NEu Tymes Vol.42

WINTER 2014 JANUARY VOL42

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A A D E E F C P P S S T

R C H I T E C T U R E R T S E S I G N N G I N E E R I N G N V I R O N M E N T A S H I O N I N E M A H O T O G R A P H Y U B L I C A T I O N S C I E N C E P O R T S R A V E L

HAVE A CREATIVE 2 0 1 4 FULL OF L O V E

E D I T O R I A L P e t r o s Vasi adi s Cr e a t i ve Directo r Ch i e f E d i t o r Publisher

CONTRIBUTORS

A LEX A NDRA VELNIDO U • S erv ice D esign-Engineering-Management • H ea lthcare Experience Design • S o ci al I nno vat ion

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NI K I SOROG AS • W eb D ev eloper • R a di o P ro ducer, Dj • T eleco m municat ions Engineer

K ONSTA NTI NO S LETS AS • Ca rdio lo g ist • E lectro p h y siologist

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Inside Vol.42

PHOTOGRAPHY

Alex Antipin

Kevin Krautgartner

Pygmalion Kartzas ENVIRONMENT

World's Worst Polluted Places SCIENCE

Time Travel TRAVEL

Let's Go Florida CINEMA

Christina Noland ARTS

NIELLY FRANCOISE

Jing Zhang

Sergey Kostik

Johnny Cobalto ON-LINE PUBLICATIONS ENGINEERING

Jorge Jabor

James di Marco

Philipp Haban DESIGN

Thijs Smeets SPORTS

World Cup gold on bobsled

Atrial Fibrillation: Protect your self against stroke Konstatntinos P. Letsas, MD, PhD, FESC Evangelismos General Hospital of Athens, Greece

A

trial fibrillation is the most common sustained cardiac rhythm disorder in clinical practice.

The prevalence of atrial fibrillation is globally increasing over time. In the United States, the number of patients with atrial fibrillation was 2.1 million in 1997, but it increased to 2.3 million in 2001. It is estimated to increase to 5.6 million in 2050. The prevalence of atrial fibrillation significantly increases with an increase in age.

Atrial fibrillation confers a significant risk for thromboembolism. A prothrombotic state has been described in atrial fibrillation, and it contributes to the most common complication of thromboembolism. Atrial fibrillation-related ischemic strokes are more likely to be massive, often fatal or associated with pronounced long-term disability and a high risk of recurrence compared to strokes of other aetiologies. The probability of stroke incidence in patients

with atrial fibrillation is about 3-4%, and the risk of stroke increased by five times in all age groups. The percentage of strokes attributable to atrial fibrillation increases steeply from 1.5% at age 50 to 59 years to 23.5% at age 80 to 89 years.

Many patients with atrial fibrillation are asymptomatic and a presentation with a complication associated with atrial fibrillation (stroke) might be the first manifestation of the arrhythmia , when the disorder is first diagnosed.

To classify the risk of stroke in patients with AF, several models are currently utilized. Compared with the most commonly used CHADS2 score (C-congestive heart failure, H-hypertension, A-age>75 years, D-diabetes mellitus, S-prior stroke/TIA), CHA2DS2-VASc is more inclusive of clinically relevant stroke risk factors (i.e., age 65-74, vascular disease and female gender), performs at least as good as the CHADS2 in identifying high risk patients and is con-

sistently better in identification of truly low risk patients.

Importantly, the CHA2DS2-VASc enables further refinement of stroke risk stratification in patients with a CHADS2 score of 0-1, thus recruiting more patients to be appropriately treated with oral anticoagulation. A CHA2DS2-VASc score of 0 is truly low risk and no antithrombotic therapy is needed, whereas patients with one or more stroke risk factors (CHA2DS2-VASc score >1) could be treated with oral of _ anticoagulation, either with well controlled warfarin (therapeutic INR 2-3) or one of the new oral anticoagulation agents. Whether a patient with atrial fibrillation would benefit from oral anticoagulation strongly depends upon the individual absolute risks of stroke and bleeding.

The HAS-BLED (uncontrolled Hypertension, Abnormal renal/liver function, Stroke, Bleeding history or predisposition, Labile INR, Elderly >65 years, Drugs/alcohol concomitantly) score has been proposed as a simple tool for bleeding risk assessment with better predictability as compared to other scores. A HAS> 3 indicates inBLED score of _ creased risk for bleeding, which per se should not be the reason to stop oral anticoagulation, but to consider correction of potentially reversible risk factors for bleeding (for example, uncontrolled blood pressure, labile INRs, concomitant aspirin use).

Clinical practice guidelines recommend treatment with an oral anticoagulant for most patients with non-valvular atrial fibril-

lation who have more than a low risk of stroke. The ‘modern’ era of atrial fibrillation-related thromboprophylaxis has been characterized by substantial efforts to improve antithrombotic management. It has been clearly established that oral anticoagulation is the most effective treatment for the prevention of atrial fibrillation-related stroke.

Vitamin K antagonists (warfarin) were the treatment of choice the last decades. Compared with placebo, vitamin K antagonists

Image: University of Liverpool Faculty of Health & Life Sciences

reduce stroke by 64% and allcause mortality by 26%, whilst aspirin achieved only a nonsignificant 19% stroke risk reduction.

Oral anticoagulation has been associated with a 39% risk reduction compared with antiplatelet therapy, which provides indirect evidence that antiplatelet therapy could be very modestly effective for stroke prevention. The new oral anticoagulant drugs can be divided into two broad categories: the oral direct thrombin inhibitors (dabigatran) and oral factor Xa inhibitors (rivaroxaban, apixaban, edoxaban). A recent meta-analysis showed that the new oral anticoagulants had a favourable risk-benefit profile, with significant reductions in stroke, intracranial haemorrhage, and mortality compared to warfarin, and with similar major bleeding, but increased gastrointestinal bleeding.

The efficacy of percutaneous closure of the left atrial appendage has been shown to be non-inferior to that of warfarin therapy. Although there is a higher rate of adverse safety events in the intervention group than in the control group, events in the intervention group were mainly a result of periprocedural complications. Closure of the left atrial appendage might provide an alternative strategy for stroke prophylaxis in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation who can not receive oral anticogulation.

REFERENCES 1. Lip GY, Tse HF, Lane DA. Atrial fibrillation. Lancet. 2012 Feb 18;379(9816):648-61.

2. Potpara TS, Lip GY. Novel oral anticoagulants in non-valvular atrial fibrillation. Best Pract Res Clin Haematol. 2013 Jun;26(2):115-29.

3. Kim CK, Jung S, Yoon BW. Practical Issues to Prevent Stroke Associated with Non-valvular Atrial Fibrillation. J Stroke. 2013 Sep;15(3):144-152.

4. Ruff CT, Giugliano RP, Braunwald E, Hoffman EB, Deenadayalu N, Ezekowitz MD, Camm AJ, Weitz JI, Lewis BS, Parkhomenko A, Yamashita T, Antman EM. Comparison of the efficacy and safety of new oral anticoagulants with warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation: a meta-analysis of randomised trials. Lancet. 2013 Dec 3. pii: S0140-6736(13)62343-0.

5. Camm AJ, Lip GY, De Caterina R, Savelieva I, Atar D, Hohnloser SH, Hindricks G, Kirchhof P; ESC Committee for Practice Guidelines-CPG; Document Reviewers.

2012 focused update of the ESC Guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation: an update of the 2010 ESC Guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation-developed with the special contribution of the European Heart Rhythm Association. Europace. 2012 Oct;14(10):1385-413.

Konstantinos Letsas Monodrome, Bad Krozingen 2008

Julia Galdo JUCO Photo

JUCO Photo represents the collaborative photographic work of Julia Galdo and Cody Cloud. They first met at The San Francisco Art Institue in 2002 where Cody received his MFA in photography and Julia her BFA. Their first projects together were actually class assignments. Team JUCO is based in Los Angeles, CA. They enjoy plants (on many levels), thrift stores (deeply) and the beach (when the time is right).

Painted Backdrops

Art Direction, Photography Personal shoot by JUCO - backgrounds hand painted by Julia Galdo and Cody Cloud Make up by Nicole Servin Models - Eric F Johnson and Julia Bama with FORD

www.jucophoto.com

Sergey Kostik

Tula, Russian Federation Pixel arts vol.2 Illustration, Digital Art, pixelart https://www.behance.net/raynoa

Jing Zhang London, United Kingdom

Jing is a Chinese illustrator /typographer /designer based in East London, the epicentre of hipsters, eccentricity, and of course creativity. With her clients mostly from advertising and publishing industry, she has been working in the creative field for over six years, from automotive to airlines, magazines to corporations.

