BEST PICTURE
War Horse
The Artist
Moneyball
The Descendants
The Tree of Life
Midnight in Paris
The Help
Hugo
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
BEST DIRECTOR
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Bérénice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Nick Nolte, Warrior
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
BEST ACTRESS
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
BEST ACTOR
Demián Bichir, A Better Life
George Clooney, The Descendants
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids, Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig
Margin Call, J.C. Chandor
Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen
A Separation, Asghar Farhadi
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Descendants, Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash
Hugo, John Logan
The Ides of March, George Clooney, Grant Heslov, and Beau Willimon
Moneyball, Steve Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, and Stan Chervin
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan
BEST FOREIGN FILM
Bullhead
Footnote
In Darkness
Monsieur Lazhar
A Separation
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
A Cat in Paris
Chico & Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION
The Artist
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
War Horse
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Artist
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
The Tree of Life
War Horse
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
Anonymous
The Artist
Hugo
Jane Eyre
W.E.
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Hell and Back Again
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
God Is the Bigger Elvis
Incident in New Baghdad
Saving Face
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING
The Artist, Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants, Kevin Tent
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
Hugo, Thelma Schoonmaker
Moneyball, Christopher Tellefsen
ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
Albert Nobbs, Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
The Iron Lady, Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Adventures of Tintin, John Williams
The Artist, Ludovic Bource
Hugo, Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Alberto Iglesias
War Horse, John Williams
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Man or Muppet" from The Muppets, Bret McKenzie
"Real in Rio" from Rio, Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown and Siedah Garrett
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Dimanche/Sunday
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Pentecost
Raju
The Shore
Time Freak
Tuba Atlantic
ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
Drive
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse
ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
War Horse
ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
The 2012 Oscar nominations have been announced! Lots of award season regulars, like The Artist and The Descendants, got some love, but there were also a handful of surprises, like nominations for Nick Nolte, Gary Oldman, and Terrence Malick. Bridesmaids also scored big, with noms for best original screenplay and best supporting actress for Melissa McCarthy.
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Solar storm Aurora borealis flash across the north sky tuesday
A solar outburst sent waves of bright auroras flying across the skies in the northern reaches of the globe and more are expected in coming days.
One solar storm, also known as a coronal mass ejection, occurred on Thursday, shooting electrically charged particles toward Earth at a speed of a million miles per hour, according to MSNBC.
A second burst occurred on Sunday, sending an especially speedy coronal mass ejection hurdling toward our atmosphere at 4 million miles per hour, Doug Biesecker of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center in Colorado told the Associated Press.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration detected a solar flare Sunday night that peaked at 7:59 p.m. Pacific time. NOAA satellites traced the bright flash of X-ray light to an area on the sun's surface known as region 1402 — the same area that had produced a weaker flare Thursday. A coronal mass ejection — which can hurl billions of tons of plasma up to 5 million mph — quickly followed.
Radiation from the explosion arrived at Earth within hours of the flash, said Doug Biesecker, a physicist with NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo. A burst of charged plasma particles is expected to reach Earth by 6 a.m. Tuesday. That charged plasma is traveling uncommonly fast, making the 93-million-mile trip to Earth in about 34 hours, rather than taking two or more days, as is usually the case, Biesecker said.
Sunday's radiation storm is the strongest since May 2005, when another happened that was perhaps 10% larger, Biesecker said. Based on the amount of radiation emitted, both storms measure about a three on a scale of one to five.
While the plasma may cause otherworldly displays of light and color in some parts of the sky Tuesday night, the bombardment of energetic particles can wreak havoc on Earth — potentially downing GPS systems, wiping out power grids, destroying sensitive satellite equipment in orbit and exposing astronauts to fatal doses of radiation.
As a precaution Monday, some flights were rerouted around polar regions, where the flash flood of charged plasma particles may interfere with navigation systems. Others flew at lower altitudes to reduce the risk of radiation exposure.
Though it had been more than six years since the last storm of this magnitude, storms of this size are expected to become more frequent as a period of peak solar activity approaches in 2013.
"As we ramp up to the solar maximum next year, this sort of storm will become normal," Biesecker said.
