Kriptonit (kryptonite) postoji... u Srbiji

B92-Izgleda da kriptonit više nije samo deo naučne fantastike i mineral koji je u stanju da oduzme snagu Supermenu.

Novi mineral sa identičnom hemijskom strukturom kakvu ima kriptonit u filmu „Povratak Supermena“, pronađen je u rudniku u Srbiji. Iako u filmu kriptonit ima fluorescentnu zelenu boju i oduzima supermoći, pravi kristal je prilično običan, izjavio je doktor Kris Stenli iz Prirodnjačkog muzeja u Londonu. „Plašim se da novootkriveni mineral nije zelene boje i ne svetli, ali primetlili smo da pored ultraljubičastog svetla odaje narandžast odsjaj“, izjavio je Stenli za BBC. Istraživači rudarske kompanije Rio Tinto otkrili su neobičan mineral i, nakon neuspele identifikacije, pozvali su doktora Stenlija kako bi im pomogao da odrede poreklo i sastav nauci potpuno nepoznatog minerala. Nakon što je ekspert iz Londona otkrio hemijsku strukturu minerala, shvatio je da je njegova formula već pominjana u literaturi, i to u delima naučne fantastike. „Kako sam se bližio istraživanju, dosta vremena provodio sam na Internetu tražeći podatke vezane za sastav minerala – i bio sam šokiran kada sam otkrio da se isto naučno ime natrijum-litijum-bor-silikat-hidroksid pominje u tekstu o krađi kriptonita iz muzeja koja se dešava u filmu „Povratak Supermena“. Novi mineral ne sadrži fluor i bele je boje, ali u svim drugim aspektima je identičan sa kriptonitom“, dodao je Kris Stenli. Ime novog minerala će biti Jadarit, po mestu u Srbiji gde je pronađen, kada bude predstavljen 2008. u magazinu European Journal of Mineralogy. Mineral sadrži bor-silikat i litijum, koji su veoma dragoceni, pošto se bor-silikat koristi pri odlaganju radioaktivnog otpada, dok se litijum koristi u izradi baterija i u farmaceutskoj industriji.

BBC-A new mineral matching its unique chemistry - as described in the film Superman Returns - has been identified in a mine in Serbia.
According to movie and comic-book storylines, kryptonite is supposed to sap Superman's powers whenever he is exposed to its large green crystals.
The real mineral is white and harmless, says Dr Chris Stanley, a mineralogist at London's Natural History Museum.
"I'm afraid it's not green and it doesn't glow either - although it will react to ultraviolet light by fluorescing a pinkish-orange," he told BBC News.
Rock heist
Researchers from mining group Rio Tinto discovered the unusual mineral and enlisted the help of Dr Stanley when they could not match it with anything known previously to science.
Once the London expert had unravelled the mineral's chemical make-up, he was shocked to discover this formula was already referenced in literature - albeit fictional literature.
"Towards the end of my research I searched the web using the mineral's chemical formula - sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide - and was amazed to discover that same scientific name, written on a case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luthor from a museum in the film Superman Returns.
"The new mineral does not contain fluorine (which it does in the film) and is white rather than green but, in all other respects, the chemistry matches that for the rock containing kryptonite."
The mineral is relatively hard but is very small grained. Each individual crystal is less than five microns (millionths of a metre) across.
Elementary clash
Identifying its atomic structure required sophisticated analytical facilities at Canada's National Research Council and the assistance and expertise of its researchers, Dr Pamela Whitfield and Dr Yvon Le Page.
"'Knowing a material's crystal structure means scientists can calculate other physical properties of the material, such as its elasticity or thermochemical properties," explained Dr Le Page.
"Being able to analyse all the properties of a mineral, both chemical and physical, brings us closer to confirming that it is indeed unique."
Finding out that the chemical composition of a material was an exact match to an invented formula for the fictitious kryptonite "was the coincidence of a lifetime," he added.
The mineral cannot be called kryptonite under international nomenclature rules because it has nothing to do with krypton - a real element in the Periodic Table that takes the form of a gas.
Power possibilities
Instead, it will be formally named Jadarite when it is described in the European Journal of Mineralogy later this year.
Jadar is the name of the place where the Serbian mine is located.
Dr Stanley said that if deposits occurred in sufficient quantity it could have some commercial value.
It contains boron and lithium - two valuable elements with many applications, he explained.
"Borosilicate glasses are used to encapsulate processed radioactive waste, and lithium is used in batteries and in the pharmaceutical industries."

