Friday, January 09, 2009
Women are from Venus, Men are from Uranus ...(Rated R)
This strip is from WE THE ROBOTS, one of my favorite comics. Check it out here. The author, Chris Harding, is consistently funny and often makes me laugh out loud.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
This is Precisely the Opposite of Economic Darwinism, isn't it?
Though you do have to give the CEOs some credit for adaptation. After all, the second time they panhandled Congress they managed to get to DC without four private jets. I wonder if the black suit plumage in the Congressional hearing rooms attracted any potential mates for the Big Three, who seem to have formed their entire strategy around a misquote of Theodore Roosevelt: "Whine loudly and carry a big line graph showing the end of America if you don't give us the money, now. Seriously."
McCrime
Check out more of this funny comic online at: http://www.utopiatheory.com/
Technorati Tags: online comics,funny pictures,funny photos,humor,McJustice,Ronald McDonald,the Hamburgler
Keeping up with the Joneses
Before You Yell at the Other Guy...
I believe that when we finally come to understand the smallest building block, the very stuff of which the universe itself is made, it will turn out to be irony. Yes, irony. Makes sense, doesn't it? More about that later, but moving to the second basic element of which the universe has been constructed, I think it is hypocrisy. Then comes indignation. Sadly, I find that I myself am a proof that these elements are indeed fundamental materials; indeed I usually give them away more than most. Except for this guy I saw at the coffee stand this morning.
I was at a coffee stand this morning and heard a funny exchange. When it was his turn, a middle aged man in front of me in line, and who seemed particularly rushed while we waited our turn to order, stepped up and in a clipped manner said
"Grande drip in a tall cup."
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" said the hurried but pleasant young woman at the counter.
"Grrraaande drip in a tall cup." He said it slowly, dragging out the syllables for emphasis.
"Do you want a Grande drip half full?" she said hesitantly.
Well, at this point the guy had been waiting for more than two minutes in line just to finally get to the front and find himself unable to make the person understand a perfectly simple order (of course, I don't know what he was thinking really, I am just filling in the blanks from his expression and body language. Raising his voice, the guy announced loudly,
"I JUST WANT WHAT I ASKED FOR. A GRANDE DRIP IN A TALL CUP! "
The poor person at the counter looked flustered, and she had been so pleasant, and I think she'd been convinced all along that SHE must be misunderstanding him, so I leaned up and said,
"Unless you are a human compressor or can suspend physical laws you can’t have that. No one can. I think a reasonable compromise might be for you to have a tall drip in a Grande cup. How would that be?"
The guy looked at me, with irritation, then I believe he realized that he'd been demanding sixteen ounces of coffee in a twelve ounce cup instead of the opposite. He got kind of white in the face and then walked out without another word to me or the gal at the counter.
"Thank you, I couldn't figure out what he wanted. I thought I was mixed up and he was getting mad." she said.
"You were very good about it." I said. "Now for me...may I have a grande black tea in a replica space shuttle sippy cup?"
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Another Serial Killer in Louisiana? (Updated 1/3/2009)
In just the past five years, three serial killers have been arrested in Louisiana, and yet the killing continues.
In May of 2003 police in Baton Rouge arrested Derrick Todd Lee for the murder of seven women. These murders had been particularly terrorizing because the victims were not otherwise high-risk victims, and they were often taken from or murdered in their own homes. It was DNA that finally brought the police to the killer. He was sentenced to death by lethal injection.
Just a year later, in 2004, police arrested Sean Vincent Gillis for the murder of three women. After his arrest Gillis confessed to killing five more women. He was sentenced to life in the first of his trials.
In 2006, Ronald Joseph Dominique was arrested for the murder of 23 men over a ten year period. He confessed to the killings in a deal to avoid the death penalty and was sentenced to eight life terms.
Now law enforcement in Jefferson Parish have formed a task force to investigate a series of murders they believe are likely to be the work of a serial killer. In this case, the investigation is looking into the murders of seven women since 2005. There are nearly a score of other unsolved murders of women that could be, but have not yet been connected to this killer in neighboring parishes. So, either there is another very prolific killer in Louisiana, or there is a prolific serial killer with possibly other serial killers or individual murderers active in the state. Either way, it must be a very frightening time for people living high-risk lifestyles dominated by drugs and the sex trade. For many years Washington State was the place most often associated with serial killers, but that may be changing, much to the dismay of the people of Louisiana.
UPDATE (September 1, 2009) 8th Victim found: The most recent victim was a 26 year old woman named Necole Guillory. Guillory was last seen getting into a car on Sunday, August 16th, near the south Main Street area Jennings. The multi-agency task force investigating the case released the following:
The multi-agency task force comprised of Acadia, Calcasieu and Jefferson Davis Parish Sheriff's Offices, Jennings Police Department, 15 th & 31st District Attorney's offices, La State Police Region 2 CID investigators/ Lake Charles, La Attorney General's Office, and the FBI continue to aggressively investigate the murders of several women from the Jennings area.
