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  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

Amazing Times we live in: The plotting of 1 billion Stars by Gaia Surveyor

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
GAIA PDF.jpg


ESA, The European Agency responsible for all the space exploration projects published reports on everything they do. A free PDF is available as a link half way down the page here


For the past 20 years, scientists at centers all around the world have been diligently preparing for the epic study of the our galaxy from over over a million KM away from earth. It could detect 7 millisecond arcs, the power to determine the size of a Euro coin on the surface of the moon as measured from planet earth!


_69408029_gaia_annotated.jpg



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_69406435_integrationgaiaatastriumintoulouse-copyrightastriumd.marques2012(1).jpg



BBC NEWS: "Gaia optical payload
A machine to provide "all the answers to all the questions we have about the stars"


Europe is about to launch the Gaia satellite - one of the most ambitious space missions in history. The 740m-euro (£620m) observatory is going to map the precise positions and distances to more than a billion stars. This should give us the first realistic picture of how our Milky Way galaxy is constructed.

Gaia's remarkable sensitivity will lead also to the detection of many thousands of previously unseen objects, including new planets and asteroids. The European Space Agency (Esa) satellite is being sent up on a Soyuz rocket. Lift-off from the Sinnamary launch complex in French Guiana is scheduled for 06:12 local time (09:12 GMT).


Read the entire story here

This is a fabulous project. They will be able to map out where the trajectories are going to lead every star and asteroid they map. BTW, 1 Billion stars is apparently just 1% of the total in our Milky way!

Asher
 

Tom dinning

Registrant*
We really are less than a drop in the bucket.
The likelihood of us being the only life form is far exceeded by the likelihood that there is. It's more a matter of where than if.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
So what good can this enterprise do us? Well obviously it's providing gainful employment for tens of thousands of scientists, designers, engineers and giving an major impetus for the sense that being European from the Common Market, leads to incredible cooperation. This obviously does not solve unemployment in France, or make Italians own up to incomes and pay taxes nor does it mend cruel corruption by politicians in Greece. however, when one adds to this space enterprise some other post war European achievements, here's a few that spring to mind:

The joint aerospace cooperation that made the Concorde and Airbus into technical marvels, scoring kudos for the those that believed that those separated by a few miles and different languages could work together to build what each individual nation could not manage on their own.

Then consider the giant underground particle accelerators which made possible the formal recognition of the Higgs Boson particle and many other stunning advances that have set the state of our knowledge of what holds our universe together on edge.

Look at the high speed trains zipping across borders.

In all this time since 1945, no country in Western Europe has been at war.

We have the logic Kantian/Goethe/Mozart/Beethoven heritage of Germany and the stubborn but creative French, (how foolish was General Degaulle to publish his military thesis on the fast armored mobile strike force that to everyone's horror the Wehrmacht perfected in the German Blitzkreig.

Then the British have transformed from a crust, snobby class divided society to a much richer conglomerate ethnic divided and amalgamated society. There are scores of ethnic groups of all the possible colors of human skin, spice and perfume in London, all speaking with cockney accents!

and then what. they got oil and natural gas and peace in Ireland!

This last 68 years must have been the most peaceful and prosperous in thousands of years!

A long way to go with high unemployment, long holidays and short workweeks. But at least we are now on the right side of history!

So congrats to the Europeans for these magnificent endeavors! A lot of work to be done, but at least it's not on fire and the prospects are good!

Oh, and what does this 3/4 billion dollar enterprise bring us? Well, we can imagine that within a decade, we'll have the trajectories of perhaps most of the serious rocky objects that might be mean enough to do serious existential damage to life on earth. Pretty good payoff! :)

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Imagine if this was a lesson for the countries of the Middle East! Consider what they could create instead of Sarin, Missiles, hatred and fear and incessant funerals.

Surely there never was more hate, horror, arrogance and evil that than befell Europe in the 20th Century! When all seems hopeless, just look at what miracle has happened over the ashes of so many lost lives. A tiny tidbit of history: 2.8 million Soviet prisoners died in captivity out of 3.2 million. Who thinks today in Europe of such obscenities. But today Syrian civilians are being bombed and shelled from the air from their own governments air force. Sad, we humans have to learn from our own mistakes!

