Scientists decipher plot of the universe; largest map created!

In order to make their map, scientists used the Sloan Foundation Telescope to observe an unprecedented number of quasars.

The enigmatic universe harbours countless secrets within it, compelling scientists to put in every effort to delve deeper in order to extract information about its existence and consequent evolution.

The universe is also home to numerous super-massive black holes, which emanate incredibly bright and luminous distant points of light called Quasars.

Using the positioning of these quasars, scientists have now managed to create the largest, very first map of the large-scale structure of the universe.

"Because quasars are so bright, we can see them all the way across the universe," said Ashley Ross of the Ohio State University in the US.

"That makes them the ideal objects to use to make the biggest map yet," said Ross.

The super-massive back holes are placed right in the centre of the quasars, which give them the brightness.

As matter and energy fall into a quasar's black hole, they heat up to incredible temperatures and begin to glow. It is this bright glow that is detected by a dedicated 2.5-metre telescope on Earth.

"These quasars are so far away that their light left them when the universe was between three and seven billion years old, long before the Earth even existed," said Gongbo Zhao from the National Astronomical Observatories of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In order to make their map, scientists used the Sloan Foundation Telescope to observe an unprecedented number of quasars.

During the first two years of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey's Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS), astronomers measured accurate three-dimensional positions for more than 147,000 quasars.

The telescope's observations gave the team the quasars' distances, which they used to create a three-dimensional map of where the quasars are.

However, to use the map to understand the expansion history of the universe, they had to go a step further, using a clever technique involving studying "baryon acoustic oscillations" (BAOs).

BAOs are the present-day imprint of sound waves which travelled through the early universe, when it was much hotter and denser than the universe we see today.

However, when the universe was 380,000 years old, conditions changed suddenly and the sound waves became "frozen" in place.

These frozen waves are left imprinted in the three- dimensional structure of the universe we see today.

The results of the new study confirm the standard model of cosmology that researchers have built over the last 20 years.

In this standard model, the universe follows the predictions of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity - but includes components whose effects we can measure, but whose causes we do not understand.

EXCLUSIVE: Wife of 9/11 Victim Pens Letter to Donald Trump Urging Strength During Saudi Visit

Ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia this weekend, the national chair of the 9/11 Families & Survivors United for Justice Against Terrorism advocacy group wrote a letter to the leader of the free world. The letter urges him not to buckle under pressure from Saudi Arabia and potentially weaken a provision in a law that would allow the families of victims of America’s most devastating terrorist attack to sue countries involved in carrying out terrorism.

Breitbart News acquired an exclusive copy of Terry Strada’s letter to President Trump urging him to remain steadfast in his support for families of 911 victims who are suing the government of Saudi Arabia under the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), which was first enacted in 1976.

JASTA creates a path for U.S. citizens to file civil claims against foreign governments for wrongful deaths, injuries, and property damage related to terrorist acts that were financed by those governments. The law also removes any government’s sovereign immunity — in this case Saudi Arabia’s — from being sued if it were involved in a terrorist attack against the United States.

The majority of hijackers on September 11, 2001, were Saudi citizens. 

Strada lost her husband, Tom, in the devastating terrorist attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives on September 11, 2001.

Part of her letter to President Trump reads:

We remain deeply grateful for your support for our cause, especially last September when you denounced President Obama’s veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act. Your backing was essential to ensuring that JASTA—which guarantees that terror victims like us can hold foreign nations accountable when they provide support and funding to terrorists who carry out attacks on U.S. soil—is now the law.

…

First, we fully expect that the Saudis will try to convince you to betray the 9/11 families. They will not put it that way, but will instead argue that JASTA should be “fixed” or “modified” to eliminate “unintended consequences.” Please do not let them get away with this dishonest approach. The Saudis do not want to “fix” JASTA; they want you and Congress to pass a new law that arms them with a special defense against our lawsuits.  This is the same false claim that Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham have made—after voting for JASTA in September and betraying the 9/11 families just days after the November election.  Would you please make it very clear to the Saudis that you will never support any weakening of the 9/11 families’ legal rights?

