Thursday, January 2, 2014

Ford develops solar powered car for everyday use

Ford has developed a concept model that runs primarily on solar power, creating a vehicle that is not dependent on traditional energy sources.

CNBC

Ford develops solar powered car for everyday use

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Published: Thursday, 2 Jan 2014 | 12:01 AM ET

By: Philip LeBeau | CNBC Auto and Airline Industry Reporter

Ford has developed a concept model that runs primarily on solar power, which could bring the world one step closer to having a vehicle for everyday driving that is not dependent on traditional energy sources.
The C-MAX Solar Energi Concept is a collaboration between Ford, SunPower Corp. and the Georgia Institute of Technology. The concept car is expected to be unveiled next week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Image from Ford.

C-MAX Solar Energi Concept car

Like all concept models, the C-MAX Solar Energi Concept may never be built or sold to the public. However, many of the features and technologies we see in current vehicles were once shown for the first time in concept models years ago.
Harnessing the sun's power
Ford says the C-MAX Solar Energi Concept would be powered by energy it collects using a special concentrator that acts like a magnifying glass.
(Read more: Auto industry acceleration into the new year)

The concentrator would take energy from sun light and direct intense rays to panels on the vehicle's roof.
In theory, the C-MAX Solar Energi could fully recharge itself without the vehicle having to be plugged in to an electrical outlet. Ford believes sunshine could power up to 75 percent of all trips made in a solar hybrid vehicle, though the automaker does not give a distance for those trips.

Play Video

Are sustainable cars the future?

Peter Lindlahr, managing director at hySolutions, discusses sustainable cars and how they can be used to help the environment.

Solar powered cars not new
Solar powered cars have been developed and driven around the world for years, but almost exclusively in contests or research programs designed to show how far cars could travel without gas. In most cases, the cars have been small capsules designed to hold only a driver.
(Read more: Car tech: Not just a Google vs. Apple story)

The challenge has long been finding a way to harness enough solar energy to power a vehicle that could be used every day and carry more than just the driver.
—By CNBC's Phil LeBeau. Follow him on Twitter

@LeBeauCarNews

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Questions? Comments? BehindTheWheel@cnbc.com.

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http://www.cnbc.com/id/101304906?__source=yahoo|finance|headline|headline|story&par=yahoo&doc=101304906|Ford%20develops%20solar%20power

As an intuitive I can see this idea (only with all upward or outward facing car surfaces being solar cells) (not just the roof) as the future for solar powered cars. Between parking your car in the sun and plugging it in overnight most people wouldn't have to use any gas at all (at least in driving to and from work).

Another factor will be the constant quantum jumps in efficiency solar cells are going through every year now from researchers all over the world. It is said that the solar cell is now going through the same types of quantum jumps that the silicon computer chip went through between 1980 and the present.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

The 3 Most Corrupt Countries in the World

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The 3 Most Corrupt Countries in the World

By Justin Loiseau | More Articles | Save For Later
January 1, 2014 | Comments (93)

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The United States has its fair share of scandals. But when it comes to corruption, there are plenty of other countries that leave the U.S. in the dust. Here are the three most corrupt countries in the world.
Corruption eruption
Global watchdog organization Transparency International gathers data from more than a dozen respected international organizations and businesses to answer a seemingly simple question : How corrupt is my country?

It's a global issue. No country is flawless, and over two-thirds of countries clocked in below 50 out of a total of 100 points.

Source: Transparency International

The Worst
Corruption must be a competition for some countries, because the worst three tied for last place out of 177 countries .

Source: Wikimedia Commons, by TUBS

Somalia is one of the terrible trio. The easternmost country of continental Africa, this country is perhaps most infamously known for its modern-day pirates. The United Kingdom's Department for International Development refers to it as the "most fragile state in the world," and notes that the country hasn't had a functioning government for more than 20 years .

Source: Wikimedia Commons, by TUBS

North Korea is also chugging along on the corruption caboose. According to Transparency International Executive Director Robert Barrington, countries at the bottom of the corruption bucket are usually undergoing conflict – but North Korea is an exception.
Kim Jong-un and his military leaders rule with an iron fist. A New York Times article recently revealed that Jong-un used anti-aircraft machine guns to execute two of his dissident uncle's top lieutenants , but the more telling stories may be the ones that are never told. Corruption begins with disinformation, and North Korea remains an enigma to most human rights organizations and foreign countries.