Meanwhile, over 100 km away in the heavens, a European spacecraft will map 1% of the stars in the Milky Way, over a billion to have their courses plotted, temp and minerals probed and more. We have to get with the program. Our humanity is behind our technology.

Unfortunately, we're just apes with iPhones and Xboxes!

Asher
 

Tom dinning

Registrant*
Yeah, right. Peaceful.

The Winter War in Finland 1939 - 1940 151,798 [1]
World War II 1939 - 1945 50,000,000 [36]
Franco-Thai War 1940 - 1941 1,400 [1]
Greece Civil War 1944 - 1949 68,207
Indonesian Independence 1945 - 1946 5,400
Ukrainian Revolts 1945 - 1947 59,700
Chinese Civil War 1945 - 1950 1,200,000 [1]
Forest Brethren 1945 - 1951 32,400
First Indochina War Comm. vs France 1945 - 1954 269,500 [2]
Philippines, Huk rebels vs Govt 1946 - 1954 11,300
Paraguayan Gvt vs Rebels 1947 - 1947 1,000
Taiwanese revolt 1947 - 1947 1,250 [1]
Civil War in Mandatory Palestine 1947 - 1948 4,009 [1]
Indo-Hyderabad War 1947 - 1948 5,210
Madagascar Rebellion 1947 - 1948 12,200 [1]
Indian Partition Communal Violence 1947 - 1948 200,000
First Kashmir War 1947 - 1949 3,200
Yemeni Imamate War 1948 - 1948 4,000
Costa Rican Coup 1948 - 1948 2,000
Cheju Rebellion in South Korea 1948 - 1949 17,000
Arab-Israeli War 1948 - 1949 8,000 [1]
Burman Rebellion 1948 - 1951 8,000
Malayan Civil War 1948 - 1957 9,100 [2]
La Violencia 1948 - 1958 29,800
Burmese Govt vs Communist Guerilla 1948 - 1994 9,413
Burmese Government vs Guerillas 1948 - 2012 20,872
Israel vs Palestine 1948 - 2012 16,697 [5]
Indonesia vs Republic of South Moluccas 1950 - 1950 1,000
Third Sino-Tibetan War 1950 - 1950 13,200
Korean War 1950 - 1953 995,000 [12]
Bolivian Civil War 1952 - 1952 1,000
Tunisian war of Independence 1952 - 1954 3,000
Kenya, Mau-Mau vs UK 1952 - 1956 17,100 [2]
Indonesian Govt vs Darul islam 1953 - 1953 2,700
Moroccan War of Independence 1953 - 1956 3,000
First Taiwan Strait Crisis 1954 - 1955 2,370
Algerian War of Independece 1954 - 1962 182,526 [2]
Argentina, Army vs Peron 1955 - 1955 5,000
Cameroon War of Independence 1955 - 1960 11,700
Vietnam Civil War 1955 - 1964 164,923
Soviet Invasion of Hungary 1956 - 1956 3,171
Sinai War 1956 - 1956 2,142 [2]
Cuban Revolution 1956 - 1959 1,000
Tibetan Rebellion 1956 - 1959 12,000
PRRI and Permesta revolts in Indonesia 1957 - 1961 27,200
Second Taiwan Strait Crisis 1958 - 1958 1,500
First Lebanese War 1958 - 1958 1,400
Iraq Civil War 1959 - 1959 2,000 [1]
