest.

Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said the convention had delivered what it promised: a clear contrast between Romney's vision and Obama's record.

"What Americans have seen over the last few days is a party and a Republican ticket absolutely committed to addressing the job crisis. You won't hear it from the Democrats in Charlotte next week," Fehrnstrom said. "People have seen a diverse group of individuals who believe very deeply in the American free enterprise system. It's very different than the negative characterization the Democrats are trying to paint of this convention."

In many ways the convention succeeded.

Romney, whose image has been battered by a barrage of Obama campaign ads depicting him as a corporate raider and plutocrat, delivered a heartfelt acceptance speech that mixed biography with moments of emotion. The former Massachusetts governor teared up when speaking of his late parents and reminiscing about his five sons growing up.

Romney also made a passionate appeal to voters who once supported Obama but are now disillusioned, acknowledging the excitement they'd felt four years ago for Obama's candidacy but telling them it's safe to switch sides now.

"The president hasn't disappointed you because he wanted to. The president has disappointed America because he hasn't led America in the right direction," Romney said.

But the speech lacked many memorable phrases or laugh lines, and opened only the narrowest new window into how Romney would govern if elected president. He promised to create 12 million new jobs but offered little new detail into how he would do so, and he resisted entreaties to get more specific about the spending cuts he'd make to bring the nation's debt and deficits under control.

The convention did help refresh the Republican brand with a diverse group of prime-time speakers who belied the party's image as a largely older, white and male party out of step with the nation's changing demographics.

Speakers including former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and New Mexico Gov. Susanna Martinez both had star-making turns, while the high-profile presence of 42-year old vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan and 41-year old Florida Sen. Marco Rubio signaled an impending generational shift for the GOP.

Many Republican activists saw the lineup as relief after comments about rape and abortion by Missouri Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin overshadowed the run-up to the convention. Romney and other party leaders repudiated Akin for suggesting victims of "legitimate" rape could physically thwart pregnancy, but the dustup over Akin's remarks caused headaches for GOP strategists hoping to close a large gender gap among women voters.

The convention speakers "put a really good reinvigoration into what the Republican Party is all about," GOP strategist John Feehery said. "It's not about the Todd Akins of the world, it's about a bigger, deeper bench and more varied experiences."

Obama campaign senior advisor David Axelrod said voters tuned in to the GOP convention hoping to hear "practical solutions to the challenges we face. What they got instead were some snarky lines about the president, some gauzy reminiscences of the past and some buzzwords for the base."

Some of the most highly anticipated speeches fell short.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's keynote address Tuesday was called a flop by many critics who saw it as an overt play for personal publicity at the expense of promoting Romney. And while Ryan's well-delivered speech drew raves from many party activists, it contained several factual inaccuracies that threatened to contradict the Wisconsin congressman's image as a self-professed truth teller.

Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz dubbed the convention an "infomercial for their candidates for 2016" that had little to do with a Romney presidency.

Then there's the matter of Eastwood, the 82-year old actor and director who addressed the convention before Romney. Eastwood's rambling, imaginary interview of Obama, with a chair intended as a stand-in for the president, competed for attention with Romney's own speech.

Romney visited New Orleans Friday to investigate hurricane damage ? a hastily added event which helped him reclaim some visibility amid the Eastwood flap. But the Obama campaign was only too happy to keep the issue alive with a reaction on Twitter ? a photo of Obama in a chair at the White House and a caption that read, "This seat's taken."

Romney's wife, Ann, offered a diplomatic response when asked if Eastwood's monologue was a mistake.

"He's a unique guy and he did a unique thing last night," she told "CBS This Morning."

___(equals)

Follow Beth Fouhy on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bfouhy

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pluses-minuses-romneys-convention-221159710--election.html

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