Source: Wikimedia Commons, by TUBS

While Somalia is without a government and North Korea is saddled with a heartless one, Afghanistan has many governments pushing and pulling this corrupt country in different directions. According to the Stars and Stripes, an independent U.S. military news source, corruption is an ongoing problem:

Twelve years since American forces knocked out the Taliban regime in 2001, corruption in Afghanistan remains rampant and seems to be getting worse.... From traffic police to high level officials, graft has become commonplace at every level of Afghan government and has sapped public support for the central administration, even as it needs it most.

As foreign troops continue their withdrawal, Afghanistan will continue to be faced with issues of corruption. As different rulers, from the current government to the Taliban, jump in to fill the void of foreign peace-keeping and leadership, corruption will be both a weapon and a toll to maintain or grab power.
Corruption Without Borders
Somalia, North Korea, and Afghanistan may seem like countries on the other side of the world – and they are. Literally. But figuratively, corruption halfway around the world can hit close to home.
While Somalia's last recorded GDP was just $910 million in 1990 , the single pirating of an oil tanker in 2011 represented 20% of one day's crude oil imports, a move that tanker owners say could "severely disrupt oil flows to the rest of the world ."
As President Obama proposes to "pivot" foreign policy to Asia, North Korea is quickly becoming the Vietnam of the 21^st century. Fierce animosity and sporadic military conflict is a common thread throughout Asian history , and the Chinese-North Korean alliance continues to play yin to Japan and South Korea's yang. Add in nuclear weapons development, close ties to the Middle East , and a Japanese decision last week to boost military spending significantly , and you're left with a ticking foreign policy time bomb.
In Afghanistan, the country where Operation Enduring Freedom has endured since Oct. 7, 2001 , 2,295 U.S. military men and women have lost their lives . While more difficult to calculate, The Nation estimates that 6,481 Afghan civilians were killed between 2001 and 2012 . And in the first 10 years of U.S. operations in Afghanistan, the U.S. government spent $444 billion .
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http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/01/01/the-3-most-corrupt-countries-in-the-world.aspx#.UsUaufZpf_Q

China's Military Strategy

What would a U.S.-China war look like?

War-gaming an extremely unlikely conflict

By Eugene K. Chow | January 1, 2014

It almost certainly won't happen, but... (U.S. Navy via Getty Images)

