8/17/2005:

Intermediate Word:  tonneau-  (a) rumble seat  (b) large four-wheeled open carriage  (c) free-standing canvas cover for gatherings  (d) cargo scales
Difficult Word: - pallaise  (a) thin, straw-filled mattress  (b) rice, legume, and meat broth dish  (c) furniture-storage cover  (d) trolley for the deceased at funeral homes

The Homestead Project: Making a Mars Settlement a Reality - Space.com  The Mars Foundation is a non-profit organization made up of approximately 30 volunteer members, many of them scientists and engineers, and their effort is called the "Homestead Project."  According to the plans, the settlement will rely on a curious blend of old and new technology: it will be built with the aid of robots and run on nuclear energy, but will utilize materials and building techniques reminiscent of earlier centuries on earth.      
Media's Hype Distorts NASA's Reality - SpaceDaily  Recently I read a headline stating: "The world holds its breath for the shuttle landing..." But Who were holding their breaths? NASA? The Discovery astronauts? Or me? I think none of us! This is a grave distortion of reality, created by the media for their own commercial purposes. The truth is, that Discocery's flight was one of the safest EVER undertaken. The truth is, that it suffered LESS from shedding and tile impacts than most previous flights. Before we just didn't have the cameras to find out about it. Or we just didn't care if some gap filler was a bit loose. But now we care, and that made this flight - not safe - but safer than any flights before. So what's the worry, mate?   

Navy's new warship can cross an ocean on 1 tank of gas  - CNN   Left:  The Sea Fighter is an aluminum catamaran.  Resembling a commercial car ferry, the Sea Fighter stretches 100 yards (90 meters) and can hold two helicopters on its deck. Its stern can launch and retrieve manned or unmanned mini-submarines and small boats, and it can be armed with hundreds of low-cost, "cruise-like" missiles capable of supporting U.S. troops hundreds of miles (kilometers) away. In calm seas, it can exceed 50 knots, or 57 mph (92 kph), and is capable of entering water as shallow as 12 feet (3.7 meters). It carries a crew of 26 and a price tag of $79 million (euro63.8 million), compared with $4.5 billion (euro3.6 billion) spent on the new USS Reagan nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. While a conventional warship bristles with sensors and weapons, the Sea Fighter is mostly empty space and weighs about 1,000 tons -- one-tenth as much as the newest destroyer.




8/16/2005 Daily Page
8/15/2005 Daily Page
8/14/2005 Daily Page
8/13/2005 Daily Page
8/12/2005 Daily Page
8/11/2005 Daily Page
8/10/2005 Daily Page