Fri, 23/07/2010 - 02:55 by Pankaj Damin
Pasadena, Calif. -- A manned lunar station could be closer to reality following the discovery of water trapped in lunar rocks on and below the surface, U.S. scientists say.
The discovery grew out of the study of rock samples returned from the moon by the Apollo 14 mission in 1971, The Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday.
Researchers found hydrogen in the form of hydroxide -- a close chemical relative of water -- in a mineral called apatite.
"If you heat up the apatite, the hydroxyl ions will 'decompose' and come out as water," Professor George Rossman of the California Institute of Technology said.
The findings show "robust evidence for the presence of water in the interior of the moon from where some lunar rocks were derived," researchers said.
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Fri, 23/07/2010 - 02:02 by Pankaj Damin
Washington -- Aerosmith's publicist says the iconic rock band is gearing up to start its "Cocked, Locked and Ready to Rock Tour" in Oakland, Calif.
The 18-city U.S. summer tour is to begin Friday, Liz Rosenberg Media said.
The group recently completed a string of successful dates in Europe and South America.
Aerosmith is scheduled to play their hometown of Boston, along with the J. Geils Band, at a sold-out Fenway Park show Aug. 14.
"After last summer, we've been looking forward to getting back out there with a vengeance. I can't wait to feel the roar of the American audiences again and give this summer what it needs -- a double dose of Aerosmith!" Steven Tyler said in a statement Thursday.
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Wed, 21/07/2010 - 23:42 by Pankaj Damin
Glendora, Calif. -- A California 17-year-old said a series of 14 creative Craigslist swaps, beginning with an outdated cellphone, earned him a 2000 Porsche Boxster S.
Steven Ortiz of Glendora said he first offered the cellphone for trading on the Web site about 2 years ago and the experience led to a series of trades that saw him briefly owning a dirt bike, a MacBook Pro, a 1987 Toyota 4Runner and the 1975 Ford Bronco he traded for the Porsche, KTLA-TV, Los Angeles, reported Wednesday.
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Wed, 21/07/2010 - 09:14 by Pankaj Damin
Los Angeles -- Lindsay Lohan Tuesday began serving her 90-day jail sentence for skipping an alcohol education class following a court appearance in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Lohan, 24, was jailed for failing to comply with the terms of her probation for a 2007 driving under the influence conviction.
A Sheriff's Department booking document obtained by the Los Angeles Times said the actress is expected to be released from a Lynwood, Calif., jail Aug. 2, after having served only 14 days of her sentence, due to prison overcrowding. Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore later said Lohan's "projected release date is Aug. 1 or Aug. 2," meaning there is a possibility she'll be out of jail in even less time.
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Tue, 20/07/2010 - 02:28 by Pankaj Damin
Newport Beach, Calif. -- A California man who bought a purported Frank Sinatra shirt at a garage sale for $5 says it has been verified as belonging to the late Rat Pack crooner.
Rick Gorski of Newport Beach said he bought the white tuxedo shirt last fall from neighbors preparing to move out of state and had it verified as Sinatra's by Anto Distinctive Shirtmakers in Beverly Hills, a Sinatra-favored business with records dating back to 1955, The Orange County (Calif.) Register reported Monday.
"We know what Frank (Sinatra) wore in '60s," said Jack Sepetjian, who took over father Anto's business with brother Ken. "What style. What fabric. We have it in the archives."
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Tue, 20/07/2010 - 02:21 by Pankaj Damin
Sacramento -- A California opponent of the state's 2008 gay marriage banning Proposition 8 said he is collecting signatures for a divorce-banning measure.
John Marcotte, 38, a Sacramento father of two, said he was inspired to create the 2012 California Marriage Protection Act by the pro-Proposition 8 campaigners claiming the law was designed to protect traditional marriage, the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News reported Monday.
"Don't stop gay people from getting married; stop straight people from getting divorced," Marcotte said of the idea behind his proposed ballot initiative, which would ban divorce but allow for religious annulments. "It's a much more direct way of achieving the goal of Prop 8."
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Sat, 17/07/2010 - 03:12 by Pankaj Damin
New York -- U.S. actress Vonetta McGee has died of cardiac arrest in Berkeley, Calif., where she was a resident, a family spokeswoman said. She was 65.
