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ALMAHATA SITTA
Polymict, shallow regolith fragmental breccia
click on image for a magnified view
Fell October 7, 2008
20° 43.04' N., 32° 30.58' E.
In 2008, October 6 at 5:46 A.M., while on duty at the Catalina Sky Survey at Mount Lemmon Observatory, Tucson, Arizona, Richard Kowalski discovered a small asteroid with a diameter of ~4 m, quickly designated 2008 TC3, that was calculated to have a near certainty of impacting Earth in 20 hours. This would be the first time an asteroid was spotted before it impacted Earth. Calculations indicated that the impact would occur in northern Sudan at 5:46 A.M. local time. After notification was made to several government agencies (e.g., NASA/JPL Near-Earth Object Program Office, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Minor Planet Center, Sandia National Laboratories), observations of the asteroid began at many observatories around the world. Telescopic and light curve observations revealed that the asteroid had acquired both a rapid spin rate of 100 seconds and a tumbling motion (Sánchez and Scheeres, 2014).
Asteroid 2008 TC3 prior to atmospheric entry
Credit: M. Kozubal & Ron Dantowitz—Clay Center Observatory
A sequence of images of asteroid 2008 TC3 taken at Mount Lemmon Observatory
Credit: Richard Kowalski and Ed Beshore, Catalina Sky Survey
From the cockpit of Air France, KLM flight 592, pilot Ron de Poorter received a message from Jacob Kuiper of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute regarding the possibility of observing the atmospheric entry of asteroid 2008 TC3. The crew witnessed the entrance as a flash of light below the horizon. It was later calculated that the entry velocity of the asteroid was 12.78 km per second at a height of 100 km (Welten et al., 2010), with an entry angle of 20°
US and European satellites tracked the incoming meteor from an altitude of 65 km and obtained photos. At the same time, Sudanese villagers were eyewitness to the fireball as it experienced major ablation at an altitude between 44 and 35 km, and then underwent a catastrophic disruption at 37 km. Infrasound monitoring stations in Kenya detected airwaves equivalent to 1.1–2.1 kilotons of TNT, about one-tenth the size of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. The meteor was comparable to a PE type IIIa/b fireball, akin to a fragile cometary mass (Ceplecha et al., 1998)
Artist's conception of the pre-impact shape of asteroid 2008 TC3
based on actual observations as shown by the horizontal line at the top
Photo Credit: P. Scheirich, P. Jenniskens
Comparative size of 2008 TC3 to a person
Image from MetaBallStudios
(https://youtu.be/bSkPNMjRRio)
Real-time IR and visual composite image of 2008 TC3 final detonation ~37 km in altitude
Image from the European Space Agency's Meteosat 8 weather satellite
(http://asima.seti.org/2008TC3/images/Meteosat8impact.jpg)
Contrail of 2008 TC3 at dawn distorted by upper atmospheric winds
Photo Credit: Mohamed Elhassan Abdelatif Mahir (Noub NGO),
Dr. Muawia H. Shaddad (Univ. Khartoum),
Dr. Peter Jenniskens (SETI Institute/NASA Ames)
Ground path of the meteoroid over Sudan
Red line is the object's path, terminating where it would have hit the ground
Green line is the infrasound detection of the explosion
Orange crosshairs mark the fireball location according to Meteosat 8 IR data
Map of Sudan: CIA Factbook. Graphic overlay: George W. Herbert, 10-07-2008
Ground path indicating the location of recovered meteorites (red dots)
On December 6, 2008, Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute in California flew to the Nubian Desert, Sudan to begin a search for meteorites from the fall. He and Muawia Shaddad, an astronomer from the University of Khartoum, Sudan, along with 45 university students and staff, enlisted the help of eyewitnesses to pinpoint the likely fall location. After an organized search, a student, Mohammed Alameen, found the first fragment—a 4.4 g fragment from the first meteorite recovered following its detection as an asteroid in space. The nearest identifiable landmark was Station 6 along the railroad between Wadi Halfa and Abu Hamad, and so the meteorite was named Almahata Sitta, Arabic for Station 6. Over the next few weeks repeated field expeditions yielded over 600 samples of a brecciated meteorite having a combined weight of 10.7 kg, part of an estimated total fall of ~40 kg (Shaddad et al., 2011) within a strewn field measuring about 28 × 5 km. Succeeding searches yielded additional specimens which were analyzed and classified at the University of Münster.
Portions of the preceding account were gleaned from Nature News Feature, vol. 458, 26 March 2009, by Roberta Kwok, and from 'Asteroid 2008 TC3 and the Fall of Almahata Sitta, a Unique Meteorite Breccia', Cyrena Goodrich et al., Elements, vol. 10 (2014).
Initially, samples of the Almahata Sitta meteorite were sent to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston (Zolensky) and Carnegie Institution of Washington (Steele) for analysis and classification. The meteorite was determined to be a polymict ureilite exhibiting anomalous features in some samples, such as low olivine-to-pyroxene ratio (a pigeonite–olivine ureilite), wide ranging silicate compositions, large-sized pores with friability, fine-grained texture, large silicate aggregates, and large carbonaceous aggregates that have experienced higher heating than those in any other ureilite. Some augite-bearing ureilite samples are thought to contain a late shock-melt component. Almahata Sitta is a fragmental breccia composed of various ureilite lithologies (perhaps ten identified), which have been resolved into four general types (Goodrich et al., 2015): 1) coarse-grained, compact, olivine–pyroxene, with petrographic variability; 2) fine-grained, highly porous, highly reduced, with features of high temperature shock metamorphism; 3) metal+sulfide-rich with enclosed ureilitic silicates; 4) feldspar-rich, igneous-textured andesite. Incorporated mineral fragments in Alamahta Sitta include polycrystalline olivine, pigeonite, low-Ca pyroxene, carbon-rich aggregates, kamacite, and troilite.
The fine-grained lithology of Alamahta Sitta has significant porosity (~20%) comprising a 3-D network. The olivine crystals lining the pore walls were formed by vapor deposition processes prior to re-accretion into the daughter asteroid, 2008 TC3. Mosaicism, foliation, and the presence of diamonds in fine-grained samples attest to high temperature shock metamorphism, which likely occurred during re-accretion. Coarse-grained samples are only weakly shocked (S2–3). The occurrence of significant porosity led some to conclude that the meteorite was spalled from relatively unconsolidated material existing in the outer layers (shallow regolith) of the daughter asteroid. This asteroid was known through pre- and post-impact spectral data to have been an F-class asteroid in Tholen taxonomy, measuring ~4.1 m in diameter and having a long axis measuring 6.7 (±0.8) m. This is a class of asteroids located at ~2.45 AU located near the 3:1 mean motion resonance (signifying the ratio between the orbital period of Jupiter and that of an asteroid).
The presence of graphite and microdiamonds in Almahata Sitta have also been verified, but the diamond exhibits Raman spectra that are distinct from those of other brecciated and unbrecciated ureilites (Ross et al., 2010, 2011); nevertheless, the diamond lies within the spectral range of unbrecciated ureilites. The measured diamond strain values in Almahata Sitta are higher than those in other ureilites, indicating it experienced either greater shock (~6–15 GPa) or less annealing. Diamond and/or lonsdaleite formed from shocked graphite on the parent body is attested by the presence of high-pressure, compressed graphite phases. The predominance of crystalline graphite accompanying diamond leads to the conclusion that shock is likely the major cause of diamond synthesis in ureilites (Ross et al., 2011). Diamond is also considered to have formed by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) in the solar nebula, a process which may be inferred by its N-isotopic composition. In addition, single crystal diamonds measuring at least 40 µm have been identified in coarse-grained ureilite phases of Almahata Sitta, which were also likely formed by the CVD process (Miyahara et al., 2012, 2015).
Pore wall lined with crystalline olivine produced by vapor deposition.
Photo Credit: M.E.Zolensky et al., 41st LPSC, #2306 (2010)
The occurrence of diamond formed by CVD is also supported by an alternative smelting mechanism involving methane, which has been posited by Langendam and Tomkins (2012) to explain the presence of smelting within fractures and discontinuous smelting at grain boundaries. Further results from an in-depth study of 17 ureilites conducted by Langendam et al. (2021) confirms that ureilites experienced silicate reduction to form Fe metal in a secondary smelting process during parent body decompression. They assert that this smelting process was catalyzed by a highly-reduced gas/fluid system involving H2, CH4, S2, and H2S, accompanied by a low abundance of H2O. This methane-catalyzed smelting was shown to occur at lower temperatures than those required for graphite-catalyzed smelting, and would produce the metal–troilite particles, silicate melt, carbon vein networks, and high porosity that fills fractures and grain boundaries of ureilites.
Nevertheless, large diamond crystallite assemblages have been identified in a low-shock lithology from the coarse-grained ureilite AhS MS-170. These diamonds exhibit almost identical crystallographic orientation and may have originally constituted a large (~100 µm) single-crystal diamond that had been fragmented during a shock-induced graphitization process—back transformation of diamond at low-pressure and high-temperature (Nabiei et al., 2018; see image below). Evidence for this scenario exists as inclusion trails consisting of nm-scale sulfide (plus kamacite and schreibersite) grains transiting multiple diamond segments which are now cut by graphite bands (see photos below). Miyahara et al. (2015) found evidence (e.g., nitrogen sector zoning) that such large diamonds formed relatively slowly in a melt phase located deep within the UPB. Nabiei et al. (2018) argue that the Al- and Mg-free chromite inclusions present within these large diamonds attest to formation in an iron melt phase void of silicates, such as in a core or melt pod. Importantly, the sulfide + kamacite + schreibersite inclusions present within the diamonds are stable at pressures >20 GPa; such pressures would occur at the center of a Mercury-sized planet or at the core–mantle boundary of a Mars-sized planet.
Image credit: Nabiei et al., Nature Communications, vol. 9, #1327, pp. 1–9 (2018, open access link)
'A large planetary body inferred from diamond inclusions in a ureilite meteorite'
(https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03808-6)
A contrary conclusion was presented by Goodrich et al. (2020) and Nestola et al. (2020) based on XRD, TEM, SEM, EMPA, and micro-Raman spectroscopic analyses of a large ~100 µm single crystal diamond in NWA 7983 (see image below) and nanodiamonds in other highly-shocked (complete mosaicism of olivine) AhS ureilite samples. The diamonds are intermixed with nanographite, lonsdaleite, and nanometric metallic iron. It was concluded that both the nanodiamonds and microdiamonds formed as a result of impact shock transformation from graphite, exhibiting a texture consistent with pseudomorphing of primary graphite laths. No high-pressure polymorphs were observed in the samples, and it was determined that peak impact shock pressures may have reached only 15 GPa for a relatively short duration of 4–5 seconds. The rapid growth of diamonds was due to catalysis by an Fe-Ni-C melt phase which coexisted with the graphite and now present as micron-scale metal–cohenite–sulfide–phosphide spherules. They contend that the similarly-oriented diamond microcrystals in MS-170 never constituted a large single diamond, and that even if convincing evidence for nitrogen sector zoning in ureilite diamonds was found, this would not require a slow growth process under high pressure conditions in a planetary-sized body. Peak temperatures attained during the diamond-forming shock event, which may be associated with the catastrophic breakup of the UPB, were calculated by Barbaro et al. (2020) to be 1200–1300 (±120) °C.
Carbon mass containing the ~100 µm-sized single diamond crystal (outlined in yellow)
Image credit: Nestola et al., PNAS, (2020, open access link)
'Impact shock origin of diamonds in ureilite meteorites'
(https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1919067117)
Further analyses of Almahata Sitta specimens led to the discovery of a wide range of xenolithic clasts representing many different chondritic and achondritic lithologies in a manner similar to the structure of the polymict breccia Kaidun (Bischoff et al., 2010); amazingly, the Almahata Sitta lithologies represent at least 13 different parent asteroids (Goodrich et al., 2019 and references therein). Evidence exists indicating that all of these clasts came from the Almahata Sitta fall; e.g., detection of short-lived cosmogenic nuclides, very low weathering grade, multiple lithologies among fragments, a high number of rare E-chondrite rock types found, diffusion of PAHs among clasts (Sabbah et al., 2010), and the finding of new and unique meteorite fragments within a small area. The heterogeneous composition of Almahata Sitta could reflect a rubble pile assemblage derived from a catastrophic collision between ureilte and chondritic objects (Kohout et al., 2010; Sánchez and Scheeres, 2014). Alternatively, it is considered that these diverse clasts became gravitationally bound within a common debris disk composed of a disrupted ureilite asteroid, and this disk was then re-accreted into one or more smaller second-generation asteroids. The daughter asteroid(s) became lightly sintered together through subsequent low-energy impacts resulting in a very weak object having a bulk porosity of ~50%.
Another model which better accounts for the various thermal parameters of the ureilite parent body (UPB), as well as the accumulation of a wide variety of exotic lithologies, has been developed (Goodrich et al., 2015; Wilson and Goodrich, 2016). The investigators posit that accretion of the UPB from ordinary chondrite-like precursor material occurred in the outer asteroid belt (beyond the ice line) 0.61–0.64 m.y. after CAIs. Radiogenic heating from 26Al decay led to silicate melting and melt migration to the surface, possibly aided by smelting-generated CO2. After peak temperatures were attained ~4 m.y. after CAIs, a period of slow cooling ensued, during which time gravitational perturbations from large planetary embryos (possibly aided by nebular gas drag) began to influence the UPB orbital mechanics. These forces induced a slow migration sunward over a timescale measured in millions of years, a journey which took the UPB (or possibly a second generation object) inward across the orbital paths of the OC and EC parent bodies. After the severe impact disruption of the primary UPB and re-accretion into one or more daughter bodies—an event dated at 5.4 m.y. after CAIs—the ureilite daughter body (UDB) parental to 2008 TC3 experienced substantial mass accumulation along with large-scale impact gardening. Over time, a deep loosely consolidated regolith was developed on at least a portion of the UDP surface, incorporating a wide variety of foreign impactor material, before it too experienced a disruptive event 20 m.y. ago (based on the 21Ne age of multiple clasts). Ultimately, 2008 TC3 was intercepted by Earth where the complex history of Almahata Sitta could be revealed. Furthermore, it is argued that all of the other ureilite meteorites delivered to Earth also derive from the same UDB, but the exact ejection history for each is still being determined.