She commutes on her Raleigh bike everyday; works on her latest top model of iMac; always green tea over English cuppa.

She considers herself as one of the most lucky people in the world, who make a living doing what she loves. http://www.mazakii.com/2011/

Letter, letter, letter (Project forever ongoing)Â

The hardest thing, is not to create them, is to finish them. Absolutely a letter marathon. I am running out of patience... :(

CHRIS

STINA

C

hristina Noland studied acting in the prestigious Rose Bruford College , UK ( Alumni includes Gary Oldman etc) .

She was born and has lived in Heildelberg, Germany. She has also lived in a number of other places as Paris, France, Thessaloniki, Greece and Los Angeles, USA. Noland is a qualified solicitor with an LLM in Entertainment Law. She speaks English, French, German, Greek and has studied Latin and Ancient Greek. She is a professional dancer and an award-winning writer. She also currently works as a free lance casting director.

Christina Noland is currently filming as the lead Eleni in the Iranian- Greek feature film "Where is god? " directed by Iranian filmmaker Morteza Jafari. Recently, she featured as ' The Dancer" in the feature film " The Final Pay Off" directed by Greek up and coming director Alexander Leontaritis, now entering festivals worldwide. The "Final Pay Off" won the Audience award in Cyprus International Film Festival and is playing in Korinthus Film Festival this week.

Last year, she filmed as the lead in Greek-British short film "Ambrosia", a Wright Way Films production, in which film Christina was the associate producer. She also acted in British short film "Waiting" in which Christina was "Lady in grey". The music for the short film " Waiting" was written by Oscar Nominee Darren Morze.

This fall Christina filmed in Greek short film '6.7.' as Isidora.

Furthermore in 2013, Christina was casting associate for NYU scholar's Felipe Vara del Ray " This is Reality", a film also submitted to festivals around the globe.

Last but not least, Christina has been acting in films in Greece and the UK, having featured in Padelis Vulgaris " Psihi Vathia" as "Prasini", a Village Films production and she has been an intern in casting next to one of the most prestigious casting directors in London, assisting in casting NBC's Robinson Crusoe etc.

She has also directed a couple of short films, one of which is entering festivals worldwide called "The unanswered letters to A.C".

At this moment, Christina is developing the Greek feature "Live with passion. Live with me." in which she will be the lead "Electra". This is a feature written by her and will be directed by Greek up and coming director Michael Konidaris.

She will also be acting in Martin Crimp's play " The Country" as "Rebecca" in Athens in 2014.

In her spare time, she teaches acting and sings.

Christina is managed worldwide for film acting by Miles Anthony at www.marlowes.eu.

Further info on her work can be found on: facebook (up to date) OR www.christinanoland.com (under reconstruction) Quotes: • There is no off position on the genious switch.

• Live life to the fullest, doing things you love, regardless of the result.

• Fame and fortune comes with loving oneself.

• Be an actor, what else is there?

Make movies. What else is there to do? Maybe sing...but thats about it!

• Remain a child at heart, this will save your life.

Johnny Cobalto

Milan, Italy

Johnny Cobalto (Paolo Guarnaccia for his parents) was born in Milan, Italy, in 1988. He always used to draw on everything he found around himself (he still prefere paper at all).

He's graduated in graphic design at Brera's Academy and started to work as freelancer in the darkly advertising world.

You can find him at johnnycobalto.tumblr.com or around the planet, lying down on a bench with an empanada. https://www.behance.net/johnnycobalto

ILLUSTRATIONS'N'DRAFTS

Nielly Francoise

France

Franรงoise Nielly's painting is expressive, exhibiting a brute force, a fascinating vital energy. Oil and knife combine tsculpt her images from a material that is , at the same time, biting and incisive, charnel and sensual.

Whether she paints the human body or portraits, the artist takes a risk : her painting is sexual, her colors free, exuberant, surprising, even explosive, the cut of her knife incisive, her color pallet dazzling. http://www.francoise-nielly.com/

JORGE JABOR

Sao Paulo, Brazil

Audi Powerboat Industrial Design The Audi A30 powerboat is a new concept which injects automotive styling into the marine world. She was designed to fit the needs of a demanding customer; a customer who wants power and speed without sacrificing practicality and functionality, with a strong and reliable brand name behind it. The connection to the prestigious German auto manufacturer, Audi, is made through creative use of brand aesthetics and engineering values. http://www.coroflot.com/jorgejabor

JAMES DI MARCO

Brescia, Italy

Born in Brescia (Italy) in 1976, James di Marco graduated with honours in scenography from Milan’s Brera Academy of Fine Arts in 2001 and obtained two masters in Product Design from Milan Polytechnic in 2002-3.

James di Marco’s inspiration mainly comes from the beauty of organic forms and structures.

James’ abilities vary widely in Product Design (Furniture, Bathroom furnishing, Lighting Design, Jewelry Design, Fashion accessories) from the original concept right through to Product Engineering.

One of his most representative designs ("Honey" heating furnishing - by Caleido) is permanently on exhibition at the "MAD" Museum of Arts and Design in New York. http://www.jamesdimarco.it/

"CAMELOT" Furniture Design, Industrial Design, Product Design -bioethanol fireplacedesign / engineering: James di Marco produced & distribuited by CALEIDO

PHILIPP HABAN

Los Angeles, CA, USA

WORK EXPERIENCE Industrial Designer Icon Aircraft - Los Angeles, CA, USA Advanced Exterior Design Intern Mercedes-Benz - Germany Design Intern Bang & Olufsen Automotive - Denmark Exterior Design Intern Daimler Trucks North America - USA http://www.philipp-haban.com/

ICON Aircraft A5 Systems Layout Model Automotive Design, Industrial Design Blacked-Out Wrap Design Makeover Concept.

In order to show off the engineering that lies behind the sleek, foldup exterior, the new skin echoes the technology underneath, with the important mechanical details rendered in satin titanium on top of the new matte black finish, with gloss black and red accents to highlight certain features.

THIJS SMEETS

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Gispen Today chair Furniture Design, Interior Design, Product Design Contemporary chair made from plywood and a polypropylene shell that has been cut through horizontally.

This chair has been exhibited during the Salone del Mobile in Milan in 2012. It received a recognition for Good Industrial Design (GIO 2012) in during the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven.

Thijs Smeets (1979) founded his Amsterdam based Studio Smeets in 2007 after working for several design studio's in The Netherlands and New York. Educated as a designer and an engineer, his designs cover a broad spectrum of products: from furniture to consumer electronics, from in-flight tableware to sauna's.

As a student he won his first design award for eyeglasses MaxMara runs in the collection up to this date. His biodegradable tableware for Hampi Products was awarded with the Toon van Tuijl Design Award at the Dutch Design Award Show in 2010.

He received international acclaim

and got hundreds of publications for his ingenious reading light LiliLite. The collection of furniture he designed for Gispen Today was launched at the Salone del Mobile in Milan and got a recognition for Good Industrial Design during the Dutch Design Week in 2012.

Designs by Thijs Smeets have been exhibited all over the world, from Seoul to Hamburg, from Amsterdam to New York. He works for multinationals like Rabobank, Unilever, Sara Lee and Nokia and for smaller, design minded companies.

Millions of his products have been sold.

VISION Good design doesn't just look beautiful. It is a synthesis of form and function. Designing a product is often like solving a complex puzzle with many different parameters like ergonomics, construction, technical attainability, cost price and of course aesthetics. Good design equals simplicity: optimizing all these aspects in one seemingly uncomplicated idea.

Product users appreciate simplicity in design while they can’t really figure out why they like this product so much. Companies are becoming more and more aware

of the fact that the consumers are willing to pay for this, if you give them a great experience.

Design, creativity and innovation are the key advantages companies in developed economies can have over the competition in developing economies. In the future it will probably be the only advantage they have left. As Harvard professor Robert Hayes said: 'Fifteen years ago companies competed on price.