Congo Crisis 1960 - 1965 7,150 [1]
First Kurdish–Iraqi War 1960 - 1970 6,600
Laos Civil War 1960 - 1973 21,500
Angolan War of Independence 1961 - 1975 79,000 [1]
Sino-Indian War 1962 - 1962 2,105 [2]
Algerian Civil War 1962 - 1963 1,500 [1]
North Yemen Civil War 1962 - 1970 10,000
Guinea Bissau War of Independence 1962 - 1974 15,000 [1]
First Rwanda Civil War 1963 - 1964 1,000
Sudan Government vs Insurgents 1963 - 1972 10,000
Mozambique War of Independence 1964 - 1975 13,500 [1]
Colombia Govt vs Guerillas Farc and ELN 1964 - 2012 47,303 [2]
Second Kashmir War 1965 - 1965 5,000 [2]
Dominican Republic Coup 1965 - 1965 4,027
Vietnam War 1965 - 1975 2,048,050 [7]
Indonesian annexation of West Papua 1965 - 1978 2,100
Guatemalan Civil War 1965 - 1995 88,575 [2]
Namibia vs South Africa 1966 - 1988 10,000 [5]
Chad Civil War 1966 - 2010 35,924
The Six Day War 1967 - 1967 10,047 [1]
Nigerian Civil War 1967 - 1970 75,000 [2]
Cambodian Civil War 1967 - 1975 246,204
Chinese Cultural Revolution 1967 - 1976 2,050,000 [1]
Rhodesian Government vs ZANU,ZAPU,PF 1967 - 1979 27,080 [3]
Football War Honduras vs El Salvador 1969 - 1969 2,107
Israel vs Egypt 1969 - 1970 5,520
Northern Ireland, The Troubles 1969 - 1994 3,149 [4]
Philippine Government vs CPP Guerrilla 1969 - 2008 25,000
Bangladesh War 1971 - 1971 50,000 [4]
Sri Lanka Govt vs JVP 1971 - 1990 1,902 [1]
Philippines Govt vs Mindanao Guerilla 1971 - 2008 13,639
Yom Kippur War 1973 - 1973 6,450 [1]
Chilean MIlitary Coup 1973 - 1973 2,095 [2]
Pakistani Govt vs Baluchi insurgents 1973 - 1977 8,600
Turko Cypriot War 1974 - 1974 5,000
Ethiopia vs Eritrea 1974 - 1991 98,927
Argentina: Civil War and Dirty War 1975 - 1983 20,000 [2]
Lebanese Civil War 1975 - 1990 144,000 [7]
Western Sahara War 1975 - 1991 13,000 [1]
Iraq vs Kurdistan (KDP/PUK) 1975 - 1996 5,928 [1]
Angolan Gvt vs UNITA Guerilla 1975 - 2000 157,400 [1]
Ethiopia vs Somali (Ogadeni) Rebels 1976 - 1983 3,839
East Timorese Guerilla vs Indonesian Govt 1976 - 1999 75,150 [1]
Ethiopia vs Somalia 1977 - 1978 4,000
Chittagong Hill Tracts Conflict 1977 - 1997 1,152
Ethiopia vs Oromia rebels (OLF) 1977 - 2012 3,070
Iranian Revolution 1978 - 1979 1,100
Vietnam vs Cambodia (Kampuchea) 1978 - 1979 32,500
Nicaraguan Gvt vs Sandinistas 1978 - 1979 10,000 [1]
Uganda vs Tanzania 1978 - 1979 4,000
Rebels vs Ethiopian Government 1978 - 1991 52,398
Afghanistan Civil War 1978 - 2001 121,536 [3]
Syrian Govt vs Muslim Brotherhood 1979 - 1982 2,075
