NBA Lockout is Over, Why Owners Are the Clear Winners: Fan’s View

From Yahoo! Sports


At 3 a.m. on November 26, 2011, the NBA owners and players reached a deal on a new labor agreement, ending the 149 day lockout. The deal calls for a 66 game season in 2011-12, that will begin on Christmas Day, December 25, 2011.
As an NBA fan, I'm relieved the lockout is over. As a New Jersey Nets fan I'm really relieved the deal is done because the Nets are moving to Brooklyn in 2012-13. If the NBA canceled the whole season, the Nets would have never played another game in New Jersey, where I live.
Reading through the details of the new labor agreement, I think it's pretty clear that one side got major concessions from the other. Here's the winners from the new NBA labor agreement…(full story)

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Boosts Latest Mars Rover to the Red Planet

From Market Watch


Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne demonstrated the consistent reliability of its power and propulsion systems by successfully boosting the Mars Science Laboratory rover, which will travel to the red planet to assess its habitability. The mission launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida by a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The Atlas V is powered by the RD AMROSS RD-180 booster engine, and the Centaur upper stage is powered by the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RL10 engine. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a United Technologies Corp. UTX +0.30% company, has powered 14 successful launches this year with payloads that included humans; cargo; and satellites vital to space exploration, worldwide communication, navigation, defense, research and development, and weather prediction. RD AMROSS LLC is a joint venture of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and NPO Energomash…(full story)

New Mars rover Curiosity is ultimate off-road vehicle

From USA Today


Today's blastoff of the latest rover raises an interesting question. Since it is as big as a car, with wheels the size of one, how would the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity stack up if it were the latest flashy model in your local showroom?
Well, for starters, we're not sure that name, Curiosity, would rank right up with other space-related monikers like Mercury Montego or Saturn Vue -- even Ford Galaxie. But when you get down to statistic about the latest, biggest rover, you come away seeing the possibilities.
Curiosity is as long as a Mini and as wide as a Hummer, making it plenty stable for the steep sides of canyons or craters, NASA tells Drive On. Some other cool stats that compare it to a car…(full story)