Giant Deep-Sea Volcano With "Moat of Death" Found
Beneath the waves of the South Pacific lies a volcanic realm nearly as strange as that featured in TV's hit drama Lost.
But instead of a mysterious island, scientists have found a bubbling submarine volcano whose weird features include a swirling vortex, a host of strange animals, and a fearsome zone of toxic waters dubbed the Moat of Death.
The volcano sits within the crater of a gigantic underwater mountain rising more than 4,500 meters (15,000 feet) from the ocean floor near the island of Samoa.
The seamount, called Vailulu'u, is an active volcano, with a 2-mile-wide (3.2-kilometer-wide) crater. The cone rising within it has been dubbed Nafanua, for the Samoan goddess of war.
Five years ago Hubert Staudigel of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, and his colleagues mapped the mountain using remote-sensing techniques.
When they returned to the site in 2005 for a more thorough study with submersible vehicles, the scientists found that the seamount had grown a new, 300-meter (1,000-foot) lava cone, a sign of renewed volcanic activity.
The peak of the cone, 700 meters (2,300 feet) below sea level, turned out to be teeming with life.
"It was just full of eels," Staudigel said. "When we sent the submersible down, we found hundreds of eels scurrying out of the rock. Normally you'd see one or two."
Moat of Death
The moat lies between Vailulu'u's encircling crater and the rim of the cone inside it.
It's an extremely toxic environment, Staudigel said, where oxygen levels are dangerously low and volcanic vents fill the water with iron soot "almost like underwater smog."
The volcano is also spewing liquid carbon dioxide, which combines with seawater to make a deadly acidic mix.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Going Nuclear - Greenpeace founder changes mind, supports nuclear energy
Going Nuclear
In the early 1970s when I helped found Greenpeace, I believed that nuclear energy was synonymous with nuclear holocaust, as did most of my compatriots. That's the conviction that inspired Greenpeace's first voyage up the spectacular rocky northwest coast to protest the testing of U.S. hydrogen bombs in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. Thirty years on, my views have changed, and the rest of the environmental movement needs to update its views, too, because nuclear energy may just be the energy source that can save our planet from another possible disaster: catastrophic climate change.
Look at it this way: More than 600 coal-fired electric plants in the United States produce 36 percent of U.S. emissions -- or nearly 10 percent of global emissions -- of CO2, the primary greenhouse gas responsible for climate change. Nuclear energy is the only large-scale, cost-effective energy source that can reduce these emissions while continuing to satisfy a growing demand for power. And these days it can do so safely.
And although I don't want to underestimate the very real dangers of nuclear technology in the hands of rogue states, we cannot simply ban every technology that is dangerous. That was the all-or-nothing mentality at the height of the Cold War, when anything nuclear seemed to spell doom for humanity and the environment. In 1979, Jane Fonda and Jack Lemmon produced a frisson of fear with their starring roles in "The China Syndrome," a fictional evocation of nuclear disaster in which a reactor meltdown threatens a city's survival. Less than two weeks after the blockbuster film opened, a reactor core meltdown at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island nuclear power plant sent shivers of very real anguish throughout the country.
What nobody noticed at the time, though, was that Three Mile Island was in fact a success story: The concrete containment structure did just what it was designed to do -- prevent radiation from escaping into the environment. And although the reactor itself was crippled, there was no injury or death among nuclear workers or nearby residents. Three Mile Island was the only serious accident in the history of nuclear energy generation in the United States, but it was enough to scare us away from further developing the technology: There hasn't been a nuclear plant ordered up since then.
Today, there are 103 nuclear reactors quietly delivering just 20 percent of America's electricity. Eighty percent of the people living within 10 miles of these plants approve of them (that's not including the nuclear workers). Although I don't live near a nuclear plant, I am now squarely in their camp.
The original article is more in-depth, and includes some common myths & concerns about nuclear energy.
In the early 1970s when I helped found Greenpeace, I believed that nuclear energy was synonymous with nuclear holocaust, as did most of my compatriots. That's the conviction that inspired Greenpeace's first voyage up the spectacular rocky northwest coast to protest the testing of U.S. hydrogen bombs in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. Thirty years on, my views have changed, and the rest of the environmental movement needs to update its views, too, because nuclear energy may just be the energy source that can save our planet from another possible disaster: catastrophic climate change.
Look at it this way: More than 600 coal-fired electric plants in the United States produce 36 percent of U.S. emissions -- or nearly 10 percent of global emissions -- of CO2, the primary greenhouse gas responsible for climate change. Nuclear energy is the only large-scale, cost-effective energy source that can reduce these emissions while continuing to satisfy a growing demand for power. And these days it can do so safely.