Sino-Vietnamese War 1979 - 1988 48,223
El Salvador Gvt vs FMLN Guerrillas 1979 - 1992 55,000 [2]
Mozambique Govt vs Guerilla 1979 - 1992 115,600
Cambodian Govt vs Khmer Rouge 1979 - 1998 84,950
Iran vs Muhajedin e-Khalq 1979 - 2001 4,395
Iran vs Iraq 1980 - 1988 644,500 [4]
Peruvian Gvt vs Sendero Luminoso and MRTA 1980 - 1999 18,752 [1]
Uganda Civil War 1980 - 2007 116,044
Nicaragua Govt vs Contras 1981 - 1990 30,000 [1]
Falklands War 1982 - 1982 964 [5]
Iraq Government vs SCIRI 1982 - 2000 1,306
Senegal Civil War 1982 - 2011 1,781
Sri Lankan Govt vs Tamil Militants (LTTE) 1983 - 2009 62,313 [8]
Sudan Government vs Militias 1983 - 2012 68,769 [1]
Turkey Gov vs Kurdistan Guerilla (PPK) 1984 - 2012 33,990 [1]
Indian Govt vs Punjab 1985 - 2000 7,247 [2]
South Yemen Coup 1986 - 1986 10,000
Nagorno-Karabakh War 1988 - 1994 4,623 [1]
Indonesia Gvt vs Aceh Liberation movement 1989 - 2003 5,280
Liberia Civil War 1989 - 2003 22,247 [2]
India vs Pakistan, Kashmir Dispute 1989 - 2012 24,253 [12]
First Gulf War 1990 - 1991 22,848 [4]
Algeria Govt vs Islamic rebels, GIA, AIS, AQIM 1990 - 2005 18,348 [1]
Somalia Civil War 1990 - 2012 37,236 [2]
Rwanda Civil War (Hutus vs Tutsis) 1990 - 2012 527,145 [3]
Croatia vs Serbian Irregulars, Rep. Krajina 1991 - 1992 1,749 [3]
Georgian Civil War 1991 - 1993 2,311
Sierra Leone Govt vs Rebels 1991 - 2002 12,034 [2]
Burundi vs Hutu Rebels 1991 - 2005 8,295 [2]
Iran vs rebel groups (MEK,PJAK etc) 1991 - 2011 3,200
Bosnian Govt vs Serbian Insurgents 1992 - 1995 24,504 [7]
Tajikistan Govt vs Opposition 1992 - 1998 6,834
North Yemen vs Secessionists 1994 - 1994 1,491
Russia vs Chechnyan Secessionists 1994 - 2007 17,601 [7]
Nepal Civil War 1996 - 2006 12,284 [1]
First and Second Congo Wars 1996 - 2006 208,367 [1]
Yugoslavia vs NATO Forces and UCK Guerilla 1997 - 1999 4,992 [5]
Congo Brazzaville Civil War 1997 - 1999 15,540
Guinea Bissau Coup 1998 - 1999 1,700
Eritrea vs Ethiopia 1998 - 2000 98,192 [1]
Civil War in Côte d Ivoire 2000 - 2005 1,471 [1]
Al Quaeda vs USA and allies 2001 - 2012 4,538 [12]
Afghanistan war 2001 - 2012 43,917 [5]
Iraq vs US led coalition 2003 - 2003 8,202 [10]
Iraqi Insurgency 2003 - 2012 23,461 [8]
Waziristan conflict 2004 - 2012 22,016
Southern Lebanon War 2006 - 2006 1,003 [3]
Kivu Conflict 2006 - 2012 4,272
Mexican Drug War 2006 - 2012 83,000 [3]
Yemen vs Al-Quaeda 2009 - 2012 3,811
Libyan Civil War 2011 - 2012 2,080 [3]
Syrian civil war 2011 - 2012 18,821 [2]