Today it's quality. Tomorrow it's design.' That is why good design is serious business. http://www.studiosmeets.com/

Report Cites the World's Worst Polluted Pl

Top Ten Toxic Threats in Cleanup, Progress, and Ongoing Chal

laces

2013: llenges

N

ov. 4, 2013, New York, NY - Blacksmith Institute and Green Cross Switzerland have published the 2013 report of the world's worst polluted places, The Top Ten Toxic Threats: Cleanup, Progress, and Ongoing Challenges. The report presents a new list of the top ten polluted places and provides updates on sites previously published by Blacksmith and Green Cross. A range of pollution sources and contaminants are cited, including hexavalent chromium from tanneries and heavy metals released from smelting operations. The report estimates that sites like those listed in the top ten pose a health risk to more than 200 million people in low- and medium-income countries.

Download the report at www.worstpolluted.org See photos at Blacksmith's Flickr page, or at www.worstpolluted.org From Ten to Many The Top Ten Toxic Threats is the latest in a series of annual reports documenting global pollution issues. Many of the previous reports have listed pollution problems, rather than sites, based on their estimated impact on human health. The 2012 report for instance found that the disease burden of pollution is comparable in scope to that of more well-known public health threats, such as tuberculosis or malaria.

This is the first list of polluted sites released by the two groups since 2007. In the intervening years, the report explains, much has been learned about pollution issues in low- and medium-income countries. Efforts made by country governments in particular have greatly expanded the existing knowledge of pollution issues. In addition, Blacksmith Institute has conducted more than 2,000 risk assessments at contaminated sites in 49 countries.

"In this year's report, we cite some of the most polluted places we've encountered. But it is important to point out that the problem is really much larger than these ten sites," says Richard Fuller, president of Blacksmith Institute. "We estimate that the health of more than 200 million people is at risk from pollution in the developing world."

Progress Made, Much More Required The authors of the report explain that significant progress has been made at many of the original top ten sites. As a result, several of these have been removed from the list. New sites mentioned include Agbogbloshie, an e-waste processing site in Accra, Ghana, and Kalimantan, Indonesia, which has become contaminated with mercury resulting from small scale gold mining.

The World's Worst Polluted Places in 2013 (unranked)

About Green Cross Switzerland Green Cross Switzerland facilitates overcoming consequential damages caused by industrial and military disasters and the cleanup of contaminated sites from the period of the Cold War. Central issues are the improvement of the living quality of people affected by chemical, radioactive and other types of contamination, as well as the promotion of a sustainable development in the spirit of cooperation instead of confrontation. This includes the involvement of all stakeholder groups affected by a problem. www.greencross.ch About Blacksmith Institute Blacksmith Institute is a New York based nonprofit that works to mitigate exposures at contaminated sites in low and medium income countries. To date, Blacksmith has carried out 50 such projects in 20 countries. www.blacksmithinstitute.org Contact angela@blacksmithinstitute.org mag@blacksmithinstitute.org +1 212 647 8330 nathalie.gysi@greencross.ch +41 (0) 43 499 13 10

Agbogbloshie, Ghana Chernobyl*, Ukraine Citarum River, Indonesia Dzershinsk*, Russia Hazaribagh, Bangladesh Kabwe*, Zambia Kalimantan, Indonesia Matanza Riachuelo, Argentina Niger River Delta, Nigeria Norilsk*, Russia *included in 2007 lists

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original 2006

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WHAT ABOUT TIME TRAVEL Dr HAWKING?

ALL YOU NEED IS A WORMHOLE, THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER OR A ROCKET THAT GOES REALLY, REALLY FAST!

PHOTO: Image Editor

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11304375@N07/sets/

H

ello. My name is Stephen Hawking.

Physicist, cosmologist and something of a dreamer. Although I cannot move and I have to speak through a computer, in my mind I am free. Free to explore the universe and ask the big questions, such as: is time travel possible? Can we open a portal to the past or find a shortcut to the future? Can we ultimately use the laws of nature to become masters of time itself?

Time travel was once considered scientific heresy. I used to avoid talking about it for fear of being labelled a crank. But these days I'm not so cautious. In fact, I'm more like the people who built Stonehenge. I'm obsessed by time. If I had a time machine I'd visit Marilyn Monroe in her prime or drop in on Galileo as he turned his telescope to the heavens. Perhaps I'd even travel to the end of the universe to find out how our whole cosmic story ends.

To see how this might be possible, we need to look at time as physicists do - at the fourth dimension. It's not as hard as it sounds. Every attentive schoolchild knows that all physical objects, even me in my chair, exist in three dimensions.

Everything has a width and a height and a length.

But there is another kind of length, a length in time. While a human may survive for 80 years, the stones at Stonehenge, for instance, have stood around for thousands of years. And the solar system will last for billions of years. Everything has a length in time as well as space. Travelling in time means travelling through this fourth dimension.

To see what that means, let's imagine we're doing a bit of normal, everyday car travel. Drive in a straight line and you're travelling in one dimension. Turn right or left and you add the second dimension. Drive up or down a twisty mountain road and that adds height, so that's travelling in all three dimensions.

But how on Earth do we travel in time? How do we find a path through the fourth dimension?

Let's indulge in a little science fiction for a moment. Time travel movies often feature a vast, energy-hungry machine.

The machine creates a path through the fourth dimension, a tunnel through time. A time traveller, a brave, perhaps foolhardy individual, prepared for who knows what, steps into the time tunnel and emerges who knows when. The concept may be farfetched, and the reality may be very different from this, but the idea itself is not so crazy.

Physicists have been thinking about tunnels in time too, but we come at it from a different angle. We wonder if portals to the past or the future could ever be possible within the laws of nature. As it turns out, we think they are. What's more, we've

even given them a name: wormholes. The truth is that wormholes are all around us, only they're too small to see. Wormholes are very tiny. They occur in nooks and crannies in space and time.

You might find it a tough concept, but stay with me. A wormhole is a theoretical 'tunnel' or shortcut, predicted

by Einstein's theory of relativity, that links two places in space-time - visualised above as the contours of a 3-D map, where negative energy pulls space and time into the mouth of a tunnel, emerging in another universe. They remain only hypothetical, as obviously nobody has ever seen one, but have been used in films as conduits for time travel - in Stargate (1994), for example, involving gated tunnels between universes, and in Time Bandits (1981), where their locations are shown on a celestial map Nothing is flat or solid. If you look closely enough at anything you'll find holes and wrinkles in it. It's a basic physical principle, and it even applies to time. Even something as smooth as a pool ball has tiny crevices, wrinkles and voids. Now it's easy to show that this is true in the first three dimensions. But trust me, it's also true of the fourth dimension. There are tiny crevices, wrinkles and voids in time. Down at the smallest of scales, smaller even than molecules, smaller than atoms, we get to a place called the quantum foam. This is where wormholes exist.

Tiny tunnels or shortcuts through space and time constantly form, disappear, and reform within this quantum world. And they actually link two separate places and two different times.

Unfortunately, these real-life time tunnels are just a billiontrillion-trillionths of a centimetre across. Way too small for a human to pass through - but here's where the notion of wormhole time machines is leading. Some scientists think it may be possible to capture a wormhole and enlarge it many trillions of times to make it big enough for a human or even a spaceship to enter.

Given enough power and advanced technology, perhaps a giant wormhole could even be constructed in space. I'm not saying it can be done, but if it could be, it would be a truly remarkable device. One end could be here near Earth, and the other far, far away, near some distant planet.

Theoretically, a time tunnel or wormhole could do even more than take us to other planets. If both ends were in the same place, and separated by time instead of distance, a ship could fly in and come out still near Earth, but in the distant past.

Maybe dinosaurs would witness the ship coming in for a landing. The fastest manned vehicle in history was Apollo 10. It reached 25,000mph. But to travel in time we'll have to go more than 2,000 times faster

Now, I realise that thinking in four dimensions is not easy, and that wormholes are a tricky concept to wrap your head around, but hang in there. I've thought up a simple experiment that could reveal if human time travel through a wormhole is possible now, or even in the future. I like simple experiments, and champagne. So I've combined two of my favourite things to see if time travel from the future to the past is possible.

Let's imagine I'm throwing a party, a welcome reception for future time travellers. But there's a twist. I'm not letting anyone know about it until after the party has happened. I've drawn up an invitation giving the exact coordinates in time and space. I am hoping copies of it, in one form or another, will be around for many thousands of years. Maybe one day someone living in the future will find the information on the invitation and use a wormhole time machine to come back to my party, proving that time travel will, one day, be possible.

In the meantime, my time traveller guests should be arriving any moment now. Five, four, three, two, one. But as I say this, no one has arrived. What a shame. I was hoping at least a future Miss Universe was going to step through the door. So why didn't the experiment work? One of the reasons might be because of a well-known problem with time travel to the past, the problem of what we call paradoxes.