Second, the Saudis need to hear directly from you that Americans do not appreciate being manipulated by propaganda and fake news peddled by foreign agents.  Just this week, the Associated Press reported on how the Saudis are engaged in a $1.3 million-per-month campaign to manipulate the public, deceive our military veterans, and fool Congress into weakening JASTA.  That news story has been carried throughout the world, and was picked up in the U.S. by outlets as varied as Breitbart, Fox News, Bloomberg, ABC News, and even the Daily Beast. We are sure you especially share our outrage that the Saudi agents are lying to our nation’s veteran community. Would you please tell the Saudi Kingdom that this deceitful campaign must stop?

Under U.S. law, foreign governments are generally immune from the jurisdiction of U.S. courts and cannot be sued for injuries they cause, unless one of the exceptions to sovereign immunity — which is set forth in a statute called the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act — applies.

Congress included a provision in JASTA designed to encourage and empower the president to press for, and ultimately, broker settlements of cases brought under JASTA law.

But JASTA provides a path for President Trump to raise this issue with the Saudis and work towards a resolution should he choose to do so.

Last year, the Saudi government reportedly attempted to astroturf the United States in an attempt to roll back JASTA. This year, reports surfaced that Saudi Arabia was paying millions to send veterans on trips to Washington and using them as pawns to lobby against the JASTA legislation.

As of October last year, Saudi Arabia was reportedly paying American lobbyists and public relations firms $1.3 million per month to fight against the right of Americans to sue the nation for financing terror.

Ahead of President Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia this weekend, the Saudis expressed their hope that he will reverse the legislation that allows for the families of the 911 victims to sue their country for their role in the devastating terrorist attacks.

The Saudis’ raising the issue of JASTA legislation being a concern for them could encourage a settlement. It could also provide Trump with the opportunity to showcase his steadfast support for the 911 community and all who were affected by the tragedy.

Despite the justice aspect JASTA law provides for the 911 victims and their families, some have raised concerns that it could open the floodgates to a number of foreign countries to sue the United States for frivolous matters.

“The law has opened up Pandora’s Box, creating risks with international consequence for Americans working directly or indirectly for our intelligence agencies,” James Zumwalt once wrote.

For example, last year an Iraqi lobbyist group, citing JASTA, sought to sue the government to ask the United States for compensation for alleged violations by the American military following the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Similarly, retired U.S. Navy Admiral Edward Masso suggested JASTA was a “congressional mistake.”

William W. Burke-White, the deputy dean and professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania, shed some light on this matter in an interview with Breitbart News.

“There is a long history of countries having claims against one another. This goes back as long as there have been countries,” Burke-White said:

When we think about whether there is a liability on the part of Saudi Arabia for 911-related activities, we have to think about it in a background context; that countries often have disputes with one another and they often settle them through some sort of international agreement. What the JASTA legislation does do is open up a broader range of private suits wrought by individuals rather than by countries against one another directly. And, in some ways, changes some of the traditional approaches the United States has taken to sovereign immunity.

Burke-White also suggested the JASTA legislation changes the U.S. approach, “but within a consistent background under international law. Countries have always been able to have some flexibility with what suits they allow individuals to bring against countries and the U.S. has been somewhat restrained in that in its prior approach.” He continued, “JASTA, to some degree, opens up a somewhat broader set of claims that can be brought by U.S. entities against foreign governments.”

Burke-White noted that many past presidents have resolved the claims of private citizens against foreign governments by reaching a diplomatic deal that involves a lump payment by the culpable foreign government to the United States.

He also stated his belief that this trip provides Trump with a real “opportunity to put the American lives and victims of 911 first. And an opportunity to be a great dealmaker, which he is, and to bring a resolution to one of the hardest moments in modern American history. And doing so is fully consistent with his commander-in-chief authority.”

Top Obama official Samantha Power gets brutal lesson in self-awareness after criticizing Trump’s Saudi arms deal (9 Pics)

amantha Power, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under former President Barack Obama, received a lesson in self-awareness over the weekend.

Power took to her Twitter account Saturday to criticize a $110 billion arms deal that President Donald Trump inked with Saudi Arabian King Salman on the same day. Power seemed to oppose the deal arguing that Trump just agreed to provide arms to a country that has killed innocent civilians in Yemen, a country that borders Saudi Arabia to its south.

“For a country whose attacks on civilians in Yemen — and inability to learn from mistakes — have been devastating to human life,” Power wrote on Twitter.

In her tweet, Power appeared to appeal to a moral high road, but Twitter users weren’t so convinced.