The task force continues to seek information from the public, and will continue to share as much information as possible with the public about these investigations without jeopardizing the investigation or prosecution due to recent media coverage and news releases, resulting in enhanced public awareness and combined with the sustained efforts of the task force, it is likely that the offender may have altered his behavior, habits and/or practices.
The following are additional examples of such changes possibly made by the offender:
The offender may have recently left the Jennings area, possibly in an abrupt manner, with no indication of prior planning.
The offender may have recently discontinued his contact with the area of Jennings formerly frequented by the victims.
The offender may have recently altered his physical appearance.
The offender may have altered the appearance of his vehicle, e.g., having his vehicle painted.
The offender likely had sex with some, most or all of the women (decomposition doesn’t allow certain confirmation). What makes it tougher is that many other men may have had recent encounters with the women (some , many, and though improbable, it is possible men unrelated to the murders had sex with all of the missing women). At least five separate men have been under suspicion because they were seen with one or more victims shortly before they disappeared. Two were arrested and then released.
In my opinion, and it isn’t worth much I know, what is raising the temperature of frustration in Jennings isn’t necessarily frustration that sprouts from police incompetence. A very competent police force very often finds it tough to break open serial murder cases. I can’t say with any inside information whether the Jennings officers are average, better or worse. But I can say that anytime a series of murders go on without ending, the community can become inflamed. I would cite examples, but it seems SOOO unnecessary in this case.
The most remarkable element in my mind is that the frustration, and a washed pickup truck seem to have lead to the entire police force being swabbed for DNA. Now THAT is pretty new.
For good crime news, including reporting on the current Louisiana murder series (last link deals with DNA swabs):
The Criminal Report Daily by David Lohr
Steve Huff: The True Crime Report
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/02/us/02serial.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/05/19/crimesider/entry5024973.shtml
Monday, January 05, 2009
I Apologize
Look, I know I should not post this photo on my blog. It is disgusting and will render anything I say about half as credible from here on out. I know. But jeez! Talk about your bad roller coaster rides! I think what makes me laugh so much at this - aside from the hilarious looks on the other faces as the poor fellow in front unswallows - is that when I was a kid, a similar thing happened to me.
I was about ten and we were at the carnival at the State Fair. I wanted to go on a ride that basically just went around in circles - like the Tilt-A-Whirl it goes around pretty fast and then at various angles, but unlike the Tilt-A-Whirl on this one you sat rather than stood. No one else wanted to go, so I went and was seated with a pretty fat kid about my age. I say fat, and what I mean is that he was about my age and height, but probably weighed double what I did. He was big enough that I was trying really hard to figure out centrifugal force before we got on the ride so I wouldn't be squashed when the whirling began. Turns out that being squashed was not the worst thing that could happen on this ride.
Being a big kid, within about fifteen loops on the spin cycle, I became aware of sounds next to me that tweaked my intuition. I am not sure what they were, but whatever sounds they were my mind immediately posted Threat Level Red. Sure enough, it was only seconds later when that sound - the squelched half choke, half groan that always accompanies regurgitation - came from the lump of unprocessed cotton candy, corn dog and sno-cone sitting beside me. THAT sound, was followed by the next expected input...a huge, and surround sound-like SPLAT - the surround effect coming from the fact that the ejected material, having been deployed in a circle after all, does indeed splash down all around you. The elevated aluminum platform of the ride only amplified the sound. You know it now, if you are still reading, just as I knew it then: the next sounds would be: first, gasps of shock and revulsion, second, a few stray "Oh my God" and "did that kid just puke?" remarks, and then finally, the ultimate in competitive barfing...yep, the sympathy heave. This large kid, who had only seconds before been full of fair food for a family of four, had achieved the ultimate and elusive goal of any big-time vomit prankster: a multiple sympathy heave. Once I realized that my inside seat had saved me from a marinated scone and Coke shower, I was free to fully appreciate the large-scale destruction from my elevated perch. The big kid had managed to hurl through 270 degrees of the circle, careful or fortunate only to spew in the area occupied by the people waiting for their turn and a group of parents waiting for their kids to exit the ride. The empty part of the perimeter was also the quadrant of the platform that His Eminence, the Bishop of Barf, left unsullied. Amazing! This kid could set a record - volume, accuracy, composition and even the extremely rare multiple sympathy heave! Two women - looking back I realize that of course they were not mothers, who would have shrugged this off like every other unfortunate bodily function that had assailed them as they raised their little bundles of joy - who appeared to be with dates were caught up in the moment and almost instantly 'applauded' the big kid's effort with smaller imitations of their own. smaller, but sincere, it seemed to me. Fitting tribute.
So, I hope that you'll forgive me this disgusting and low-class photo...no doubt the memory of the Roundup Cleanup makes this picture much funnier for me than for any of you. Sorry.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
EMT: Travolta 'Amazing'
RADAR magazine obtained an interview with Marcus Garvey, the crew chief for the emergency team that responded to the emergency call at the Travolta's Bahamas home. The sad details of the death of Travolta's son Jett have been widely published, and I usually don't follow celebrity events very closely, let alone write about them. But I do often check out Radar because I like Steve Huff and his writing, and when I checked Radar today I saw the article interviewing Mr. Garvey. In the article Garvey says:
"John and Kelly insisted on traveling in the ambulance with Jett. Garvey reveals that John was holding his son's hand and saying, "Come on Jett."