Only you and I are perfect, Asher. The rest of them out there are just being human.
I'm giving the human population another 2-3 hundred years. They'll either choke on their own procreation or some toxicity they produced in the name of scientific advancement.
The more we know the bigger our mistakes become. Learning from them has never been much in vogue. Someone is bound to make a big one and there won't be much left to learn from. If anyone from another place finds us we will be a mere curiosity. There are lots of things dumber than us that have survived longer. All I can leave for the future is the future, whatever that turns out to be. There will always be one it just may not contain humans
 

Tom dinning

Registrant*
Honestly? This statement is Fox News worthy!

I was wondering what Asher would call the 30,000 people killed last year in the USA by freedom loving Americans carrying guns or the 35,000 who were killed by their fellow Americans by having them run over each other.
Such is the life for a white middle class man in Beverley Hills. Fox News is never far from their sight and mind. Just a Freudian slip as they would say.
 

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Hi, Tom,

Thanks for the list. It is really beyond sobering.

To other readers: The numbers in brackets were, in the original source, links to information about memorials for the particular war. (The other number is of course the number of fatalities.)

Best regards,

Doug
 

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Hi, Tom,

I was wondering what Asher would call the 30,000 people killed last year in the USA by freedom loving Americans carrying guns . . .
This is, in a sense, even more outrageous than the loss of life in wars.

This anecdote is 15 years stale, but is still very telling.

About 15 years ago, I was in Seoul, Korea, teaching an engineering seminar to engineers from a start-up wireless telephone company. One day I had lunch with two of the young engineers. There had just been an announcement of some mass gun murder in the US, and one of the fellows commented on it, saying that it was hard for the average Korean to understand how this could happen.

I said, "do you not have gun murders in Korea?" "Oh, sure", said one of the fellows. "Why, we had one just last year".

"No", said his colleague, "that was the year before."

Best regards,

Doug
 

Tom dinning

Registrant*
We are not so fortunate here in Aus but getting there. Gun related deaths is on the decline and a significant factor in that was the strengthening of gun laws after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996. The government and the people realized something needed to be done and worked together to do what they could. It's working. It still needs some work but no one here would want a repeat of Port Arthur.
Since 1996 the number of gun related deaths has dropped by 70% that still leaves a few short of 200 last year who got caught in the firing line. We just need to work harder.
How nice it would be for all of us to talk as the young engineer in Korea did.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Yeah, right. Peaceful...........



Only you and I are perfect, Asher. The rest of them out there are just being human.
I'm giving the human population another 2-3 hundred years. They'll either choke on their own procreation or some toxicity they produced in the name of scientific advancement.
The more we know the bigger our mistakes become. Learning from them has never been much in vogue. Someone is bound to make a big one and there won't be much left to learn from. If anyone from another place finds us we will be a mere curiosity. There are lots of things dumber than us that have survived longer. All I can leave for the future is the future, whatever that turns out to be. There will always be one it just may not contain humans



Tom,

I was referring to killing each other in Western Europe, that excludes the rest of the planet and Serbia!

For the first time in hundreds of years, Western Europe wasn't involved in mass armies killing folk. Even adding up all the foreign wars, it pales compared to World War ! and II which took some 30-50 million lives. I'll try and get a better figure. So it's still pretty amazing for a mass of technically competent apes with super weapons not continuing to slaughter each other.

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I was wondering what Asher would call the 30,000 people killed last year in the USA by freedom loving Americans carrying guns or the 35,000 who were killed by their fellow Americans by having them run over each other.
Such is the life for a white middle class man in Beverley Hills. Fox News is never far from their sight and mind. Just a Freudian slip as they would say.


Tom,

Compared to the loss of life in the first half of the 20th Century, this is budget dust as terrible and unacceptable as it may be from a societal and humanistic standpoint. We moved from the mass killings of that terrible World War period! By what means I don't know but it seems that agreements and control of vilification are the best national investments.


Aussies* are not likely to kill you with their guns compared to being in the USA.
When Crocodile Dundee came to the USA, he increased his chance of firearm death tenfold!!


Yes, the USA is a pretty violent place for a so-called civil society! Below is a list of death rates from gun violence in 75 countries.



Firearm-related death rate per 100,000 population


Country Total (calculated) Homicides Suicides Unintentional Undetermined Sources and notes

Argentina 10.05 (mixed years) 3.0 (2008) 2.79 (2001) 0.64 (2001) 3.62 (2001) Guns in Argentina[1]

Australia 1.06 (2010) 0.13 (2010) 0.73 (2010) 0.07 (2010) 0.13 (2010) Guns in Australia[2]

Austria 2.95 (mixed years) 0.18 (2010) 2.68 (2010) 0.01 (2009) 0.08 (2010) Guns in Austria[3]

Azerbaijan 0.04 (incomplete) 0.01 (2008) 0.01 (2007) 0.02 (2007) unavailable Guns in Azerbajan[4]

Barbados 3.0 (incomplete) 3.0 (2000) unavailable unavailable unavailable Guns in Barbados[5]

Belarus 0.1 (incomplete) 0.1 (2009) unavailable unavailable unavailable Guns in Belarus[6]