Because of the lack of solar-wind-implanted gases in a sample of Almahata Sitta clasts, Bischoff et al. (2010) inferred that the meteorite could not have been derived from a regolith, and it was considered instead to represent a more deeply buried lithology (Hartmann et al., 2011). In contrast, Goodrich et al. (2015) argued that solar gases would only be implanted within the top millimeter of the regolith, and that subsequent gardening may not have accomplished homogeneous mixing into deeper regolith layers. Utilizing measurements of gamma-ray emitting radionuclides along with the calculated density range of the Almahata Sitta samples, Taricco et al. (2010) determined the shielding depth of ureilite fragment AhS 15 on asteroid 2008 TC3; activity of 60Co and 26Al indicate a shielding depth of 41 (±14) cm.
Results of a trace element study of a suite of unbrecciated ureilites led Barrat et al. (2016) to propose a revised melting history for the UPB. They concluded that following the segregation of a S-rich metallic core, ureilite precursor material experienced two successive steps of melting and melt extraction. The initial extracted melts were low-density feldspathic lavas containing high abundances of Al, alkalis, and silica, comparable to some clasts identified in polymict ureilites and to two trachyandesitic lithologies identified from the Almahata Sitta fall (24.2 g MS-MU-011 [aka ALM-A] and MS-MU-035). A presumed scenario was presented in which this relatively buoyant silicic liquid was extracted, leaving behind an olivine and pigeonite residue, and ultimately reached the surface to form a crust of some extent. A representative of the next sequential melt to be extracted has not yet been identified among known meteorites, but it is inferred to have been an Al-poor, alkali-depleted liquid possibly more dense than the resulting ureilitic residues. Consequently, this melt material may have been located deeper in the mantle of the UPB where sampling would be a less likely event. Regardless of the actual density of this second-stage melt, the model scenario infers a partial melting degree of ~17–28% that was sustained throughout the entire melting event, and therefore the mass of this second-stage melt would be proportionately less than that represented by the rare trachyandesitic lithologies. The Al–Mg age determined for the ALM-A trachyandesite sample indicates that the disruption of the ureilite parent body occurred no earlier than ~6.5. m.y. after CAIs (Bischoff et al., 2014).
The ultimate parental source melt of the ureilites was enriched in incompatible trace elements relative to CI chondrites and likely contained phosphate in the form of merrillite, the latter being exhausted along with feldspar prior to the crystallization of the ureilitic residues. Based on trace element abundances and REE patterns among the ureilite samples studied, Barrat et al. (2016) resolved two distinct groups which they termed 'A' and 'B' (see more about the two groups here). The REE abundances for the ureilites constituting the smaller group B are consistent with a fractional melting model in which the critical mass porosity of the residue was zero, thereby leaving no residual melt component following extraction. However, the REE abundances for the ureilites constituting the larger group A are more consistent with a dynamic melting process in which the critical mass porosity of the residue was greater than zero (<2%), resulting in the retention of a critical fraction of melt within the residue.
Exclusive of the primary ureilite components, there was a broad diversity of lithologic types present in 2008 TC3, which constituted <30% of all material recovered. However, given that the vast bulk of 2008 TC3 is thought to have been lost as fine dust (≥99.9% of the estimated 42–83 ton pre-atmospheric mass), the asteroid was likely composed primarily of fine-grained, highly-porous, weakly-consolidated ureilitic matrix material consistent with the reflectance spectra obtained for the asteroid (Goodrich et al., 2015, 2019). Examples of some of the diverse samples that have been recovered are listed below (Bischoff et al., 2010, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019; Horstmann and Bischoff, 2010, 2014; Hoffmann et al., 2016; Fioretti et al., 2017; Goodrich et al., 2018, 2019):
fine- to ultrafine-grained ureilites (representing numerous lithologies with varying olivine compositions): MS-185 (ultrafine), -212, -216; MS-MU-001, -018 (high shock, metal–sulfide-rich), -025 (high shock), -027 (high shock), -030 (high shock, metal–sulfide-rich), -032 (high shock, metal–sulfide-rich), -033 (high shock, metal–sulfide-rich), -040 (high shock), -045 (high shock)
coarse-grained ureilites (representing numerous lithologies with varying olivine compositions: MS-208 (ol-rich), -209 (ol-rich), -214 (ol-rich), -218 (ol-rich), -227 (ol-rich), -210 (px-rich), -219 (px-rich), -220 (px-rich), -222 (px-rich), -226 (px-rich); MS-MU-005, -006, -008, -010, -014 (very coarse), -016, -017, -020, -022, -034, -037, -038
variable grain-sized ureilite breccias: MS-25, -190, -205, -207, -213, -215; MS-MU-004, -021, -028, -042
highly porous ureilitic (matrix?) material: MS-168
enstatite chondrites (41 samples, representing numerous different enstatite chondrites): EH3 (MS-14), EHa3 (MS-224), EH4/5 (MS-192, MS-MU-009), EH5 (MS-MU-041, -044), EL3 (MS-1, -17, -177, MS-MU-002, -023, -031), EL3/4 + melt (MS-17, MS-MU-039 [+ melt]), EL3–5 (MS-179), EL4 (MS-MU-029), EL4/5 (MS-192, MS-MU-009), ELb4 (MS-221), EL5 (MS-196), EL5/6 (MS-7), EL6 (MS-150, MS-MU-007, -015, -024, -026), ELb6 (MS-211, -217, -225), EL breccias (MS-MU-003), and both EL and EH (MS-155) shock-darkened, impact-melt rocks or impact-melt breccias
ordinary chondrites: H4 (MS-MU-043), H5 (AhS 25, MS-151 [shock-darkened]), H5/6 (MS-11, with compositional discordance), L4 (AhS A100), LL4/5 (MS-197), H5-an (MS-MU-013)
unique chondrite: MS-CH, type 3.8 [± 0.1], has petrographic and isotopic affinities to R-chondrites, but is mineralogically anomalous
Bencubbin-like carbonaceous chondrite: MS-181, a 58.6 g chondrule-like clast containing metal globules and silicates in a 60:40 ratio, having an O-isotopic composition consistent with bencubbinites
C2 carbonaceous chondrite: AhS 202, 20.057 g, w/ tremolite amphibole (Fioretti et al., 2017 #1846 [photo]; Goodrich et al., 2019 #1551, 2020 #1223 [O plot]; Hamilton et al., 2020 #1122; Hamilton et al., 2020; Miller et al., 2021 #2360 [O–Cr plot])
C1+URE+OC+EH regolith breccia: AhS 91/91A and 671 (Goodrich et al., 2018 #1321 [photo], 2019 #1551, #1312, article, 2021 #1331, article)
niningerite-bearing, fine-grained ureilitic fragment (linking E chondrites): MS-20
sulfide-metal assemblage in a fine-grained ureilitic fragment: MS-158, -166
ungrouped enstatite- and metal-rich achondrite fragments: MS-MU-019 (characteristics similar to NWA 8173/10271); MS-MU-036 (similar to MS-MU-019, Itqiy, and NWA 2526 [Bischoff et al., 2016; Zhu et al., 2021]); AhS 38 (similar to MS-MU-019 and Itqiy but contains olivine [Goodrich et al., 2018]); AhS 60 (possible E IMR analogous to Portales Valley [Goodrich et al., 2018])
the first known plagioclase-bearing olivine–augite ureilite lithology: MS-MU-012
trachyandesitic clasts: 1) MS-MU-011 (view 1), MS-MU-011 (view 2), MS-MU-011 (sample ALM-A); plagioclase-enriched (~70 vol%) with pockets of gemmy olivine (see photos below) likely sampling the UPB crust, or possibly an alkali- and water-rich localized melt pocket; calculated Ar–Ar age of ~4.556 b.y. and Pb–Pb age of ~4.562 b.y. (Bischoff et al., 2013, 2014; Delaney et al., 2015; Turrin et al., 2015; Amelin et al., 2015); 2) MS-MU-035; anorthoclase and/or plagioclase-enriched (~65 vol%) (Bischoff et al., 2016)
MS-MU-011—trachyandesite clast with gemmy olivines
Photos courtesy of Stephan Decker–Meteorite Shop and Museum
A consortium was established to study Almahata Sitta and much has since been learned. This meteorite is a characteristic ureilite that has experienced high degrees of silicate partial melting. It underwent rapid cooling (0.05–2°C/hour) and experienced reduction following a sudden pressure loss, possibly due to parent body disruption and re-accretion into a second generation of objects 10–100 m in diameter (Herrin et al., 2010). Large carbonaceous grains are present, which consist mostly of graphite and contain extraterrestrial two- to six-carbon aliphatic amino acids interspersed with a distinct range of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) (Callahan et al., 2009; Zare et al., 2009). The presence of various amino acid decomposition products attests to thermal alteration of organic compounds on the parent asteroid.
Fitting the measured radionuclide concentrations to the known size of the pre-atmospheric asteroid for a range of estimated densities, and then utilizing the average grain density for ureilites, the total porosity of the 2008 TC3 asteroid was determined to be ~55%, consistent with its early disruption upon atmospheric entry (Welten et al., 2010). Notably, the bulk density (~1.8 g/cm³) of the asteroid was lower than that of the recovered meteorites (1.77–3.26 g/cm³). Given the density of Almahata Sitta, the pre-atmospheric size of the asteroid was calculated to have been ~4.1 m in diameter with a volume of 28 m³, and it had an oblong shape with a total mass of 51,000 kg.
In a study of oxygen isotopes for Almahata Sitta, Rumble III et al. (2010) established an oxygen three-isotope plot for a small lot of fragments. As with typical ureilites, the values are heterogeneous and plot in the upper one-third of the carbonaceous chondrite anhydrous mineral (CCAM) trend line, spanning the entire compositional range of known monomict and polymict ureilites (Rumble III et al., 2010). These data are consistent with the hypothesis that ureilites are derived from a minimally molten (20–30%) carbonaceous chondrite body, and that ureilites spanning the entire O-isotopic range constituted a common parent body. Based on its O-isotopic signature and major element chemistry, Rai et al. (2016) calculated that the precursor material for the UPB had a mixed composition consisting of CI, CM, EH, and Mg-rich chondrules.
Image credit: Rai et al., 47th LPSC, #1702 (2015)
By contrast, studies of ε54Cr anomalies in Almahata Sitta samples by Qin et al. (2010) revealed a negative anomaly that is consistent only with ordinary chondrites and achondrites such as HED members, but not with carbonaceous chondrites which have a positive anomaly. The ε54Cr value infers that Almahata Sitta, and possibly all ureilites, were not derived from a carbonaceous chondrite parent body as commonly presumed. Valdes et al. (2016) studied the Ca-isotopic signature for ureilites, which serves as an excellent tool for resolving genetic relationships, and found a wide range in δ44Ca values unique from values for carbonaceous chondrites or any other chondritic material. Goodrich et al. (2015) recognized that the Cr, Ti, and Ni isotopic compositions of ureilites are more consistent with an origin on an OC or EC parent body than a CC parent body. They also showed that the inferred lithophile element composition of ureilite precursor material was most similar to OC and R-chondrites. In a comparison of Si/Mg vs. Mg/Mn (see below), the ureilites plot near OC and R-chondrites rather than CC or E-chondrites.
Image credit: Goodrich et al., MAPS, vol. 50, #4, p. 792 (2015)
'Origin and history of ureilitic material in the solar system: The view from asteroid 2008 TC3 and the Almahata Sitta meteorite'
(http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/maps.12401)
Warren (2011) determined that the isotope signatures of Δ17O, ε54Cr, ε50Ti, and ε62Ni can be utilized to resolve carbonaceous from non-carbonaceous meteorites; the carbonaceous meteorites have positive values for all of these elements, while the non-carbonaceous meteorites have negative values. An example coupled Δ17O vs. diagram is shown below to demonstrate the separation between carbonaceous and non-carbonaceous meteorites. Ureilites plot in the non-carbonaceous field furthest removed from the carbonaceous field.
Diagram credit: Sanders et al., MAPS, vol. 52, #4, p. 695 (2017)
'Origin of mass-independent oxygen isotope variation among ureilites: Clues from chondrites and primitive achondrites'
In a study conducted by Srinivasan et al. (2018), it was determined that the O-isotopic composition and Al–Mg age data are reasonably consistent among several different achondrites: the ungrouped NWA 11119 and NWA 7325, and the trachyandesite clasts in the Almahata Sitta anomalous polymict ureilite (MS-MU-011/ALM-A and MS-MU-035). In addition, some notable geochemical similarities have been identified. Moreover, it was recognized that these are the only achondrites known that plot on the carbonaceous chondrite anhydrous mineral (CCAM) line at the high-δ18O end. Although these meteorites do have distinct Fe/Mn ratios, the range in values is much less than that within the acapulcoite–lodranite clan, the latter of which is known to represent a single parent body. The many similarities that have been documented among these diverse meteorites suggest that a genetic relationship (i.e., a common differentiated parent body) may exist (see diagram below).
Oxygen Three-Isotope Plot
Diagram credit: Srinivasan et al., Nature Communications, vol. 9, p. 4 (2018, open access link)
'Silica-rich volcanism in the early solar system dated at 4.565 Ga'
Two stones recovered from the Almahata Sitta strewn field, designated AhS 91/91A and AhS 671, may represent a highly friable regolith breccia component. These two stones are composed of a dominant C1 lithology in sharp contact with multiple different ureilite (olivine + pigeonite + albite [= polymict ureilite "albitic lithology" and AhS trachyandesite MS-MU-011/035]) and xenolithic chondrite lithologies (OC and CC chondrules, H- and EH-group metal-sulfide), silicate clasts (olivine, pyroxene, and plagioclase with ureilitic provenance), and graphite clasts (probable ureilitic provenance). Together these lithologies could represent the bulk matrix of asteroid 2008 TC3, originally constituting a significant portion (est. 40–70%) of the pre-atmospheric volume (Goodrich et al., 2017, #6214; 2018, #1321; 2019, #1312, article). By comparison to the negative Cr-isotopic values obtained from all ureilites analyzed thus far (ε54Cr ~ –0.90), the C1 lithology has the highest ε54Cr composition measured for any meteorite (ε54Cr +1.83 [±0.08]; Sanborn et al., 2017, #6277) (see top diagram below). The bulk mineralogy of AhS 91A was determined to be most similar to CI1 carbonaceous chondrite material, but is unlike any known carbonaceous chondrite group represented in our collections (Yin et al., 2018, #1810). An O-isotopic analysis shows that the C1 material from AhS 91 and AhS 671 plot along the CCAM line in a unique location, while the highly magnetite-rich (>10%) C2 clast AhS 202 plots within the CR/CM field, although its mineralogy and magnetite compositions are unique (see bottom diagram below and Fig. 3 in Goodrich et al., 2019, #1551). Notably, a dark clast from the Nilpena polymict ureilite previously studied by Clayton and Mayeda (1988), as well as three clasts in other polymict ureilites identified by Patzek et al. (2018, #6254; see also here) are identical to AhS 91A and AhS 671 in mineralogy and O-isotopic composition. In addition, clast 2 in polymict ureilite NWA 10657 identified by Goodrich et al. (2019, #1312) shares many similarities with AhS 91A and AhS 671, which can add to our understanding of the nature of the ureilite parent body.
Chromium vs. Oxygen Isotope Plot
click on photo for a magnified view