P.S. Jači smo i od Superman-a!

World's Longest Suspension Bridge

On April 5, 1998, 10 years after construction began, the ribbon was cut to open the world's longest suspension bridge, the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan. The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, also known in Japan as the Pearl Bridge, has a record main span of 1,991 meters. By comparison, the bridge is 366 meters longer than the previous record holder, the StoreBaelt (East Bridge) in Denmark.

The Akashi Kaikyo suspension bridge forms one link in the Kobe-Naruto highway route, which connects the main island of Honshu and the southern island of Shikoku. The bridge was constructed in 110-meter-deep water with tidal currents of 4.5 meters per second. Wind speeds of 80 meters per second and a potential 8.5 Richter magnitude earthquake 150 kilometers from the site had to be considered by the bridge owners, the Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Authority.

The main span was designed to be 1,990 meters with two side spans of 960 meters each. The bridge roadway surface is constructed on top of a 14-meter-deep by 35.5-meter-wide truss girder system suspended from main cables passing over two steel towers that rise 298 meters above main sea level. A 65-meter clearance is maintained over the shipping lane. The 1.12-meter-diameter main cables were erected using full-length, prefabricated strands. Approximately 181,400 metric tons of steel were used in the superstructure, and 1.42 million cubic meters of concrete were used in the substructure.

Even longer

The gap between Sicily and the mainland spans three kilometres of deep water in a seismically active area. Italian engineers considered building a floating or bored tunnel, but in the end decided a suspension bridge was the most practical option. Italy's government have given the go-ahead (june 2002) to build the world's longest suspension bridge, linking Sicily to the mainland. The bridge will carry three lanes of car traffic and one train line each way, with extra lanes for emergencies and servicing. It will be 3.7 kilometres long, with a 3.3 kilometre gap between the supporting towers.

There is an even braver project to span the Gibraltar using new materials now available.

The Great Belt Bridge

The Great Belt Bridge
is the World's second longest suspension bridge, with a span of 1,624 meters - only exceeded by a bridge in Japan.
The pylons are 254 meters high, and the bridge sections are placed 75 meters above the surface of the sea. Each bridge section weighs 1,000 tons, and the 2.7 kilometers of road between the two anchors is put together of 57 such bridge sections.
The pylons are 26 meters higher than those of the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco in the USA, which for more than 50 years has been the record holder. The main cables are 85 centimeters in diameter, and are spun by 18,648 threads, which are themselves 5 millimeters in diameter.
The Great Belt bridge is actually two bridges - an Eastern and a Western section, split by the island Sprogø. It's usually the Eastern one you see pictures of, as the Western one is a rather dull looking anonymous bridge, much like you normally find eg. across a valley - only a great deal longer. The Eastern bridge is the "pretty" one, spanning the deepest part of Storebælt with the suspension bridge.
The East section of the bridge is for car traffic only. The train tunnels are for - trains. Since June 1, 1997, all train traffic between Zealand and the Western part of Denmark has been going through the tunnels. This has cut the travel time across the Great Belt from one hour to seven minutes!
The Bridge is a modern high-tech marvel regarding not only it's construction and great span but also planning to the smallest detail and even maintenance.

Besides joining east and west Denmark, the bridge link across the Great Belt represented the first stage of an improved infrastructure between Scandinavia and the rest of Europe. The Øresund Fixed Link between Denmark and Sweden opened in 2000, creating a coherent traffic network and establishing even more vital links between Copenhagen on the island of Zealand and Malmø, southern Sweden's largest city. With three million people living within a 50km (30-mile) radius of the link, the region has the largest population concentration in Scandinavia.