Belgium 2.42 (2006) 0.29 (2006) 1.96 (2006) 0.01 (2006) 0.16 (2006) Guns in Belgium[7]

Brazil 19.03 (mixed years) 18.1 (2008) 0.74 (2000) 0.18 (2000) 0.01 (2000) Guns in Brazil[8]

Bulgaria 2.35 (2011) 0.23 (2011) 0.87 (2011) 1.14 (2011) 0.11 (2011) Guns in Bulgaria[9]

Canada 2.38 (mixed years) 0.5 (2009) 1.79 (2006) 0.08 (2001) 0.01 (2006) Guns in Canada[10]

Chile 3.73 (mixed years) 2.2 (2005) 1.09 (2002) 0.4 (2002) 0.04 (2001) Guns in Chile[11]

Colombia 28.14 (mixed years) 27.1 (2010) 0.87 (2009) 0.14 (1999) 0.03 (1999) Guns in Colombia[12]

Costa Rica 6.28 (mixed years) 4.6 (2006) 1.27 (2002) 0.07 (2002) 0.24 (2000) Guns in Costa Rica[13]

Croatia 3.54 (mixed years) 1.1 (2009) 2.35 (2010) 0.07 (2010) 0.02 (2010) Guns in Croatia[14]

Cyprus 0.96 (mixed years) 0.24 (2010) 0.48 (2010) 0.12 (2009) 0.12 (2010) Guns in Cyprus[15]

Czech Republic 1.76 (2010) 0.12 (2010) 1.39 (2010) 0.10 (2010) 0.15 (2010) Guns in Czech Republic[16]

Denmark 1.45 (2006) 0.30 (2009) 1.16 (2006) 0.04 (2006) 0.02 (2003) Guns in Denmark[17]

El Salvador 41.11 (incomplete) 39.90 (2008) 1.06 (1999) 0.15 (1999) unavailable Guns in El Salvador[18]

Estonia 2.54 (2010) 0.30 (2010) 1.57 (2010) 0.07 (2010) 0.60 (2010) Guns in Estonia[19]

Finland 3.64 (2010) 0.26 (2010) 3.34 (2010) 0.02 (2010) 0.02 (2010) Guns in Finland[20]

France 3.01 (2009) 0.22 (2009) 2.33 (2009) 0.05 (2009) 0.41 (2009) Guns in France[21]

Georgia 1.92 (mixed years) 0.60 (2010) 0.09 (2009) 1.00 (2009) 0.23 (2009) Guns in Georgia[22]

Germany 1.24 (2010) 0.20 (2010) 0.94 (2010) 0.02 (2010) 0.08 (2010) Guns in Germany[23]

Greece 1.64 (mixed years) 0.59 (2009) 0.97 (2009) 0.08 (2009) 0.00 (1998) Guns in Greece[24]

Guatemala 36.38 (incomplete) 34.8 (2010) 2.30 (2006) unavailable unavailable Guns in Guatemala[25]

Honduras 64.8 (incomplete) 64.8 (2010) unavailable unavailable unavailable Guns in Honduras[26]

Hong Kong 0.03 (mixed years) 0.00 (2004) 0.03 (1999) 0.00 (1996) 0.00 (1996) Guns in Hong Kong[27]

Hungary 0.87 (mixed years) 0.13 (2009) 0.72 (2009) 0.01 (2008) 0.01 (2002) Guns in Hungary[28]

Iceland 1.57 (mixed years, incomplete) 0.32 (2007) 1.25 (2009) unavailable unavailable Guns in Iceland[29]

India 0.48 (incomplete) 0.30 (2009) 0.14 (2008) 0.04 (2008) unavailable Guns in India[30]

Israel 1.87 (2009) 0.94 (2009) 0.71 (2009) 0.03 (2009) 0.19 (2009) Guns in Israel[31]

Italy 1.28 (2009) 0.36 (2009) 0.81 (2009) 0.08 (2009) 0.03 (2009) Guns in Italy[32]

Jamaica 39.74 (mixed years,incomplete) 39.40 (2009) 0.34 (1995) unavailable unavailable Guns in Jamaica[33]