magine this: In the early morning, a barrage of more than 1,000 Chinese ballistic and cruise missiles bombard Taiwanese civilian and military targets.
As the U.S. Air Force stationed in Okinawa prepares to rush to the aid of its sworn ally, Chinese cyber attacks wreak havoc on America's air defense and targeting systems. A second volley of ballistic missiles detonates in space, destroying critical military satellites, while a third rains down on the base, damaging jets and leaving runways unusable.
Meanwhile, a U.S. carrier strike group led by the USS George Washington has launched from Japan and is steaming towards the Taiwan Strait. Without the advanced warning and additional data supplied by satellites, the group's missile defense systems are at a disadvantage against the Chinese "carrier killer" missiles that are streaking towards them. Defense systems do their best, but a few missiles still hit their mark, leaving the USS George Washington's flight deck unusable. America's awesome air and sea power has been sidelined.
While far from a complete picture, this hypothetical scenario is the U.S. military's worst nightmare. Now, of course, despite recent shows of force over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands and the occasional blustery threat to Taiwan, war will almost certainly not break out between the U.S. and China. But it is this scenario's potential to be realized that helps keep war at bay.
To be clear: The United States military remains the world's most fearsome fighting force, unbeatable on a one-on-one basis. Yet it would find a protracted war that could end in nuclear Armageddon too costly. China is keenly aware of that fact. So rather than orienting itself towards a total war it cannot win, China's military strategy serves a smaller, but shrewder purpose — pushing the United States out of China's backyard.
Reclaiming Chinese pride
Provocations over Taiwan and the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands are not about the land itself per se, but rather a matter of national pride. Still fuming over its embarrassment in the 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis, when President Bill Clinton made an overwhelming display of American power with the deployment of two aircraft carrier strike groups to the region, the Chinese government has sought to showcase its growing stature by taking control of the Pacific, a region long dominated by the U.S. Navy.
China's actions, especially of late, are a strong message to the United States that it wants to usurp America as the regional power, Hugh White, a professor of strategic studies at Australian National University, told Bloomberg. "They're saying to America that we're so serious about this that we're prepared to take the risks of being provocative, in order to persuade you to take seriously that we want to change the order."
To back up their actions, Chinese strategists have developed a large arsenal of conventional asymmetric weapon systems specifically designed to blunt American might, in effect creating a powerful deterrent that is forcing the U.S. military to walk softly in a region it once ruled supreme.
A2/AD
Aimed at preventing American forces from using their technological superiority to strike the heart of China, the Chinese military has pursued an anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy. At its most basic, A2/AD is a layered defense strategy that incorporates land, sea, air, cyber, and space attacks to counter America's military advantages.
Rather than forcing an outright defeat, the strategy utilizes repeated waves of assaults using cyber attacks, anti-satellite weapons, ballistic missiles, stealth submarines, and other weapons to slow U.S. forces as they draw nearer the Chinese coast.
In a successful scenario, each successive wave of attacks would whittle down a superior force's advantage so by the time they reach their goal they have suffered too many casualties or are too spent to launch a significant offensive.
A key element of China's defenses is its growing stockpile of ballistic and cruise missiles that have enough range to blanket much of Asia. Most troubling is its DF-21D "carrier killer" missile, which has an estimated range of 2,700 km and is specially designed to target the U.S. military's greatest form of force projection — the aircraft carrier.
Additionally, China possesses a growing number of war planes, and is notably developing the fifth-generation J-20 and J-31 stealth fighter jets. At the same time, China has procured at least 12 stealthy diesel-electric Kilo-class subs from Russia, while the U.S. military has shifted its focus away from Cold War skills, like submarine hunting.
Countering A2/AD
In the theoretical war against China, the arms race is already on. As China develops asymmetrical weapons to minimize American advantages, the Pentagon is also at work on technologies to overcome those counter-technologies.
"Part of what keeps the probability of war so small is that the U.S. and Taiwan have taken steps to make sure it would be painful for China," David Shlapak, a senior international policy analyst at the Rand Corporation, told Popular Mechanics in 2010.
In reality, many of the weapons systems under development will never see actual combat, but the hypothetical arms race is critical as researchers on both sides seek to tip the scales in their favor and change the calculus for military strategists.
According to Admiral Patrick Walsh, the commander of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet until last year, there is no reason to fear China's military buildup as long as U.S. capabilities keep pace.
"When we look at these sorts of developments, such as the ASBM [anti-ship ballistic missile], they are technological developments that we respect, but do not necessarily fear," Admiral Walsh told Popular Mechanics. "The key element in any sort of deterrent strategy is to make it clear to those who would use a given piece of technology that we have the means to counter it, and to maintain a technological edge."
Even with the U.S. military's technological advantages, China's explosive military growth has guaranteed that even a small conflict with the United States would prove deadlier than anything the nation has witnessed in decades — which is exactly why it won't happen.

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http://theweek.com/article/index/254400/what-would-a-us-china-war-look-like

Mysterious Calif. crop circle plowed over

Julie Belanger / 111th Aerial Ph

Crop circles appeared in a field in Salinas, Calif., but no one knows where they came from.

A mysterious crop circle in the Salinas Valley in central California attracted so much attention that the land-owner hired armed security guards to keep people off the property.
But the crop circle is gone. On Tuesday, the landlord ordered a crew to plow over the entire field.
Aerial photographer Julie Belanger spotted the crop circle as she was flying over the valley Monday morning.
"It was beautiful. Quite beautiful," Belanger told NBC affiliate KSBW. "I believe it's possible that aliens exist, but I don't know if they would bother making a crop circle to give us a message."
Braille experts said in the center of the design is a braille inscription that has the number 192 over-and-over.
Why that number? That is still a mystery.
— NBC Bay Area

Putin Triumphs in 2013 yet Tough Challenges Loom

Putin had a hot political winning streak in 2013 yet faces daunting challenges in the future

ABC News

Putin Triumphs in 2013 yet Tough Challenges Loom

MOSCOW December 31, 2013 (AP)

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press

Displaying the killer instincts of a chess grandmaster, Vladimir Putin rang out 2013 with an exceptional list of accomplishments.