Garvey told RADAR that Kelly was rubbing Jett's hand, saying, "Come on baby, come on Jett." She was in tears.
Jett was pronounced dead at the hospital and when the ordeal was over, amazingly, John Travolta wanted to express his gratitude to Garvey for his effort. "He tapped me on the shoulder and said 'good job, good job,'" Garvey told RADAR.
It is of course heart-rending for any parent to contemplate the loss of one's child. It is a sign of character to me that in the throes of such a loss Mr. Travolta thought to speak to the EMT who had worked to save his son, and in his way to thank him for what he had done. It was a generous thing to do.
Radar's EXCLUSIVE interview here
Technorati Tags: Radar Magazine
Yellowstone Quake Swarm Update 10
There really isn't news to report about the series of earthquakes that had been occurring at Yellowstone Park for the last week. The news is really that after over 500 earthquakes in a very small area over the course of six-plus days, there have been none since yesterday just after midnight (approaching two days ago, actually).
A very quiet earthquake list for the Yellowstone Lake area
Dr. Robert B. Smith, Research Professor of Geology & Geophysics at the University of Utah, and Director of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory Dr. Robert Smith bio
I'll be looking for interpretation from Dr. Smith and the team that has been studying the Yellowstone volcano system for many years, because even to them this was a unique event. To me it felt very much like the magma chamber beneath Lake Yellowstone had either swollen or broken through a barrier and was moving to the Northeast during this period. The webcorder movements were really hectic and seemed to show almost constant vibration in the area - and contrary to some web posters beliefs, this could not be accounted for by wind or other phenomena as the sensors are buried in specially designed borings several hundred feet down. Even Katrina couldn't tweak those gauges! Almost as suddenly as it had started, the swarm stopped, as if the moving magma had finally come up against a barrier that it didn't break through or move around. Fortunately, this movement seems to have been achieved without creating a steam vent - which would likely have triggered at the least a geothermal explosion and at worst a supervolcanic eruption.
The most fascinating thing about this was that it was clearly an event which was unprecedented - not in history, but in the recorded experience of human beings. Even the best qualified people had no real way to predict what the activity meant - they could only rely on statistical likelihood based on historical events to discuss what may happen next. Of the five things Dr. Smith had mentioned leading up to a hydrothermal explosion or supervolcanic eruption, four were present in this case. The only one that was not noted was an increase in volcanic gasses. Who knows if the magma movement was more or less routine and the magma was simply able to move more rapidly than is typical through an area where there was minimal resistance, until a after nearly a week a more formidable barrier was finally encountered? Will this be the end of the quake swarm, or will it resume in the near future and continue for weeks, as some do? Could these quakes have created new tension instead of releasing it, and a large quake be next? Might the magma again break through and trigger an explosive event? I really don't think that, beyond knowing the relative historical frequency of each type of event, anyone can really say what this all means, or what will happen next.
My smallish mind interpreted what I was seeing and reading as magma movement-related, but that wasn't how Dr. Smith and his colleagues were seeing the same information. According to Dr. Smith, the earthquake swarm was more of a major seismic event rather than a major volcanic event. That is, it was related to faults and plate movements mostly and NOT to magma movement. If anyone is one the fence on this, I say GO WITH THE GUY WHO HAS SPENT 30+ YEARS STUDYING YELLOWSTONE! Still, I am eager to see anything they come up with concerning this event. And I'll be sure to post whatever I do find, so stay tuned.
New Scanner Takes Stunning Images of Internal Organs
excerpted from an article by Lisa Zyga (article here at inventorspot.com)
Philips Medical Systems has recently unveiled a new medical scanner that can take images of the inside of the body with stunning precision.
While older scanners would have taken hours to perform a full-body CT scan, the Brilliance scanner can complete a full-body scan in less than a minute. The new scanner also reduces a patient's radiation exposure by up to 80% compared with other CT scanners.
Too Much Fiber?
What do you get when breakfast is a flax and bran muffin, spirulina drops, a prune and a large coffee?
Answer: Severe mid-commute spatter cone activity! This is a gal after my own heart! Notice the dude in the background. Does he think she really just made this boom-boom?
Colder Weather Spurs Late Revival of Arctic Ice
Arctic Research Center: Sea Ice Ends Year at Same Level as 1979
"Thirty years of sea ice data. The record begins at 1979, the year satellite observations began (Source: Arctic Research Center, University of Illinois)
Thanks to a rapid rebound in recent months, global sea ice levels now equal those seen 29 years ago, when the year 1979 also drew to a close. "
--Michael Asher (Blog) - January 1, 2009 Link to full entry
Arctic sea ice decreased significantly through much of last year, but satellite data shows the trend was reversed late in the year, with the rate of increase from September to year end showing the fastest rate of change on record - either for rate of increase or rate of decrease. According to the University of Illinois's Arctic Climate Research Center as reported in the Dailytech.com blog above, the information is collected via satellite observation of the Northern and Southern hemisphere polar regions. This is the method used to calculate snow cover data as well.