And although I don't want to underestimate the very real dangers of nuclear technology in the hands of rogue states, we cannot simply ban every technology that is dangerous. That was the all-or-nothing mentality at the height of the Cold War, when anything nuclear seemed to spell doom for humanity and the environment. In 1979, Jane Fonda and Jack Lemmon produced a frisson of fear with their starring roles in "The China Syndrome," a fictional evocation of nuclear disaster in which a reactor meltdown threatens a city's survival. Less than two weeks after the blockbuster film opened, a reactor core meltdown at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island nuclear power plant sent shivers of very real anguish throughout the country.
What nobody noticed at the time, though, was that Three Mile Island was in fact a success story: The concrete containment structure did just what it was designed to do -- prevent radiation from escaping into the environment. And although the reactor itself was crippled, there was no injury or death among nuclear workers or nearby residents. Three Mile Island was the only serious accident in the history of nuclear energy generation in the United States, but it was enough to scare us away from further developing the technology: There hasn't been a nuclear plant ordered up since then.
Today, there are 103 nuclear reactors quietly delivering just 20 percent of America's electricity. Eighty percent of the people living within 10 miles of these plants approve of them (that's not including the nuclear workers). Although I don't live near a nuclear plant, I am now squarely in their camp.
The original article is more in-depth, and includes some common myths & concerns about nuclear energy.
Science-Astronomy-Tenth planet turns out to be a shiner
Brilliant! Tenth planet turns out to be a shiner.
Xena, unofficially called the 10th planet, is the second-most-shiny known object in the solar system, new observations show. Scientists are scrambling to explain where Xena got its sparkle. Some suggest that it might have enough heat to belch methane, despite being in the coldest region of the solar system.
The new notion of Xena arises from Hubble Space Telescope images that were released this week. The images reveal that Xena, the most distant known object in our solar system, isn't quite the big shot that scientists had thought it was.
Researchers have difficulty determining the size of remote denizens of the solar system because a large object that reflects a small amount of sunlight looks the same as a small object reflecting a lot of light.
But for Xena, the sharp Hubble pictures erase that ambiguity.
The relatively small size shown in those images indicates that the body reflects 86 percent of sunlight. Brown says he was "thoroughly shocked" by that finding. Researchers had assumed that Xena's surface was similar to that of Pluto, which reflects 60 percent of sunlight. Saturn's moon Enceladus, recently shown to be shooting out a geyser of water vapor is the only solar system object known to have a higher reflectivity, notes Brown.
The distant sun shines on Xena, often called the 10th planet, in this illustration. Inset: The Hubble Space Telescope image that revealed Xena's size for the first time.
A. Schaller, NASA, ESA; (Inset) Brown, NASA, ESA
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
ARRGGGHHHH!
Will you just shut the fuck up? Really, if you can't stop being bitchy and negitive for a whole minute even, then I don't want to be anywhere near you! I am so sick of your pissy attitude. Maybe if you didn't think that everything and everyone else is beneath you, they wouldn't be so irritating to you! Oh, and I've also had enough with the whole tolerate and respect everyone's beliefs & opinions, as long as you agree with them. AAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, I feel better now.
________________________________________________________________
Comments:
Patience:
Aeryn:
Nothing really, just a friend/co-worker with a persestently negitive, whiney, bitchy attitude lately. Needed to vent before I spoke out of anger, that's all. Oh, and the incredulus, almost laughing "Why would you do that?" when I mentioned that I was going to church on Sunday. (And probably Friday night too.)
I knew that if I ddin't get it off my chest, I'd be likely to say something I'd regret later.
Okay, I feel better now.
________________________________________________________________
Comments:
Patience:
And breathe!
What happened?
Patience
___________________________________________________________Aeryn:
Nothing really, just a friend/co-worker with a persestently negitive, whiney, bitchy attitude lately. Needed to vent before I spoke out of anger, that's all. Oh, and the incredulus, almost laughing "Why would you do that?" when I mentioned that I was going to church on Sunday. (And probably Friday night too.)
I knew that if I ddin't get it off my chest, I'd be likely to say something I'd regret later.
Monday, April 10, 2006
CoA - The Church of Areaology
Everest Expedition Uncovers Exotic Species
Everest Expedition Uncovers Exotic Species
Mount Everest and the Himalaya mountain range conjure images of llamas and Sherpas loaded with heavy packs. But tucked into the cold shadows of the world's tallest mountain are biologically diverse hotspots filled with poorly known plants and animals found nowhere else on the globe.
