Lightning show out of Sarasota, Florida.
National Weather Service: Lightning Safety
19 people have been killed in the U.S. so far this year by lightning.
It should be painful to be stupid
There is a reason we call wild animals, ‘wild animals.’ Wild animals are unpredictable and capable of causing great injury and even death. People always seem to want to defy the odds by either keeping wild animals as pets or invading the space of wild animals in nature.
Sometimes the animals fight back. There are signs all over Yellowstone National Park warning visitors not to go near the buffalo and other wild animals. (the signs about the grizzlies are particularly stern.) However, I have personally watched far too many people fail to heed the warnings. Why would anyone approach a beast that is just huge? Buffalo make cattle look like wimps. This buffalo showed these people who was the boss, with attitude.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Again, it should be painful to be stupid. We need a break in here from politics. Don’t forget to give to your national parks if you have any spare change. National Parks have been hit hard by this economy and belt-tightening. They also suffered under the Bush Administration.
http://www.nps.gov/index.htm
Chupacabras in Hood County, Texas?
Chupacabra: A creature also known as a ‘Goat Sucker’ simply because it drains the blood and body fluids out of goats, leaving them dry and lifeless. Some people believe it came from another planet. Some say it looks much like a kangaroo.
The chupacabra is more myth than anything else. There is folk lore all over Latin American counties about this beast.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
What on earth is this ugly creature? Is this a hoax? It is all over the internet. I vote for hoax.
3.7 Earthquake hits Area @ 5:04 am
The earthquake’s epicenter was in Gaithersburg and it had a magnitude of 3.7. It hit at 5:04 am. There were no injuries or damage reported. Witnesses said the earthquake was ‘impressive’ and lasted about 15 seconds.
Volcano Woes Grind Travel to a Halt
This little fellow is causing disruption to travel all over Europe. Many airports throughout Europe have closed through the weekend. Passengers are stranded from all over the world, including at Dulles.
Why is a simple little volcano causing such disruption? The massive cloud arising from the volcano is spewing all sorts of debris, fine particles, dust and ash into the atmosphere. There is danger of this ash annihilating a jet’s engines. So, most planes are grounded until things calm down over in Iceland. Meanwhile, there are some pretty irate passengers.
The molten lava is melting glaciers which is causing flooding in Iceland. Don’t they already have disasterous finacial problems? Do we risk the same danger in the United States? How about when Mt. St. Helen’s acts up?
UPDATE: No end in sight. The volcano is still errupting. Even after it stops it will take several days for the volcanic ash to dissipate.
The Cherry Blossoms Gave It Up for TJ
Who would ever think that those beautiful Japanese cherry trees would be the source of so much contention? Japanese Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo gave 3,000 cherry trees to the city of Washington, D. C. in 1912 , honoring the lasting friendship between the United States and Japan. Apparently that friendship was to be sorely tested shortly after Pearl Harbor when the military had to guard the trees. Americans were so angry over the bombing of Pearl Harbor that they attempted to hack them down and to set them afire.
Enteroctopus dofleini is coming! Hide the kids!
Enteroctopus dofleini — a giant Pacific Octopus is headed to Washington National Zoo. Its claim to fame is that it will grow 13 times its present size over the next year. Sadly, it won’t be black and white like the little panda who recently left for his new home in China. The zoo hopes to ignite excitement over invertebrates which make up more than 95% of the animal kingdom.
Alan Peters, the Zoo’s curator of invertebrates calls it the “giant panda” of invertebrates. Here are some giant Octopus facts from Yahoo News:
Now for some octopus facts: They emerge from eggs only a little larger than a grain of rice, but as adults they can tip the scales at more than 100 pounds. Some have arm spans of 25 feet (be glad you’re not sitting across the table from one.)
The Zoo’s new octopus doesn’t yet have a name. That will come in March. Zoo officials think it’s a he, but aren’t 100 percent certain.