Diagram credit: Yin et al., 49th LPSC, #1810 (2018)
Oxygen Isotope Plot
Diagram credit: Goodrich et al., 50th LPSC, #1312 (2019)
It was previously considered by some that the observed correlations between oxygen isotopes and redox trends in ureilites was inherited from accreted material which previously had undergone high-temperature solid–gas exchange in the nebula. Extensive smelting has also been invoked to explain these correlations. However, Sanders et al. (2017) argue that the positive correlation observed between Fa content in olivine and Δ17O, as well as that observed for other O-isotopic and redox trends (e.g., the plot of oxygen isotope ratios along a mass-independent [slope ~1] line; the precise correlation between FeO/MgO and FeO/MnO molar ratios), also exists in equilibrated ordinary and R chondrites. However, studies have shown that these same trends that exist among ordinary chondrite clan meteorites were not derived through accretion of primary nebula material, but instead were the result of varying degrees of secondary low-temperature aqueous alteration on their respective parent bodies (R > LL > L > H > low-FeO chondrites). This alteration process involved oxidation of metal by isotopically heavy ice/water (Δ17O possibly as high as +20‰) to form FeO that was subsequently incorporated into existing silicates to establish the correlated redox trends. Therefore, Sanders et al. (2017) infer that a similar aqueous alteration process, induced by primary accreted water ice, occurred during the early history (pre-disruption) of the chondritic parent body from which the ureilites would ultimately derive. They propose that regions of the ureilite parent body with abundant accreted metal reached a maximum oxidation state with an olivine composition of ~Fa25, while other regions with less accreted metal experienced much less oxidation which is reflected in olivine of ~Fa5.
An alternate model was presented by Rai et al. (2019 [#3265], 2020) to explain the observed correlation between Mg# of olivines and Δ17O as well as other properties of ureilites. The original ureilite parent body, which they termed the Proto-Ureilite Planetesimal (PUP) was initially compositionally zoned due to the difference in accretion temperatures between Mg-rich and Fe-rich nebular components; Mg-rich material condensed at higher temperatures and formed the inner portions of the PUP, while later condensing Fe-rich material formed the outer layers (see schematic illustration below). After undergoing a low-degree of partial melting and differentiation, the PUP was catastrophically disrupted and re-accreted into one or more daughter bodies comprised of a larger proportion of the Fe-rich material from the outer layers of the PUP. One such daughter body is now in a propitious location, such as near the 3:1 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter at 2.50 AU, to enable efficient delivery of fragments to Earth.
Scenario for the Formation and Disruption of a Two-Component Compositionally-Zoned UPB
Intial accretion of the UPB consisted of more MgO-rich material with low Δ17O and δ13C values (see also the scenario of Barrat et al. [2016] above).
Accretion transitioned to more FeO-rich material with higher Δ17O and δ13C values, establishing a compositional gradient.
Radiogenic heating (26Al) produced an FeS melt which percolated to form a core.
Continued heating produced a silicate partial melt including buoyant basalts and trachyandesites which formed a crust.
While the UPB was still hot, a severe impact ejected a predominantly Fe-rich outer section which re-accreted to form a rubble-pile daughter body.
Schematic illustration credit: Rai et al., Geochemical Perspectives Letters, vol. 14, pp. 20–25 (2020, open access link)
'Ureilite meteorites provide a new model of early planetesimal formation and destruction'
(https://doi.org/10.7185/geochemlet.2018)
Chromium isotopic compositions were studied for Almahata Sitta and two other polymict ureilites by Qin et al. (2010), and a similar isochron was found for all samples corresponding to an absolute age of 4.5636 (±0.0022) b.y., anchored to the angrite D'Orbigny. It was shown that the ε54Cr systematics for Almahata Sitta and other ureilites are unlike those from any of the carbonaceous chondrite groups, attesting to their origin on distinct parent bodies. It is noteworthy that the ε54Cr systematics for Almahata Sitta are very similar to those of the HED parent body, and it can be inferred that both the ureilite and HED parent bodies accreted and experienced igneous melting very early in solar system history—within 5 m.y. of CAI formation—in a similar region of the solar nebula. The short-lived Hf–W chronometer was applied to a large number of ureilites to constrain the timing of metal–silicate separation on the UPB (Budde et al., 2015). Their calculations indicate that parent body differentiation occurred as early as 2.6 (±0.9) m.y. after CAI formation. As a consequence of this timing and in accord with thermal history modeling, accretion of the UPB would have occurred ~1.4 m.y. after CAIs. In further studies based on Al–Mg systematics, Hublet et al. (2016) obtained a model age for differentiation on the UPB of 1.09 (±0.75) m.y. after CAIs, indicating that accretion began even earlier in solar system history. Likewise, Zhu et al. (2019) obtained precise ε54Cr values for eleven monomict urelites and the trachyandesite crustal lithology ALM-A (MS-MU-011). They calculated a Mn–Cr isochron age anchored to D'Orbigny of 4.5671 (±0.0010) b.y., only ~1 m.y. after CAIs, which they consider likely represents the formation of planetesimals precursor to the ureilite parent body.
A classification of the Almahata Sitta polymict breccia ureilite was given by Zolensky et al. (2010). They concluded that its Mg# characterizes it as a member of Berkley's Group II, but that it falls at the extreme Mg-rich range; however, other fragments studied revealed a ferroan composition (Mikouchi et al., 2010). In the scheme of Goodrich et al. (2004), in which ureilites are divided into three distinct subgroups—olivine–pigeonite, olivine–orthopyroxene, and augite-bearing—Alamahta Sitta is a partial melt residue best described as a pigeonite-olivine ureilite due to its greater abundance of pigeonite over olivine. Unusually, due to its low Fe content, Almahata Sitta plots among the olivine-orthopyroxene subgroup. In contrast, 39 IR spectra taken from 26 stones resulted in a heterogeneous profile of silicates ranging from nearly pure olivine to nearly pure pyroxene (pigeonite), while a combined mass weighted average of all of the spectra resulted in an olivine:pyroxene ratio of 74:26, well within the range of the spectra from other ureilites (Sandford et al., 2010). The fine-grained lithology in Almahata Sitta shows evidence of reduction through impact smelting accompanied by abundant release of CO2 gas, and shock granulation of both olivine and pyroxene. This reduction process occurred at the time of the catastrophic disruption of the UPB during peak temperatures which resulted in the production of interstitial silica and tiny Fe-metal particles (Warren and Rubin, 2010); a rapid cooling phase followed.
The average CRE age based on 21Ne for four Almahata Sitta ureilite fragments was determined to be 14.5 (±0.9) m.y. (Welten et al., 2010, 2011). This age falls well within the range of typical ureilites and represents the time since asteroid 2008 TC3 broke away from its larger parent asteroid. A more reliable method employed by Welten et al. (2010) gave an average CRE age of 19.5 (±2.5) m.y., which is consistent with other ureilites. Further noble gas studies of ureilite fragments conducted by Nagao et al. (2014) gave similar 3He- and 21Ne-based CRE ages of ~20 m.y. The He-, Ne-, and Ar-based CRE age values of H and L chondrite material from Almahata Sitta were determined by Meier et al. (2010) to be ~13.6–27 m.y., overlapping within error those of Almahata Sitta ureilites. Additional noble gas studies conducted by Riebe et al. (2014) of several chondritic samples from Almahata Sitta (E, LL, CB, R-like chondrites) also support this age. With inclusion of all CRE age results obtained to date, they derived an average age of 19.7 (±2.8) m.y. This relatively young CRE age for the various components of 2008 TC3 indicates that it was located in close proximity to a mean-motion resonance. The gas retention age of the L chondrite samples from Almahata Sitta is distinct from that of the typical L group members, the latter forming an ~500 m.y. age cluster. Notably, one E chondrite sample studied by Riebe et al. (2017) designated MS-179, which is linked to the Almahata Sitta fall through multiple lines of evidence, presents a younger CRE age of 11 (±1.4) m.y. They suggest this lower CRE age might represent the actual age of the 2008 TC3 meteoroid as an independent object in space subjected to galactic cosmic rays (4π exposure), while the older ages of the other components could be attributed to pre-irradiation (2π exposure) within a regolith setting on the parent asteroid. Further noble gas data were obtained for the C1 breccia clast AhS 91A by Riebe et al. (2018). They found that it has a significantly lower CRE age (as low as ~8 m.y) than other Almahata Sitta components measured to date. However, like all other AhS samples, and consistent with its low CRE age indicating residence at some depth (at least a few meters) within a regolith, no solar-wind-implanted noble gases have yet been definitively observed (Goodrich et al., 2019).
In an attempt to identify possible common ejection events among the ureilites, Beard and Swindle (2017) conducted a comparative study of 39 different samples utilizing three parameters: CRE age, Fo content in olivine (Mg#), and Δ17O value. They resolved ten potential clusters, several of which show concordance in their CRE age and Mg# but not in Δ17O value (heterogeneous), and three that are concordant in all three parameters (homogeneous). The oldest cluster they resolved, comprising DaG 084, DaG 319, Goalpara, and Haverö (homogeneous, although the Δ17O values for DaG 084 and DaG 319 have not yet been determined), reflects an ejection event that occurred 20.1 (±1.2) m.y. ago. The CRE age of this cluster is consistent with the average of all CRE age results obtained to date (see Riebe et al. [2017] information above). However, Beard and Swindle (2017) utilized alternate data for Almahata Sitta which provided a CRE age of 15.80 m.y., and they have included it along with GRA 98032 and Lahrauli within a heterogeneous cluster dated at 15.5 (±0.3) m.y. Leya and Stephenson (2019) conducted a more advanced 21Ne-based CRE age study employing 40 individual ureilites and correcting for pre-atmospheric radius and shielding depth. They determined that ureilites with short CRE ages are more highly represented than those with long CRE ages (see diagram below). This supports the inference that the ureilite parent body supplying fragments to Earth is currently moving closer to an efficient mean motion resonance.
Trapped noble gas contents and Xe-isotopic compositions in Almahata Sitta are consistent with those of other ureilites (Ott et al., 2010), with sub-µm- to several µm-sized diamonds serving as the main noble gas carrier (Murty et al., 2010). The U,Th–He ages of chondrite clasts of ~3.8 b.y. may represent the time of their incorporation into the ureilite host, which seems to correspond with the Late Heavy Bombardment period (Welten et al., 2011).
The magnetic signature of Almahata Sitta was found to be identical to that of previously studied ureilite falls, containing kamacite (two distinct phases), suessite (an iron silicide formed in situ from pre-existing ureilitic metal under low pressure [regolith], high temperature [impact heating], and very reducing conditions [abundant carbon]; Downes et al., 2010; Ross et al., 2019), schreibersite, and troilite, as well as a daubreelite-heideite phase new to ureilites which is possibly a contaminate from xenolithic clasts (Hoffmann et al., 2010). Ordinary and enstatite chondrite xenolithic clasts tend to have a much higher magnetic susceptibility. Hochleitner et al. (2010) investigated the mineralogy of Almahata Sitta and discovered up to five distinct kamacite phases. The metal phase (Kamacite I) that forms large sheets between silicate grains has a unique composition, and it was likely introduced through the impact of a Ni-poor iron meteorite. Troilite blebs located mainly in carbon-rich veins are thought to be the result of olivine reduction processes. As a result of shock re-melting processes in Almahata Sitta, grain boundary FeNi-metal particles are complex assemblages not observed in main group ureilites, comprising variable combinations of taenite, kamacite, Fe-carbide (cohenite), Fe-phosphide (schreibersite), and Fe-sulfide (Aoyagi et al., 2013). Mikouchi et al. (2014) identified an Fe-martensite phase in Almahata Sitta that is a product of very rapid quenching (>1°C/sec) at relatively low temperatures (~300–500°C). They hypothesized that the martensite was formed through an impact-related heating and fragmentation event on a small ureilitic asteroid; the asteroid probably represents a re-accreted daughter object following the collisional disruption of the original ureilite parent body.
Spectral studies of the many asteroid families have revealed some potential matches to 2008 TC3 and Almahata Sitta, especially the F-class Nysa-Polana family located in the inner Main Belt near the 3:1 resonance. The Nysa-Polana family has a low orbital inclination similar to that observed for 2008 TC3 along its trajectory to Earth (Gayon-Markt, 2011). This asteroid family contains three different types of material, including rare primitive B-type asteroids akin to ureilites, and thermally altered stony S-type and intermediate X-type asteroids. Spectrally, each of these three asteroid types have been identified in the Almahata Sitta fragments, suggesting that this mixture of asteroid types was the result of multiple low-velocity collisions. Another possible asteroid match is the Hoffmeister family located near the 5:2 resonance (Welten et al, 2010). There is also a possibility that the foreign clasts in Almahata Sitta were derived from a collision with the S-class Mildred family located in the inner Main Belt (Jenniskens et al, 2010). Asteroid 2008 TC3 is one of 69 members of the '1999TV16' association (orbital cluster) of near-Earth asteroids identified by T. J. Jopek (2020), which are predicted to generate bolides that intercept Earth during the period October 7th to February 8th (see diagram below).
69 Members of the 1999TV16 Orbital Association
top: 27 observed before 2012
bottom: 42 observed 2012–2019
Earth in green, 2008 TC3 in red
Diagram credit: Tadeusz J. Jopek, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (12 Mar 2020, open access preprint)
'The orbital clusters among the near-Earth asteroids' (https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa717)
As a quickly recovered fall, Almahata Sitta has a weathering grade of W0. It has a shock stage of S0, which is consistent with its low abundance of nanodiamonds, but inconsistent with the granoblastic, mosaicized textures observed in olivine and pyroxene (Mikouchi et al., 2010). The specimen of Almahata Sitta shown above is a 0.33 g crusted partslice sectioned from an undesignated coarse-grained lithology, which represents the most abundant lithology recovered (Horstmann and Bischoff, 2014). The bottom photo below is an excellent petrographic thin section micrograph of a coarse-grained sample of Almahata Sitta shared by Peter Marmet.
Photo courtesy of Peter Marmet
Ureilites Are Finally Figured Out
Special thanks to Siegfried Haberer and Stephan Decker for providing specimens of this special meteorite and many of its xenolithic inclusions to the scientific and collector communities.