Sea ice is a very useful indicator of short-term trends because it forms and melts much more quickly than the huge and thick ice sheets anchored to bedrock in Antarctica and around the Arctic Circle. In the last quarter of 2008, the thinner sea ice had less snow cover than the ice sheets to insulate it from the bitterly cold air, and therefore grew much faster than expected, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
The Arctic Research Center report (Arctic Research Center Website) uses a system based upon the mean ice anomaly - a measurement which reflects the difference between the current sea ice value and the mean sea ice value for the period between 1979 and 2000 (1979 is the year satellite data first began to be used for this purpose). The above image shows the mean sea ice anomaly value at near 1, about where it was in 1979. Note that as late as September the word "unprecedented" was frequently being attached to predictions of low sea ice levels:
http://geology.com/news/2008/arctic-sea-ice-levels.shtml
arctic-sea-ice-in-death-spiral-second-lowest-on-record
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17912_3-10043977-72.html
This is just one of the many ways that science continues to learn about the processes, causes and effects, and the historical record for climate related processes on earth. Because the record is so complex, it can be very difficult to model the future based on data from multiple and variable sources, collected by different means and over a very short period of time, in terms of the planetary history. Clearly, science does not yet understand all of the earth's processes or the complex interrelationships that drive them.
By way of disclaimer, though, please note that merely publishing reports that do not conform to global warming doctrine at face value does not in any way indicate that I am a denier. I am uncomfortable with many definitive statements that are made concerning earth processes for which we have only cursory and recent data to interpret. However, that does not mean that we should conduct ourselves as if our activities have no impact on the planet. Clearly they do, and to whatever extent science ultimately demonstrates, human actions are wasteful and have an unnecessary impact on the ecosystems and processes of the planet. I prefer to take a logic-based approach in this case rather than an empirical approach where facts are tough to demonstrate. The logic-based approach, as I see it (and no doubt Gifford Pinchot would concur), is simply to conserve our natural resources, minimize the footprint of humans to the greatest practical degree, and to conduct our future designs, economy and collective lifestyle with as great an emphasis on preserving the natural processes and resources of the earth as we can manage. By taking this approach, the objective of the current global warming proponents can be met without the need of introducing political agenda and public relations into the scientific process. The need to prove that each wasteful or polluting activity is having grave consequences right now is moot, if the guiding principal is conservation.
Oh, and yes, I realize that is idealistic. Once we have uniformly adopted conservation I propose we move on to world peace.
Technorati Tags: Sea Ice increases,global warming,climate change,climate science,climate change reporting
Saturday, January 03, 2009
McDonald's Employee in Olympia Thwarts Kidnapping Attempt on Child
by Michele Johansen & Lexie Tigre
excerpted from Examiner.com Seattle:
On December 19, 18 year-old Serenity LaChappelle saved a little girl from an attempted kidnapping at a McDonald's in Olympia. The story begins earlier that morning when Sheila Brown left her two children, Kasia, who is 8, and Devon, who is 10, at the Olympia library. Brown was in the process of moving her family to a homeless shelter in Olympia from one in Tacoma. Due to the snow, the library closed early and then Devon and Kasia went to the McDonald's across the street to wait for their mother.
While at the front counter, police allege that Richard Earl Knauss went up to the two kids and grabbed the girl on her shoulder. He instructed her to go with him but the young girl refused. She looked to LaChappelle, a McDonald's employee, for help and insisted she did not know the man. LaChappelle recalls, "She looked at me and she goes, 'I don't know him. I don't know him.'" LaChappelle then said to Knauss, "Sir. She says she does not know you. Please don't touch her." And with that, LaChappelle struggled with Knauss but was able to pull the girl over the counter to safety and then pulled her brother over as well.
Knauss ran away but was quickly found by police. He denied involvement and claimed he was not even at McDonald's. He later recanted his story but has pleaded not guilty to second-degree kidnapping.
It was heartwarming to read about LaChappelle's bravery, since it seems rare that situations such as these make the news. I know it is tempting to look at this and automatically look to the mother and judge her actions. Yes, these children are young and were left alone. Times hard, people, and I ask you to remember that she and her family were moving to a homeless shelter. Instead of focusing on that, think about LaChappelle and be thankful there really are heroes among us.
Technorati Tags: McDonald's Worker Thwarts Kidnapping,Child Abduction
Yellowstone Quake Swarm Update 9
Today has continued calm around Yellowstone Lake. There has been just one earthquake today, just after midnight, and the ground shaking on the webcorders maintained by the University of Utah have also shown dramatically reduced activity. This could indicate that the movement of magma underground has stopped, possibly due to blockage. The most recent quakes were all at the northeast end of the lake, though, just where many of the largest hydrothermal explosions have occurred in the past - creating Mary Bay among many other features. Time will tell if this calm represents the end of the swarm, or something else. I'll post more updates if events warrant.
