With snow totals of anywhere from one to two feet falling across nine midwestern states along with brutalizing winds, the February snowstorm of 2011 left a 2000-mile trail of misery (and some deaths) all the way to Maine. But, other acts of nature -- tales of kindness and generosity -- were just as prolific. 100 National Guard troops mobilized statewide in Wisconsin as 7 foot drifts formed on rural roads and white-out conditions stranded motorists. Rescuers in snowmobiles were even getting stuck. Emergency personnel -- police, firefighters and 911 dispatchers, along with thousands of tow truck drivers and snow plow operators -- worked through Tuesday's rush hour, overnight and into the morning to help towns and cities dig out. Yet, perhaps those who worked without pay, with only the motivation to serve, provide the real inspirational stories. (Photo: Helpful pedestrians in Grand Rapids, Mich. by Victoria Fanning) Homeowners welcomed strangers indoors after roads became impassable and all hope of evening rescue evaporated. One couple near Madison, Wisc, even threw an impromptu 'blizzard party' to make the best of it.
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(GNN) An original grant of $30 million made by the U.S. Agency for International Development back in 1995 to assist the economic transition in Albania after the fall of the Soviet Union has born fruit -- enough so that in a ceremony last week, half the money was returned to the U.S. Treasury with thanks to the American people. The Albanian-American Enterprise Fund (AAEF) used the money to promote private sector development in Albania by investing in a wide array of private enterprises and providing management advice, training, and best practices to companies. The Fund has completed approximately 62 investment transactions with over 32 Albanian companies, contributing an estimated $725 million to the GDP and creating over 3,500 jobs. The Fund achieved an extraordinary financial return, the balance of which will continue to promote private sector development by providing grants in areas such as education for sustainable development, entrepreneurship, leadership development, and cultural tourism in Albania. (AP/CBS) An orbiting NASA telescope is finding whole new worlds of possibilities in the search for alien life, including more than 50 potential planets that appear to be in the habitable zone. In just a year of peering out at a small slice of the galaxy, the Kepler telescope has spotted 1,235 possible planets outside our solar system. Amazingly, 54 of them are seemingly in the zone that could be hospitable to life - that is, not too hot or too cold, Kepler chief scientist William Borucki said. Until now, only two planets outside our solar system were even thought to be in the "Goldilocks zone." And both those discoveries are highly disputed. Fifty-four possibilities is "an enormous amount, an inconceivable amount," Borucki said. "It's amazing to see this huge number because up to now, we've had zero." The more than 1,200 newfound bodies are not confirmed as planets yet, but Borucki estimates 80 percent of them will eventually be verified. At least one other astronomer believes Kepler could be 90 percent accurate. [AP] OSLO, Norway -- A Norwegian lawmaker has nominated WikiLeaks for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, saying Wednesday that its disclosures of classified documents promote world peace by holding governments accountable for their actions. The Norwegian Nobel Committee keeps candidates secret for 50 years, but those with nomination rights sometimes make their picks known. Snorre Valen, a 26-year-old legislator from Norway's Socialist Left Party, told The Associated Press he handed in his nomination in person on Tuesday, the last day to put forth candidates. "I think it is important to raise a debate about freedom of expression and that truth is always the first casualty in war," Valen said. "WikiLeaks wants to make governments accountable for their actions and that contributes to peace." Valen also announced his choice on his blog, where he wrote that WikiLeaks had advanced the struggle for human rights, democracy and freedom of speech, just like last year's winner, Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. Valen cited disclosures of nepotism and corruption in Tunisia's presidential family, saying WikiLeaks "made a small contribution to bringing down" that regime. (NPR.org) As NASA somberly marks the 25th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger accident, the agency is looking ahead to the retirement of its aging space shuttle fleet later this year. The next astronauts to travel to space may go instead by private spacecraft designed and owned by commercial companies such as Virgin Galactic.
But a deadly accident like Challenger could have serious ramifications for the fledgling commercial space industry as it tries to take over the job of ferrying astronauts up to low Earth orbit and the International Space Station. Any accident would probably result in a long investigation and spaceflights being grounded — after Challenger and Columbia, it was years before the shuttles flew again. What would that do to a private company? "A lot depends on how the private company reacts, and a lot of it depends on the root cause of the failure," says Ken Bowersox, a former NASA astronaut who now works on safety issues for SpaceX, one of the private companies vying to someday take NASA astronauts and other paying customers to orbit. |
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