Scientists from Conservation International and Disney's Animal Kingdom recently launched a two-month scientific expedition into six regions of the Tibetan "Sacred Lands" in the mountains of Southwest China and Nepal.
Today they announced the discovery of a pocket of the world rich in extraordinary flora and fauna.
Here's a sampling of the outlandish critters:
Giant hornets so deadly locals call them "Yak Killers"
Jumping "Yeti" mice
A new grasshopper species in which the males hitch piggy-back rides on the females
Baby blue-faced golden monkeys, the region's largest primates
Hamster-like pikas that eat their own feces
A couple of new frog species, eight new insect species, and ten new species of ants to add the more than 11,000 already known.
More critters can be viewed here.
The full results of the expedition will be shared with numerous governments, scientists, and environmental and conservation organizations to develop strategies to protect the many unique species of the region.
Disney's film crew was rolling tape during the mission for a 2-hour documentary that will premiere April 15th at 8:00 PM (ET) on Discovery's Animal Planet
Sunday, April 09, 2006
The Lover Style Profile Test
The Surprising Lover
59% Partner focus, 28% Aggressiveness, 60% Adventurousness
Based on the results of this test, it is highly likely that:
You prefer your romance and love to wild and daring rather than typical or boring, you would rather be pursued than do the pursuing and, when it comes to physical love, your satisfaction comes more from providing a wonderful time to your partner than simply seeking your own.
This places you in the Lover Style of: The Surprising Lover.
The Surprising Lover is a wonderful Lover Style, and, like the name implies, is often filled with hidden delights and talents that might not be apparent from a surface knowledge of the person. The Surprising Lover is rather like a geode--sometimes rough on the exterior, but filled with beauty and wonder. The Surprising Lover is thus a gem to find, though it can sometimes be difficult to do so because they often tend to be humble and unwilling to reveal their inner greatness unless they're in a rewarding relationship.
In terms of physical love, the Surprising Lover really shines, often highly imaginative and utterly devoted to bringing the heights of pleasure to the one that they truly love. Given a rewarding, reciprocative relationship, and the right lover, the Surprising Lover can be a delight in bed.
Best Compatibility can probably be found with: The Carnal Lover (most of all) or the Exotic Lover, or the Suave Lover.
The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test
The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test
|
Outcast Genius |
| For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in all three, earning you the title of: Outcast Genius. Outcast geniuses usually are bright enough to understand what society wants of them, and they just don't care! They are highly intelligent and passionate about the things they know are *truly* important in the world. Typically, this does not include sports, cars or make-up, but it can on occassion (and if it does then they know more than all of their friends combined in that subject). Outcast geniuses can be very lonely, due to their being outcast from most normal groups and too smart for the room among many other types of dorks and geeks, but they can also be the types to eventually rule the world, ala Bill Gates, the prototypical Outcast Genius. Congratulations! |
Saturday, April 08, 2006
The Underwear Oracle
***What Your Underwear Says About You***
When you're bad, you're very bad. And when you're good, you're still trouble!
You're sexy, in that pinup girl, tease sort of way.
What Animal Were You In a Past Life?
You Were a Polar Bear
A bit of a loner, you enjoy introspection and solitude
You are a fighter, and you will seek revenge on those who harm you.
What Animal Were You In a Past Life?
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Boy gets caught in toy-filled 'claw' machine
Boy gets caught in toy-filled 'claw' machine
Devin Haskin isn't the first little boy to find the inside of a toy machine too enticing to resist.
When the 3-year-old Austin, Minn., boy crawled through the discharge chute of a Toy Chest claw machine at a Godfather's Pizza in his hometown, he ended up on the other side of the glass surrounded by stuffed animals.
Rescuers had to pry the door open to get Devin out, though the boy was in no hurry to leave.
"When we got it open, he didn't want to come out," Fire Chief Dan Wilson said Tuesday. "One of my firefighters had to reach inside and get him. He was happy in there."
Two years ago, a boy crawled inside a toy machine at a Piggly Wiggly in Sheboygan, Wis., and was rescued with the help of a locksmith. Last year, a toddler climbed into a toy machine at a Wal-Mart in Elkhart, Ind. Workers used tools to free the boy.
Wilson said there was a lot of activity at Godfather's on Sunday when the boy got inside the machine. He estimated that 75 to 100 people were in the restaurant when rescuers arrived and that three birthday parties were taking place. But there was plenty of air in the machine and people were taking pictures of Devin.
He said the gap Devin squeezed through was about 7 inches by 9 inches.