According to Wikipedia:
The North Pacific Giant Octopus is considered to be short-lived for an animal its size, with life spans that average only 3-5 years in the wild. To make up for its relatively short life span, the octopus is extremely prolific. It can lay up to 100,000 eggs which are intensively cared for by the females. Hatchlings are about the size of a grain of rice, and only a very few survive to adulthood.
During reproduction, the male octopus deposits a spermatophore (or sperm packet) more than 1 meter long. Large spermatophores are characteristic of octopuses in this genus.[4]
Is it possible for an invertebrate to attract the same kinds of crowds as little Tai Shan did? Is it possible to get attached to an invertibrate the same as one does a mammal? Do octopus even have personalities? Is keeping an invertibrate the same as keeping a mammal in captivity? How do our contributors feel about this youngster who is coming to live at the National Zoo?
Earthquake in Haiti
Last night, a 7.0 earthquake hit the country of Haiti which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. Haiti is an impoverished country with a weak infrastructure and limited building codes. Right now, there is limited information coming out of the country.
Our silence on the blog should not be seen as indifference. We simply don’t know much and the information on TV changes minute by minute. However, I do want a thread up to show our support of this tiny nation and the people who live there. Additionally, we have Americans in harms way. The coast guard has begun rescuing Americans from the American Embassy there.
I cannot imagine an earthquake of that magnitude this close to the east coast. Out west, around the ring of fire, all ocean front land is peppered with tsunami warnings signs. I don’t believe I have ever seen a sign on the east coast and I have been from Maine to Florida. Perhaps these signs are new and I just haven’t been on a coastal route for a while. But if Haiti, right below Cuba which is 90 miles off the US coast is having 7.0 quakes, we are all very much in danger.
UPDATE:
Pat Robertson being Pat Robertson. SHAME SHAME SHAME on Pat Robertston
UPDATE: Actual Footage from earthquake. Is this what it really feels like?
Need to Decompress? Try Great Falls
No words are needed. I think I need a mental health day myself.
I knew there had to be something positive about this cold snap.
C.I.A. Is Sharing Data With Climate Scientists
Polar Ice from Satellite view
According to the New York Times, data sharing between the C.I.A. and leading scientists has resumed.
The nation’s top scientists and spies are collaborating on an effort to use the federal government’s intelligence assets — including spy satellites and other classified sensors — to assess the hidden complexities of environmental change. They seek insights from natural phenomena like clouds and glaciers, deserts and tropical forests.
Basically speaking, US top scientists are receiving top security clearances to have access to C.I.A. reconnaisance material. This program was shut down by the Bush administration. It has the strong approval of the director of the C.I.A. and of leading scientists.
In the last year, as part of the effort, the collaborators have scrutinized images of Arctic sea ice from reconnaissance satellites in an effort to distinguish things like summer melts from climate trends, and they have had images of the ice pack declassified to speed the scientific analysis.
The trove of images is “really useful,” said Norbert Untersteiner, a professor at the University of Washington who specializes in polar ice and is a member of the team of spies and scientists behind the effort.
Scientists, Dr. Untersteiner said, “have no way to send out 500 people” across the top of the world to match the intelligence gains, adding that the new understandings might one day result in ice forecasts.
“That will be very important economically and logistically,” Dr. Untersteiner said, arguing that Arctic thaws will open new fisheries and sea lanes for shipping and spur the hunt for undersea oil and gas worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
Blue Moon Eclipse 12/31/09
The year is going to go out with a big bang and a blue moon. What exactly is a blue moon? The second full moon in a calendar month is called a blue moon. Not only will there be a blue moon on New Year’s Eve but there will also be a partial eclipse of this blue moon. Unfortunately, the eclipse will only be visible from Europe, Asia and Africa. The Americas and Australia are out of luck.
A little background on the science and the mythology of blue moons from NASA:
Most months have only one full Moon. The 29.5-day cadence of the lunar cycle matches up almost perfectly with the 28- to 31-day length of calendar months. Indeed, the word “month” comes from “Moon.” Occasionally, however, the one-to-one correspondence breaks down when two full Moons squeeze into a single month. Dec. 2009 is such a month. The first full Moon appeared on Dec. 2nd; the second, a “Blue Moon,” will come on Dec. 31st.
