Happy birthday, Nikola Tesla - although you aren't alive today, having died in poverty on 7 January 1943 (having been born on 10 July 1856). Nikola Tesla Museum Perhaps you're spinning in your grave - which might be possible if some of the inventions inspired by your work on electromagnetism and forces are being used. Many children are familiar with the Tesla coil - used at science demonstrations and lectures to demonstrate what happens when you discharge a high voltage (but low current: it's current that kills, not voltage) over a small space. Films of Frankenstein often show, somewhat anachronistically, Tesla coils discharging lightning-like bolts like billy-o. Tesla, an ethnic Serb from Smiljan, then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, started out his engineering life working for a telephone company in Budapest in 1881, aged 24. He'd already studied physics and maths; While there - while walking in a park, in fact - he had an inspiration and solved the equations relating to a revolving magnetic field. Which he then drew in the ground with a stick and explained to a friend. Quite a patient friend, one suspects. But it's in the development of mains electricity - the underpinning of our modern age - that Tesla really rules. When Americans tell the story of Thomas Edison, the famous inventor of the gramophone, and whose name is usually attached to the invention of the light bulb, Tesla's name is frequently left out. However Tesla, who became an American citizen in 1891, worked with Edison for years, improving many of the early inventions and turning them into something workable. (The two were introduced in 1884, when Tesla came to the US, by a letter from a mutual friend to Edison which read "I know of two great men. One is you and the other is this young man.") Yet it's thanks to Tesla, not Edison, that we have electricity coming out of plugs, and that we even have power stations able to generate serious amounts of energy. He won "the war of the currents" with Edison, who was convinced that direct current (DC) - the sort that comes out of an ordinary battery - was the way forward for power generation and distribution. Tesla was able to show that alternating current (AC) - which swaps its polarity at a regular rate, 50 times a second in UK mains electricity - was far more efficient (you don't lose anything like as much energy in transmitting it over long distances). Even though Edison took to electrocuting dogs in public displays to show just how dangerous AC was (no, really), Tesla won the day. Among his discoveries are the fluorescent light , laser beam, wireless communications, wireless transmission of electrical energy, remote control, robotics, Tesla's turbines and vertical take off aircraft. Tesla is the father of the radio and the modern electrical transmissions systems. He registered over 700 patents worldwide. His vision included exploration of solar energy and the power of the sea. He foresaw interplanetary communications and satellites. Even Google has noticed - given that New York State some time ago proclaimed today as Tesla's birthday, and that the corner of 40th Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan has a street sign saying "Nikola Tesla corner". If they were sensible, it would be a rotating sign, But you can't have everything.
Russia could still deploy tactical missiles in its westernmost exclave if the U.S. goes ahead with its plans for a missile shield in Central Europe, the Russian president said on Friday. Dmitry Medvedev said Russia's position on U.S. missile defense in Central Europe had not changed. "We are ready to participate in the construction of a global missile defense by providing both intellectual input and our radars," Medvedev said after the G8 summit in Italy's L'Aquila. "We are glad that there is a readiness in the U.S. to review its plans." Russia opposes the missile shield as a threat to its national security and Medvedev said last November that it would deploy Iskander-M missiles in the Kaliningrad region, which borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania, if the shield was put into place. U.S. President Barack Obama, who completed a three-day visit to Moscow on Wednesday, has shown less interest than President George Bush in the missile shield. Obama has not yet announced a final decision on whether to move ahead with its deployment. However Medvedev said that if no agreement was reached on the issue, "the consequences are well known," adding that his proposal, made in his state of the nation address in November 2008, "has not been withdrawn yet." Washington has agreed with Warsaw and Prague on plans to deploy 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic by 2013. The United States says the defenses are needed to deter possible strikes from "rogue states" such as Iran.
