A strange aerial event was reported near Lephalale, SouthAfrica on Saturday. Leonie Ras, the Administrative Managerof the town, was at her daughter’s farm east of town whenshe heard an enormous roar at 4:33 in the morning. Shedescribed it as sounding like a jumbo jet starting itsmotors. The noise grew until it sounded likemassive screaming turbines. She looked outside and saw thatthe clouds had turned a bright orange-red in color. A brightobject looking like a comet with an orange tail shot out ofthe sky and hit the ground with a huge explosion. Itappeared to have hit near the tiny South African town ofBeauty, between the Tambootie and Palele rivers. So far,authorities have shown no interest in looking for the objectin this isolated area.read more

I recently wrote a diary about Christmas, so I thought I’d write one about New Years as well, because I saw an inspiring example of courage on television.

We went to Texas to spend New Years eve with a couple who are old friends. We’ve spent many New Years eves with them. We basically have dinner, drink some champagne, and try to stay awake long enough to watch the ball descend in Times Square on TV. Since Texas is an hour earlier than New York, this starts at 10 p.m.
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New research shows that movie theaters could increase their profits if they charged different prices for different movies. But this would involve movie studios knowing what customers will like, and since there are plenty of surprise hits, this is not an exact science, by any means.

Right now, consumers pay the same price for blockbusters as they do for flops. But many studios feel that their flops would be liked by a wider audience if they could only get people into the theater to watch them. Maybe lower ticket prices would lure them into the theater and start up good word-of-mouth, which is much more powerful than advertising or publicity, when it comes to creating a hit.
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Due to pollution controls on cars and smokestacks, acid rain has decreased in recent years. This can be seen clearly in Appalachian streams, where aquatic life is thriving. Butthis is leading to increased CO2 levels in the water, as a result of respiration and the organic decay of dead creatures. But more CO2 dissolved in water could lead to a major increase in global warming?if it escapes into the atmosphere.

In LiveScience.com, Sara Goudarzi quotes researcher David DeWalle as saying, “Although that is a positive thing?higher amounts of carbon dioxide in the soil means more of it ultimately may be emitted back to the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas.”

Art credit: freeimages.co.uk
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