If you told a person in Shakespeare’s day that something happens “once in a Blue Moon” they would attach no astronomical meaning to the statement. Blue moon simply meant rare or absurd, like making a date for the Twelfth of Never. “But meaning is a slippery substance,” says Hiscock. “The phrase ‘Blue Moon’ has been around for more than 400 years, and during that time its meaning has shifted.”
The modern definition sprang up in the 1940s. In those days, the Farmer’s Almanac of Maine offered a definition of Blue Moon so convoluted that even professional astronomers struggled to understand it. It involved factors such as the ecclesiastical dates of Easter and Lent, and the timing of seasons according to the dynamical mean sun. Aiming to explain blue moons to the layman, Sky & Telescope published an article in 1946 entitled “Once in a Blue Moon.” The author James Hugh Pruett cited the 1937 Maine almanac and opined that the “second [full moon] in a month, so I interpret it, is called Blue Moon.”
That was not correct, but at least it could be understood. And thus the modern Blue Moon was born.
Blue moon has other connotations, too. In music, it’s often a symbol of melancholy. According to one Elvis tune, it means “without a love of my own.” On the bright side, he croons in another song, a simple kiss can turn a Blue Moon pure gold.
The modern astronomical Blue Moon occurs in some month every 2.5 years, on average. A Blue Moon falling precisely on Dec. 31st, however, is much more unusual. The last time it happened was in 1990, and the next time won’t be until 2028.
Then there is the song from the early 60’s, entitled, Blue Moon:
Many artists performed this song but most people know the Marcels version best.
If you need a party theme for tomorrow night, go to www.spaceweather.com for all the Blue Moon details.
Winter Solstice 2009 12/21/09 @12:47
Winter arrives officially today, December 21, 2009 @ 12:47 PM.
The Winter Solstice has been observed in most cultures since time began. It signaled the shortest day of the year. Early people looked on winter as a time of dread. In ancient times, many people didn’t make it through the winter. They died or their loved ones died. They battled the elements, faced starvation, ran out of fuel, and were often ravaged by disease. Winter was deadly to early people. Even as late as last century, winter could spell destruction for people. Depending on where you live and your circumstances, winter can be deadly even in our modern culture.
While most cultures celebrated the Winter Solstice, one might ask, why celebrate? Good question. All sorts of superstitions and rituals were performed for good luck and to ward off bad things and evil that could happen. Of all early people, the Celts are probably the group many of us are most familiar with who celebrated Winter Solstice.
In Celtic myth, the Holly king and the Oak king, twins, were in a continual struggle for domination. At the Winter Solstice, the Holly King is overpowered and the Oak King rules until he is overthrown at the Summer Solstice. Winter Solstice is a time for celebration because it marks the beginning of the days getting longer. The cycle of the year is represented by this turmoil of continual struggle. Neither can exist without the other.
Many of our Christmas traditions include pagan ritual involving Winter Solstice. Yule logs, Christmas trees, Santa Claus, Mistletoe, the date of Christmas, holly, all have roots in pagan culture or in other religions. Religions do not just spring up in isolation. They merge and infuse and often take the old beliefs and remodel them into newer ones.
So regardless of your religion or culture, you are sure to find a fit somewhere in the winter holiday season around the Winter Solstice. Most of us are fortunate enough to be able to throw another log on the fire and sit back and let the winds howl outside.
Seasonal music on the next page
Please check out the howling in the last video.
The Geminids are Coming!
It’s time for another Sky Event. (Dec. 13)
Tonight, if the skies are clear, those who are hearty enough to brave cold weather might have a real treat in store. Tonight is an annual meteor shower that is only increasing in intensity.
Before the Civil War, the meteor shower was sort of a dud. For starters, who wants to go out in the cold to watch the night skies? Over time, however, this meteor shower has only increased in intensity. According to nasa.gov:
The Geminids are not typical meteors, also known as shooting stars. Most meteors are created when tiny particles from comets slam into the Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrate. Meteors fly through the sky every night, and when there are a lot, they are called meteor showers.