In fact, the response to Power’s tweet was filled mostly with tweets slamming the former Obama official for being a hypocrite. Not only did Obama ink many arms deals with the Saudis, one user pointed out, but the Obama administration also “watched hundreds of thousands of Syrians die and did nothing.”

Indeed, the Obama administration offered the Saudis more than $115 billion worth of arms during their eight years in the White House — almost $5 billion more than the deal that Trump inked Saturday — according to a Reuters report last year.

Others piled on, noting the destruction many Obama-era policies likely had in the Middle East:

Teacher investigated for disturbing allegations six times — and he’s still teaching high schoolers

Despite having been investigated six times by government agencies for potentially having sexual relationships with high school students, an Ohio public school teacher has yet to be removed from his classroom.

According to a report by the Cincinnati Enquirer, Goshen High School teacher David L. Brown has been investigated by six state and local government agencies for potentially having romantic relationships with his students. The Bureau of Criminal Investigation is the latest agency to consider the allegations.

Brown has been teaching at the high school since 1999 and has never received any disciplinary actions or charged with a crime. However, significant evidence exists suggesting Brown has broken the law.

Brown has had at least two sexual relationships with former students, one of whom Brown had married and divorced. Brown’s ex-wife, with whom Brown has one child, reportedly told the police her sexual relationship with Brown began while she was still a student in high school.

In Ohio, it’s illegal for teachers to have sexual relations with any of their students, regardless of age.

Brown’s teacher profile on the high school’s website shows he teaches Advanced Placement Biology, Earth Science and two “Freshman Science” courses. The Enquirer reports Brown’s salary is $70,291.

On Monday, an Ohio substitute teacher was sentenced to two years in prison after admitting she had sex with an 18-year-old student who had been intoxicated at the teacher’s home, according to a report by the New York Daily News. In addition to being sentenced to prison, the teacher, Jessica Storer, will be required to register as a sex offender.

“Jessica Storer has really made the last six months a living hell for me,” a statement from the student said. “I hated it and I hated myself for doing it.”

Best Shirt to Wear To Go Through a TSA Line EVER…It’s EPIC

Airport TSA can and will commit unreasonable searches and seizures to the extent of full body x-ray scans, an obvious violation of your rights.

Now, you can tell them how you feel, with 4th Amendment Underclothes, available at CargoCollective.com.

Undershirts and underwear have the 4th amendment written in metallic inc, which will show up in an x-ray.

The fourth amendment of the Constitution of the United States reads:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The website says that with their products, you can “protest those intrusive TSA X-ray scanners” and “Assert your rights without saying a word.”

Forth Amendment Wear comes in T-shirts, undershorts, and bras, so the TSA will see that you do not approve of their unwarranted searches.

What a great way to stand up for your rights!

Black Professor Teaches Students To ‘Kill White People’

Even as “concerned students” rally to his defense, former students are revealing even more recordings of a Texas A&M professor advocating violence against white people.

Curry and his defenders insist that recordings of him apparently advocating for "killing white people" were taken out of context.

A group of former students, however, has compiled an archive of classroom recordings taken over the past several years in which Curry repeatedly advocates for violence against white people.

Even as “concerned students” rally to his defense, former students are revealing even more recordings of a Texas A&M professor advocating violence against white people.

Dr. Tommy Curry became a focus of controversy last week when recordings surfaced of a 2012 podcast interview in which he discussed “killing white people in context” and asserted that, “In order to be equal, in order to be liberated, some white people may have to die.”

The interview prompted widespread condemnation of Curry, including a statement from  President Michael Young describing the remarks as “disturbing,” inspiring an anonymous group of “concerned students” to post an open letter on Change.org defending Curry and claiming that his comments were taken out of context.

“President Young’s language in this email not only allows for but encourages the campus community to assume that Dr. Curry...used his First Amendment rights to ‘espouse hateful views’ by advocating for ‘violence, hate, and killing,’” the letter states. “We believe that this is not only a mischaracterization of Dr. Curry’s comments but serves to perpetuate a targeted campaign against his person and his work.”

According to Curry’s supporters, he had been discussing the film Django Unchained, in which the black protagonist wages a vendetta against white people, and was simply “paraphrasing what other Black intellectuals have said over the years in response to slavery and lynchings.”

Now, though, a group of former Texas A&M students called Support Aggies has released more recordings of Curry making similar statements during classroom lectures.

“So are you saying that nothing would change without violence between the oppressors and the oppressed?” a student asks in one recording, to which Curry responds in the affirmative, saying, “in this American context, yes.”