Scientists still don't know how to predict these solar events — which is a problem because they deliver a triple threat to technology on Earth, said Stanford solar astronomer Todd Hoeksema.
X-rays traveling at the speed of light hit the Earth in about eight minutes. These can interfere with radio communications.
A burst of radiation traveling at near-light speeds begins pelting Earth 20 minutes to an hour later. This radiation causes what are known as "single event upsets." Essentially, a high-energy proton traveling through a satellite can interfere with the charges in the silicon-based hardware, which can cause it to spit out spurious signals.
The third and final attack comes from the burst of charged particles that affects Earth's magnetosphere, potentially interfering with airplane navigation systems. This particular worry is expected to force rerouting of some flights during the storm.
These are not hypothetical fears, Biesecker said. For example, the infamous October 2003 "Halloween storm" took out Japan's ADEOS-II spacecraft, among other victims, causing the approximately $600-million satellite to fail less than a year after its launch.
"With all the technology of our advanced civilization, solar storms can have significant effects on communication, power, things like that," said UC Berkeley physicist Robert Lin. "The really big ones can have an enormous effect on space weather on the Earth."
But most satellites built today should be relatively safe from mid-level storms such as the current one, said NOAA research scientist Juan Rodriguez. Modern satellites are built to withstand space weather as severe as a 1989 storm that caused a massive power outage in Canada's Quebec province.
That said, those looking for a light show Tuesday night might be in for a treat. The aurora borealis probably won't be visible in Los Angeles, Rodriguez said, "but in Canada, maybe in the northern United States, it's a pretty amazing sight."
One solar storm, also known as a coronal mass ejection, occurred on Thursday, shooting electrically charged particles toward Earth at a speed of a million miles per hour, according to MSNBC.
A second burst occurred on Sunday, sending an especially speedy coronal mass ejection hurdling toward our atmosphere at 4 million miles per hour, Doug Biesecker of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center in Colorado told the Associated Press.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration detected a solar flare Sunday night that peaked at 7:59 p.m. Pacific time. NOAA satellites traced the bright flash of X-ray light to an area on the sun's surface known as region 1402 — the same area that had produced a weaker flare Thursday. A coronal mass ejection — which can hurl billions of tons of plasma up to 5 million mph — quickly followed.
Radiation from the explosion arrived at Earth within hours of the flash, said Doug Biesecker, a physicist with NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo. A burst of charged plasma particles is expected to reach Earth by 6 a.m. Tuesday. That charged plasma is traveling uncommonly fast, making the 93-million-mile trip to Earth in about 34 hours, rather than taking two or more days, as is usually the case, Biesecker said.
Sunday's radiation storm is the strongest since May 2005, when another happened that was perhaps 10% larger, Biesecker said. Based on the amount of radiation emitted, both storms measure about a three on a scale of one to five.
While the plasma may cause otherworldly displays of light and color in some parts of the sky Tuesday night, the bombardment of energetic particles can wreak havoc on Earth — potentially downing GPS systems, wiping out power grids, destroying sensitive satellite equipment in orbit and exposing astronauts to fatal doses of radiation.
As a precaution Monday, some flights were rerouted around polar regions, where the flash flood of charged plasma particles may interfere with navigation systems. Others flew at lower altitudes to reduce the risk of radiation exposure.
Though it had been more than six years since the last storm of this magnitude, storms of this size are expected to become more frequent as a period of peak solar activity approaches in 2013.
"As we ramp up to the solar maximum next year, this sort of storm will become normal," Biesecker said.
Scientists still don't know how to predict these solar events — which is a problem because they deliver a triple threat to technology on Earth, said Stanford solar astronomer Todd Hoeksema.
X-rays traveling at the speed of light hit the Earth in about eight minutes. These can interfere with radio communications.
A burst of radiation traveling at near-light speeds begins pelting Earth 20 minutes to an hour later. This radiation causes what are known as "single event upsets." Essentially, a high-energy proton traveling through a satellite can interfere with the charges in the silicon-based hardware, which can cause it to spit out spurious signals.
The third and final attack comes from the burst of charged particles that affects Earth's magnetosphere, potentially interfering with airplane navigation systems. This particular worry is expected to force rerouting of some flights during the storm.
