Laura Dekker, 13, must wait before trying to sail around the world alone

As expected, a court in The Netherlands has decided that Laura Dekker, 13, is too young to try to sail around the world by herself. She can continue living with her father, who supported a controversial journey she had planned to begin next week, but under the scrutiny of a social services agency pending another hearing in two months.

Most people probably would agree that the court ruled properly. Dekker, despite her vast sailing background, has not fully developed physically or mentally; she cannot be suitably prepared for the types of situations she'd likely face.

Or so the thinking goes. Her planned voyage has been criticized by the media from the outset. Dekker was not present during the ruling but in a television interview she said, “All the media are horrible."

This isn't over yet. There is a mandated psychological review, and the next hearing. Dekker believes she can do this; it has been her dream since she was 6. She and her father have planned a two-year voyage that would not have her at sea for longer than three weeks at a time.

Dekker, in all likelihood, will ultimately embark on her quest to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world, and with plenty of time to spare.

That record belongs to British sailor Mike Perham, 17, who this week replaced Thousand Oaks sailor Zac Sunderland, also 17, in the record book.

Australia's Jessica Watson, 16, plans to leave in a few weeks on what she hopes will be a nonstop journey; and Zac's sister Abby Sunderland, who will turn 16 in October, is planning to set sail in November for a nonstop odyssey.

Sunderland and Perham, who both left when they were 16, proved up to the task, but both sailors overcame several harrowing situations.

Can the girls do what they did, only faster? That will be for Mother Nature to decide.

-- Pete Thomas
Photo: Laura Dekker and her father (left) are seen at the court house in Utrecht, The Netherlands, before a second hearing determined she cannot tackle the world in a sailboat by herself--just yet. Credit: EPA/Valerie Kuypers

Source:latimesblogs

Sudan ships first export of ethanol

KHARTOUM — Sudan, angling to become Africa's leading exporter of ethanol, has sent out its first shipment of the bio-fuel to the Netherlands, an official with the state-owned Kenana company said on Monday.

"The first cargo of five million litres of ethanol was exported yesterday. It left for Rotterdam and is intended for the European Union," said Kenana sales manager Majdi Hassan.

Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir announced last year that the company, which produces sugar and molasses, would oversee a project to lead Africa in bio-fuel production.

The price of the shipment was 3.3 million dollars (2.29 million euros), at 660 dollars a cubic metre, but the price of further shipments would vary depending on the market, Hassan said.

Kenana's plant, located in the White Nile State south of Khartoum, was built by the Brazilian ethanol supplier Dedini.

Hassan said negotiations were ongoing with European companies for the sale of Sudanese ethanol.

It can produce 65 million litres a year, with plans to increase production to 200 million litres a year by 2012, Hassan said.

Source:AFP

NZ, Netherlands protest start of whaling season

New Zealand Australia and the Netherlands have issued a joint statement, calling for "responsible behaviour" as Japan begins its whaling season in Antarctica.

The joint communique said the three nations remained "resolute in our opposition to the so-called scientific whaling" but condemned "dangerous or violent activities" by whalers and protesters.

"The Southern Ocean is a remote and inhospitable region where the risk of adverse incidents is high and the capacity for rescue or assistance is low. Our Governments jointly call upon all parties to exercise restraint and to ensure that safety at sea is the highest priority," the communique said.

The statement, issued by Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully, said the three countries would be using diplomacy and the International Whaling Commission to fight for whale conservation.

The Japanese whaling fleet has recently left Japan for the Southern Ocean while the protest group, the Sea Shepherd, set sail in the Steve Irwin from Australia yesterday.

Greenpeace is not sending a vessel to the Southern Ocean.

Greenpeace New Zealand oceans campaigner Karli Thomas said the organisation will be campaigning for an end to whaling in Japan by taking a case to the Japanese Supreme Court.

Source:nzherald.co.nz/

Spacefleet Project - Consortium of Aerospace Companies

The Spacefleet Project have recently posted some updates, Ray Wright (Company CEO) recently spoke with the Space Fellowship and discussed some of the progress the organisation have been making.

Back in November 2009 the Spacefleet Project posted an update “Spacefleet Ltd is joining in an international consortium of aerospace companies, based in Ukraine, Georgia, Poland, Czech Republic and The Netherlands to bid for funding from the European Union Framework Programme, for a project to develop a novel rocket motor with wide-ranging applications. We will build it into a small, lifting-body vehicle, much like the SF-01 vehicle featured on this site, but unmanned“.

“The small demonstrator will be able to fly up to around 6km above the ground and then be guided remotely back to a runway landing. In this way, the key features of the SF-01 will be demonstrated, without having to build the full-size vehicle. Following this, we hope further developments to lead up to the building of the SF-01“.


SF-01
The team have now posted an update on their progress “Spacefleet Ltd joined an international consortium of aerospace companies, with members in Ukraine, Georgia, Poland, Czech Republic and The Netherlands, to bid for funding from the European Union Framework Programme Number 7, for a project to develop a novel rocket motor with wide-ranging applications. We will build it into a small, lifting-body vehicle, much like the SF-01 vehicle featured on this site, but unmanned and remotely controlled“.

“The considerable volume of electronic “paperwork” was, I’m happy to tell you, completed before the deadline of December 5th, even though we had to change our application from one FP7 “call” to another, because of unacceptable restrictions on the way the consortium could be funded. The application was acknowledged as technically complete, so not rejected automatically. Now, we must wait until February next year to discover whether our application was successful“.

About the SF-01
The SF-01 will cost around €260M to develop and build three vehicles, over three years, after which it will be ready for passenger service. The important feature of the SF-01 is its liquid-fuelled rocket propulsion system, which is specially-designed for long life, high reliability and high safety.

The craft will operate routinely, like a conventional aircraft, and could fly as often as once every day. The cost of a seat will be around €120,000, to begin with, but the price will come down over the following years.

Source:spacefellowship.com

Piglet, rejoice: Scientific team in the Netherlands produces in vitro pork (sort of)

It sounds like the stuff of science fiction or, depending on where you stand on the tastiness of meat, nightmares. But, according to the Times of London, it's true: A group of scientists in the Netherlands has successfully grown a product vaguely resembling pork in a petri dish.

The scientists took cells obtained from the muscle of a live pig and incubated them in a solution derived from the blood of animal fetuses, which allowed the original cells to multiply and form a substance that isn't quite meat -- but it's close. (The research team hopes to create a synthetic substitute to be used in place of the blood-product solution in the future.)

No one has yet tasted the resulting material, which "at the moment is rather like wasted muscle tissue," Mark Post of Eindhoven University, the leader of the scientific team, told The Times. Not exactly appetizing, but Post added that the team plans to work to improve the product's consistency. The team expects that it could lead to lab-grown sausages and other in vitro meat products in as few as five years.

The scientists' research is funded in part by the Dutch government as well as by a commercial sausage manufacturer. It follows similar research funded by NASA a few years ago, in which cells from turkeys and goldfish were successfully cultured in a lab.

Famously, PETA announced earlier this year that it would pay $1 million to any scientist who was able to produce an in vitro chicken-meat product that "has a taste and texture indistinguishable from real chicken flesh" and could be produced in "large enough quantities to be sold commercially, and successfully [sold] at a competitive price in at least 10 states" by June 30, 2012.

"People are surprised to learn that PETA is interested in lab-grown meat, but we have overcome our own revulsion at flesh-eating to champion a breakthrough that will mean a far kinder world for animals," said the group's president and co-founder, Ingrid Newkirk.

Source: latimes.com/