text:
Department of Justice Blocks T-Mobile/Sprint Merger
For Immediate Release: April 16, 2019
Press Contact: Regan Page at [email protected]
NEW REPORT: Department of Justice Recommends Blocking T-Mobile/Sprint Merger
Protect America's Wireless Releases Statement on Merger That Would Have Put Our National Security at Risk
Washington, D.C. — Today, in response to the new report that the United States Department of Justice is unlikely to approve the proposed mega-merger between T-Mobile and Sprint as currently structured, Protect America's Wireless released the following statement:
"The news around the T-Mobile/Sprint merger by the Justice Department affirms what the national security community has been maintaining for months: this proposed mega-merger is bad for consumers and would have put our national security at risk. No one in the U.S. wireless industry has a closer relationship to Huawei than T-Mobile. T-Mobile's parent company, Deutsche Telekom, has an entangled and long-standing relationship with Huawei and has worked with them to deploy 5G in infrastructure around the world—even at times siding with Huawei over our closest allies. By blocking this merger, it is clear the DOJ is done with T-Mobile's vague, unenforceable commitments not to use Huawei, especially given that Deutsche Telekom would own 42 percent of the 'new T-Mobile.' It further solidifies that the DOJ is not buying T-Mobile's nebulous claims that somehow this merger will create more competition to Huawei. The DOJ's move to end the madness is a critical step to protect our national security and secure United States' control over our own digital future."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Gene Autry is the only entertainer with all five stars on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, one each for Radio, Recording, Motion Pictures, Television and Live Performance. By the middle of the 20th Century, Autry was a box office smash with his musical B Westerns, touring with his rodeo across the United States and the British Isles, and had several gold records including his Christmas classic Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Autry's highly anticipated television debut on CBS-TV, July 23, 1950, placed him immediately in the ranks of television's top most attractions. What's more, with TV, America's beloved cowboy star added still another to his long list of illustrious "firsts." He became the first topflight motion picture star to make films especially for the Golden Age of Television. The Gene Autry Show, sponsored by Wrigley's Doublemint Chewing Gum, originally aired on CBS from 1950 to 1955. The program follows the adventures of singing cowboy Gene Autry, his Wonder Horse Champion, and his side kick Pat. Each unique show has Gene's trademark mixture of action, comedy, and singing.