Paradoxes are fun to think about. The most famous one is usually called the Grandfather paradox. I have a new, simpler version I call the Mad Scientist paradox.

I don't like the way scientists in movies are often described as mad, but in this case, it's true. This chap is determined to create a paradox, even if it costs him his life. Imagine, somehow, he's built a wormhole, a time tunnel that stretches just one minute into the past. Through the wormhole, the scientist can see himself as he was one minute ago. But what if our scientist uses the wormhole to shoot his earlier self? He's now dead. So who fired the shot? It's a paradox. It just doesn't make sense. It's the sort of

situation that gives cosmologists nightmares.

This kind of time machine would violate a fundamental rule that governs the entire universe - that causes happen before effects, and never the other way around. I believe things can't make themselves impossible. If they could then there'd be nothing to stop the whole universe from descending into chaos. So I think something will always happen that prevents the paradox. Somehow there must be a reason why our scientist will never find himself in a situation where he could shoot himself. And in this case, I'm sorry to say, the wormhole itself is the problem.

In the end, I think a wormhole like this one can't exist. And the reason for that is feedback. If you've ever been to a rock gig, you'll probably recognise this screeching noise. It's feedback.

What causes it is simple. Sound enters the microphone. It's transmitted along the wires, made louder by the amplifier, and comes out at the speakers. But if too much of the sound from the speakers goes back into the mic it goes around and around in a loop getting louder each time. If no one stops it, feedback can destroy the sound system.

The same thing will happen with a wormhole, only with radiation instead of sound. As soon as the wormhole expands, natural radiation will enter it, and end up in a loop. The feedback will become so strong it destroys the wormhole. So although tiny wormholes do exist, and it may be possible to inflate one some day, it won't last long enough to be of use as a time machine.

That's the real reason no one could come back in time to my party.

Any kind of time travel to the past through wormholes or any other method is probably impossible, otherwise paradoxes would occur. So sadly, it looks like time travel to the past is never going to happen. A disappointment for dinosaur hunters and a relief for historians.

But the story's not over yet. This doesn't make all time travel impossible. I do believe in time travel. Time travel to the future.

Time flows like a river and it seems as if each of us is carried

relentlessly along by time's current. But time is like a river in another way. It flows at different speeds in different places and that is the key to travelling into the future. This idea was first proposed by Albert Einstein over 100 years ago. He realised that there should be places where time slows down, and others where time speeds up. He was absolutely right. And the proof is right above our heads. Up in space.

This is the Global Positioning System, or GPS. A network of satellites is in orbit around Earth. The satellites make satellite navigation possible. But they also reveal that time runs faster in space than it does down on Earth. Inside each spacecraft is a very precise clock. But despite being so accurate, they all gain around a third of a billionth of a second every day.

The system has to correct for the drift, otherwise that tiny difference would upset the whole system, causing every GPS device on Earth to go out by about six miles a day. You can just imagine the mayhem that that would cause.

The problem doesn't lie with the clocks. They run fast because time itself runs faster in space than it does down below. And the reason for this extraordinary effect is the mass of the Earth. Einstein realised that matter drags on time and slows it down like the slow part of a river. The heavier the object, the more it drags on time. And this startling reality is what opens the door to the possibility of time travel to the future.

Right in the centre of the Milky Way, 26,000 light years from us, lies the heaviest object in the galaxy. It is a supermassive black hole containing the mass of four million suns crushed down into a single point by its own gravity. The closer you get to the black hole, the stronger the gravity. Get really close and not even light can escape. A black hole like this one has a dramatic effect on time, slowing it down far more than anything else in the galaxy. That makes it a natural time machine.

I like to imagine how a spaceship might be able to take advantage of this phenomenon, by orbiting it. If a space agency were controlling the mission from Earth they'd observe that each full orbit took 16 minutes. But for the brave people on

board, close to this massive object, time would be slowed down.

And here the effect would be far more extreme than the gravitational pull of Earth. The crew's time would be slowed down by half. For every 16-minute orbit, they'd only experience eight minutes of time. Around and around they'd go, experiencing just half the time of everyone far away from the black hole. The ship and its crew would be travelling through time. Imagine they circled the black hole for five of their years. Ten years would pass elsewhere.

When they got home, everyone on Earth would have aged five years more than they had.

So a supermassive black hole is a time machine. But of course, it's not exactly practical. It has advantages over wormholes in that it doesn't provoke paradoxes. Plus it won't destroy itself in a flash of feedback. But it's pretty dangerous. It's a long way away and it doesn't even take us very far into the future. Fortunately there is another way to travel in time. And this represents our last and best hope of building a real time machine.

You just have to travel very, very fast. Much faster even than the speed required to avoid being sucked into a black hole. This is due to another strange fact about the universe.

There's a cosmic speed limit, 186,000 miles per second, also known as the speed of light. Nothing can exceed that speed.

It's one of the best established principles in science. Believe it or not, travelling at near the speed of light transports you to the future.

To explain why, let's dream up a science-fiction transportation system. Imagine a track that goes right around Earth, a track for a superfast train. We're going to use this imaginary train to get as close as possible to the speed of light and see how it becomes a time machine. On board are passengers with a oneway ticket to the future. The train begins to accelerate, faster and faster. Soon it's circling the Earth over and over again.

To approach the speed of light means circling the Earth pretty

fast. Seven times a second. But no matter how much power the train has, it can never quite reach the speed of light, since the laws of physics forbid it. Instead, let's say it gets close, just shy of that ultimate speed. Now something extraordinary happens. Time starts flowing slowly on board relative to the rest of the world, just like near the black hole, only more so.

Everything on the train is in slow motion.

This happens to protect the speed limit, and it's not hard to see why. Imagine a child running forwards up the train. Her forward speed is added to the speed of the train, so couldn't she break the speed limit simply by accident? The answer is no. The laws of nature prevent the possibility by slowing down time onboard.

Now she can't run fast enough to break the limit. Time will always slow down just enough to protect the speed limit. And from that fact comes the possibility of travelling many years into the future.

Imagine that the train left the station on January 1, 2050. It circles Earth over and over again for 100 years before finally coming to a halt on New Year's Day, 2150. The passengers will have only lived one week because time is slowed down that much inside the train. When they got out they'd find a very different world from the one they'd left. In one week they'd have travelled 100 years into the future. Of course, building a train that could reach such a speed is quite impossible. But we have built something very like the train at the world's largest particle accelerator at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.

Deep underground, in a circular tunnel 16 miles long, is a stream of trillions of tiny particles. When the power is turned on they accelerate from zero to 60,000mph in a fraction of a second.

Increase the power and the particles go faster and faster, until they're whizzing around the tunnel 11,000 times a second, which is almost the speed of light. But just like the train, they never quite reach that ultimate speed. They can only get to 99.99 per cent of the limit. When that happens, they too start to travel in time. We know this because of some extremely short-lived particles, called pi-mesons. Ordinarily, they disintegrate after just 25 billionths of a second. But when they are accelerated to near-light speed they last 30 times longer.

It really is that simple. If we want to travel into the future, we just need to go fast. Really fast. And I think the only way we're ever likely to do that is by going into space. The fastest manned vehicle in history was Apollo 10. It reached 25,000mph.

But to travel in time we'll have to go more than 2,000 times faster. And to do that we'd need a much bigger ship, a truly enormous machine. The ship would have to be big enough to carry a huge amount of fuel, enough to accelerate it to nearly the speed of light. Getting to just beneath the cosmic speed

limit would require six whole years at full power.

The initial acceleration would be gentle because the ship would be so big and heavy. But gradually it would pick up speed and soon would be covering massive distances. In one week it would have reached the outer planets. After two years it would reach half-light speed and be far outside our solar system. Two years later it would be travelling at 90 per cent of the speed of light. Around 30 trillion miles away from Earth, and four years after launch, the ship would begin to travel in time. For every hour of time on the ship, two would pass on Earth. A similar situation to the spaceship that orbited the massive black hole.

After another two years of full thrust the ship would reach its top speed, 99 per cent of the speed of light. At this speed, a single day on board is a whole year of Earth time. Our ship would be truly flying into the future. The slowing of time has another benefit. It means we could, in theory, travel extraordinary distances within one lifetime. A trip to the edge of the galaxy would take just 80 years. But the real wonder of our journey is that it reveals just how strange the universe is. It's a universe where time runs at different rates in different places. Where tiny wormholes exist all around us. And where, ultimately, we might use our understanding of physics to become true voyagers through the fourth dimension. 'Stephen Hawking's Universe' on Discovery Channel (HD)

SOURCE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk

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F

lorida is a state in the southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the south by the Straits of Florida.