The Russian president humiliated the United States by sheltering NSA leaker Edward Snowden, brokered a Syrian chemical weapons deal that averted a seemingly inevitable U.S. military strike and outmaneuvered the 28-nation European Union in the wrestling match for influence over Ukraine.

Putin also surprised both his own people and the world by pardoning his old foe, former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and allowing an amnesty that got Pussy Riot punk band members and Greenpeace anti-oil drilling activists out of prison.

"It's Putin's moment. He should feel quite happy," said Gleb Pavlovsky, a political strategist and onetime adviser to the Kremlin.

But as the 61-year-old leader prepares for his pet project — the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi — to begin in February, dark clouds are hovering. Two terrorist attacks in the southern city of Volgograd this week raised the specter of continuing violence in the run-up to the games. In addition, the Sochi Olympics are still dogged by fierce criticism over the Russian law signed by Putin that bans so-called "gay propaganda" for minors.

And beyond the Olympics, bigger risks loom.

Russia's ailing economy continues to depend almost entirely on oil and gas. Even though energy prices have remained high, the country is on the brink of recession with growth at just over 1 percent, not enough for Putin to meet his generous social obligations.

Russia's rampant official corruption and its politically tainted justice system have spooked foreign investors, while its smoldering ethnic tensions and widening gap between rich and poor are increasing social instability.

James Nixey, head of the Russia and Eurasia program at Chatham House, said while Putin has had a "spectacularly good year," it has masked the almost "insurmountable problems" facing Russia.

"Absent major league reform and an entire removal of the Russian elite who do not desire any significant structural change — because it would be fundamentally contradictory to their interest — you're just not going to see a Russia which moves on," he said.

But for now, Putin is basking in the limelight after a series of political victories.

"Putin looks like a man who controls developments," said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the Russia in Global Affairs magazine and head of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policies, a top expert group. "That makes him different from many other leaders, who have to react to somebody else's actions."

By providing a refuge to Snowden despite U.S. demands for his extradition, Putin dealt a painful blow to Washington.

"It turned out that Russia was the only country capable of resisting the (U.S.) pressure," Lukyanov said.

Putin has insisted that Snowden isn't being controlled by Russia, but many observers doubt that Russian security agencies would have missed the chance to rustle through the massive trove of secrets in Snowden's possession.

Annoyed by years of Western criticism of Russia's human rights record, Putin clearly relished the chance to highlight the U.S. National Security Agency's questionable surveillance of citizens and foreigners alike.

"I feel jealous because he can do that unpunished," Putin said this month about President Barack Obama, commenting on the Snowden case.

Obama canceled a Russia-U.S. summit amid the Snowden fallout, but he attended September's Group of 20 summit in St. Petersburg, where he had a brief conversation with Putin. The meeting took place as Obama was considering a military strike on Syria over its use of chemical weapons against civilians and Putin used the occasion to play his Syria game.

He proposed that Moscow and Washington pool their efforts to persuade Syrian President Bashar Assad to surrender his chemical arsenal and have it dismantled under international control. Syria quickly agreed, the U.S. called off the strike and Assad became a party in the deal that eased international pressure for his removal.

A year ago, Putin "was seen as the villain on Syria" while "this year he has appeared as the person who was right on Syria," said Pierre Lorrain of France's Institute of Social History, noting that Putin had warned about the rise of Islamic extremists in Syria and pushed for a peace conference that the West has now agreed to sponsor.

Nixey said Putin succeeded thanks to his relationship with the Assad regime and the Western reluctance to go to war.

"The combination of the two meant he could produce a quick diplomatic two-step, which confounded the West," he said.

Another tally in Putin's win column came in November, when Ukraine's president abruptly spiked a pact with the EU that would have made the ex-Soviet nation closer to the West and limited Moscow's influence over its neighbor. Realizing that Ukraine was on the verge of bankruptcy, Putin circumvented the EU by offering Ukraine a $15 billion bailout and a price discount for gas supplies. The EU, in contrast, was coy about any financial assistance.