Japan 0.06 (mixed years) 0.00 (2008) 0.04 (1999) 0.01 (1999) 0.01 (1999) Guns in Japan[34]

Kuwait 0.36 (mixed years) 0.36 (1995) 0.00 (1999) 0.00 (2000) 0.00 (2000) Guns in Kuwait[35]

Kyrgyzstan 1.01 (2010) 0.53 (2010) 0.07 (2010) 0.28 (2010) 0.13 (2010) Guns in Kyrgyzstan[36]

Latvia 1.43 (2010) 0.18 (2010) 0.94 (2010) 0.04 (2010) 0.27 (2010) Guns in Latvia[37]

Luxembourg 2.02 (mixed years) 0.60 (2009) 1.00 (2009) 0.22 (2004)) 0.20 (2009) Guns in Luxembourg[38]

Macedonia 1.85 (mixed years) 1.07 (2010) 0.63 (2010) 0.15 (2010)) 0.00 (1997) Guns in Macedonia[39]

Mexico 11.17 (mixed years) 10.00 (2010) 0.69 (2001) 0.47 (2001)) 0.01 (2001) Guns in Mexico[40]

Moldova 1.03 (2011) 0.45 (2011) 0.42 (2011) 0.08 (2011)) 0.08 (2011) Guns in Moldova[41]

Montenegro 8.55 (2009, incomplete) 2.06 (2009) 6.49 (2009) unavailable unavailable Guns in Montenegro[42]

Netherlands 0.46 (2010) 0.20 (2010) 0.24 (2010) 0.01 (2010) 0.01 (2010) Guns in Netherlands[43]

New Zealand 1.45 (mixed years) 0.26 (2009) 1.14 (2007) 0.05 (2006) 0.00 (2006) Guns in New Zealand[44]

Nicaragua 7.29 (mixed years) 5.90 (2008) 0.46 (2002) 0.91 (2002) 0.02 (2001) Guns in Nicaragua[45]

Norway 1.78 (mixed years) 0.04 (2010) 1.72 (2010) 0.02 (2010) 0.00 (2008) Guns in Norway[46]

Panama 17.60 (mixed years) 16.10 (2010) 0.99 (2002) 0.06 (2002) 0.45 (2002) Guns in Panama[47]

Paraguay 8.16 (mixed years) 7.30 (2009) 0.58 (2000) 0.26 (2000) 0.02 (2000) Guns in Paraguay[48]

Peru 3.73 (mixed years) 2.60 (2009) 0.11 (2000) 0.90 (2000) 0.12 (2000) Guns in Peru[49]

Philippines 3.24 (incomplete) 3.24 (2002) unavailable unavailable unavailable Guns in Philippines[50]

Poland 0.25 (2010) 0.02 (2010) 0.12 (2010) 0.02 (2010) 0.09 (2010) Guns in Poland[51]

Portugal 1.77 (2010) 0.48 (2010) 1.09 (2010) 0.02 (2010) 0.18 (2010) Guns in Portugal[52]

Qatar 0.15 (incomplete) 0.15 (2004) unavailable unavailable unavailable Guns in Qatar[53]

Romania 0.19 (2010) 0.04 (2010) 0.06 (2010) 0.09 (2010) 0.00 (2010) Guns in Romania[54]

Serbia 3.90 (2010) 0.62 (2010) 2.81 (2010) 0.18 (2010) 0.29 (2010) Guns in Serbia[55]

Singapore 0.16 (mixed years) 0.02 (2006) 0.12 (1998) 0.02 (1998) 0.00 (1998) Guns in Singapore[56]

Slovakia 1.75 (2010) 0.18 (2010) 0.94 (2010) 0.39 (2010) 0.24 (2010) Guns in Slovakia[57]

Slovenia 2.49 (mixed years) 0.05 (2010) 2.34 (2010) 0.05 (2009) 0.05 (2010) Guns in Slovenia[58]

South Africa 21.51 (mixed years) 17.00 (2007) 3.81 (1999) 0.35 (1999) 0.35 (1999) Guns in South Africa[59]