Florida is the 22nd most extensive, the 4th most populous, and the 8th most densely populated of the 50 United States.

The state capital is Tallahassee, the largest city is Jacksonville, and the largest metropolitan area is the Miami metropolitan area.

Much of Florida is a peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Straits of Florida.

Its geography is notable for a coastline, omnipresent water and the threat of hurricanes. Florida has the longest coastline in thecontiguous United States, encompassing approximately 1,350 miles (2,170 km), and is the only state that borders both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Much of the state is at or near sea level and is characterized bysedimentary soil.

The climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south. Some of its most iconic animals, such as the American al-

ligator, crocodile, Florida panther and the manatee, can be found in the Everglades National Park.

Since the first European contact was made in 1513

by Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León who named it La Florida ("Flowery Land") upon landing there during the Easter season, Pascua Florida Florida was a challenge for the European colonial powers before it gained statehood in the United States in 1845. It was a principal location of the Seminole Wars against the Indians, and racial segregation after the American Civil War. Today, it is distinguished by its large Hispanic community, and high population growth, as well as its increasing environmental concerns. Its economy relies mainly on tourism, agriculture, and transportation, which developed in the late 19th century.

Florida is also known for its amusement parks, the production of oranges, and the Kennedy Space Center.

Florida culture is a reflection of influences and multiple inheritance; Native American, European American, Hispanic and African American heritages can be found in the architecture and cuisine. Florida has attracted many writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Wil-

liams, and continues to attract celebrities and athletes. It is internationally known for golf, tennis, auto racing, and water sports.

History Main article: History of Florida See also: Seminole Wars Archaeological research indicates that Florida was first inhabited by PaleoIndians, the first human inhabitants of the Americas, perhaps as early as 14 thousand years ago.

The region was continuously inhabited through the Archaic period (to about 2000 BC). After about 500 BC the previously relatively uniform Archaic culture began to coalesce into distinctive local cultures.

Bernard Picart copper plate engraving of Florida Indians, Circa 1721 "Ceremonies and Religious Dress of all the People of the World" By the 16th century, the earliest time for which there is a historical record, major Native American groups included the Apalachee (of the Florida Panhandle), the Timucua (of northern and central Florida), the Ais (of the central Atlantic coast), the Tocobaga (of the Tampa Bay area), the Calusa (of southwest Florida) and the Tequesta (of the southeastern coast).

European arrival (1513) Florida was the first part of what is now the continental United States to be visited by Europeans. The earliest known European explorers came with the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. According to the "500TH Florida Discovery Council Round Table", on March 3, 1513, Ponce de Leon, organized and equipped three ships which began an expedition (with a crew of 200, including women and free blacks), departing from Punta Aguada Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico was the historic first gateway to the discovery of Florida, which opened the doors to the advanced settlement of the U.S. They introduced Christianity, cattle, horses, sheep, the Spanish language and more to Florida. [broken citation] Ponce de León spotted the peninsula on April 2, 1513. According to his chroniclers, he named the region La Florida ("flowery land") because it was then the Easter Season, known in Spanish as Pascua Florida (roughly "Flowery Easter"), and because the vegetation was in bloom. Juan Ponce de León may not have been the first European to reach Florida, however; reportedly, at least one indigenous tribesman whom he encountered in Florida in 1513 spoke Spanish. From 1513 onward, the land became known as La Florida. After 1630, and throughout the 18th century, Tegesta (after the Tequesta tribe) was an alternate name of choice for the Florida peninsula following publication of a map by the Dutch cartographerHessel Gerritsz in Joannes de

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Laet's History of the New World.

The horse, which the natives had eaten into extinction 10,000 years ago, was reintroduced into North America with the European explorers and into Florida in 1538. As the animals were lost or stolen, they began to become feral.

Over the following century, both the Spanish and French established settlements in Florida with

varying degrees of success. In 1559, Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano established a colony at present-day Pensacola, one of the first European attempts at settlement in the continental United States.

It was abandoned by 1561 due to hurricanes, famine, and warring tribes, and the area was not re-inhabited until the 1690s.

French Protestant Huguenots founded Fort

Caroline in modern-day Jacksonville in 1564. The following year, the Spanish colony of St. Augustine (San Agustín) was established, and forces from there conquered Fort Caroline that same year. The Spanish maintained tenuous control over the region by converting the local tribes, briefly with Jesuits and later with Franciscan friars.

The area of Spanish Flor-

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ida diminished with the establishment of English colonies to the north and French colonies to the west. The English weakened Spanish power in the area by supplying their Creek and Yamasee allies with firearms and urging them to raid the Timucuan and Apalachee client-tribes of the Spanish. The English attacked St. Augustine, burning the city and its cathedral to

the ground several times, while the citizens hid behind the walls of the Castillo de San Marcos.

Florida attracted numerous Africans and African Americans from the southern British colonies in North America who sought freedom from slavery. Once in Florida, the Spanish Crown converted them to Roman Catholicism and gave them freedom.

Those freedmen settled in a commu-

nity north of St. Augustine, called Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, the first free black settlement of its kind in what became the United States. Many of those slaves were also welcomed by Creek and Seminole Native Americans, who had established settlements in the region at the invitation of the Spanish government.

Great Britain gained control of Florida and other

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territory diplomatically in 1763 through the Peace of Paris following its defeat of France in the Seven Years' War, and exchanges with Spain of possessions.

The British divided their new acquisitions into East Florida, with its capital at St. Augustine, and West Florida, with its capital at Pensacola.

Britain tried to develop the Floridas through the importation of immigrants for labor, but this project ultimately failed. Spain received both Floridas after Britain's defeat by the American colonies and the subsequent Treaty of Versailles in 1783, continuing the division into East and West Florida. They offered land grants to anyone who settled in the colonies, and many Americans moved to them.

After settler attacks on Indian towns, Seminole Indians based in East Florida began raiding Georgia settlements, purportedly at the behest of the Spanish. The United States Army led increasingly frequent incursions into Spanish territory, including the 1817-1818 campaign against the Seminole Indians by Andrew Jackson that became known as the First Seminole War. Following the war, the United States effectively controlled East Florida.

Spain cedes Florida to the

United States (1819) In 1819, by terms of the Adams-Onís Treaty, Spain ceded Florida to the United States in exchange for $5 million and the American renunciation of any claims on Texas that they might have from the Louisiana Purchase. The free blacks and Indian slaves, Black Seminoles, living near St. Augustine, fled to Havana, Cuba to avoid coming under US control. Some Seminole also abandoned their settlements and moved further south. Hundreds of Black Seminoles and fugitive slaves escaped in the early nineteenth century from Cape Florida to The Bahamas, where they settled on Andros Island.

In 1830, the Indian Removal Act was passed and as settlement increased, pressure grew on the United States government to remove the Indians from their lands in Florida. To the chagrin of Georgia landowners, the Seminoles harbored and integrated runaway blacks, known as the Black Seminoles, and clashes between whites and Indians grew with the influx of new settlers. In 1832, the United States government signed the Treaty of Payne's Landing with some of the Seminole chiefs, promising them lands west of the Mississippi River if they agreed to leave Florida

voluntarily. Many of the Seminoles left at this time, while those who remained prepared to defend their claims to the land. The U.S. Army arrived in 1835 to enforce the treaty under pressure from white settlers, and the Second Seminole War began at the end of the year with the Dade Massacre, when Seminoles ambushed and killed or mortally wounded all but one in a group of 110 Army troops, plus Major Dade and seven officers, marching from Fort Brooke (Tampa) to reinforce Fort King (Ocala).

Between 900 and 1,500 Seminole Indian warriors employed guerrilla tactics against United States Army troops for seven years until 1842. The U.S. government is estimated to have spent between $20 million and $40 million on the war, at the time an astronomical sum. A total of approximately 3,000 Seminole and 800 Black Seminole were removed to Indian Territory; the US finally gave up its fight against the few hundred Seminole in Florida, who were deep in the Everglades and impossible to defeat or dislodge.

On March 3, 1845, Florida became the 27th state of the United States of America, although initially its population grew slowly.

