Posted by Gerry Hamilton

Defensive tackle Mike Mustafa (Katy, Texas/Morton Ranch) is one of several defensive line prospects in the Houston area in the 2011 class. The 6-foot-4, 300-pounder burst onto the scene as a big-bodied sophomore flashing his potential. As a junior, he battled through a broken hand and coaching turmoil at Morton Ranch, but continued to show his potential.

“It started off tough this season because of the coaches,” said Mustafa. “I broke my hand on the first day of practice, but I still played the first game. We had a lot of selfish players early on and didn’t come together until the eighth week of the season.” Read the full story

If you found your grandmother’s diary, tattered and dust covered, up in the attic, would you read it? Of course you would. Granny was a pistol! Brush off the dust, open up the little book, and foray into her lively and interesting past.

Dust cloaks some fascinating tales in other places, too. NASA scientists will soon brush the dust off some Martian rocks that are practically bursting their seams to give their lively account of the red planet’s past. The Mars Science Lab — aptly named “Curiosity” — is heading up there in 2011 to read the diary of Mars.

The small, car-sized rover will ramble about on the rocky surface, gizmos at full tilt, not only brushing dust off rocks but also vaporizing them with a laser beam, gathering samples to analyze on the spot, taking high resolution photographs, and more.

“Curiosity will be prospecting for organic molecules, the chemical building blocks of life,” says Joy Crisp of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “We want to find out whether Mars’ environment was, or still is, capable of harboring life.”

“To answer the question ‘Is there life on Mars?’ the most reasonable and productive approach is to look for organic compounds, which could be from life past or present, or from meteorites,” explains Michael Meyer of NASA headquarters. “If you find anything, you know you’re in a region that could preserve evidence of life, if there was any. We have maps from our orbiters, but we don’t know which of the promising looking regions actually contains anything, much less the mother lode.”

“The rock record is of particular interest,” says Crisp. “It has a record from billions of years ago and can answer questions like ‘Where and for how long might Mars have been habitable?’ ‘Was it cold or warm there in the past?’ ‘Was the water there acidic or salty?’”

Curiosity will be the first red planet rover since Spirit and Opportunity. Though it would be hard to match the twins’ toughness, Curiosity will have a much greater range, more instruments, and a bigger, stronger robotic arm. It will be nuclear powered instead of solar, so there will be no worries about dust on solar panels causing energy supplies to plummet. It will have much more power, more consistently.

“Curiosity will even land in a new fashion,” says Crisp. “Spirit and Opportunity were sitting on top of a lander that hit on the surface and bounced, protected by airbags, before coming to rest and opening up. They then had to drive off the top of the lander. A descent stage called Sky Crane will gently lower Curiosity (no airbags needed) via cables, which will be cut once the rover’s wheels set down.

Right: An artist’s concept of Curiosity’s descent to Mars. [larger image] [more]

Meyer adds, “The most important difference is that Spirit and Opportunity aren’t analytical labs – they are more for observing. This newest rover will be performing a more comprehensive study of the Martian environment.”

Remote sensing instruments located on Curiosity’s mast will scout around for promising targets and perform some long-distance analysis before the vehicle moves in for a closer look.

“Curiosity will have a laser on its mast that can take aim at a rock and vaporize a small spot on it,” says Crisp. “This produces a plasma cloud that tells us about that rock’s chemistry. We’ll look at the light reflected off the cloud to characterize rocks and soils from up to 9 meters away. We’ll be able to classify minerals, ices, and organic molecules without having to drive as much.”

The mast also sports a high-resolution camera called, naturally, Mastcam. It will observe, photograph, and videotape geological structures and features, like craters, gullies, and dunes.

The rover’s robotic arm wields its own unique instruments. APXS, the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer, will measure the abundance of chemical elements in the dust, soils, rocks, and processed samples. MAHLI, the Mars Hand Lens Imager, will return color images like those of typical digital cameras and act like a geologist’s magnifying lens. Its images can be used to examine the structure and texture of rocks, dust, and frost at the micrometer to centimeter scale.

One laboratory instrument inside the rover’s body will explore the red planet by “sniffing” the air, bird-dog style. SAM, short for Sample Analysis at Mars, has vents that open to the atmosphere to determine where to take samples, for example if it detects methane in the area.

“That’s important because methane can be released by microbes,” explains Crisp, “or by liquid water reacting with rock at depths under the surface. Water ‘down under’ could be a niche for subterranean life. SAM can also be used to sniff the gases released after baking a rock or soil sample in its oven.”

In addition, Curiosity will carry instruments for observing Martian weather and measuring cosmic radiation bombarding the planet’s surface.

“This rover is intrinsically spectacular in terms of what the mission will do,” says Meyer. “It’s a keystone for the future. It sets the stage for understanding whether organics are preserved on Mars and will tell us what we need to use to find out.”