South Korea 0.06 (mixed years) 0.00 (2006) 0.04 (2002) 0.01 (2002) 0.01 (2002) Guns in South Korea[60]

Spain 0.62 (mixed years) 0.15 (2010) 0.42 (2010) 0.05 (2010) 0.00 (2007) Guns in Spain[61]

Swaziland 37.16 (incomplete) 37.16 (2004) unavailable unavailable unavailable Guns in Swaziland[62]

Sweden 1.47 (2010) 0.19 (2010) 1.20 (2010) 0.06 (2010) 0.01 (2010) Guns in Sweden[63]

Switzerland 3.84 (mixed years) 0.52 (2010) 3.15 (2008) 0.10 (1998) 0.07 (1994) Guns in Switzerland[64]

Taiwan 0.87 (mixed years) 0.60 (2008) 0.12 (1994) 0.11 (1994) 0.04 (1994) Guns in Taiwan[65]

Ukraine 0.20 (incomplete) 0.20 (2009) unavailable unavailable unavailable Guns in Ukraine[66]

United Kingdom 0.25 (2010) 0.04 (2010) 0.18 (2010) 0.01 (2010) 0.02 (2010) Guns in United Kingdom[67]

United States 10.3 (2011) 3.60 (2011) 6.30 (2011) 0.30 (2011) 0.10 (2011) Guns in United States[68]

Uruguay 14.01 (mixed years) 3.43 (2009) 7.03 (2000) 3.46(2000) 0.09 (2000) Guns in Uruguay[69]

Zimbabwe 0.12 (mixed years) 0.03 (2007) 0.09 (1995) unavailable unavailable Guns in Zimbabwe[70]

The most stunning news is from Brazil where there are 19 gun deaths per 10,000 population per year and 18 of them are suicide! What does that say of Brazilian society. I don't know but if the statements are correct, that's pretty awful!


It does not mean that this is the ranking of violence, because it doesn't include murders by kerosine, (India) of young wives after the dowry was used up, or Mexico beheadings and other local manias.


Asher


*Australia nearly did not make it to the list as the person writing the book was knocked unconscious by a Kangaroo driving a caravan to Darwin for a holiday! :)
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
The Gaia space telescope blasted off into clear skies over South America on Thursday morning on an ambitious mission to map one billion stars in the Milky Way.

Engineers and scientists on the £625m mission celebrated a perfect launch from the European Space Agency's facility in Kourou, French Guiana at 6.12am local time (9.12am GMT).

The rocket thundered into the heavens, shed its boosters and slipped out of sight as it powered towards its destination, the L2 Lagrangian point, which lies 1.5 million kilometres from Earth.

The spacecraft will take a week or so to reach its orbit around the sun. Once there, the telescope will start to turn gently and map the precise locations of all the stars and other celestial bodies that fall within its gaze.LIFT OFF! For more of this story and the video of the lift off here in The Guardian U.K. newspaper website.



Gaia-liftoff.jpg



The Soyuz launcher carrying Gaia lifted off at 09:12 GMT (10:12 CET) today. A press release issued from ESA this morning said: About 10 minutes later, after separation of the first three stages, the Fregat upper stage ignited, delivering Gaia into a temporary parking orbit at an altitude of 175 km. A second firing of the Fregat 11 minutes later took Gaia into its transfer orbit, followed by separation from the upper stage 42 minutes after liftoff. Ground telemetry and attitude control were established by controllers at ESA’s operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany, and the spacecraft began activating its systems.



gaia-mapping-milky-way.jpg


The Gaia will create a 3D map of the Milky Way and observe a billion stars. ESA/ATG medialab; background: ESO/S. Brun


The sunshield, which keeps Gaia at its working temperature and carries solar cells to power the satellite, was deployed in a 10-minute automatic sequence, completed around 88 minutes after launch. Gaia is now en route towards an orbit around a gravitationally-stable virtual point in space called L2, some 1.5 million kilometers beyond Earth as seen from the sun.
Source


It worked! Mazaltov!


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Asher
 
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