Friday, January 02, 2009
Yellowstone Quake Swarm Update 8
Things seem to be quieter this evening, perhaps following a pattern that has been ongoing since the swarm began - very active periods followed by calm periods. We'll see if things get busy again by morning. In the meantime, there was finally an update from Dr. Smith, reported by www.kutv.com...:
"By Friday, January 2nd, Smith said over 500 tremors had been recorded around the north end of Yellowstone Lake. The biggest quake was a magnitude 3.9 - not big enough to cause damage. “This is a big deal”, said Smith, who has been studying the volcanic and geothermal activity at Yellowstone for over 30 years. There have been clusters, or “swarms” of quakes at Yellowstone before, but not this many for this long says Smith. “What’s important about them is that this is not normal, not usual to have these longer swarms so we pay particular scientific attention to them in terms of how they might relate to faults or to geysers or other hydrothermal features,” said Smith. "
Technorati Tags: Yellowstone Quakes Swarm,Yellowstone Supervolcano
Yellowstone Quake Swarm Update 7
The earthquakes continue again today for the sixth day at Yellowstone. Since midnight there have been nine quakes, and three greater than 3.1 magnitude. The webcorders continue to show near constant ground movement, and it is possible that there have been more than these nine reported events as the seismologist reviews have been taking a while with so many events to review. As of this morning there are 330 quakes shown on the list since last Saturday, but I notice that events that occurred yesterday are being added today, and the Yellowstone Volcano Center indicated that there have been over 400 yesterday, so that number could be much higher. This morning's two most recent quakes - a 3.6 and a 3.1 - were located right at the north end of the lake. The last two quakes were not only larger than normal in the swarm, but they were even closer to the surface - .18 kilometers and .1 kilometers. This very shallow activity is what has me wondering if there will be a hydrothermal explosion.
From the US News blog on this event - quoting an email from a Splunk member who crunched the numbers:
"I'm sending you this email with some information I've gleaned from the USGS archives. I'm analyzing the ANSS data (http://www.ncedc.org/cnss/) in an install of Splunk, which is a timeline based search and reporting engine. I have 30 years of data in the system, with about 2M quakes total.
Using the ANSS data, I discovered the number of 2.5 or higher quakes in the *general* Yellowstone area for the decade of the 1980s was 128. The number of 2.5 or higher quakes for the region directly around the lake in the *last 4 days* was 30.
Again, for 2.5 mag or greater quakes:
Entire region of Yellowstone for 10 years = 128 quakes
Area just around Yellowstone Lake last 4 Days = 30 quakes
The entire 1980s of 2.5 or higher quakes in the vicinity of the lake was a paltry 4 quakes. Doing a quick back of the envelope calculation using the number of quakes and the intensities, the activity over the last 4 days has released roughly 100x the amount of energy released in the entire 1980s for the same general region. In the last week alone there have been 10 quakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater around the lake, with one as high as 3.8."
Links:
US News Blog discussing the past frequency of quakes
Illustration of the current Quake Swarm at Yellowstone
These show the webcorders just minutes ago - more jumps:
www.quake.utah.edu...
www.quake.utah.edu...
www.quake.utah.edu...
www.quake.utah.edu...
Technorati Tags: Yellowstone Supervolcano,Yellowstone Quake Swarm
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Another Theodore Roosevelt Gem
If we begin to think that the corruption we see in Washington and on Wall Street is something new, we need only read up on the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. It is not new. The abbreviated version is contained in the following quote:
"A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad."
--Theodore Roosevelt
Yellowstone Quake Swarm Update 6
There is a new statement from the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory tonight. One interesting item to be gleaned is that though scientists have been reviewing the many quakes as rapidly as possible, they are at a point where they've only been able to analyze the larger quakes in the swarms, and have a backlog of as many as 400 events in the series yet to evaluate. That is quite a backlog, and as long as the quake activity remains anywhere near the volume of the last five days, the backlog will only grow.
Using the guarded language one would expect, the statement indicates that scientists are considering the possibility of hydrothermal explosions, or less likely, volcanic events, but it reads to me that they simply don't have the data available to predict what the follow on might likely be, and therefore rely on the statistically small likelihood that this is anything other than a larger than normal, longer than normal series of quakes. Only time will tell.
"The December 2008 earthquake sequence is the most intense in this area for some years. No damage has been reported within Yellowstone National Park, nor would any be expected from earthquakes of this size. The swarm is in a region of historical earthquake activity and is close to areas of Yellowstone famous hydrothermal activity. Similar earthquake swarms have occurred in the past in Yellowstone without triggering steam explosions or volcanic activity. Nevertheless, there is some potential for hydrothermal explosions and earthquakes may continue or increase in magnitude. There is a much lower potential for related volcanic activity."
Links:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/
http://www.quake.utah.edu/helicorder/heli/yellowstone/index.html
http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/
http://pboweb.unavco.org/shared/scripts/stations/?checkkey=WLWY&sec=timeseries_plots×eries=raw
Amazing Photo of San Francisco in Ruins after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire
I just finished reading the book A Crack in the Edge of the World by Simon Winchester. I've read about the disaster in San Francisco before, but as usual Winchester's book is a broad, thorough examination written to read as engagingly and pleasantly as a good novel. It's hard to imagine the destruction of that quake and the fire that followed after. This picture, taken from a balloon shortly after the fires died down shows just how total the destruction was.