The Italian Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, Alfredo Mantica, has said that Italy and Greece share common interests and ideas on the main agenda points, from the MediterraneanUnion (MU) to energy security. Mantica yesterday had a meeting with his Greek counterpart, Miltiadis Varvisiotis. ''We are in full agreement. We have agreed to work on better cooperation between the countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, including Spain and Portugal,'' Mantica was pleased to say after his talk with Varvisiotis. Greece has confirmed that its development minister, Kostis Matzidakis, will participate in the Economic-Financial Forum in Milan from July 20 to 21, organised by Italy as on-duty president of the Union. Italy and Greece want to work together to increase EU awareness on issues that regard the southern countries of the Union, and that ''are not a priority on the European agenda.'' Regarding energy, Mantica and Varvisiotis have agreed to organise an ad hoc bilateral meeting to develop a joint strategy on issues like the ITGI (gas pipeline from the Caspian Sea to Italy through Turkey and Greece) and relations with gas producing countries. Cyprus was another point of discussion, after Mantica's two-day visit to Nicosia which ended the day before yesterday: ''Athens welcomed our visit, and the invitation sent by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano to the president of Cyprus, Demetris Christofias, to visit Rome in September,'' said the undersecretary. He explained that the two countries have made an appointment for this autumn, when talks between the two communities in Cyprus should enter their second stage (the first is expected to come to a conclusion this month, with a total three stages have being scheduled). It seems that Italy and Greece will be working together in the Mediterranean and Adriatic area, as confirmed by the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative which the two countries have proposed to speed up the EU membership process for countries in the western Balkan.
Russia, the U.S., and France said on Friday they would submit a revised set of proposals on the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh to Armenia and Azerbaijan. "We urge the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve the few differences remaining between them and finalize their agreement," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, U.S. President Barack Obama, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a joint statement. The three countries are co-chairs of the Minsk Group, which mediates the territorial dispute between Baku and Yerevan. The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan are expected to meet in Russia on July 17. Nagorny Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan with a largely Armenian population, has been a source of conflict between the former Soviet republics since the late 1980s. The province has its own de facto government. A war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the mountainous enclave in 1988-1994 left an estimated 35,000 people dead. Sporadic violence on the border has continued ever since. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met in Prague last month to discuss the conflict, on the sidelines of the EU's Eastern Partnership summit, and said some progress had been reached.
China deployed thousands of troops to regain control of Urumqi, the capital of the western region of Xinjiang, after three days of rioting between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese. A gaunt Kim Jong Il made a rare public appearance on the 15th anniversary of the death of Kim Il Sung, his father. American troops continued their efforts to retake Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, assisted by British troops in a parallel operation. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesia’s incumbent president, convincingly won re-election, according to unofficial “quick-count” projections. India’s budget lavished money on farmers, middle-class taxpayers and infrastructure, but disappointed the markets by not liberalising foreign investment or labour laws. In a setback for President Felipe Calderón, Mexico’s formerly ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) did well in mid-term elections, coming close to winning a majority (with allies) in the lower house of Congress. Manuel Zelaya, president of Honduras, who was ousted by a military coup last month, made an abortive attempt to fly back to his country. The army blocked the airport runway; Honduras was suspended from the Organisation of American States (OAS) over the coup. In Venezuela Antonio Ledezma, an opposition politician who was elected as mayor of Caracas, staged a hunger strike in the local office of the OAS in protest at the decision by President Hugo Chávez to transfer his budget and powers to an appointed official from the ruling party. Barack Obama visited Moscow for the first formal America-Russia summit of his presidency. The two countries agreed to resume nuclear-disarmament talks. But though the Americans had talked of pressing a “reset” button, the atmosphere on both sides was pragmatic and reserved rather than friendly. Leaders of the G8 club of rich countries met for the annual G8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy, presided over by Silvio Berlusconi. Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa and Egypt joined the G8 for talks on climate change, though China’s president cancelled his planned visit so he could tackle the crisis in Xinjiang. Bulgaria’s election was decisively won by the centre-right opposition. The new prime minister of Croatia, in succession to Ivo Sanader, is to be Jadranka Kosor, his deputy. The causes of Mr Sanader’s unexpected resignation remain a mystery. A tabloid newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch in Britain came under fire when it emerged it had allegedly employed private investigators to hack into thousands of mobile phones, including those of leading politicians. California’s debt rating was downgraded to BBB, two notches above junk status, by Fitch, a credit-rating agency. In an announcement that took pundits by surprise, Sarah Palin said she would step down as Alaska’s governor, 18 months before the end of her first term. Now with 60 votes in the Senate, Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader, urged his party to unite against any Republican attempt to launch a filibuster. Robert McNamara died at the age of 93. A former president of the Ford Motor Company and head of the World Bank, he became mired in the Vietnam debacle during his time as America’s defence secretary from 1961 to 1968. Iran’s police chief said that more than 1,000 people had been arrested in the capital, Tehran, during unrest after last month’s disputed presidential election, but that two-thirds had already been freed. Human-rights campaigners said that 2,000 people were still behind bars across Iran. A week after American forces formally handed security in Iraq’s towns to the Iraqi authorities, insurgents killed dozens of people in a rash of bombs in Baghdad, Mosul and other northern towns. Some 70,000 South African building workers went on strike, demanding a pay rise of 13% and halting work at a number of stadiums where the football World Cup is due to be played next year.