While acknowledging that people may laugh upon hearing “kill white people,” Curry says he is “very serious” about it, telling the class that “these ideas [of killing white people] resonate in the history of people who have been oppressed.”

In another recording, Curry denigrates the “degraded minds of the conservatives at Texas A&M” and argues that violence is necessary for racial justice, declaring, “you cannot have progress here without violence and upheaval.”

Support Aggies is a group of former Texas A&M students who have recorded Professor Curry’s lectures during the past few years, and when the 2012 radio interview resurfaced, members began posting their old recordings of Curry online.

Campus Reform spoke with the co-founder of Support Aggies, a Texas A&M graduate who spoke on condition of anonymity while describing their initial exposure to Curry’s rhetoric.

“One of my friends who was passionate about Dr. Curry's teaching told me about the lecture, so I went,” the alum recounted. “At the lecture, I asked Professor Curry what we should do to help the oppressed. He told me it was our duty to talk to the oppressed in ways that resonate with them, telling us to say to them: ‘kill white people.’”

The co-founder also rejected the argument that Curry’s statements are protected by academic freedom, arguing that “academic freedom does not mean that radical activists have the right to promote racism and violence in the classroom."

Support Aggies is circulating a petition demanding that the administration fire Curry, soliciting commitments from disgruntled alumni that they will “withhold all donations to Texas A&M...unless these problems are corrected.”

Notably, this petition also takes issue with President Young’s statement, lamenting his “lackluster and passive response to Curry’s egregious message of violence and hate” and declaring that anyone who even allows such views to be promoted in an academic environment should be fired.

“President Young claims to ‘stand against the advocacy of violence, hate, and killing,’ yet he continues to support Professor Curry’s dangerous indoctrination of young students, engraining [sic] impressionable pupils with hate against whites and an appreciation for violence,” the petition states, adding that “Any university employee who promotes such a view should be fired.”

Curry acknowledged the content of the recordings in an interview with Campus Reform, but claimed they were “spliced” out of context.

Curry explained that he often teaches the work of Frantz Fanon, a black psychiatrist who wrote about revolutionary violence, but did not respond to additional questions on why so much of his work revolves around Fanon’s writings.

According to emails obtained by an open records request, Curry delivered multiple lectures on “justification for violence against whites” during 2006 and 2007.

These lectures drew from his published article on the subject, which highlights the “use of violence as a means to secure freedom from racial oppression” and laments that “[no previous works] have analyzed the use of violence against whites as a necessary step towards the elimination of racism.”

Curry’s explicit appreciation for violence can be seen in that paper, in which he disparages the tradition of nonviolence in the Civil Rights movement.

“In an attempt to move Black political theory in this direction, this essay explores the use of violence as a solution to the permanent institutionalization and white cultural rei?cation of anti-Black racism,” he writes. “This author believes that the dogmatic allegiance to non-violence is a price that African descended people in America can no longer afford to pay.”

SpaceX Dragon becomes the delivery boy; to supply equipment, research to ISS

SpaceX is all set to launch its Dragon spacecraft for its 11th commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre soon.

It will lift into orbit carrying crew supplies, equipment and scientific research to crewmembers aboard the ISS.

The flight will deliver investigations and facilities that study neutron stars, osteoporosis, solar panels and tools for Earth-observation.

"In addition to studying the matter within the neutron stars, the payload also includes a technology demonstration called the Station Explorer for X-ray Timing and Navigation Technology (SEXTANT), which will help researchers to develop a pulsar-based, space navigation system," NASA said.

Neutron stars are the glowing cinders left behind when massive stars explode as supernovas and contain exotic states of matter that are impossible to replicate in any ground lab. 

These stars are called "pulsars" because of the unique way they emit light. As the star spins, the light sweeps past us, making it appear as if the star is pulsing. 

The Neutron Star Interior Composition Explored (NICER) payload, affixed to the exterior of the space station, studies the physics of these stars, providing new insight into their nature and behaviour.

Neutron stars emit X-ray radiation, enabling the NICER technology to observe and record information about its structure, dynamics and energetics. 

NASA will also send new solar panels called Roll-Out Solar Array (ROSA) which are lighter and stores more compactly for launch than the rigid solar panels currently in use. 

ROSA has solar cells on a flexible blanket and a framework that rolls out like a tape measure.