Icarus may be known in Greek mythology as the one who flew too close to the sun. But today, it's NASA's Parker Solar Probe that turned the daring journey into reality. On Christmas Eve, the car-sized spacecraft came within 3.8 million miles of the sun's surface — marking humanity's closest approach ever. To put it in perspective, NASA's probe was about 10-times closer to the home star than the orbit of the innermost planet, Mercury. As it flew around the sun, Parker also set a record for the fastest human-made object, reaching an incredible speed of 430,000 mph — which is fast enough to travel from New York to Tokyo in under a minute. To get so close, the Parker Solar Probe had to endure the sun's extreme heat and radiation like no spacecraft before it. Scientists won't know whether Parker survived or its condition until Friday, when it's expected to send its first signal back to Earth since its fly-by. "It is breaking all of these records and it's a, just a total 'Yay! We did it!' moment," Nicola Fox, the associate administrator for NASA Science Mission Directorate, said in a video on Dec. 24. Parker launched in 2018 as part of an unprecedented mission to study the sun. The goal is to better understand long-standing mysteries, like why the sun's extended atmosphere is hotter than its surface and the origin of the solar wind. Scientists also hope the mission will help predict solar storms, which can trigger stunning, widespread auroras but also pose a threat to power grids and radio signals. For the past six years, Parker has been venturing closer and closer to the sun. In 2021, it made history as the first spacecraft to enter the sun's upper atmosphere, also known as the corona. NASA said Parker will start sending back data collected during its flybys of the sun at the end of January. "Until recently, we simply didn't possess the technology. In 2018, that all changed with the launch of Parker Solar Probe," Nour Rawafi, the project scientist for NASA's Parker Solar Probe mission at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), explained on TED Radio Hour earlier this month. He added, "It has revolutionized our understanding of the sun." Parker was equipped with a special heat shield that reflects light, absorbs heat and is cooled by a network of water-filled pipes, according to Rawafi. This design helps keep the probe's interior near room temperature, even while inside the sun's outer atmosphere, which can range from 1,600 to 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit. The mission was named after Eugene Parker, who first predicted the existence of the solar wind in the 1950s. It's the only NASA mission named after a living person. In 2018, Parker was able to attend the rocket launch that sent the probe into space. He died in 2022 at the age of 94.
Bruce Gonyea Unveils The Tavern Files: A Riveting Detective Story of Mystery and Self-DiscoveryEfforts to recalibrate the Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) into a more selective and cohesive ‘Wassenaar minus one’ coalition—potentially excluding Russia—reflect the growing need for the United States, its allies, and technology firms to find common ground on export control measures. In 2024, individual Wassenaar member states began implementing their own controls on critical technologies outside the WA. This is the early step toward a new regime. However, translating this idea into an actual regime requires strategic alignment. Q1: Why focus on Wassenaar minus one? A1: On September 6, 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) introduced a new framework for plurilateral export controls. Central to this framework is a license exception that allows exports to countries that have equivalent export controls on certain emerging technologies. Assistant Secretary Thea D. Rozman Kendler explained that the reason for a new rule is to “develop and coordinate [U.S.] controls alongside like-minded partners.” Eleven like-minded countries—nine in Europe, plus Japan and Australia—have already implemented or announced similar export controls for certain emerging technologies, like quantum computing or semiconductors. These countries are eligible for licenses covering 24 controlled technologies, although not every country is eligible for each technology. This is BIS’s first step toward building and recognizing ad hoc agreements with like-minded nations on advanced technologies, potentially laying the foundation for a new approach to multilateral controls. The need for a new multilateral approach emerged due to the ineffectiveness of the WA. While it remains the only multilateral regime for controlling dual-use technologies (both in civilian and military targets) and continues to set de facto international standards in arms and technology exports, it faces limitations. Its slow decision-making process (requiring unanimity from all 42 members), the lack of strategic measures (with only one plenary meeting per year), and the expulsion mechanism to remove Russia have resulted in protracted delays. Adding a new technology to the Wassenaar control list, for instance, can take up to three years. Many members have addressed these weaknesses by adopting similar export control measures on advanced technologies. The United Kingdom aims to “address weaknesses in the multilateral system,” Japan seeks to “supplement the Wassenaar Arrangement,” and Norway stresses that effective control is “dependent on as many countries as possible to introduce the same controls to avoid circumvention.”AIDS cases among children rise in state amid declining HIV testing rates
NFL ends investigation into sexual assault allegations against Browns QB Deshaun WatsonNone
Powerful spotlights Wednesday night dance to the music on top of Jason Mills’ home at 74 Warren Road in Monmouth. The lights have prompted questions and speculation from residents miles away. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal MONMOUTH — It’s not unusual, some evenings, for people to pull to the side of the road, get out of their cars and just start dancing in the street in front of Jason Mills’ house on Warren Road. “We’ve had people out there singing at the top of their lungs, too,” says Mills, “and it’s just fun and funny. We really enjoy seeing people out there.” These spontaneous displays of singing and dancing aren’t the work of lunatics. They are among the many who stop in front of Mills’ house in the early evenings to enjoy the elaborate Christmas light show going on there. And when we say “elaborate,” we really mean it. We’re talking 18,000 LED lights flickering, flashing and kind of dancing along in exotic ways in sync with the music. We’re talking computer controlled projectors beaming images onto the windows, where exotic swirls of light move in every imaginable way. Every once in while, you’ll see the ghostly image of a guitarist jamming along to the music of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra on Mills’ front door. The lights spin and throb and pulsate in such a wild variety of ways, it’s mesmerizing. The experience is almost psychedelic. It is, without question, hypnotic. Sheets of LED bulbs change with the music at Jason Mills’ home in Monmouth. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal And there are four moving spotlights atop Mills’ roof, as well. They shoot out beams of light and move every which way based on the music. The light dances playfully on whatever sky cover there happens to be that night, and people have reported seeing this phenomena as far away as Turner and Greene, Lewiston, Auburn and Poland, in some cases attributing it to UFOs or the northern lights. When it comes to his Christmas light show, Mills, an assistance chief with the Monmouth Fire Department, does not mess around. His show is carefully curated through computer software that allows him to adjust the timing of every bulb and get every flash and flicker in line with the beat of the holiday season songs on his playlist. This is not traditional Christmas decorating. The display is all encompassing. From the great spotlights on the roof to the animated Christmas trees and candy canes on the front lawn, Mills has used the latest in lighting technology to present one of the grandest displays one will find in the region. It’s a lot of work and none of it is cheap: The spotlights alone run about $1,000 apiece and the LED lights were at one time selling for about a buck a bulb. Yet, Mills has been doing this for years and his officially named Monmouth Lights show gets wilder with each new Christmas season. Jason Mills stands Wednesday night in front of his home at 74 Warren Road in Monmouth., where his ever-evolving light display is attracting people from across the region. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal “Inspiration for my light show came from a few places,” says Mills, in a way that is both modest and alive with childlike enthusiasm. “When I was a kid, my grandmother had an amazing Christmas light display every year and I see this as my way of carrying on that piece of her legacy. I am also a big fan of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and started going to their concerts around 20 years ago. The lighting at those concerts is a show of its own and, as a bit of a tech geek, it garnered my interest immediately. So in 2012 I started Monmouth Lights with a few strings of traditional Christmas lights and some controllers that I put together. I had a couple different songs each year and we would see a handful of cars each night stop by. We did that for three or four years before work got in the way.” Things went along at that tempo for a few years. Then Mills stepped things up a notch or three. “In 2019, we moved to our current house and I started looking into smart lighting options,” Mills says. “I built a few small controllers and played around with some LED strips before stumbling across some information about connecting them into a Christmas light show. That’s all it took to throw me back into the hobby and I started putting together a small show. We didn’t expect a lot of visitors, but that was 2020 and a lot of normal Christmas events and traditions weren’t happening that year, so we had more than we anticipated and we ended up causing a few traffic problems.” Mills lives on a pretty quiet stretch of Warren Road. In order for someone to cause traffic problems there, people would have to be coming from miles around to see the show. That’s exactly what happened, and the show draws even more interest these days now that it’s bigger and brighter and more intense than ever. Viewers watching the light show from their cars can tune their radios to 91.7 FM to hear the music while the lights dance. The closer Christmas gets, the more Christmas music is being added to the playlist. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal The popularity of Mills’ light show got a boost recently thanks to a bunch of threads on social media where people — including Sun Journal photographer Russ Dillingham — reported seeing lights in the sky in far-flung places like the wilds of Turner. Some folks thought it was Elon Musk’s Starlink they were seeing up there in the heavens. Others thought UFOs were making regular stops to the area. When it was finally sorted out, many made the drive out to lonely Warren Road to have an up-close look at Mills’ fancy display. By then, Mills already had a pretty good following. There is rarely a time between 4:30 and 9 p.m. that at least one vehicle isn’t stopped in front of his house to enjoy the show — which takes an amazing 22 minutes to cycle from start to finish before beginning all over again. Mills gets help from his wife and two daughters, both with the setup and the computer controls. “My oldest daughter is just in high school,” Mills says. “Now she’s kind of getting into computer programming and stuff, so she’s starting to learn how to program the songs so she can pick some of her favorites and make some light shows from them.” The light show at the Monmouth home of Jason Mills includes thousands of LED lights, projects, spotlights and even a collection box for families to drop off their letters to Santa. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Mills adds new songs to the mix every week. Right now, there’s a little bit of everything in there, but as it gets closer to the holiday, Mills will switch over to Christmas music exclusively. He also gets a little help from Maine Equipment Rental, which partners with Mills and made it possible for him to work safely and with a little bit of a break on his own costs. Mills said he’s never considered asking for help from the public to pay for his setup. He does this for them and all he wants is for families viewing the show to have a good time. Families can drop off letters to Santa and watch the light show choreographed by computer to an ever-changing playlist of music. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal “We do this show for the community,” Mills says, “and there is never a charge to come and see it. We do have a Santa’s mailbox where families can drop their letters to Santa and we will get them to the North Pole. If they include a return address, we do our best to make sure they get a personal replay.” Some folks will leave donations in a box at the roadside, but Mills gives 100% of anything collected to local youth STEM and arts programs, including Monmouth VEX Robotics and the Monmouth Community Players’ kids program. The show runs nightly and Mills plans to keep the display going until the new year. Those who stop to take in the grand show can tune their radios to 91.7 FM to hear the music or they can download the PulseMesh app on their phones. In spite of the breathtaking magnitude of his light show, Mills doesn’t consider himself any kind of local king of Christmas displays. In fact, he says that some spectacular light shows at nearby homes — on Small Road and on Hallowell Road in Litchfield — make it so that the drive to the area is three times as special for those out to enjoy Christmas decorations in the area. You can find more information about Mills’ work at the Facebook group Monmouth Lights , but take it from us. This is the kind of Christmas decoration that has to be seen to be believed. We invite you to add your comments. We encourage a thoughtful exchange of ideas and information on this website. By joining the conversation, you are agreeing to our commenting policy and terms of use . More information is found on our FAQs . You can modify your screen name here . Comments are managed by our staff during regular business hours Monday through Friday as well as limited hours on Saturday and Sunday. Comments held for moderation outside of those hours may take longer to approve. Please sign into your Press Herald account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe . Questions? Please see our FAQs . Your commenting screen name has been updated. 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