The Geminids are among the few meteors created from an asteroid, Cooke said. Several hundred or perhaps a few thousand years ago — scientists aren’t sure when — something caused what is now known as the 3200 Phaethon asteroid to start spewing debris. Perhaps something hit it. No one knows.
“The Geminids are kind of mysterious in that regard,” Cooke said.
What isn’t a mystery is the arrival of the Geminids each December. They are in different places in the sky, depending on the time and location. From about 9 p.m. until after midnight Sunday, look to the northeast.
The Geminids radiate near the constellation Gemini. At around 10 pm, locate the constellation Orion. Then look above Orion and to the left. Hopefully you will see at least 2-3 ‘shooting stars’ per minute. We could be getting a real light show tonight, or, if skies remain cloudy like they are Sunday morning, we could see nothing. It is all a crap shoot at this point.
White House Lawn Littered With Telescopes
Wednesday night the White House lawn was littered with telescopes and portable planetariums. 150 Washington area students were fortunate enough to spend the evening, which began before sunset, at a star gazing party hosted by the Obamas. Inflated tents had constellations and universes projected onto domed celings. A cavalcade of who’s who in astronomy was also present with ‘stars’ like Sally Ride, John Grunsfeld, Buzz Aldrin along with 2 amateur 15 year old astronomers with some heavy duty discoveries under their belts, just to name a few.
Lucky kids who got to attend. The President spoke of Galileo and how his telescope invention allowed all of this to be possible. A NASA astronomer with his home-built telescope announced:
“The Wild Duck Cluster is up,” Hudgins said as reporters toured the telescopes in the afternoon. “It’s an open cluster of stars in the Milky Way in the constellation of Scutum, I believe. It’s beautiful.”
The event was held to capture interest in astronomy and space. Many museums and planetariums around the county participated remotely. Sally Ride informed the crowd that middle schoolers start losing interest in science and hopefully events like these will keep kids on top of science and thinking it is cool.
Good for the Obamas for spearheading an event such as this. The Star Party went beyond the ordinary Easter Egg Roll and might very well inspire a young scientist to move beyond what we have imagined.
This Friday morning NASA will launch a rocket booster and space craft at the moon’s south pole in search of water.
From spaceweather.com :
LUNAR IMPACT: This Friday morning, Oct 9th, at approximately 4:30 am PDT, NASA’s LCROSS spacecraft and its Centaur booster rocket will plunge one after another into a shadowed crater near the Moon’s south pole. The spectacular double-impact will be shown live on NASA TV from the point of view of the LCROSS spacecraft. Meanwhile, impact debris plumes emerging from the crater may be visible through backyard telescopes. North American sky watchers west of the Mississippi river are favored with darkness and good views of the Moon at the time of impact. Visit http://spaceweather.com for observing tips and full coverage.
Watch the impact at 7:30 am Friday morning on NASATV.
Update: Scientists have discovered a huge super ring around Saturn.
The National Parks: America’s Best Idea –A Film by Ken Burns
The National Parks: America’s Best Idea begins tonight. Ken Burns, film maker for 30 years has created the series. So I dedicate this weekend to film makers.
I am a huge proponent of the National Parks and I have waited for today with great anticipation. The series starts tonight at 8 pm on PBS.
National Parks preserve that which is best of our country for our posterity. They are a great source of national pride. They require protection and preservation. They can cause controversy. They protect us from ourselves and from our greed.
Ken Burns exposes the difficulties the national park system has had since its inception and gives us beautiful film footage of the wonders of our nation, along with a good dose of history. The previews are on now and will be repeated throughout the day. Each episode can be viewed online and will be repeated for about 2 weeks on PBS. You can create a scrapebook of pictures as well as other things. You will be able to buy the dvd and book at some point.
http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/
This series will probably renew a huge interest in our national park system. Plan to go soon, early and often, before the throngs get there. My wish is that we, the Anti crowd, will be able to put aside some of our rancor and discuss this series.