If you'd like to zoom in for greater detail follow the link: http://www.abneypark.com/sanfranfromairship.jpg
Technorati Tags: 1906,San Francisco Earthquake,Great San Francisco Earthquake,1906 Quake,Seismic Events
Yellowstone Quake Swarm Update 5
The number of quakes has declined significantly today, and the webcorders are also showing reduced activity. This may be the point where the event calms down, or it could be similar to Monday night, when the activity quieted down only to become even more active on Tuesday morning. We'll see over the next twelve hours or so. It could also be a precursor to a larger quake like the Hebgen Lake Quake, as there was a swarm followed by relative calm just prior to that event. Of course, the un likely eruption or hydrothermal explosion is still a possibility, Finally, the event could go on for weeks, according to Dr. Smith of the University of Utah. Still no updates from Dr. Smith or his team and it has been since Monday. The Salt Lake City station KSL reported yesterday that he is in Yellowstone himself monitoring events. I suppose an update would be unsatisfying anyway, because it would likely include just basic information as it is clear from his earlier comments and follow-up with KSL that the geophysical world just has no data on how supervolcanoes behave prior to eruption or even large hyrdothermal explosions. This means that many of us will continue to monitor the webcorders, USGS and U of U quake report pages to see what comes next. Hopefully this will just be an interesting anomalous series of quakes and nothing more. Hopefully.
The following US Geological Survey chart shows prior supervolcano activity in graphic form for reference on the relative size of the Yellowstone system:
Yellowstone Quake Swarm Update 4
The earthquakes continue this morning with ten quakes since midnight in the area of Yellowstone Lake. This is a slower pace than we've seen, but the live webcorders seem to indicate a lot of harmonic activity continuing as well. And the quakes have come in groups with gap intervals over the past few days, so we'll have to see how day 5 finishes. Here is the latest activity:
January 1, 2008 12:51 PM Earthquake List
Interesting Related Links:
3D Map of Yellowstone Magma Chamber
US News Interview with Chief Scientist at Yellowstone
Technorati Tags: Yellowstone supervolcano,Yellowstone Quake Swarm
Lowest Sunspot Activity Since 1900 Tied to Temperature Drop Over the Past Two Years?
The average temperature on earth has declined over the past two years by about half a degree Celsius - an amount that similar to the temperature increases reported over the past century. This year may be the coldest on record in the past century. All four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA's GISS, UAH, RSS) reported that during the period of January 2007 to January 2008, global temperatures have dropped significantly. 2008 has set a number of records for cold and snowfall. In the U.S., NOAA recorded over 60 local snowfall records and more than 100 all-time low temperatures for the month of October.
This cooling trend - whatever its cause - was not predicted by climate models. It was, however, predictable, at least according to some scientists who study sunspot activity. Since 2000, sunspot activity has been in decline, and this year sunspot activity has matched an inactivity level not seen since the early 1900s. The sunspot activity on the sun ordinarily follows an 11 year cycle where the activity peaks and then slows. It isn't unusual to record 100 sunspots in a single month, and then as then cycle winds down, the number can decline to near zero. Typically, a new cycle begins fairly quickly, but not this year. Through July of this year the average monthly total was three, and in August there were none recorded.
According to the publication Daily Tech, over the last 1,000 years, there have been three previous similar events — known as the Dalton, Maunder and Sporer Minimums. These events have each corresponded to rapid cooling. The largest came to be known as the Little Ice Age (1500-1750). Geoscientists have found excellent correlations between periods of warming and cooling on earth and sunspot activity.
http://www.oar.noaa.gov/spotlite/archive/spot_sunclimate.html
http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/7y.html
That is not to say that human activity is a non-contributor to global climate. But it is interesting to note the sunspot activity and the apparent correlation to global temperatures. It will be interesting and to see if this period of cooling is prolonged, and should it be, may be a hidden benefit in that it may offset some of the climate change predicted to occur in the next century, giving us an extension that seems to be much needed in reducing the impact of human activity on climate.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Yellowstone Quake Swarm Update 3
It is interesting to note how much the ground deformation change instruments are indicating that the surface is rising at an increased rate in the area of the microquakes. Does this, combined with the continued quakes under the area of the dome, and the area where most hydrothermal explosions have occurred indicate something is brewing? I don't know, and I don't think the scientists know either. It is somewhat strange that Dr. Smith has made no comments again today despite increasing focus on the phenomena. Strange, but not necessarily meaningful. Necessarily.