Lorrain said the EU misunderstood the situation "until too late." He likened Putin's strategy to that of a "good judo combatant, using the adversary's arguments against him."

Nixey said Putin put the symbolism of reclaiming Ukraine above Russia's economic realities, which could come back to haunt him.

"Ukraine is a basket case run by some very nasty oligarchs and a president who is weaker than a newborn baby. It is to Russia's disadvantage that it takes it on," he said.

Putin was so confident in 2013 that he could announce on television that he was divorcing his wife of three decades and not fear any political fallout.

That hubris contrasts sharply with a tense period two years ago, when massive demonstrations in Moscow made Putin look cornered and nervous.

He responded to the urban, middle-class protests by consolidating his support base of blue-collar workers and state employees, branding the opposition as Western stooges and accusing Washington of fomenting unrest in Russia. After his victory, the Kremlin squashed the opposition with a series of draconian laws and arrests and unleased a campaign against non-government organizations.

Russia's image abroad darkened further after a ban on adoptions of Russian children by U.S. parents and the passage this year of a law banning "homosexual propaganda among minors." Gay rights groups say the law gives authorities and others a green light to harass the country's LGBT community and have called for a boycott of the Winter Olympics.

Putin may have pardoned his most visible foes but that doesn't weaken his tight control over Russia's political scene.

Khodorkovsky, who spent more than 10 years in prison in what is seen as a vendetta for challenging Putin's rule, flew to Germany where he said he had no immediate plans to return to Russia, engage in politics or try to reclaim his assets. And while the two Pussy Riot members denounced Putin's amnesty as a political stunt and called for a boycott of the Olympics, their activism poses much less danger to the Kremlin than keeping them in prison.

Obama and several other Western leaders are not attending the Sochi Games — a painful jab but one the Kremlin and Putin have tried to ignore.

"Their refusal to come is an important signal, but it won't hurt the Olympics too much," Pavlovsky said.

————

AP writers Cassandra Vinograd in London and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.

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Putin Triumphs in 2013 yet Tough Challenges Loom

What I find really paradoxical about Edward Snowden embarrassing the U.S. in Russia is that in the long run people like Snowden and Julian Assange and Bradley Manning will have a much more harmful effect upon the present government's of Russia and China than they ever would on the U.S. in the end simply because the U.S. was always designed to be a "Free Society" and Russia and China were not originally. So, people in the U.S are always prepared for "Free Society" changes whereas most of the world is not.

So, the Snowden's, Julian Assanges, and Bradley Mannings will in the end be the biggest threats to Russia and China of all. That Putin does not see this just shows how short sighted he is. It could be said that "Snowden is a Trojan Horse" destroying the secrecy of both Russia and China more and more every day. In the end, he will be a blessing in disguise to the people of the U.S. , Europe, Russia, China and the whole World if you see what I see as an intuitive Precognitive psychic right now regarding what happens during the next century and beyond!

Why Paying Off Credit Cards Is the Best Financial Return On Your Money

Assuming that you're in a financially stable position, investing in the stock market or real estate is one of the best uses for your money. The problem comes with that assumption of stability - and credit card debt. Many American families carry enough credit card debt that their financial lives…

U.S.News & World Report LP

By Trent Hamm December 31, 2013 10:01 AM

Whether personal finance writers contribute to websites, magazines, books or elsewhere, they're usually strong advocates of investing. There's good reason for that, of course. Assuming that you're in a financially stable position, investing in the stock market or real estate is one of the best uses for your money.