The House plenary, after a long debate, approved on Thursday by majority vote a new law banning smoking completely in all closed public places. The law is set to come into effect on January 1, 2010. Out of the 31 MPs who took part in the vote, 27 voted for the proposed bill to ban smoking, 3 voted against while there was 1 abstention. The bill had been drawn up and submitted by the main opposition party, the Democratic Rally. Smoking is allowed only in open and outside areas. The law provides for a fine for those who violate its provisions but no prison sentence. In particular, the law provides for no more that 1000 euro as penalty for not posting a sign indicating that smoking is not allowed in a specific area, while whoever violates the provisions of the law as a smoker or owner of an establishment, he/she will have to pay a fine of no more than 2000 euro.
In the wake of the tragic and untimely deaths of many celebrities in the recent weeks, fans have had a tough time coming to grips with an all too inconvenient truth: people die. Yes, people die; even celebrities die. It is a shame that we will not see that singer belt out that song for us one last time, or see that actress act out just one more line, or that pitchman try to sell us one more product. But, in the midst of this, it is important to remember that those celebrities are not super humans. They are mere mortals, like the woman at Wal-Mart, the stockbroker on Wall Street and the homeless man on Main Street. Increasingly in society, there is a growing uncomfortable feeling about death. It is seemingly the “thing which cannot be spoken of.” Others things that were taboo to speak of (such as sex) are now glorified in the public square. There is a great Saint in the Orthodox Church, Ignatius Brianchaninov who said something to the effect of “Society is on a large train that is flying downhill to hell.” The same Saint also said that it was the “duty of Christians to help as many people off as possible.” Our society does not want to get off the train. They enjoy it too much because it is all that they know. Meanwhile, the train is hurtling faster and faster. People are plugging their ears and closing their eyes and occupy themselves with things such as drugs, over-indulgence in alcohol, sex and other things to desensitize themselves of that inconvenient truth. Among other things, they are trying to cheat death with pills to make them live longer, fad diets and the like. With new skin care products and cosmetic surgeries coming out all the time to make people “look and feel younger.” What people do not realize, is that there is a difference between “looking and feeling” with actually being younger. Orthodox Christians are not afraid of death, because they know that it has no power over us anymore. After all, at Pascha (Easter) we sing: “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down Death by death and on those in the tombs bestowing life.” The poetic and literal meaning of these words is deep. By Christ’s very death and subsequent rising again, Orthodoxy teaches He destroyed the power of Death over us so that we might live eternally. The sooner people come to grips with their mortality, that they will die one day, perhaps the better society will be. Yet, there are many people that believe there is only this life. Orthodox believe that there is indeed something more to this life, and that in this life humanity is to prepare itself for God. In addition, Orthodox believers will recognize that the things that we as human beings cling to this world will not be with us in the next. No fancy cars, expensive suits, ipods, cell-phones, jewelry, or any material, tangible thing will we take with us. Just our naked selves and all the good and bad we did throughout our lives. Many Orthodox through the centuries have compared the Church to a ship guiding us toward salvation, toward the Kingdom of Heaven. While the journey is long, it is full of hope, not false promises of happiness. It is not destructive hurtling downhill to oblivion. It is not any major secret, something is wrong in society. Until people come to find the cure, (which the Orthodox Church teaches that the cure is Christ in His Church) humanity will continue to fly downward to death. How can one seek to reverse plummeting to Hell? The Fathers of the Orthodox Church teach that through repentence and turning away from sin can one reconcile himself to God, who loves and forgives all. St. John of Damascus in his Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith Book IV, Ch. 27. talks about the Resurrection of the Dead, which Orthodox and other Christians believe will happen at the end of the world (as is stated in the Nicene Creed). Fr. Justin Popovic touches on the subject as well. While it is impossible to say for sure, if people realize that death is inevitable, perhaps they will start gearing their lives to help make the lives other people in need better. Who knows? People helping others instead of themselves, what a novelty!