text:
Zoo Plasy je jedna z nejmenších českých zoologických zahrad, nacházející se ve městě Plasy severně od Plzně. Vznikla v roce 2016 postupným rozšiřováním Fantasy Golf – Cesta kolem světa, kde jsou v rámci jednotlivých kontinentů umístěna zvířata a rostliny. Snaží se tak o netradiční propojení zábavy, odpočinku a vzdělání.

Historie
Z původního adventure minigolfu, který je v provozu od roku 2012 a obsahoval tematické celky fauny a flóry dle kontinentů, vznikla v roce 2016 rodinná zoologická zahrada. Ve stejném roce získala licenci MŽP, čímž se stala oficiální zoologickou zahradou.

Základní přehled chovaných živočichů
Stav k 31. 12. 2016.

Savci: Kočka bažinná, Lemur kata, Lev, Makak červenolící, Malpa hnědá, Mýval severní, Nosál červený, Surikata a Tygr

Ptáci: Alexandr čínský, Amada Gouldová, Amazoňan modročelý, Amazona aestiva, Amazoňan žlutolící, Ara arakanga, Ara ararauna, Berneška rudokrká, Čírka obecná, Hohol islandský, Hohol severní, Husa indická, Chůvička japonská, Kachnička karolínská, Kachnička mandarínská, Kakadu žlutočečelatý, Korela chocholatá, Křepelka čínská, Kulíšek nejmenší, Labuť černá, Papoušek vlaštovčí, Papoušek červenokřídlý, Papoušek královský, Papoušek mnohobarvý, Papoušek nádherný, Papoušek vlnkovaný, Papoušek zpěvavý, Rosela Pennantova, Rosela pestrá, Puštík brýlatý, Puštík hnědý, Puštík vousatý, Sova pálená, Sovice sněžní, Výr velký, Výr virginský, Zebřička pestrá, Žako šedý konžský, Žako šedý liberijský

Plazi: Kajmanka supí, Želva ostruhatá

Ryby: Jelec jesen, Karas obecný, Karas zlatý, Kapr obecný, Kapr koi

Externí odkazy

Plasy
Organizace v Plasích
Vzniklo 2016

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Trevor Boyer was born in Castleford in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He attended the Wakefield School of Art from the age of 14 and then worked as a commercial artist in Leeds for 9 years. In 1976 Boyer became a freelance artist and has specialized in birds ever since. He has contributed to a number of publications including The Reader's Digest Nature Lovers' Library 'Birds of Britain', 1981, and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Automobile Association's Complete Book of British Birds, 1988.
He has exhibited at the Leeds City Museum and the Society of Wildlife Artists, Mall Galleries, London.


A driver has been handed a four-year jail term for causing the death of a 26-year-old man by dangerous driving.
Charlie Morris, of Lewisham in London, was a passenger in a car being driven by David Bissmire, 20, also from Lewisham, when it crashed on the A13 at Hadleigh, Essex, on October 22, 2006. Mr Morris died shortly afterwards.
Mr Bissmire was sentenced to four years' imprisonment and handed a three-year driving ban at Basildon Crown Court after he admitted causing death by dangerous driving.
Two other young men, Sam Lebeau and Duncan Rowland, both 19 and from Lewisham, had been accused at an earlier hearing of "racing" Mr Bissmire in another vehicle and also of causing the death of Mr Morris through dangerous driving.
In response to a police officer's question about whether he was racing, Mr Rowland had said: "I was not racing him. I'm not the kind of person who kits up a car to race. He (David) was probably showing off."
Both denied the charges and were cleared by the court.
David Urpeth from law firm Irwin Mitchell said: All too often, dangerous driving leads to either serious or fatal road traffic accidents. Often, as in this case, innocent passengers or other road users are the victims of such road accidents.
I regularly deal with claims for compensation for people injured or killed in road traffic accidents.


text:
ELOPEMENT AT CASA CHANTY RIVIERA MAYA ,MEXICO.
Ebony + André
We are Ebony and André and would actually always describe ourselves as an average couple, because of our civil service jobs and our normal hobbies.
We met before the pandemic on Tinder and shortly after some first dates, about a month later we were able to make a big trip together through Thailand.
We noticed right away that we have a lot of common interests like culture, concerts, comedy, etc. We really got to know and love each other during the pandemic. We moved in together and spent a lot of time together.
The idea to get married came when we were on vacation in Turkey and fantasized about getting married. Many friends had problems with their weddings, so we decided to get married secretly in Mexico according to our wishes. Accordingly, there was no question in the real sense but only a common desire.
The biggest obstacle was probably to keep everything secret from friends and the fear of making parents a little sad because they could not be there. There were some jokes about a potential wedding in Mexico after some colleagues saw pictures from our vacation in Turkey and André lost some kilos with a diet before the wedding. But we cleverly dismissed that. Closer friends of Ebony at least suspect that there will be a marriage proposal in Mexico.
Choosing the dress was, contrary to expectations, not a problem because it was really only about Ebony's idea and no other opinions played a role.
Thanks to our wedding planner Alba and the cossuphotography and videographer, we had a beautiful wedding and a very nice vacation in Mexico.
As a Christmas present this year we got a daughter and son in law for our parents.
The planning, thanks to Alba the planner, was like a (quote):multiple choice test where all the possible answers were correct. Thank you for letting as be part of your special day Jonathan and Gisel


Apartment Siofok 10 is a self-catering accommodation located in Balatonlelle. The property is 400 metres from Balatonlelle train station and 700 metres from Napfény beach. There is a full kitchen with a microwave and a refrigerator.


text:
Trang chủNhà Sách TikiEnglish BooksDictionaryChildren's & School DictionaryFirst Children's Dictionary
Xem thêm 2 hình
Tác giả: DK
First Children's Dictionary
(Xem 1 đánh giá)
Công ty phát hành DK Publishing
Nhà xuất bản DK Publishing
Kích thước 273 x 216 x 19 mm
Loại bìa Paperback
Filled with useful definitions, First Children's Dictionary is an ideal first reference book for children eager to expand their vocabulary.
With over 3,000 entries of updated, curriculum-linked content, First Children's Dictionary is an ideal starting place for young children wanting to describe the world around them. From using a dictionary to word histories that help develop an understanding of where words come from, this dictionary for kids is an essential first reference book.
Perfect for homework, First Children's Dictionary is the ideal starting place for children aged 6 and up intrigued about where words come from.
DK was founded in London in 1974 and is now the world leading illustrated reference publisher and a member of the Penguin Random House division of Bertelsmann. DK publishes highly visual, photographic non-fiction for adults and children. DK produces content for consumers in over 100 countries and over 60 languages, with offices in the UK, India, US, Germany, China, Canada, Spain and Australia.
DK's aim is to inspire, educate and entertain readers of all ages, and everything DK publishes, whether print or digital, embodies the unique DK design approach. DK brings unrivalled clarity to a wide range of topics, with a unique combination of words and pictures, put together to spectacular effect. We have a reputation for innovation in design for both print and digital products.


text:
DEVELOPMENT REPORT – Malaria Vaccine - 2004-04-04
Broadcast: April 5, 2004
This is Robert Cohen with the VOA Special English Development Report.
Malaria is a very serious disease that kills more children under the age of five than any other disease. People get malaria when they are bitten by tiny insects called mosquitoes. The mosquitoes carry parasites which enter a person's blood and cause malaria.
Carter Dibbs is an American doctor who works on the Malaria Vaccine Development Program for the United States Agency for International Development. Doctor Dibbs says the parasite that causes malaria is much more complex than other organisms, such as the virus that causes polio. He says the malaria parasite uses many tricks so that it is more difficult to make a vaccine that is safe and will prevent the disease.
Malaria vaccines are now being tested on adults in Burkina Faso and Mali. Vaccines are being tested on children in Mozambique and Mali.
Many organizations are involved in the testing. They include U.S.A.I.D, the American military, American health organizations, and European governments.
To make sure that a vaccine will really prevent malaria, it must be tested on many people in many different places. Doctor Dibbs says the people who join the vaccine tests are as important to the goal of finding the right medicine as the scientists.
People are told about the tests during public meetings with community leaders. Doctor Dibbs says people should ask questions about good or bad things that could happen to their bodies if they take the medicine that is being tested. Adults or parents of children must agree to the vaccine test.
Adults receive a small amount of the vaccine medicine. The children receive either the malaria vaccine or a different medicine that protects them against a different disease.
Then health care workers observe the people to see if they show any signs of malaria. The results of the tests must be compared to people who have not received the vaccine.
The vaccine is successful if fifty percent of the people who receive it do not show any signs of malaria for one year.
Then the United States government will be asked to approve the vaccine. However, it could still take another five years before a licensed vaccine is ready to give to all the children in Africa and around the world.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Karen Leggett. This is Robert Cohen.
Download RealAudio


text:
Q: Trying to run VmWare on Manjaro I'm trying to run VMWare on Manjaro but this message keeps appearing:

I am pretty new to linux, this was one of the tutorials that I was
following. The steps that I was following were in the description.
I wasn't able to run the command yay -S vmware-systemd-services, because this error popped up:

-> Could not find all required packages:
vmware-systemd-services (Target)"

If someone can help me that would be great because I can't seem to find a solution to these errors.