The problem comes with that assumption of stability - and credit card debt. Many American families carry enough credit card debt that their financial lives are adversely affected. The personal finance website NerdWallet reports that the average American household carries more than $7,000 in credit card debt. At the same time, the average credit card interest rate hovers around 15 percent. Taking those two numbers together, the average family will face more than $1,000 in pure credit card interest over the next year. That interest is money that's simply lost.
This isn't an unfixable problem, though. Every dollar you pay toward your credit card debt reduces the amount of interest you're going to pay over the long term. In fact, the reduction is equal to the interest on that credit card.
Let's say you pay off $1,000 on the balance of a credit card with a 15 percent interest rate. The result of that extra payment is that you'll owe $150 less on your credit card bills over the coming year - and for each subsequent year.
In other words, making an early payment on your credit card debt is the same as an investment, and it's an extremely good investment. Accumulating credit card debt is a huge mistake, but if you already have high-interest credit card debt, paying it off is likely the best investment available to you.
Here are three reasons why:
1. The return blows away what you can expect to get in an average year from stocks or real estate. Even optimists have a hard time arguing that you'll beat 8 percent on the stock market in an average year. It's a bad idea to expect returns like that with real estate, too.
2. The "return" you get from paying off credit cards early is tax-free. You don't owe income taxes on the savings you get from lower credit card bills. However, if you take any capital gains on your stock or real estate investment, the Internal Revenue Service is going to be mighty interested in your moves.
3. Eliminating credit card debt improves your cash flow. Each month, you have a certain amount of income and a certain pile of bills to pay. Investing occurs with the money that's left over in this picture. However, if you focus on paying off debts early, your monthly cash flow will improve as soon as those debts are eliminated. You'll have more cash to invest and more life flexibility, too.
Given these factors, my advice is simple: If you have high-interest credit card debt, your financial focus should be on eliminating that debt before investing.

There is one exception to this rule: You should take advantage of any matching funds you get for investing. For example, if your employer offers matching funds in your 401(k), you should invest whatever is needed to get every drop of matching funds. Why? Matching funds are essentially an immediate 50 percent or 100 percent return on your investment. That's something well worth taking advantage of.

Without such offers on your plate, however, you should aim to eliminate your high-interest debts above all else without incurring more debt. Doing so will provide the best return you can get for your money.

Trent Hamm is the founder of the personal finance website TheSimpleDollar.com, which provides consumers with resources and tools to make informed financial decisions.

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end quote from:

Why Paying Off Credit Cards Is the Best Financial Return On Your Money

I had an interesting experience back when I mostly used cash instead of credit cards in the 1980s. My wife then, had a card she had used in her last marriage. As an experiment we decided only to use it in complete emergencies. So, when an emergency arrived we charged about $500. Then we made the minimum payments on that balance for one year. But, we owed more than the $500 at that point. I was so upset about this that we paid off the account and decided it was better not to own a credit card at that point. And until we bought our next business we kept ourselves mostly just by paying cash and checks for everything.

Even now in my life when life has been financially good to me and my family we prefer to not have ANY personal debt beyond what we charge per month on American Express or other credit cards. Then we pay it off completely every month so there is a zero balance due. Even with checking accounts I make sure I don't have to pay for any checking or bank accounts. By keeping your balances high enough in some accounts and by moving about $75 or more a month into savings from other checking accounts you don't have to pay anything for ANY bank account which is also what we do. If you take the amount you are paying for your accounts on a yearly basis you are likely paying almost or over $100 a year per account if you are paying those fees. So, paying no credit card or bank account fees or credit charges at all could save you potentially $100s to $1000s or more very year. If you are saving $1000s of dollars a year you could take that extra money and buy something you really need or take a trip to Hawaii or something. Think About it!

11 Must-See Skywatching Events in 2014

During the overnight hours, it will be a night first for Mars and later for the full moon. As a bonus, later that very same night (actually the early hours of April 15), North America will have a ringside seat to a total lunar eclipse when the full moon becomes transformed into a mottled reddish…

SPACE.com

By by Joe Rao, SPACE.com Skywatching Columnist December 31, 2013 8:36 AM

This illustration of a bright comet over Mars was created by artist Kim Poor.

As 2013 draws to a close, it's time to look forward to the stargazing highlights of the coming year.