White settlers continued to encroach on lands used

by the Seminoles, and the United States government resolved to make another effort to move the remaining Seminoles to the West. The Third Seminole War lasted from 1855 to 1858, and resulted in the removal of most of the remaining Seminoles. Even after three bloody wars, the U.S. Army failed to force all of the Seminole Indians in Florida to the West. Though most of the Seminoles were forcibly exiled to Creek lands west of the Mississippi, hundreds, including Seminole leader Aripeka (Sam Jones), remained in the Everglades and refused to leave. Their descendants remain there to this day and two tribes in Florida are federally recognized.

White settlers began to establish cotton plantations in Florida, which required numerous laborers, which they supplied by buying slaves in the domestic market. In the development of the Deep South, nearly one million African Americans were forced to move to the region through slavery. By 1860 Florida had only 140,424 people, of whom 44% were enslaved.

There were fewer than 1000 free African Americans before the Civil War.

The beaches of Key Biscayne in Miami.

Florida is a low per capita energy user. It is estimated that approximately 4% of energy in the state is generated through renewable resources. Florida's energy production is 6% of the nation's total energy output, while total production of pollutants is lower, with figures of 5.6% for nitrogen oxide, 5.1% for carbon dioxide, and 3.5% for sulfur dioxide.

It is believed that significant petroleum resources are located off Florida's western coast in the Gulf of Mexico, but that region has been closed to exploration since 1981.

Red tide has been an issue on the southwest coast of Florida, as well as other areas. While there has been a great deal of conjecture over the cause of the toxic algae bloom, there is no evidence that it is being caused by pollution or that there has been an increase in the duration or frequency of red tides.

The Florida panther is close to extinction. A record 23 were killed in 2009 predominately by automobile collisions, leaving about 100 individuals in the wild. The Center for Biological Diversity and others have therefore called for a special protected area for the panther to be established. Manatees are also

dying at a rate higher than their reproduction.

Prior to instituting controlled burns, the state forests and pastures burned for months during the dry season. From the 1940s to the 1970s, the state and federal government assumed control of burning that largely prevented uncontrolled fires. In 2010, the state burned a record 2,600,000 acres (11,000 km2).

The Atlantic beaches that are vital to the state's economy are being washed out to sea due to rising sea levels caused by climate change and the state is running out of accessible offshore sand reserves.

Recycling The recycling rate in Florida is estimated at 28% in 2000. In 2008, The Energy, Climate Change, and Economic Security Act of 2008 set a goal of progressively improving recycling to reach a 75 percent rate by the year 2020.

It directs public entities (schools, state and local public agencies) to report the amount they recycle annually to their counties.

Private businesses are encouraged (but not mandated) to report the amount they recycle to their counties. Finally, the section directs DEP to create the Recycling Business Assistance Center. Under the new law, each county must

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implement a recyclable materials recycling program that shall have a goal of recycling recyclable solid waste by 40 percent

by December 31, 2012, 50 percent by 2014, 60 percent by 2016, 70 percent by 2018, and 75 percent by 2020. The county with the highest recycling rate is Lee County with a 43% recycling rate as of 2008.

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Population The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Florida was 19,552,860 on July 1, 2013, a 2.7% increase since the 2010 United States Census. The population of Florida in the 2010 census was 18,801,310. Florida was the seventh fastest-growing state in the U.S. in the 12-month period ending July 1, 2012. In 2010, the center of population of Florida was located between Fort Meade and Frostproof. The center of population has moved less than five miles to the east and approximately one mile to the north between 1980 and 2010 and has been located in Polk County since the 1960 census.

About two-thirds of the population was born in another state, the second highest in the country.

In 2010, illegal immigrants constituted an estimated 5.7% of the population. This was the sixth highest percentage of any state in the country. There were an estimated 675,000 illegal immigrants in the state in 2010.[90] There were 186,102 military retirees living in the state in 2008.

Florida Capitol buildings The basic structure, duties, function, and operations of the government of the state of Florida are defined and established by the Florida Constitution, which establishes the basic law of the state and guarantees various rights and freedoms of the people. The state government consists of three separate branches: judicial, executive, and legislative. The legislature enacts bills, which, if signed by the governor, become law.

The Florida Legislature comprises the Florida Senate, which has 40 members, and the Florida House of Representatives, which has 120 members. The current Governor of Florida is Rick Scott.

The Florida Supreme Court consists of a Chief Justice and six Justices.

Florida has 67 counties. Some reference materials may show only 66 because Duval County is consolidated with the City of Jacksonville. There are 379 cities in Florida (out of 411) that report regularly to the Florida Department of Revenue, but there are other incorporated municipalities that do not. The state government's primary source of revenue is sales tax. Florida does not impose a personal income tax. The primary revenue source for cities and counties is property tax.

Architecture While many houses and commercial buildings look similar to those elsewhere in the country, the state has appropriated some unique styles in some sec-

tion of the state including Spanish revival, Florida vernacular, and Mediterranean Revival Style.

Economy In the twentieth century, tourism, industry, construction, international banking, biomedical and life sciences, healthcare research, simulation training, aerospace and defense, and commercial space travel have contributed to the state's economic development.[citation needed] Agriculture and fishing Agriculture is the second largest industry in the state. Citrus fruit, especially oranges, are a major part of the economy, and Florida produces the majority of citrus fruit grown in the United States.

In 2006, 67% of all citrus, 74% of oranges, 58% of tangerines, and 54% of grapefruit were grown in Florida. About 95% of commercial orange production in the state is destined for processing (mostly as orange juice, the official state beverage). Citrus cankercontinues to be an issue of concern.

From 1997 to 2013, the growing of citrus trees has declined 25%, from 600,000 acres (240,000 ha) to 450,000 acres (180,000 ha). In 2013, the Coca-Cola

Company announced its intention to spend $2 billion to raise an additional 25,000 acres (10,000 ha) of orange groves.

Other products include sugarcane, strawberries, tomatoes and celery.

The state is the largest producer of sweet

corn and green beans for the country.

The Everglades Agricultural Area is a major center for agriculture. The environmental impact of agriculture, especially water pollution, is a major issue in Florida today.

In 2009, fishing was a $6

billion industry, employing 60,000 jobs for sports and commercial purposes.

Mining Phosphate mining, concentrated in the Bone Valley, is the state's third-largest industry. The state produces about 75% of the phos-

FLO RID A phate required by farmers in the United States and 25% of the world supply, with about 95% used for agriculture (90% for fertilizer and 5% for livestock feed supplements) and 5% used for other products.

Industry After the watershed events of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the state of Florida began investing in economic development through the Office of Trade, Tourism, and Economic Development.

Governor Jeb Bush realized that watershed events such as Andrew negatively impacted Florida's backbone industry of tourism severely. The office was directed to target Medical/Bio-Sciences among others. Three years later, The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) announced it had chosen Florida for its newest expansion. In 2003, TSRI announced plans to establish a major science center in Palm Beach, a 364,000 square feet (33,800 m2) facility on 100 acres (40 ha),

which TSRI planned to occupy in 2006.[187] At the same time that Scripps started operations in Florida, Tavistock Group, an investment firm that held 7,000 acres (2,800 ha) of land immediately South East of Orlando International Airport began formulating new possibilities for its land use after the decline in tourism to the state. Tavistock decided to use part of the land to establish a Bio-Sciences cluster. In 2005, the state of Florida along with Tavistock Group and the University of Central Florida agreed that Tavistock would donate 50 acres (20 ha) and $12.5 Million (which the state would match for a total of $25 Million) to start the UCF College of Medicine and the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences. The UCF College of Medicine won approval from the State Board of Governors in 2006. That decision was key to attracting Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute to Central Florida. Tavistock

then donated another 50 acres (20 ha) and $17.5 Million to Sanford-Burnham which allowed SanfordBurnham's East Coast expansion. In February and March 2007, Nemours and the The V/A(respectively) announced Lake Nona as the site of two new hospitals.[citation needed] Other prospective tenants of the Lake Nona Medical City included M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the University of Florida research center, and Valencia Community College.[citation needed] It was determined in 2008 from a study done by Arduin, Laffer and Moore Econometrics that the Lake Nona Medical City cluster has in two years reached 80% of the Milken Numbers which were based on the commitments made by the economic development statements. The study then released new projections for the 10-year period which included 30,000 jobs created and a $7.6 Billion economic impact.