Here are today's quakes at the north end of Yellowstone Lake:
MAG DATE LOCAL-TIME LAT LON DEPTH LOCATION
y/m/d h:m:s deg deg km
2.1 2008/12/31 22:29:09 44.507N 110.309W 1.5 64 km (40 mi) SSW of Cooke City-Silver Gate, MT
2.2 2008/12/31 22:19:51 44.509N 110.350W 1.7 62 km (39 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.5 2008/12/31 08:05:00 44.514N 110.360W 1.1 61 km (38 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.3 2008/12/31 08:02:11 44.523N 110.361W 4.9 61 km (38 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.5 2008/12/31 05:50:01 44.518N 110.368W 2.0 61 km (38 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.1 2008/12/31 05:46:53 44.520N 110.362W 2.0 61 km (38 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.9 2008/12/31 05:42:06 44.519N 110.367W 0.1 61 km (38 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.6 2008/12/31 05:26:56 44.501N 110.385W 2.2 60 km (37 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.4 2008/12/31 05:23:52 44.520N 110.371W 1.0 60 km (37 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.7 2008/12/31 04:52:19 44.503N 110.371W 0.4 61 km (38 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.3 2008/12/31 04:40:04 44.526N 110.368W 2.2 60 km (38 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.6 2008/12/31 04:25:24 44.516N 110.376W 1.8 60 km (37 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.4 2008/12/31 04:25:11 44.523N 110.364W 2.2 61 km (38 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.4 2008/12/31 04:22:16 44.520N 110.382W 2.2 59 km (37 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
2.7 2008/12/31 04:15:44 44.522N 110.372W 1.2 60 km (37 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.5 2008/12/31 04:12:40 44.516N 110.373W 0.6 60 km (37 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.8 2008/12/31 04:08:59 44.532N 110.381W 0.4 59 km (37 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.6 2008/12/31 04:08:34 44.527N 110.367W 2.1 60 km (38 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
2.4 2008/12/31 04:06:14 44.520N 110.371W 1.2 60 km (37 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.9 2008/12/31 04:05:12 44.532N 110.380W 0.3 59 km (37 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.3 2008/12/31 03:53:29 44.520N 110.364W 2.2 61 km (38 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.9 2008/12/31 03:52:59 44.504N 110.381W 2.1 60 km (37 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.5 2008/12/31 03:52:23 44.546N 110.394W 0.7 58 km (36 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.9 2008/12/31 03:43:37 44.524N 110.372W 1.5 60 km (37 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
0.9 2008/12/31 03:26:38 44.523N 110.367W 0.0 61 km (38 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.1 2008/12/31 03:26:01 44.532N 110.381W 2.0 59 km (37 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.8 2008/12/31 03:23:43 44.530N 110.380W 1.0 59 km (37 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.2 2008/12/31 03:23:07 44.529N 110.380W 0.9 59 km (37 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.5 2008/12/31 03:21:49 44.521N 110.373W 2.1 60 km (37 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
1.4 2008/12/31 03:16:44 44.527N 110.367W 0.8 60 km (38 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.6 2008/12/31 02:02:28 44.525N 110.362W 4.3 61 km (38 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.0 2008/12/31 01:58:11 44.527N 110.369W 1.3 60 km (37 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
3.3 2008/12/29 12:14:49 44.521N 110.369W 1.8 60 km (38 mi) ESE of West Yellowstone, MT
Technorati Tags: Yellowstone Quake Swarm,Yellowstone Supervolcano
What to Do When A Mob Threatens?
Well, if you were a sea captain thinking of mutineers, or a bank guard worried about a mob breaking in, AND you lived in the early 1800s this type of weapon would be just the ticket. There are many varieties of so-called "Duckfoot" guns, all with multiple barrels designed to be fired at once. This one has eight barrels, a barbed handle and a blade to help with any follow-on hand-to-hand fighting that may ensure discharging the weapon. It would have to be a pretty resolute mob, though, after facing down eight .45 caliber lead balls fired at them...
Yellowstone Quake Swarm Update 2
The scale on this is eight miles on a side, and the diagram is courtesy of a discussion board member called Shirakawa. This represents the magnitude, depth and location of the earthquakes in this series of quakes beneath the North end of Yellowstone Lake.
A correction of an earlier comment on hydrothermal explosions : "an explosion 13,800 years ago left a 5 kilometer diameter crater at Mary Bay on the edge of Yellowstone Lake (located in the center of the caldera)." --FEMA Region VIII statement issued today.
Updated Map and listing of quakes at Yellowstone this week (incomplete as there are so many quakes that seismologist review is taking up to a day): Recent Yellowstone Quakes
The swarm has reintensified today after a slight drop in activity yesterday. It is interesting to note that the quakes continue to occur in the area of Yellowstone Lake beneath the dome on the lake's floor, and in the vicinity of most of the hydrothermal explosions on record. Like most people watching this interesting swarm, I'd love to hear from the U of U director, even if they aren't clear about what the quakes mean, to get an idea of what they are thinking. Still, I guess they cannot speculate too much, as spooking people would be a bad thing to do. So, we wait, watch and will see...
Yellowstone Earthquake Swarm Update
Illustration of a Yellowstone eruption from the Discovery Channel/BBC co-production 'Supervolcano'.
The small earthquakes are continuing today in the caldera at Yellowstone National Park, with a couple of mid-sized events near and above 3:
It is clear that no one is sure what, if any larger significance these events will have, in terms of a volcanic or hydrothermal event, but geophysicists and geologists are keeping close watch. FEMA has announced that it is monitoring the events. Why? Well, it is possible that the tremors are a precursor to an eruption, though the odds are low, as such events occur only every 600,000 years, or so. Still, it has been approximately 640,000 years since the last supervolcano eruption at Yellowstone, and even events that happen only rarely all happen at a precise moment in time.