Here are 11 of the most noteworthy skywatching events that will take place in 2014. SPACE.com's Night Sky column will provide more extensive coverage of these events as they draw closer.
March 20: A Bright Star Winks Out
An exceedingly rare celestial event is predicted for early this morning when an asteroid will briefly hide one of the brightest stars in the sky from view. [Photos: Asteroids in Deep Space]
The asteroid in question is 163 Erigone, and the star that it will obscure is Regulus, in the constellation of Leo, the Lion. Along a 45-mile-wide (72 kilometers) path, the asteroid’s shadow will move on a southeast-to-northwest trajectory and will extend from New York City to Oswego in New York State and continue northwest into Ontario, Canada.
Those who are watching at just the right moment (no telescope or binoculars necessary) will see an amazing sight: Regulus will seem to abruptly disappear as if a switch had been thrown. Regulus will remain invisible for up to 12 seconds (for those situated along the center of the path) — an incredible, albeit very brief occurrence.
April 14-15: An "M&M" Night
During the overnight hours, it will be a night first for Mars and later for the full moon. Mars will come to within 57.4 million miles (92.4 million km) of our planet, making its closest approach to Earth since January 2008.
All through the night, Mars will resemble a dazzling star shining with a steady fiery-colored tint; its brightness will match Sirius, the most luminous of all the stars. As a bonus, later that very same night (actually the early hours of April 15), North America will have a ringside seat to a total lunar eclipse when the full moon becomes transformed into a mottled reddish ball for 78 minutes as it is completely immersed in the shadow of the Earth.
This total lunar eclipse will be the first one widely visible from North America in nearly 3.5 years. The Americas will have the best view of this eclipse, although over Canada's Maritime provinces, moonset will intervene near the end of totality. Of special interest is the fact that the moon will appear quite near to the bright star Spica, in the constellation Virgo, during the eclipse.
The moon and Spica actually will be in conjunction a couple of hours prior to the onset of totality, but they're still relatively near to each other when the eclipse gets underway.
April 28-29: A "Ring of Fire" Eclipse that Nobody Will See?

It is quite possible that only penguins will witness the annular (ring) phase of this eclipse, as it will occur within the uninhabited region of Wilkes Land in Antarctica. A partial solar eclipse will be visible from Australia. Because the axis of the moon's antumbral shadow misses the Earth and only its edge grazes Antarctica, it makes an accurate prediction of the duration of annularity all but impossible.

May 24: A Possible Outburst of Bright Meteors
Perhaps the most dramatic sky event in 2014 could come at the start of Memorial Day weekend. In the predawn hours of Saturday, May 24, our planet is expected to sweep through a great number of dusty trails left behind in space by a small comet (known as P/209 LINEAR).
This unusual cosmic interaction might result in an amazing, albeit brief, display of meteors, popularly known as "shooting stars." There could be many dozens, or even hundreds, of meteors per hour, experts say.
Aug. 10: Biggest Full Moon of 2014
On Aug. 10, the moon turns full at 2:09 p.m. EDT, and just nine minutes earlier it will arrive at its closest point to the Earth in 2014 at a distance of 221,765 miles (356,896 km), making this a so-called "supermoon." Expect a large range in ocean tides (exceptionally low to exceptionally high) for the next few days. [See photos of 2013's supermoon]

Aug. 12: The Perseid Meteor Shower

This one is more of a lowlight than a highlight, unfortunately. The annual summer performance of the brilliant Perseid meteor shower will be severely hindered by the light of a nearly full moon.

Aug. 18: A Brilliant Double Planet
An hour before sunrise, low in the east-northeast sky, the two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, will be strikingly close together. The two worlds will be separated by less than two-thirds of the apparent width of the moon in our sky, making for a very eye-catching sight.
Oct. 8: Another Total Lunar Eclipse!
This eclipse favors the western half of North America, the Hawaiian Islands, eastern Asia, Indonesia, New Zealand and the eastern half of Australia. Across central and eastern North America, the moon will set while still completely immersed in Earth's shadow.
The moon will pass to the north of the center of the shadow, with totality lasting one hour. As a consequence, we might expect a relatively bright eclipse, possibly featuring a coppery red hue across the lower part of the moon, contrasted by a brighter upper rim.
Interestingly, during the total phase, binoculars and telescopes will reveal a sixth-magnitude greenish point of light in the vicinity of the darkened moon: the planet Uranus. In fact, from central and northern Alaska and northern Canada, the moon will actually occult (hide) Uranus during totality — a very rare event!