A:
I'm trying to run VMWare on Manjaro but this message keeps appearing:
[kernel headers missing]

I do not use Arch, but I do use VMware. Kernel Headers are need for the VMware Tools.
Try this article on how to install headers:
Install Kernel Headers
To install kernel headers on Arch just run the following:

pacman -S linux-headers
You may also need to reboot depending on why you were installing the
kernel headers.
You can actually install a specific version of the kernel headers like
this:
pacman -S linux-armv7-headers-3.16.1-1

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
After 15 Seasons of Grey's Anatomy, Shonda Rhimes Only Regrets Killing 1 Character
Does Shonda Rhimes Regret Killing Anyone on Grey's Anatomy?
October 30, 2018 by Quinn Keaney First Published: November 13, 2017
Over the course of 15 traumatic seasons of Grey's Anatomy, creator Shonda Rhimes has killed off a ton of characters. Lexie Gray? Dead. Mark Sloan? Dead. Denny Duquette? Dead. Derek Sheperd? I still can't talk about it, you guys.
You'd think that after dramatically cutting short so many beloved, fictional lives, Rhimes might want to bring a few of them back from the dead. However, the showrunner has just one regret about killing off a character, and it's pretty surprising. Rather than reviving one of the major players, Rhimes told Entertainment Weekly in April that the person she really didn't want to see go was actually one of the many high-profile guest stars on the medical drama: Dylan Young.
The ill-fated bomb squad leader appears in season two episodes "It's the End of the World" and "As We Know It," and is played by the internet's fantasy husband, Kyle Chandler. Chandler had yet to steal hearts as Coach Taylor in Friday Night Lights when the episode aired in 2006, but even so, both Rhimes and the cast knew he had big things ahead of him. "I remember thinking Kyle Chandler was amazing," Ellen Pompeo, who plays Meredith, revealed. "I wasn't surprised his career really took off after that because he was so natural."
Rhimes further explained that although the character was always supposed to die, she wavered once she got to know Chandler. "He would pitch me ideas on how Dylan, his character, could maybe not explode, and I would show him the line in the script that said, 'Dylan explodes,'" she said. "That's literally all it said. He was written to explode. But I did not expect to have Kyle Chandler. I didn't want to explode him." The revelation echoes what she said back in 2013, when she told The Hollywood Reporter that Dylan is the one character she wouldn't have written out if she could go back in time.
As we're all heartbreakingly aware, Dylan does explode into pink mist after Meredith successfully hands over the bomb she removed from a patient's chest cavity. I'm tearing up just thinking about it.
Although his exit from Grey's is still one of the most upsetting, I guess now we know why he later reappears as one of Meredith's hallucinations. Rhimes just couldn't get enough of him (and she's definitely not alone).
Grey's AnatomyKyle ChandlerShonda RhimesTV


Folly Beach and Charleston providing action for anglers!
Folly Beach has kept anglers busy the past few weeks with catches of Trout, Sheepshead and Redfish while Charleston fisherman are doing the same plus enjoying a huge influx of Bluefish into their waters. Sheepshead have been eating fiddler crabs and oysters. We have found them on sunken structure, rock piles and around docks and pilings in 4 to 18 ft of water. Redfish have begun to spread out from their winter schooling pattern and are now roaming creeks, flats and grasslines in smaller numbers in search of food. This is good news as they are readily taking soft plastics like Z-Man paddle tails and any kind of cut or live bait fished under corks or on the bottom. Trout have been biting well in clean water and we have been catching them on popping corks with live shrimp or mud minnows and just as effectively with DOA shrimp hopped and ripped off the bottom.
If you find your baits are getting hit often and you are coming up empty tie on a "Gotcha" plug and rip that through the area that you have been getting your bites in. Don't be surprised to hook into as many 10 to 12 inch Bluefish that you care to catch. I keep a few ultra light rods on the boat and we throw the small version of that plug and it provides plenty of action. We usually put a few dozen in the boat just for fun before moving on to search for larger prey. Your local tackle shop has everything you need to gear up for a successful trip. Be sure to stop in before you head out and ask them what is working. Your tackle shop staff has information and products that the big box stores just can't provide. I highly suggest you take advantage of it. The fishing has improved a little each week and things will continue to get better. Get your trips on the calender now by calling me or booking online through the website.


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Q: Navbar icon location in Twitter Bootstrap 3 Currently working on a page for a project and I have my code for collapsing the navbar when the screen is adjusted for mobile. Everything works the way it should, my only problem is the position of the icon bar. Normally the icon bar is in the right hand corner of the page when it collapses, but is it possible to have it on the left hand side instead. I have searched around and I can find plenty of info on changing the icon image, at what point the navbar collapses, etc., but nothing on moving it to the other side of the screen.
This is just a basic navbar code with a collapse feature, but I need the icon on the left not the right.
<!DOCTYPE html>

    <title>Bootstrap 101 Template</title>

    <link type="text/css" href="css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link type="text/css" href="css/style.css" rel="stylesheet">
    <link href="http://netdna.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/4.0.3/css/font-awesome.css" rel="stylesheet">

                <button type="button" class="navbar-toggle" data-toggle="collapse" data-target=".navbar-collapse">

                </button>
                Practice

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A: Just a little bit of css does the magic:
.navbar-toggle {
    float: left;
    margin-left: 15px;
}

Example


00:22:53 <venportman> hey substack and pkrumins: thank you for your help earlier when HN was bringing down my site.
00:57:56 <mikeal> dominictarr: you around?
01:00:36 <dominictarr> there are a couple of parameters.
01:25:13 <dominictarr> Error: "browserify exited with code 1"
01:25:33 <rvagg> dominictarr, Raynos: do you have a public repo with your nodeconf material in it?
01:32:16 <mikeal> dominictarr: do you know how directly the number of hash functions relates to the accuracy?
01:33:06 <dominictarr> how many bits you flip?
03:02:25 <jesusabdullah> mbalho: very cool.
03:02:33 <mbalho> jesusabdullah: yea im stoked!!!
03:05:36 <jesusabdullah> mbalho: even though you'd have to POST every time?
03:14:56 <jesusabdullah> ohey does wzrd.in.nyud.net work?
03:25:33 <jesusabdullah> mbalho: if you don't 302 but include a Location header, does that break things?
03:26:36 <jesusabdullah> mbalho: you have one?
03:29:52 <LOUDBOT_> THE MITTENS HAVE LOST THEIR KITTENS. THIS IS ABSURD.
03:32:30 <mbalho> jesusabdullah: does GET work now?
03:37:45 <jesusabdullah> should I scrub install hooks too?
03:39:59 <jesusabdullah> mbalho: vendored npm?
03:58:04 <kumavis> i need a bidirectional XML<-->JSON tool. an npm search returns many options-- Any suggestions?
05:02:19 <mbalho> kumavis: yea it works really well!
06:10:59 <guybrush> mbalho: wow that is pretty insane!
06:48:15 <jesusabdullah> mbalho: so dns is a module?
06:48:34 <jesusabdullah> mbalho: any idea why it wanted the "dns" module?
06:49:41 <jesusabdullah> mbalho: do you have logs from inside wzrd.in ?
06:50:19 <jesusabdullah> that's something else?
08:10:01 <timoxley> jesusabdullah does this mean modules can be cached across sites?
08:25:48 <jesusabdullah> timoxley: I guess so?
08:27:22 <jesusabdullah> I mean, that's up to your browser I guess, but yeah same url right?
08:27:46 <jesusabdullah> timoxley: also my solution to "but this isn't a real cdn" is, "put nyud.net in front of it"
08:34:51 <jesusabdullah> mbalho_: adding package.jsons is going to take a refactor. That's something I can do, but probably not tonight.
17:58:37 <mbalho> paul_irish: do you know if the chrome experiments people would be interested in a voxel.js based project?
18:00:14 <paul_irish> thl0: heh okay.
18:01:36 <thl0> is that explained in detail anywhere (i.e a blog post)?
18:22:32 <thl0> Domenic_: should jsdom log to the terminal by default when the window's console.log is called or how do I get these messages out?
18:23:08 <mikolalysenko> how does the chrome-experiment thing work anyway? is there a review process or something?
18:23:33 <mikolalysenko> like if I stuck a project like this on there would it just go or something?
18:42:13 <mikolalysenko> mbalho: yes. this is good.
18:47:19 <mikolalysenko> also how do you plan on storing scripts? as gists maybe?
18:48:13 <mikolalysenko> ok. but can users save stuff without logging into github?
19:06:19 <mikolalysenko> you could do "requireify"
19:09:14 <shama> so does netsol right?
19:13:26 <Guest97044> mbalho: disable native modules?
19:13:50 <isaacs> mbalho: disable native modules?
19:22:52 <mbalho> isaacs: yea basically during the npm install process is there any way to detect if a native build step is happening so it can be aborted?
19:23:55 <isaacs> ohhh, i see.
19:37:53 <mikolalysenko> mbalho: you could do r.equir.es !
19:41:13 <isaacs> mbalho: short answer: no. longer answer: patch welcome.
20:27:29 <jesusabdullah> isaacs: preferred api for that?
20:34:19 <dlmanning> so some consider it a Bad Thing to add methods to the http's request and response objects?
20:43:43 <isaacs> mbalho: what's requirebin?
22:45:44 <jesusabdullah> testling might work for that. Unsure.
22:45:53 <jesusabdullah> probably, they ARE straight unit tests.
22:46:15 <mbalho> isaacs: can you add quartzjer as a collaborator to npm telehash ?
23:02:20 <mikolalysenko> is there any list of all the completely crazy/inconsistent ways it is implemented in the various browsers?
23:03:00 <mikolalysenko> like it is 2013. why can no one agree on which/buttons/button/etc.
23:03:14 <mikolalysenko> and why is there a .x/.y/.clientX/.clientY ... ?
23:13:23 <jesusabdullah> "want to buy a knife? It's a really good knife" "uhhhh"
23:13:39 <jesusabdullah> "We do landscaping for $35, your yard is obviously a huge mess"
23:14:00 <jesusabdullah> and 2 seconds ago, "I'm with the goodnews grace church, we're having a video seminar..."
23:20:20 <jesusabdullah> "Wanted: Everyone I hate! Inquire within!"
23:29:58 <st_luke> jesusabdullah: do people sell knives door to door a lot in alaska?
23:34:38 <isaacs> mbalho: what's quartzjer and telehash?