Tourism Tourism makes up the largest sector of the state economy. Warm weather and hundreds of miles of beaches attract about 60 million visitors to the state every year. Florida was the top destination state in 2011. 42% of poll respondents living in the Northeast United States said they planned on visiting Florida over spring break.

Amusement parks, especially in the Orlando area, make up a significant portion of tourism. The Walt Disney World Resort is the largest vacation resort in the world, consisting of four theme parks and more than 20 hotels in Lake Buena Vista, Florida; it, and Universal Orlando Resort, Busch Gardens, SeaWorld, and

other major parks drive state tourism. Many beach towns are also popular tourist destinations, particularly in the winter months. 23.2 million tourists visited Florida beaches in 2000, spending $21.9 billion.[190] The public has a right to beach access under the public trust doctrine.

However, some areas have access effectively blocked by private owners for a long distance.

Energy Florida ranked 42nd out of 50 states in total energy consumption per capita in 2010, despite the heavy reliance on commercial and residential air conditioning. This includes coal, natural gas, petroleum, and retail electricity sales.

Education Main article: Education in Florida Florida's public primary and secondary schools are administered by the Florida Department of Education.

State University System The State University System of Florida was founded in 1905, and is governed by the Florida Board of Governors. During the 2010 academic year, 312,216 students attended one of these member institutions.

Private universities Florida's first private university, Stetson University, was founded in 1883.

The Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida is an association of 28 private, educational institutions in the state. This

Association reported that their member institutions served over 121,000 students in the fall of 2006.

Infrastructure Communication 27% of Floridians exclusively own cell phones for communication; no landline. Nationally, figures vary from 13-35%, with the higher percentages an indication of lower income.

Transportation Main article: Transportation in Florida The Miami Metrorail is the state's only rapid transit system.

About 15% of Miamians use public transit daily.

Public transit Miami's public transportation is served by Miami-Dade Transit that runs Metrorail, a heavy rail rapid transit system, Metromover, a people mover train system in Downtown Miami, and Metrobus, Miami's bus system. Metrorail runs throughoutMiamiDade County and has two lines and 23 stations connecting to Downtown Miami's Metromover and Tri-Rail.

Metromover has three lines and 21 stations throughout Downtown Miami. Outside of Mi-

ami-Dade County, public transit in theMiami metropolitan area is served

by Broward County Transit and Palm Tran; intercounty commuter rail service is provided by Tri-Rail, with 18 stations including the region's three international airports.

Orlando utilizes the LYNX bus system as well as a downtown bus service called LYMMO, and has attempted to plan a local light rail service for years.

A commuter rail service - SunRail - has been approved by all concerning counties and is in final planning stages.

Tampa and its surrounding area use the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority system ("HART").

In addition, downtown Tampa has continuous trolley services in the form of a heritage trolley powered by Tampa Electric Company. Pinellas County and St. Petersburg provide similar services through the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority or "PSTA".

The beaches of Pinellas County also have a continuous trolley bus.

Downtown St. Petersburg has a trolley system.

Along with bus services, Jacksonville of-

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fers fixed routes operated by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA). The Skyway is a people mover system located in Downtown Jacksonville. Its two lines and eight stations connect theNorthbank, Southbank, and Lavilla districts. JTA is currently in the process of securing funding for an extension into Brooklyn, a neighborhood just south of Lavilla.

Miami International Airport is the world's 10thlargest cargo airport, and the state's busiest airport.

Major international airports in Florida which processed more than 15 million passengers each in 2010 are Miami Internation-

al Airport (35,698,025), Orlando International Airport (34,877,899), Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport(22,412,627) and Tampa International Airport (16,645,765).

Secondary airports, with annual passenger traffic exceeding 5 million each in 2010, include Southwest Florida International Airport (Fort Myers) (7,514,316), Palm Beach International Airport (West Palm Beach) (5,887,723), and Jacksonville International Airport (5,601,500).

Florida's extensive coastline made it a perceived target during World War II, so the government built airstrips throughout the state; today, approximately 400 airports

are still in service. According to the National Drug Intelligence Center, Florida has 131 public airports, and more than 700 private airports, airstrips, heliports, and seaplane bases.

Sports See also: Florida Sports Hall of Fame and List of sports teams in Florida Florida has three NFL teams, two MLB teams, two NBA teams, and two NHL teams.

Florida gained its first permanent major-league professional sports team in 1966 when the American Football League added the Miami Dolphins. The state of Florida has given professional sports franchises

some subsidies in the form of tax breaks since 199.

About half of all Major League Baseball teams conduct spring training in the state, with teams informally organized into the "Grapefruit League".

Throughout MLB history, other teams have held spring training in Florida.

Golf, tennis, and auto racing are popular. NASCAR (headquartered in Daytona Beach) begins all three of its major Series in Florida at Daytona International Speedway, and ends all three Series in November at HomesteadMiami Speedway. The PGA of America is headquartered inPalm Beach Gardens while the LPGA is

headquartered in Daytona Beach.

Minor league baseball, football, basketball, ice hockey, soccer and indoor football teams are based in Florida. Three of the Arena Football League's teams are in Florida.

Florida's universities have a number of collegiate sport teams.

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SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida IMAGES: DeusXFlorida http://www.flickr.com/photos/8363028@N08/sets/

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Pygmalion Karatzas 10

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ygmalion Karatzas was born in Greece (1973), studied architecture in Budapest (1991-94), urban design in Edinburgh (1995-97), ecovillage design education at Findhorn (2006).

Additional studies include bioclimatic analysis (Ecotect), generative/parametric design (Rhinoceros, Grasshopper).

A self-taught photographer doing fine art and commercial photography, participating in photography groups since 2006. His work has been featured in some of the best online curated galleries and has been collaborating with architectural e-zines like arcspace.com, e-architect.co.uk, greekarchitects.gr. Honored to be among ‘the grand & prestigious photographers of 2013 featured with 121clicks.com’.

Fascinated with all forms of human expression and creativity artistically, socially and spiritually with an integral approach as the over-

reaching conceptual framework. As such he experiments and explores various photographic genres like architecture, landscape, street, long exposure, panoramic, travel, time lapse. His on-going research is towards an integral approach to architecture, sustainability and art.

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About the photographic project:

Joseph Rosa, chief curator at the US National Building Museum, once stated that photography has become the lens through which we observe and analyze the evolution of architecture.

The positive aspect of this reality is that architects and the public around the world can participate in this educational process, on the other hand, the negative aspect is the trap of images dominating over it’s core purpose: the actual experiencing of architecture.

My work aims to inspire people to not only view architecture as a two dimentional image representation but to motivate them to experience it more comprehensively. Long exposure photography and a fine art approach makes people slow down, observe buildings closer, do research and field survey, revisit locations under different light and weather conditions, and by doing so enriching their understanding and awareness of the built environment.

Photography has always been as much about discovering the personal and transpersonal vision of the artist as much as it has been about mastering the technical aspects of each photographic genre. This collection is part of an integral / AQAL photographic vision, studying and

exploring various styles and approaches to architectural photography, aiming to combine a respectful representation of exterior realities and a meaningful expression of our interiority, and to bridge fine art and commercial photography.

“What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral. Become a light bulb instead of a laser beam. Striving for excellence usually entails the sacrifice of everything in the background for the sake of attending to the all-important foreground. Find the meaning of everything around, instead of just what you are directly facing.”

- John Maeda, ‘The laws of simplicity’

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11 01 MAXXI museum, Rome, by architect Zaha Zadid 02 Palazzo della Civilta, Rome, by architects Guerrini & La Padula 03 Vitra Design Museum, Basel, by architect Frank Gehry 04 Vitrahaus, Basel, by architects Herzog & de Meuron 05 Commerzbank, Frankfurt, by architect Norman Foster 06 KFW westarkade, Frankfurt, by architects Sauerbruch & Hutton 07 360 apartments, Patra, by architects Divercity 08 Ag. Athanasios curch, Aigion, by architect Yiannis Anastasiou 09 Qatar National Convention Centre, Doha, by architect Arata Isozaki 10 Msheireb Enrichment Center, Doha, by architects Allies & Morrison 11 Burj Qatar tower, Doha, by architect Jean Nouvel 12 Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, by architect I.M. Pei

ARCHITECTURE WEBSITE: http://www.karatzas-architects.com PHOTOGRAPHY WEBSITE: http://karatzas.wix.com/photo BOOK: http://www.blurb.com/b/4579579-m-o-r-p-h-o-g-e-n-e-s-i-s-v1-1 SOCIAL MEDIA: https://www.facebook.com/pygmalion.karatzas ONLINE GALLERIES: https://www.behance.net/pygmalionkaratzas http://1x.com/member/pygmalion http://www.artlimited.net/23821 http://www.stark-magazine.com/member/pygmalionkaratzas/photos http://ndmagazine.net/photographer/pygmalion-karatzas http://500px.com/PygmalionKaratzas http://www.flickr.com/photos/pygmalionk https://plus.google.com/+PygmalionKaratzas

Alex Antipin Sankt-Peterburg, Russian Federation

st-petrsburg@rjevka

Photography, Urbanism https://www.behance.net/mega_sbjct

IMAGES: Alex Antipin

IMAGES: Alex Antipin

IMAGES: Alex Antipin

WCAP Sgt. Rohbock strikes World Cup gold on bobsled farewell tour 110118

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LEXANDRIA, Va. - Team USA bobsled pilot Sgt. Shauna Rohbock is back in the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program for what may be her farewell tour on the World Cup circuit.