Oct. 19: Near Collision of a Comet with Mars

All eyes will be on the Red Planet in October as Comet C/2013 A1(Siding Spring), discovered by Robert H. McNaught at Australia's Siding Spring Observatory, will pass extremely close to Mars. The comet will come so close, in fact, that its coma may envelop Mars, as well as create a stupendous shower of meteors as seen from the Martian surface.

Oct. 23: A Partial Eclipse of the Sun

The moon's penumbral shadow will fall over much of North America as well as extreme eastern Siberia, producing a partial solar eclipse. Greatest eclipse, with more than four-fifths of the sun's diameter covered by the moon, will occur in M'Clintock Channel, an arm of the Arctic Ocean which divides Victoria Island from Prince of Wales Island in the Territory of Nunavut, Canada.

The rest of North America will see less of the sun covered. For the Pacific Northwest and the Northern Plains, more than 60 percent of the sun’s diameter will be eclipsed. Across the Ohio, Tennessee and Mississippi valleys, maximum eclipse will coincide with sunset, while farther to the east, the moon will only begin its encroachment onto the sun's disk as it sets.

Dec. 13: The Geminid Meteor Shower

This is another lowlight. The Geminids, regarded by many observers as the best of the annual meteor showers, has the misfortune of occurring during the time of a last-quarter moon, which will pretty much squelch all but the brightest meteors.

Editor's Note: If you snap an amazing night-sky photo and would like to share it with SPACE.com for a possible story or gallery, please send images and comments (including your name and the photo's location) to managing editor Tariq Malik at: spacephotos@space.com.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmer's Almanac and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, N.Y. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on SPACE.com.

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11 Must-See Skywatching Events in 2014

Big Bang Theory's original girl weds

7 hours ago

Kaley Cuoco Marries Ryan Sweeting in New Year's Eve Wedding!

Kaley Cuoco is starting 2014 as a married woman! The Big Bang Theory star tied the knot with Ryan Sweeting on Tuesday, Dec. 31, in a romantic New Year's Eve wedding in Southern California, her rep confirms to Us Weekly.
PHOTOS: Celebrity weddings 2013
The actress, 27, and her tennis pro beau, 26, said "I do" at the Hummingbird Nest Ranch. Guests trickled in at 7 p.m., as Cuoco greeted them in a red dress, an insider tells Us. Before the nuptials began around 10 p.m., Cuoco changed into a petal pink Vera Wang gown.
"Yep :) #thesweetings @ryansweething," Cuoco wrote in the early hours via Instagram. Alongside the caption, the Big Bang star shared a sweet picture of the newlyweds kissing. Cuoco wore her strapless tulle Wang ball gown, which had a sweetheart neckline and detailed bodice with hand appliqué Chantilly lace accents.
Famous pals to attend the ceremony included her Big Bang costar and ex-boyfriend Johnny Galecki and Bachelorette alum Ali Fedotowsky, a source tells Us. (Cuoco and Galecki secretly dated for two years, and it was only after their split that Cuoco revealed about their past romance in September 2010.)
PHOTOS: Big Bang Theory stars -- before they were famous

Us exclusively broke the news of Cuoco's engagement back in September, just three months after she and Sweeting started dating. "She knows Ryan is the one," a source told Us at the time. "When you know, you know."

Added another pal: "She's never felt this way. She knows this is it."

Indeed, the newly married star told Entertainment Tonight she felt an intense connection with Sweeting from the very beginning of their relationship. "From day one, I just knew immediately and it's been magic. We have all the same family friends. We grew up with the same people, we just never met," she explained a few days after their engagement. "So I kind of feel that I've known him my whole life."

PHOTOS: Quickest celebrity engagements ever

"I know that it seems a little crazy on paper," she admitted. "But it's what works for us."

The couple wasted no time planning their nuptials, too. In November, Cuoco joked to Craig Ferguson that she had been imagining her wedding for 27 years. Among her big dreams for the big day?

"I'm obsessed with my dogs. And I wanted to do the cake in the shape of their heads," she confessed. "I might ride in on one of my horses," she added, laughing. "I secretly kinda want to do that. I'm a big animal freak. I'd rather the animals be there than real people."

This article originally appeared on Usmagazine.com: Kaley Cuoco Marries Ryan Sweeting in New Year's Eve Wedding!

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