Dens and swedish differ in almost everything. Those are not just the cultural differencies but also different electricity systems concerning voltage which made big problems for trains travelling between two countries or if you like, for the engineers. The cost of construction reached 6 billions (eur), for crossing the bridge, a one-way fare for a private car costs 250DKK ($42). About 10,000 cars now cross the bridge each day.

Virginia Tech shootings

"You have vandalized my heart, raped my soul and torched my conscience," he said into the camera, looking down occasionally to read from his manifesto. "You thought it was one pathetic boy's life you were extinguishing. Thanks to you, I die like Jesus Christ, to inspire generations of the weak and the defenseless people."

By the time the 23-year-old student had videotaped his suicide message, he knew what was to come. He hoped that a stunned and grieving nation would listen, riveted, to his words.

"I didn't have to do this. I could have left. I could have fled," he said. "But no, I will no longer run."
"It's not for me. For my children, for my brothers and sisters. ... I did it for them."

"You had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today," he said. "But you decided to spill my blood. You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option. The decision was yours. Now you have blood on your hands that will never wash off."

The target of his hatred was fellow students at Virginia Tech, where Cho massacred 32 people Monday.

"Your Mercedes wasn't enough, you brats," he said. "Your golden necklaces weren't enough you snobs. Your trust funds wasn't enough. Your vodka and cognac wasn't enough. All your debaucheries weren't enough. Those weren't enough to fulfill your hedonistic needs. You had everything."

Cho, it seems, had nothing.

He had no friends, no normal college life, no reason to live.

Just a death wish.

And a desire to show the whole world his disturbed heart.

Bird's Nest Beijing

Pobednički dizajn tima herzog and de meuron za Olimpijski Stadion u Pekingu izabran je između 13 predloga od kojih su tri ušla u uži izbor. Nesvakidašnji high-tech koncept u obliku ptičjeg gnezda osvojio je srca članova žirija.

Izgled stadiona je njegova čista struktura. Fasada i konstrukcija su jedno. Elementi konstrukcije seoslanjaju jedni na druge čineći formaciju sličnu ptičjem gnezdu što je i osnovna ideja. Radikalan a istovremeno jednostavan prostorni efekat čini jedinstveno istorijsko obeležje za Olimpijadu 2008.
Stadion zadovoljava sve tehničke i funkcionalne potrebe za održavanje Olimpijskih takmičenja ali bez upotrebe elemenata jednolične tehnokratske arhitekture kojom dominiraju strukture velikih raspona i digitalni ekrani. Posetioci ulaze u pokriveno šetalište koje se prostire po celom obimu iza tribina. Odatle, stepenicama stiže se do bilo koje od tri etaže tribina. Lobi, koji funkcioniše kao stanična dvorana, je pokriven urbani prostor sa radnjama i restoranima.Prostor između elemenata konstrukcije popunjen je naduvanim ETFE jastucima, na isti način na koji ptice popunjavaju prostor između grančica nežnijim punilom.Ovi “jastuci” slični onima na Allianz Areni postavljeni su sa gornje strane krovne konstrukcije čineći je vodonepropusnom a istovremeno propuštaju sunčevu svetlost potrebnu travi na terenu. Po bočnim stranama jastuci služe kao zaštita od vetra tamo gde je potrebno. Pošto su restorani u lobiju zamišljeni kao nezavisne jedinice, fasada može i bez punila omogućavajući prirodnu ventilaciju prostora što je bio najvažniji aspekt održivosti dizajna. Početni dizajn je predviđao poktretan krov koji bi potpuno zatvorio celu formaciju ali su usledile kasnije izmene na kojima su insistirali kineski inženjeri i krovni otvor je proširen a elementi skraćeni iz bezbednosnih razloga.

ostala rešenja na konkursu za stadion možete pogledati ovde.

Independent Kosovo? Why NOT:

U.S. Declaration of Independence — The prototype for constitutional government began with a war for independence, so we can hardly deny the right of people to separate if they cannot secure their constitutional rights within an existing polity. Most independence movements look to this document for their inspiration.