These are not hypothetical fears, Biesecker said. For example, the infamous October 2003 "Halloween storm" took out Japan's ADEOS-II spacecraft, among other victims, causing the approximately $600-million satellite to fail less than a year after its launch.
"With all the technology of our advanced civilization, solar storms can have significant effects on communication, power, things like that," said UC Berkeley physicist Robert Lin. "The really big ones can have an enormous effect on space weather on the Earth."
But most satellites built today should be relatively safe from mid-level storms such as the current one, said NOAA research scientist Juan Rodriguez. Modern satellites are built to withstand space weather as severe as a 1989 storm that caused a massive power outage in Canada's Quebec province.
That said, those looking for a light show Tuesday night might be in for a treat. The aurora borealis probably won't be visible in Los Angeles, Rodriguez said, "but in Canada, maybe in the northern United States, it's a pretty amazing sight."
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Vancouver Canucks Stuff - Merchandise. clothing, jerseys, and gear.
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Made from authentic NHL jersey material and featuring your favorite NHL team’s logo, Littlearth’s Jersey Scarf, manufactured by Pro-FAN-ity by Littlearth, will keep you warm while you show off your team spirit. The Jersey Scarf is lined with polar fleece, and sports a zip pocket at one end. The scarf measures 60 inches long by 7 inches wide. One size fits all.
http://thecanucksstuff.getyourstuff.org
vancouver-canucks-jersey-scarfMade from authentic NHL jersey material and featuring your favorite NHL team’s logo, Littlearth’s Jersey Scarf, manufactured by Pro-FAN-ity by Littlearth, will keep you warm while you show off your team spirit. The Jersey Scarf is lined with polar fleece, and sports a zip pocket at one end. The scarf measures 60 inches long by 7 inches wide. One size fits all.
http://thecanucksstuff.getyourstuff.org
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
The 2012 Quadrantid meteor shower Live feed from NASA
The new year is kicking off with some cosmic fireworks: The 2012 Quadrantid meteor shower will peak in the predawn hours this Wednesday.
The Quadrantids are mostly visible from the Northern Hemisphere, where the sky show happens in the dead of winter. Observers in the Southern Hemisphere generally see very little, if any, of this shower.
The Quadrantid shower is considered one of the best meteor showers of the year, with average rates of one shooting star a minute visible from dark locations.
Even from the suburbs, observers can expect to see "as many as 40 Quadrantids per hour on the morning of January 4 and, if you are fortunate, that rate could even be higher," said Jim Todd, planetarium manager at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.
According to Todd, the "best views will be from North America in the early morning, when the waxing gibbous moon will set by around 3 a.m., leaving a few hours of unobstructed viewing before dawn."
When these sand grain-size particles enter Earth's atmosphere, they burn up and superheat the air around them, creating the characteristic streaks of light.
Astronomers can trace the debris clouds of many meteor showers back to the comets that created them. But for years after the Quadrantids were discovered in the 1800s, scientists couldn't find a source.
Meteors Named for "Lost" Constellation
As with most other meteor showers, the Quadrantid shower gets its name from the constellation from which the meteors appear to radiate, Quadrans Muralis.
However, you won't find this particular pattern of stars in modern sky maps: Overcrowded star charts necessitated the removal of the 19th-century constellation in 1922. Astronomers instead decided to have its stars absorbed by the neighboring constellation Boötes, the Herdsman.
It's likely, Todd said, that astronomers at the time decided to maintain the name of the Quadrantid meteor shower to avoid any confusion with the already established Bootid meteor shower, which peaks in late June.
In addition, the parent object for the Quadrantids remains somewhat of a mystery.
Most annual meteor showers occur when Earth slams into large clouds of particles left behind by passing comets. As the bodies get close to the sun, the heat vaporizes their ices, releasing trapped debris.
When these sand grain-size particles enter Earth's atmosphere, they burn up and superheat the air around them, creating the characteristic streaks of light.
Astronomers can trace the debris clouds of many meteor showers back to the comets that created them. But for years after the Quadrantids were discovered in the 1800s, scientists couldn't find a source.
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