McGee, who died July 9, is best known for her work in the blaxploitation pictures "Blacula," "Hammer" and "Shaft in Africa." Her other film credits include "Faustina," "Il Grande Silenzio," "The Lost Man," "The Kremlin Letter," "Detroit 9000," "Thomasine & Bushrod" "The Eiger Sanction," The New York Times said Friday.
Her small-screen credits include "Hell Town," "Bustin' Loose," "L.A. Law" and "Cagney & Lacey."
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Sat, 17/07/2010 - 02:27 by Pankaj Damin
Cupertino, Calif. -- Apple iPhone 4 users will get a free case to correct a problem with the device's antenna, Apple chief Steve Jobs said at Apple headquarters in California.
"A lot of people told us (a) bumper solves the signal strength problem," Jobs said Friday. "Let's give everybody a free case. Every iPhone (4) user is going to get a free case" through Sept. 30.
Users who bought a case can get a refund, Jobs said at the company's Cupertino, Calif., campus.
Getting a cover, however, may not be easy, he warned.
"We can't make enough bumpers," he said. "No way we can make enough."
To counter that issue, Jobs said other covers would be fashioned to handle the iPhone 4's antenna issue, can be ordered online and "zoom, we'll send it off to you."
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Sat, 17/07/2010 - 02:19 by Pankaj Damin
La Jolla, Calif. -- Dr. Robert Galambos, the neuroscientist whose work on how bats navigate led to implanted devices to help the deaf hear, has died, his family says.
Galambos,96, died of congestive heart failure on June 18 at his home in La Jolla, Calif., The New York Times reported Friday.
Galambos' research into how bats navigate in total darkness revealed the code by which nerves send messages about sound and led to practical results like cochlear implants to provide a sense of sound to the profoundly deaf, the newspaper said.
Galambos, the author of more than 200 scientific publications, was "one of the giants of auditory research," Steven A. Hillyard, a professor of neuroscience at the University of California -- San Diego, said.
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Thu, 15/07/2010 - 10:36 by Pankaj Damin
Pasadena, Calif. -- A distant galaxy with a tail studded with bright clumps of new stars offers clues to how such stars form, U.S. researchers say.
Galaxy IC 3418's tail was formed as it collided with the neighboring Virgo cluster of galaxies, ScienceDaily.com reported Wednesday.
"The gas in this galaxy is being blown back into a turbulent wake," said Janice Hester of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
"The gas is like sand caught up by a stiff wind," she said. "However, the particular type of gas that is needed to make stars is heavier, like pebbles, and can't be blown out of the galaxy.
"Observations are teaching us that this heavier, star-forming gas can form in the wake, possibly in swirling eddies of gas."
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Thu, 15/07/2010 - 09:55 by Pankaj Damin
Gulf Shores, Ala. -- The artist who created a T-shirt for Jimmy Buffett's free concert in Alabama apologized for leaving Mississippi off the list of oil spill-affected states.
California artist MB Hanrahan, who designed the logo with dolphins, a turtle and a pelican for Buffett's free concert Sunday in Gulf Shores, said omitting Mississippi from a list that included Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia, although the latter state does not have a Gulf of Mexico coastline, the Biloxi (Miss.) Sun Herald reported Wednesday.
"Oh, no. That is sad," Hanrahan said the omission. "Artist chagrined. It won't happen again."
The shirts came in a variety of colors and sold for $20-$25.
Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI).
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Thu, 15/07/2010 - 09:55 by Pankaj Damin
Gulf Shores, Ala. -- The artist who created a T-shirt for Jimmy Buffett's free concert in Alabama apologized for leaving Mississippi off the list of oil spill-affected states.
California artist MB Hanrahan, who designed the logo with dolphins, a turtle and a pelican for Buffett's free concert Sunday in Gulf Shores, said omitting Mississippi from a list that included Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia, although the latter state does not have a Gulf of Mexico coastline, the Biloxi (Miss.) Sun Herald reported Wednesday.
"Oh, no. That is sad," Hanrahan said the omission. "Artist chagrined. It won't happen again."
The shirts came in a variety of colors and sold for $20-$25.
Copyright 2010 United Press International, Inc. (UPI).
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