HomeUncategorizedTaking Up A New Hobby? Here Are Some Great Tips!
TIP! If you're turning a hobby into a money-making endeavor, be sure to appropriately price your wares. You have to charge an amount that will gain profits so you can earn a living.
Most people have something they love to do when they are off work or school. Although many people aren't aware of how to get the most out of a hobby. This article has so many tips, you're bound to learn something new!
TIP! Hiking is a great hobby that helps keep you in shape while enjoying nature. Find multiple paths to give a try.
TIP! Finding a hobby is as simple as thinking about what you enjoy doing. Do you have skills that other people don't have? Look for things that you enjoy but that others do not want to do.
If you wish you,could make money with some hobby but aren't sure how, start by thinking about what makes you unique. Examine your unique skills to help you make a smart choice. Try to find things that you love, but that do not appeal to many other people. This can give you a great head start in finding something that can be profitable and enjoyable.
TIP! Look to see if you can find lots of online information about your hobby. You could be able to top the search rankings if you are in a niche that is not yet popular.
Look online to learn more about your hobby. If there is not a lot of information available, why not consider spreading some yourself. Your hobby is something you love, but you may be able to profit from it as well.
TIP! For people who live in certain areas, caving is a fun hobby. This is an adventure you must be properly prepared for and be knowledgeable about what it takes.
A great outdoor hobby is horse riding. You can trail ride, checking out the animals and plants around you. Also, you will be making a good friend with your horse and connecting with nature like you have never done before.
TIP! Let other people know about your hobbies. It's the little random things about people that make life so special.
Try to share your favorite hobby with other people. What makes life great is being able to have those little moments of joy with others. Often, things like that are related to your hobbies. Allow others to experience your hobby. Show everyone what you enjoy. It can open doors and spark new friendships.
TIP! Do some gardening. To some, the garden may be a chore, but to others it is a time of joy.
Go outside and get into the garden. What may seem like a chore to some, is actually someone else's idea of heaven. Sow some seeds in the springtime, care for them all summer and eat the results in the autumn. Gardening is a good way to get exercise, enjoy the outdoors and enhance your food budget.
TIP! Take up calligraphy and improve your handwriting. The basic materials are easy to get, and the graceful glide of pen on paper is very relaxing.
TIP! If you're a frequent traveler, you can start a hobby by collecting different things from your travels. Perhaps you could collect spoons, wine or pottery pieces.
Hobbies are one of the best parts of life. The truth is that some folks need to know more about different hobbies and what kind of things are out there. Hopefully you now have some new knowledge about hobbies and are prepared to get started.


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The Case for Reviving a Classic French Specialty: Broth
By Hank Shaw
Holly A. Heyser
It's not often I write a post solely about a recipe. I've dedicated whole sections of my site just to recipes, so I prefer to write about other things and point those who may be interested to the recipes themselves. But consommé is more than just a recipe—it is one of the great discoveries of my experiments with wild game cooking.
Consommé is one of those classic French techniques anyone who attends cooking school learns to do. I've seen all sorts of chefs roll their eyes at consommé as boring or overly fussy. But at its best, consommé is powerfully flavored broth so clear you can read the Bible through it. A well-made consommé is also one of those dishes that is far harder to execute than it looks. Consommé shows skill and panache without shouting, like a Savile Row shirt: crisp, understated, but oozing style and class. Consommé is the Grace Kelly of soups.
To too many chefs, consommé is passé, like sole meunière or steak Diane. Consider it with fresh eyes.
Tragically, consommé died about the same time as Princess Grace, in the early 1980s. What happened? Why do we not see it on menus anymore? Probably the same reason no one wears a vest with their suit these days. To too many chefs, consommé is passé, like sole meunière or steak Diane. But I ask you to consider consommé with fresh eyes.
A perfectly executed consommé is almost entirely devoid of fat—although I prefer just enough fat floating on the surface to make it look like there is a sprinkling of gleaming jewels adorning the broth. It will taste powerfully of whatever it is made from, and of course it will be crystal clear.
It is that clarity that is so difficult to achieve—in life, in writing, and in soup.
My first encounter with a truly great consommé was as a boy in a French restaurant in New Jersey my mother and stepfather took me to; I can't remember the name. I remember being unimpressed with the simple bowl of soup set in front of me, until I drank some. All I can remember after that is an overwhelming sensation of beef. It was beefier than any beef I'd ever eaten, and to this day the only beef broth that beats it is from a Japanese soup house in St. Paul, Minnesota called Tanpopo.
For years, I'd known how to make consommé, but never dared try it. Consommé seemed impossibly difficult, and, more importantly, expensive. And this may be why few restaurants make it anymore. Yet it was at a restaurant where I first learned the technique. Any of you who ate at Grange's Duck Dinner last November will remember that Chef Michael Tuohy and I did dueling consommé courses.
Mine was a classic duck consommé with duck liver ravioli.
It was a triumph, a masterpiece. But I failed Chef Tuohy, Chef Dennis Sydnor, myself, and my guests by forgetting to salt the consommé before service. I still feel nauseous thinking about it.
Back home, I made the dish again. And again. Now I think I've nailed it, and this version is even better than the one we made at Grange. Walk with me for a bit, and I will show you how to make magic with bones and broth.
You will need several days to make consommé, but most of the time you can be doing other things, and you can store the broth in the fridge for several days if you get busy. Ideally, you start on a weekend and finish the consommé either during the week or even the following weekend. Sound like a lot of work? It's worth it.
First, you need to make duck stock. I wrote a long piece about making wild game stock several years ago that will help newcomers to homemade stocks. (Incidentally, if you want to make this consommé with venison or beef, you will need to make beef or venison broth first.)
Once you have your stock you must chill it in the fridge, preferably overnight or up to several days.
Now you must make a raft. A wha? A raft. You'll see why it's called that in a minute. Remember I said how hard it is to achieve clarity? This is where the raft comes in. Nowadays I hear there are high-tech hydrocolloids you can use in modernist cuisine to clarify broths, but for centuries the answer has been egg whites.
Egg whites are primarily protein and water, but it's the proteins we're looking for. Put egg whites into a liquid and heat it and the proteins will form a molecular mesh that will act like a magnet, attracting the suspended solids that cloud your broth. The egg whites will rise to the surface of the liquid, drawing all the solids with them. Once strained, the liquid will be clear.
But it will also have less flavor, because a lot of those suspended solids taste good. This is why a raft is made from not just egg whites, but also finely chopped vegetables, tomato for acid, herbs, and some spices, plus an additional hit of meat.
This is another reason I suspect restaurants don't make consommé: It is undeniably expensive. You not only need meat and bones to make the stock, but you also need lean meat to grind with the raft to finish the consommé. If your customers don't appreciate the work that goes into consommé, then charging them $13 for a bowl—for what looks like clear, unadorned soup—might cause a ruckus.
Fortunately, we have no shortage of meat. Holly and I have been lucky enough to have had a banner duck hunting year, and so we had enough ducks to use for the raft. Even still, it kinda pained me to grind up 2 1/2 pounds of duck breasts for a soup. But they were sea ducks we'd shot in San Francisco Bay, so it was a good use for them.
To finish a consommé, you pour your cold stock into a stockpot—the pot needs to be taller than it is wide—stir in the cold raft and turn the heat to medium. It is vital that the stock heat up gradually, and it is important to stir everything frequently until you see the raft start collecting on the surface of the stock.
Once the raft forms, simmer very gently for at least one hour, and no more than 90 minutes. If you are making fish consommé, no more than 45 minutes.
Finally, you can either ladle your consommé through the raft into a clean container, or you can skim off the raft and pour the consommé into the container—either way the soup needs to be poured through a paper towel set in a sieve.
Unless I am making consommé as a base for pasta, like I did at Grange, I don't garnish it. I want those who drink it (yes, you drink consommé, without a spoon) to experience the full glory of the soup. But you can garnish if you want. A traditional garnish for wild game consommé is julienned mushrooms.
I urge you to try making consommé, whether you use duck or chicken or beef or fish—you can even make a vegetarian consommé with mushrooms. Serve it to people you love, and take a little pride in explaining to them what you went through to achieve clarity. It can be a religious experience.
Click through to Hank's blog to view his complete recipe for duck consommé.


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The closest he ever got to his dream. Photo: Devin Jones
From the Real MVP: Not everyone can play in the Super Bowl
In Sports February 9, 2017 Leave a Comment
Our sports editor's mom returns for another edition of her Eyeopener column, bringing you pearls of sports wisdom from the real MVP.
By Daniel's Mom
One of the most grown up things a parent must do is help their kid set realistic goals for themselves. We may see our kid as the next Bill Nye or k.d. lang but frankly, we might have to temper their dreams with a reality check or two. Especially when it comes to sports.
This past weekend, the spotlight shined bright on a select group of elite athletes. Millions of people tuned in to watched one of the most spectacular Super Bowl games in history, and another generation of young football players went to bed dreaming of the day they'd hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy over their heads. But the athletes playing in the Super Bowl were the exception, not the rule. It's no secret that a microscopic portion of athletes will ever make a career of their sport.
So when my oldest announced at age seven that he was going to be an astronaut, I was relieved. At least he didn't want to play in the NFL. He did play hockey, baseball and football throughout his school years. He enjoyed the comradery, warmed the bench a lot, made some memories and then moved on, marching to the beat of his own drum.
My daughter regulated her own athletic aspirations. After four—count 'em—years of rejection from her elementary volleyball team (!) she flipped them a digit and proclaimed, "We hate volleyball." She proceeded to exact her revenge on the soccer field, and of late has embraced individual sports as an antidote to her people-filled work life.
My youngest, your sports editor, got bitten by the hockey bug. Badly. He knew every stat, every NHL lineup by the time he was 12. It became incredibly easy to buy wildly popular birthday and Christmas gifts so long as there was a Calgary Flames logo on it somewhere, although I became slightly alarmed when he asked for goalie equipment. On closer inspection of my boy's obsession, I learned that the players he followed—idolized—were not even ten years older than he was. Was hockey his life's plan? And the grainy home movies of little Gretzky on his little Brantford rink didn't help. Would my son's love of the game and its players morph into a desire to 'go pro'?
He was a good player, mind you, small but plucky as they say. Even in elementary school basketball he proved that spunk over stature could win a game. On the ice as a house league defenceman, he could scoot under the opponent's armpit and disrupt a setup. But ultimately, he knew he couldn't pull that off in the more competitive leagues.
Thankfully we had a degree of modulation in the extended family. Cousins excelled at sports, but they also became immersed in music, stage, dance. It was a healthy mixture of ability and interest. But my kids grew up in a village where summer was baseball or soccer, and winter was hockey.
Hockey moms and dads got up at obscene hours to shuttle kids to unbearably cold arenas and drank unbearably bad coffee to watch their budding Lindros or Sakic run through drills. These were member of an elite squad known as the REP players and parents.
Rep moms walked differently. They pushed their grocery carts with a certain swagger. They spoke a language house league mothers didn't understand. They talked about 'away' tournaments, scholarships, scouts, summer tours, boot camps hosted by veteran pros. As a teacher, I even experienced parents who demanded high school exams be waived because they conflicted with team travel schedules.
These kids had a fire lit, the flames fanned by their parents. They had a bright future, and that future was National.
I can think of only one or two of these rep kids who didn't burn out by the age of 16. To my mind, those parents did their kid no favours. In the end, many of these kids had few hobbies, the rare experience unrelated to sports and were less equipped to spend 'alone time' productively. Many were talented—extremely talented—but is that the magic ingredient for 'making it'?
Parents play a huge role in helping their kids discover who they are and who they want to be. For a few—a very few—that future may indeed be NHL or NFL or NwhateverL. But parents, being human, get stars in their eyes, and a few tears too, as they envision the best and happiest life for their children. It's hard to pull back and watch them fail, or choose their own path that might be unfamiliar or downright scary to a parent.
For most of us, all we can—and must—do, is invite our kids to embrace sports for the discipline, the comradery, the exercise, the sportsmanship and the fun. Not a bad skill set to see them into their futures, whether it lands them a Super Bowl ring or not.