Rohbock teamed with brakeman Valerie Fleming to win the women's gold medal Jan. 14 at the World Cup event in Igls, Austria, where the U.S. duo prevailed by .09 seconds over Germany's Anja Scheiderheinze and Christin Senkel.

"If you ask anybody what track the push is the most important on, they would all say Igls," Rohbock said.

"And today I got beat by over a tenth [of a second] at the start. To win here after being beat by over a tenth is unheard of it doesn't happen."

Rohbock and Fleming are

competing this season in a sled designed by Ollie Brower, a former soapbox derby competitor, and Todd Hays, who won a silver medal in the four-man competition at the 2002 Olympic Games.

"He drove it last year and was doing really well until he ended up crashing and couldn't continue," Rohbock said in reference to the sled Hays was forced to retire from because of a career-ending head injury. "This year, I really wanted to drive it because they ended up testing it against my sled and it was definitely faster."

Rohbock credits the change in sleds for her final-season surge.

"I'm driving the same lines I used to before but it goes on and off curves so smooth," she said. "It's just a whole different feeling in the sled - it's just so much smoother and

quieter. It's been pretty good on all the tracks.

"You have to look at the sled and be like 'Wow, they definitely have something here.'"

Rohbock drove sleds designed by NASCAR driver Geoff Bodine for eight consecutive years before making the switch for her final season.

"I told Todd all summer long that I really wanted to drive his sled, but if this is going to be my last year, obviously I want to do well," Rohbock said.

"Especially on this track here [in Igls], everything is like fine-tuning, the little things make you faster - but it's not going to be faster if I can't drive it."

Rohbock made her competitive debut in Hays' sled in Lake Placid, N.Y., where "it was flying and I took second in one race and crashed in the other,"

Michelle Rzepka tucks in behind U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program bobsled pilot Sgt. Shauna Rohbock during their third heat of the Olympic women's bobsled event at the Whistler Sliding Centre.

They finished sixth aboard USA I with a four-heat combined time of 3 minutes, 34.06 seconds. The Canadian duo of Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse won the gold medal in 3:32.28.

Rohbock is considering retiring from the sport after the 2011 World Championships.

(Photo by Tim Hipps, FMWRC Public Affairs)

she said.

"I can't believe I crashed in Lake Placid," she said. "I've never had a problem in this curve.

I crashed out of Turn 12. But if you asked me where would you crash at Placid? I would say [curves] 7-8 or 17-18. I would never say out of 12 - I can't believe

it happened."

Rohbock said "you can speculate so many different things" that caused the crash "but obviously I want to say things that make me feel better."

Bottom line, Rohbock felt the potential to go faster than ever before and anxiously

awaited heading to Europe for the second half of the World Cup schedule.

After winning the season-opening World Cup silver medal at Whistler, B.C., and getting cancelled by a blizzard Dec. 10 in Park City, Utah, Rohbock and Fleming had two races

in Lake Placid.

"I took second in the first race and we were probably going to end up second in the second race, but I ended up crashing," Rohbock said. "So I would have three seconds and one first."

Rohbock struggled with a quadriceps injury to finish eighth at Calgary, the other stop on the 2010-2011 World Cup circuit. She has three World Cup events remaining, followed by the World Championships on Feb. 18-19 in Konigssee, Germany.

"The problem is my body is just so hammered right now," Rohbock said. "After the Vancouver Olympics, I almost retired.

Actually, I was pretty much retired over the summer. Valerie and I both live in Park City and we went for a walk one night and I was like, 'Let's just retire.' And she said, 'OK, good, I'm there with you. That's fine with me.'"

The next day their coach called and talked them into returning for another season.

"I knew I was going to struggle a little bit this year with the push because I'm just

done - my body needs the time out," Rohbock said.

"I wish that I could come back next year because the World Championships are going to be in Lake Placid, and obviously the sled that I'm in is ridiculously fast in Lake Placid. It's fast everywhere, but it's extra fast in Lake Placid, so I would love to come back.

"But I just can't. It's frustrating for me and frustrating for my brakeman. Valerie and I have raced for seven or eight seasons and she's been an awesome brakeman over the years. I've had my ups and downs since 2006 with injuries and she's pushed me right along and done a great job."

Rohbock says very little would have happened with her bobsledding career without the support of WCAP and the Army National Guard Outstanding Athlete Program.

She served as a forerunner at the 2002 Olympics in Park City as a member of WCAP. A forerunner is a non-competing athlete who drives down the bobsled track prior to competitors to ensure the surface is ready.

Rohbock was released from WCAP in 2003

because her unit was preparing to deploy. At the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, she teamed with Fleming to win a silver medal while representing the Army National Guard.

At the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Rohbock teamed with Michelle Rzepka and finished sixth at the Whistler Sliding Centre.

"I feel like the military programs are why you end up winning medals," Rohbock said.

"Everybody wants to support you in your Olympic year. In your offseason, that's when nobody cares.

WCAP carries you whether it's an Olympic year or non-Olympic year they're there supporting you. At Torino, I have to say WCAP was a big part of that medal as well because without them I wouldn't have been able to be a brakeman and start my driving career and then move into this other program.

"The military programs have probably been the biggest part of my success. Without them, I don't feel like I would have been able to win any medals."

Fleming is happy just to share a sled with Rohbock.

"I've been feeling great," said Fleming, 34. "It's been a never-ending string of injuries for Shauna over the last five to six years, which I know is frustrating for her. I always want to do better. ... I have all the confidence in the world in Shauna.

Her driving ability is awesome, and she can make up time that we might be losing at the start."

Rohbock could be the kind of athlete who gives her body a break while coaching for a season or two, then jumps back into a sled to prepare for the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

"It's definitely possible," she said. "If people ask: 'Are you going to go to Sochi?' Well, today, I say no. But obviously I've seen [then WCAP Spc.] Jill Bakken, who won gold in Salt Lake and said 'I'm done,' then she came back for Torino.

Todd Hays hung it up after Torino for two years, then came back [and made a run] for Whistler.

There have been so many athletes who have done it: took a couple years off and then came back.

"I said in Park City that I was retiring," Rohbock added.

"You

never know, but I do want to coach as well."

At any rate, Rohbock has a coaching career to keep her near the track.

For now, her primary goal is to remain healthy through the World Championships.

"I feel like every day I'm fighting with my body," she said. "This week I was pushing and my quad just got kind of tight. I didn't take a couple of the last training runs and had to get worked on.

Next week, maybe I'm going to be a little bit smarter. Maybe I'll train one day, take a day off, train one day, take a day off, and then race.

"I just feel like I'm constantly fighting and it's so frustrating because I was such a durable athlete through my college years. Ever since 2006 when I got a bigger injury, then I never took time off, which was probably a mistake."

Speaking of durability, Rohbock actually played two seasons of professional soccer for the WUSA's San Diego Spirit while bobsledding during the winters.

"I've been a little rough on my body, and I'm

dreading 40, that's the problem," she said with a laugh. "I think maybe when I'm done, my body will go: 'Ah, finally,' and then it will go back to normal."

Once all is said and done, Rohbock hopes to be remembered as one of the best athletes in the history of USA Bobsledding.

"Of course, I'd like to be remembered as the best female driver of all times," she said with a smile. "When I came into the sport we broke every start record on every track, so I'd like to think that I revolutionized the sport for the drivers to become more athletic. ...

Now it's kind of like the process - a brakeman becomes a driver.

"I'd like to think I was a pioneer of the sport."

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