Why is Kosovo (shorter for Kosovo polje /ser: Blackbird's field/, albanian version of the word: Kosova, doesn't mean a thing) so different from other regions and provinces around the world that seek independence? Almost every European country has it's own Kosovo. Let us name just a few:
Sinn Fein is the oldest political movement in Ireland. It takes its name from the Irish Gaelic expression for ''We Ourselves''. Since being founded in 1905, Irish Republicans have worked for the right of Irish people as a whole to attain national self-determination.
The Scottish Separatist Group was formed in October 1995 by former members and supporters of the Scottish National Liberation Army. The SSG is a Scottish Republican and revolutionary nationalist group which supports the Scottish National Liberation Army politically. The SSG is an activist group which totally rejects the pseudo-nationalism of the collaborationist SNP and its allies.

The government and people of Spain are currently facing an upsurge in violence from the Basque separatist group ETA, a Basque language acronym for Basque Homeland and Liberty, which is fighting for an independent homeland in northern Spain and southwestern France. Founded in 1959 by opponents of the mainstream Basque Nationalist Party during the Francisco Franco dictatorship.

What about France: Corsica Nazione — Corsican national party seek independence for Corsicans, Iparretarrak (IK) — Armed group acting in the northern Basque Country, The Savoy League - La Ligue Savoisienne — Savoy, one of the oldest nations in Europe, was annexed by France in 1860. The Savoy League, created in 1994, seeks to reclaim its independence...

In Italy: Lega Nord — Party advocating the independence of northern Italy, or Padania, The Two Sicilies: The Old Independent State of Southern Italy — Southern Italy's answer to the Lega Nord , Sardigna Natzione (Sardinian Nation) — Sardinian nationalist movement...

Ok, but what about America:
Canada had its own home - grown terrorist movement in Quebec known as the Front de Liberation du Quebec (Quebec Liberation Front) or FLQ. There is more: The Western Canada Concept — Movement dedicated to building an independent nation of Western Canada, Alberta Independence Party — Party which advocates the independence of Alberta, British Columbia Separatist Movement — Seek independence for the province,
The Newfoundland Patriot — Advocate independence of Newfoundland and Labrador,
Ontario Independence League — Advocate independence of Ontario...

United(?) States of America: Alaskan Independence Party — Seeks referendum with choice of statehood, independence, commonwealth, or self-governing territory , Free the Bear - California Secession and Independence, California Secessionist Party, The Republic of Cascadia — Advocates independence for the Pacific Northwest from both America and Canada, with a libertarian and pro-business perspective, State of Jefferson — The rich history surrounding the events leading to the State of Jefferson secession movement of 1941. The State of Jefferson lives on in the hearts and minds of many residents of northern California and southern Oregon today, Hawai'i — Independent & Sovereign — Separatist movement of Hawaiian aboriginal people, New England Confederation Movement — Seek independence for New England states, South Carolina League of the South — Seek independence through secession, perhaps for all of the Southern states of the 1861-65 Confederate States of America, Republic of Texas — This is one of several pages for the somewhat fractured Texas Independence Movement which has recently received a great deal of attention, United People's Party (Partido Nacional La Raza Unida) — Many of them seek to separate the part of the U.S. taken from Mexico from the U.S. and make it an independent Hispanic nation called Aztlan...

And others around the world:
Azerbaijan, Chechnya, Tibet Independence Movement in China, Palestinian Liberation Organization, East Timor in Indonesia...
Why not make them ALL free?
If Serbia didn't reach agreement with Albanians over Kosovo dispute, why rush things? Israelis can't reach agreement over Palestine for 50 years. Kosova Republic would be a product of united efforts of the recognized terrorist organisation Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) and NATO. History will remember who opened the Pandora's box...

MAJESTIC 12 DOCUMENTS

Majestic 12 tajni dokument o vanzemaljskoj letelici koja se srušila na teritoriju SAD sredinom prošlog veka.