Now – where’s that diary?

http://science.nasa.gov/

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – On an unseasonably warm day in mid-September in this hotbed of hockey, a crowd packed around a makeshift fence at David Lam Park to watch a slightly staged pickup soccer game.

One team had members of the Vancouver Whitecaps, who play in the top tier of the United Soccer Leagues and are destined to join Major League Soccer in 2011.

On the other team was a scruffy-haired local athlete: Steve Nash.

The several hundred fans who came for this “Showdown in Downtown” charity match – put together by Nash – watched the Suns point guard, Whitecaps minority owner and full-time soccer nut set up headers with precision passes, boot one-time kicks and control the general speed of the match.

Five days later, 5,135 fans crowded the Whitecaps’ home at Swangard Stadium to cheer a different local athlete with the same jutting jaw and petite facial features: Steve’s brother Martin, the Whitecaps’ starting midfielder and captain. He did much of the same – paced the soccer pitch with high lobs and passes, continuously finding teammates throughout the match.

While their playing styles might appear similar, the Nash brothers have increased the profile of soccer in this city in different ways – Steve with his name recognition, Martin with his behind-the-scenes grunt work.

“I’m out and about in the community here, in being a part of this team and coaching. I think it was good for (Steve) to get involved, to be behind the (Whitecaps’ MLS) bid,” Martin Nash said. “I think it is good for publicity for the MLS as well to have him interested and being involved.”

Around Vancouver, signs of Steve Nash’s celebrity are pasted across the city: sports clubs he owns, billboard advertisements, people wearing his No. 13 Suns jersey. Although hockey rules Vancouver, Steve, who grew up in nearby Victoria, is the region’s favorite son.

“He is a recognizable face, a huge celebrity here in Canada – our most famous current athlete,” Whitecaps defender Marco Reda said.

In July 2008, after talking with his friend, Whitecaps co-owner and former Yahoo! president, Jeff Mallett, it was announced that Steve would make a financial commitment to the Whitecaps as a minority owner. At that point, the Whitecaps were planning to bid to join MLS in 2011.

Formed in 1974, the Whitecaps boasted a sound fan base, good facilities, and stable ownership with Mallett, majority owner Greg Kerfoot and Boston Celtics co-owner Steve Luczo. But Nash brought a different type of quality to the bid – a star quality.

“You can just see the positives in terms of him, not just being known by the fans, but interacting with the fans and having a passion for the sport which is really important here,” MLS president Mark Abbott said. “You can tell that he loves the game.”

And on March 18, this helped Vancouver win its bid.

“I think the MLS was very excited that Steve would be a tag associated with our club,” Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi said. “It was very exciting to have someone of his stature and the way he conducts himself. He brings a lot of, a lot more profile to the club.”

Steve’s celebrity status with the Whitecaps could easily overshadow Martin’s accomplishments, but the younger Nash has carved his own soccer niche in the area. Martin, 33, who is in his ninth season with the Whitecaps, spends close to 20 hours a week coaching soccer. Some of it is for pay, some of it is for fun, but all of it comes from his social conscience – to give back to the game.

One day before a Whitecaps’ playoff game against the Portland Timbers in October, Martin spent his Wednesday night teaching a U-11 team how to dribble, pass and shoot. He even showed off a little, as the group of 10 stared in awe when Martin balanced a ball on his forehead.

“You always want to help out and see the game grow because it is what I have been doing my whole life and it is what I love doing,” Martin said.

As the team prepares for its move to MLS, the brothers see their roles with the Whitecaps evolving.

Owning the team is part of Steve’s post-basketball plan, to keep his hand in a sport he cares about, while also moving the game forward in his home area. It’s something he hopes to be more involved with once his basketball career is over.

“I feel like I still have a lot to give as a basketball player. But I have to realize that I am mature enough now and at a stage where I am happy to start other pursuits,” Steve said. “So, being a part of the ownership group of the Vancouver Whitecaps is one of those pursuits that fulfills a passion of mine, but also brings something really incredible to our home province.”

Meanwhile, Martin would like to simply get to 2011. With soccer mortality inching closer, he wants to play on his hometown team when it reaches the highest professional soccer level in North America.

“Personally, I would love to be a part of it because it would be that final progression,” Martin said. “To be there for it would be great.”

http://www.azcentral.com/

ARLINGTON — The North Texas school district that didn’t show President Barack Obama’s speech to schoolchildren during class last week has canceled a field trip to see former President George W. Bush.

About 600 fifth-graders in the Arlington school district were supposed to see Bush speak at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium next week at an event for the 2011 Super Bowl. Read the full story

So the Fed is now claiming the “real unemployment” to be at 16%, and this comes just weeks after claiming the economy was in a state of “recovery”. This makes one wonder if the “real unemployment” rate is actually even higher than the 16% they are now claiming. The figure was at 9.4% until the Fed released the news yesterday of 16% unemployment. There are also claims that this figure could continue to climb through 2011. Read the full story