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Bosnia: Dino Merlin's First Rehearsal
Posted on May 3, 2011 December 25, 2011
byVebooboo Nadella
Wiwi's personal favourite Bosnia took to the stage this morning in Dusseldorf. Dino Merlin delivered a stellar vocal performance of his song 'Love in Rewind.' The ditty is without a doubt THE folksy song of the year, and the Eastern European crowd will eat it up like an American kid at McDonald's. The question remains whether the West will buy into it.
The choreography is incredibly simple, partly because the group is already composed of six members, leaving little room for extra bodies on stage due to ESC rules. But while the choreography doesn't have the immediate fan appeal that Bosnia had in 2008 (Laka with the crazy clothes hanger lady), it's hardly in the same train wreck category of the likes of Poland and Croatia.
Bosnia will definitely make it to the Final. But will performing first in Semi-Final 2 make it tough to beat out other favourites Estonia, Denmark and Sweden? By the end of tomorrow we will have a better sense, but for now it's too close to call.
first reheasal
Love in Rewind
Vebooboo Nadella
Vebooboo Nadella contributed this post from Amsterdam. Keep up with the latest Eurovision news and gossip by liking our Facebook page and by following the team on Twitter @wiwibloggs.
Second Semi-Final Odds: Estonia or Bosnia to Win, Denmark Passes Sweden
Eurovision 2011 Profile: Israel's Dana International with "Ding Dong"
Italy: Mahmood set to open Lauryn Hill concert… while "Soldi" goes platinum in Spain


The post you're about to read to me is SUPER near and dear to my heart in many ways, mostly because it features two of my DEAREST friends, fans, and unconditional supporters (who you'll be meeting today, yeee!). What's more, today's post is a rare chance for me to put my blogging overdrive on pause and say a BIG thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to the people who have meant the most to me throughout this amazing blogging journey: yep, that's all of you!
An Introduction to the SUPPORT (SUPer ImPORTant) Team: Behind every blogger is a critical SUPPORT–or SUPer ImPORTant people–system. Whether this consists of the entire food blogging community or just your mom, blogging is never a solitary activity. It takes a lot of dedication to update your Instagram account every day at 6 AM with #frappuccino, photograph everyone's food every time you go out to a restaurant, and hurl your kitchen into a tornado disaster zone on a semiweekly basis only to clean it up again right away because the clouds set in and all of your hard work is no longer photograph-worthy. Sure, who doesn't admit that we've got our work cut out for us?
But when you're the person who has to put up with the person who does all of this loco stuff on the regular, like most of my friends and family do, it takes much more than time: it takes patience, enthusiasm, and a genuine willingness to put your faith in the fact that your friend is not perhaps just a crazy loon whose life goal is to give every single person around her onset diabetes. Okay, so we do go through 50-pound bags of white sugar every six months or so, and it's true that every unfortunate soul with whom we come in contact seems to put on 10 extra pounds within a month of meeting us. Even armed with this knowledge, however, our supporters never throw in the towel: they take it and quietly wipe up the melted chocolate we just splattered all over their brand-new kitchen countertop.
When I got home, I immediately started throwing together everything in my kitchen and making care packages to go with the bottles. (All the photos from this post are from my favorite treat of all –Peanut Butter Chocolate Rice Krispies-Smothered Jumbo Marshmallows – and yes, you can find the recipe at the end of this post!) And then I quickly sent both boxes off to my dear friends, to whom I'm excited to introduce you now!
If you ever run into Fong, you'll know. Her presence will hit you like lightning, because if you stop to say "hello" (which you obviously should), not only will she also stop and say "hello" back–she will look you straight in the eyes and give you her full attention as she waits for your next response. Even after 5 years, she's still probably the only person willing to put up with my insane shenanigans at any time of the day or week, no matter how busy she is, unconditionally and without judgment. Her only possible shortcoming is the fact that she hasn't watched all of the classic Disney animated films yet (don't worry though–we're working on that).
Though she came into my life as I was leaving college, Fong has been a hero to me in so many ways throughout the past few years. She's also one of the main reasons I continue to blog: though we don't talk nearly so often as we used to, she still orders baked goods from my Etsy shop frequently, does her best to keep updated on my posts, and occasionally sends me a message about something that particularly resonated with her. I can't emphasize how much that kind of real-time support means to a person like me who feels like she's constantly drowning in updates, memos, and research.
If I had to describe him three words, they would be: generous, thoughtful, and crazy-supportive. (Okay, so sue me, I couldn't stick to just three words!) I have never met anyone more unconditionally supportive of my dreams than Bob, before or since. We met at Dinner for 12 Strangers, an awesome event where 12 students meet for the first time with a former alumnus/a who hosts a massive dinner banquet. Over the course of the night, you get to know everyone present, and voila–you leave with a round dozen new friends!
He's all the way in Seattle now, but we got to visit him over Spring Break this year and it's always wonderful to see his familiar face! He's also one of the few friends who can bring some of my blog updates into conversation without even blinking an eye–it always astounds me how much time he takes even staying updated on Wallflour Girl. Generosity comes super naturally to him, and it's small gestures like that that make me eternally grateful that we both attended that dinner three years ago. Whether it's blogging, or career aspirations, or just some far-fetched scheme about nothing in particular, his support keeps me inspired to move forward and always keep my eyes fixed on the stars!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Rice Krispies-Smothered Jumbo Marshmallows.
I love this original recipe because it basically takes the best of all worlds–chocolate, peanut butter, rice krispies treats–and balls them all up into one glorious, simple no-bake bite. The fluffy jumbo marshmallow in the center is a wonderful surprise and basically offers a texture explosion that contrasts so nicely with the crackling krispy cereal exterior.
I would totally recommend whipping up a batch in the next 5 minutes and sending them to somebody you want to thank. After all, 'tis the season to be thankful–365 days a year, right?
So last but not least, in the spirit of thankfulness, I want to say a final BIG THANK YOU to all of you dear readers who have made it with me this far. Every comment, every connection, every shared moment with each and every one of you is one that I treasure, and not only could I not have done this without you–I would not have loved doing this without you. I hope you'll all carry a morsel of this thanks-giving with you throughout the rest of your day and week, and spread it with all those wonderful people in life about whom you care!
If you're looking for more creative, heartfelt ways to say your big THANK YOU this week, stop on by the Share A Coke website and personalize a bottle for your loved ones. You can also check out and share more #ShareYourSummer moments here! I'm so glad I got a chance to work with Coca Cola on this idea, and to stop and appreciate some truly amazing folks who have made all of my endeavors possible. I hope you all enjoyed today's post–and THANK YOU!
One of the BEST no-bake recipes out there! A crispy chocolate and peanut butter rice krispies exterior smothers a jumbo, fluffy marshmallow interior. A must-make for any chocolate-PB lover in your life, and the PERFECT way to say thank you on any occasion!
In a large bowl, combine rice cereal and chips.
In a medium microwave-safe bowl, heat chocolate in microwave at 30-second intervals, stirring vigorously in between each. At the 1-minute mark, add peanut butter and continue microwaving at intervals. Heat until chocolate and peanut butter have just melted, and can be stirred smoothly.
Pour chocolate mixture over cereal mixture and toss to coat completely.
Working quickly, roll a jumbo marshmallow in mixture until completely coated. Place on prepared cookie sheet and repeat until you have used up all of the cereal mix.
Allow to set for 30 minutes before eating or packing up to send to a friend!
Does it sound weird if I thank you for thanking me? I foresee an endless thanking battle if I do. But I'm going to do it anyway… thank YOU! I love love love that you are still going strong with your baking and blogging, and I can't be happier to have such a great friend like you. I hope you keep doing what makes you happy! But don't burn out on baking before I visit, ok? 🙂 See you next month!
Sounds like you have some fantastic friends, Ala!
Mmmm … these are like rocky road bites. Oooh yes please, I'll have one (or 10)!
That's so awesome that you have such a wonderful group of supportive friends! The coke bottles and these chocolate + pb treats are so much fun! Love that they are no-bake too!
Steamed Strawberry Coconut Poke Cake for More-than-just-a-Mother's Day!


The following video is part of our "Motley Fool Conversations" series, in which industrials editor/analyst Isaac Pino discusses topics around the investing world.
Today, Isaac takes a look at the components that dropped the most on a down day for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Aluminum maker Alcoa dipped 1.8%, giving back some of last week's gains. As a cyclical commodity-driven stock, Alcoa saw its shares affected by the revised estimate for GDP growth in Japan. Second-quarter GDP slowed to 1.4% on an annual basis, compared with 5.5% during the first quarter for Japan. For tech stocks with significant exposure to Japan, the news was not well received, either. Cisco and Intel dipped 1.4% and 1%, respectively, to round out the Dow's worst stocks during Monday's trading session.
From Isaac's perspective, Intel's been slow to jump on the mobile bandwagon, but there's still a lot to be excited about when compared with tech laggards Cisco and Hewlett-Packard on the Dow. However, if Intel fails to break into mobile, it will find itself in a precarious situation longer-term with fewer avenues for growth. In this premium research report on Intel, our analyst runs through all of the key topics investors have understand with the chip giant. Better yet, you'll continue to receive updates as news develops for an entire year. Click here now to learn more.