Another possibility, and one more likely, it appears, is for a hydrothermal explosion. This occurs much more frequently and can vary widely in size. A hydrothermal explosion occurs when superheated water finds it's way to the surface and the reduced pressure creates an explosive release. There are ten of these craters at Yellowstone, and they vary widely in size. Debris can be thrown hundreds of feet to tens of miles in such explosions. It is interesting to note that the cluster of small quakes now underway in Yellowstone are all in an area at the Northern end of Yellowstone Lake, the same area where most of the hydrothermal explosions in the Park have occurred over time (look for the stars in this map):
Yellowstone Volcanic Events Map
Streaming video of Old Faithful: Old Faithful Webcam Streaming Live
So, just what kind of event is about to happen, if any? Most people's gut reaction is probably right - that is, to have a passing thought about cataclysm, think twice about going for a snowmobile run around Yellowstone Lake, and go on with a regular day. Without 'showing your work' as math teachers like to say, this thought process reflects complex math and risk assessment. That is, it gives weight to each of the several possibilities approximately according to their likely occurrence.
The story has begun to get press- after four days - worldwide, but still the only comments from Dr. Smith for the record are from Monday morning, and tell us that this is unusual and we don't know what it may indicate.
If you're interested in the seismograph images for the area: University of Utah Seismograph Webcorders
If you're interested in a visual interpretation of the quake swarm check out: Yellowstone Earthquake Swarm December 2008
If you'd like to investigate the dome-building activity go here: Yellowstone ground deformation data
Additional links:
Volcanic Locations near Yellowstone Lake
US News Article with discussion of supervolcano intensity scale
Google Blog Search for Yellowstone Quake Swarm
Geologic History of Yellowstone and Direction of North American Plate Movement
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
How to Ensure a Snow Day at School
And how much trouble we're in is determined by whether the faculty was inside at the time, or outside...
Real Life and Flip Flopping
From Bizzaro by Dan Piraro, a comic I almost always crack up out loud when reading:
Read the strip and blog at http://www.bizarro.com/
Technorati Tags: comics online,online comics
Not the Colonel!
These are two great examples of a very funny comic by Doug Bratton and found at www.popculturecomics.com
Is it Hard for you to Wake up?
If you know the author is this bit, please tell me and I'll credit them.
There is Something Worse...
If you know who produced this comic, please let me know and I'll credit them. Very funny, eh?
Yellowstone Earthquake Swarm
Over the past several days, something that may just be very unusual has been occurring in ancient caldera in Yellowstone National Park. Over 250 micro earthquakes have occurred during that brief time, and while earthquake swarms are not uncommon in themselves, either at Yellowstone or other volcanoes, several aspects of this current swarm make it unusual, and therefore very interesting.
First, the many small earthquakes are not only occurring rapidly, but they are occurring in a very small area, less than one kilometer across. They are also happening in Yellowstone lake just below, and immediately around the location of a dome on the floor of the lake - discovered only recently.
Second, the quakes are generally very shallow. Several have been less than .3 kilometers from the surface, and the average depth is about 2.5 kilometers, which places them at about the same depth as the magma chamber that drives the geothermal engine at Yellowstone, fueling the geysers.
Third, the quakes are occurring within the caldera itself, while the smaller swarms of 1985, 1995 and 2004 all occurred outside the caldera, nearer to Hebgen lake. It is very likely that the quakes are related to magma movement through the geophysical system at Yellowstone, but it seems to be unclear to scientists at this time whether the quakes are a precursor to some sort of eruption, or just a particularly active set of routine quakes. said Robert Smith, a professor of geophysics at the University of Utah said that "they're certainly not normal", and added that "we might be seeing something precursory. "
In the past couple of years seismologists have inched closer to developing a predictive technique to allow warnings before eruptions. This technique was used to prevent loss of life in the eruption of Popocatepetl in 2000. It indicates that sometimes harmonic tremors and quake swarms can predict volcanic eruptions.
Likely the swarms at Yellowstone are just a larger than usual magma movement event, and no eruption is imminent. At least, we'd best hope so, because the world's largest supervolcano would almost certainly cause immeasurable destruction both in the area within 100 miles and indeed around the world. Some links to follow the action:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/
http://www.quake.utah.edu/helicorder/heli/yellowstone/index.html
http://www.quake.utah.edu/recenteqs/Maps/111-45.html
http://quake.utah.edu/req2webdir/recenteqs/Maps/Yellowstone_full.html
Technorati Tags: Yellowstone Quake Swarm,Yellowstone supervolcano
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Edible Dirt
If you haven't seen Matt Rosemier's comic Edible Dirt, you should check it out today! http://eddirt.frozenreality.co.uk/index.php?id=530
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Sunshine on Discovery Bay
As always, the photos we use are either my own, or in the public domain. Please let me know if there are any errors and I'll correct them immediately.
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