How? That's all I really want to know. Not how did he squeeze through that tiny hole, but how in hell could you pay that little attention to your child? It was a 9x7 inch hole. It had to have taken him some time to get in there! Really, you would think the mother would have noticed her toddler was missing. Some (most) people just shouldn't be allowed to breed!
Suspect in downtown shooting charged with murder
Suspect in downtown shooting charged with murder
After police moved a group of arguing people outside a Block E movie theatre about midnight Friday, suspect Derick D. Holliday, 21, pulled a handgun, fired it in the air and started chasing a man who fled on foot, said murder charges filed today.
Holliday, of Minneapolis, fired repeatedly at the fleeing man as he fled through a parking lot by Sixth Street. He missed his target, but a bullet hit and killed Alan Reitter, who was walking with friends by the parking lot.
Holliday tried to enter the Karma Bar, but employees stopped him until Officer Jomar Villamor arrived and arrested him. He was charged today in Hennepin County District Court with first-degree murder, attempted murder and first-degree assault for aiming a gun at an officer.
"This is premeditation because Holliday deliberately fired multiple gunshots as he chased after another person on a crowded street," said County Attorney Amy Klobuchar. "The intent follows the bullet."
Updates in Fatal Uptown Shooting
2 Arrested in Fatal Uptown Shooting
A woman and a juvenile male were arrested without incident about 5 p.m. near 33rd and Emerson Avenues N., according to police.
Zebuhr, 25, was shot in the head about 9:55 p.m. on a Saturday when two males approached him, his mother, his sister and a friend as they returned to their car after having dinner at Calhoun Square. They robbed his mother and reportedly fled in a white car.
The victims didn't resist and did everything they should have in a robbery, police have said, adding that the shooting was an aberration.
Police say Uptown shooter is in custody
A 17-year-old boy and a 22-year-old Minneapolis woman were arrested Monday when the department's Violent Crime Apprehension Team spotted the teenager getting into a car near 33rd and Emerson Avenues N. Police said they are still searching for three more juveniles, one of whom is charged in connection with the death of Michael Zebuhr.
"We are extremely confident that the person responsible for the shooting is the 17-year-old" arrested Monday afternoon, said Assistant Police Chief Timothy Dolan.
Of the five suspects, only the woman arrested is an adult. Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for another juvenile involved, who wasn't identified.
2 arrested after car sought in Uptown case found burning
A burning car that police found in Brooklyn Park turned out to be the vehicle robbers used to flee the scene of the shooting of a man in the Uptown area of Minneapolis.
Minneapolis police had been asking for the public's help Tuesday in finding a white 1994 Ford Taurus with a Minnesota license plate number of GFG 527. About 10 p.m., several people called Brooklyn Park police about an explosion in the 6500 block of 66th Avenue N., said Capt. Greg Roehl. The callers also gave police a description of two people leaving the scene in a car.
A 33-year-old Minneapolis man and a 22-year-old Duluth woman were booked on suspicion of arson. One of them is related to a juvenile suspect who is still being sought in the shooting death.
Minneapolis police Capt. Rich Stanek said police had not been seeking the two people arrested Tuesday by Brooklyn Park police. Investigators are trying to determine if the two are connected to Zebuhr's death. Stanek reiterated that anybody who interfered with the investigation or aided any suspects could face criminal charges.
Well, it seems that they're narrowing in on the suspects on pretty quickly. I'm glad to hear it. It's a damn shame that someone had to die before they brought some of our police back to the neighborhood though.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Gift - Leonard Cohen
You tell me that silence
Is nearer to peace than poems
But if for my gift
I brought you silence
(For I have know silence)
You would say
This is not silence
This is another poem
And you would hand it back to me
Is nearer to peace than poems
But if for my gift
I brought you silence
(For I have know silence)
You would say
This is not silence
This is another poem
And you would hand it back to me
the great self therapy project, phase one
Okay, although I knew this whole sharing more about myself thing wasn't going to be easy, I don't think I'm quite ready to start putting down current things right now.
I think that I'm going to start with some older stuff, journal entries, poems, and what not. Keep an eye out for some possible introspective rambling at the end!
So yeah, expect to see older stuff mixed in with my more current thoughts & feeling. I'll always post the date on the top, if it's not something current, so that you'll know.
I hope I don't scare anyone away with all this crazy!
I think that I'm going to start with some older stuff, journal entries, poems, and what not. Keep an eye out for some possible introspective rambling at the end!
So yeah, expect to see older stuff mixed in with my more current thoughts & feeling. I'll always post the date on the top, if it's not something current, so that you'll know.
I hope I don't scare anyone away with all this crazy!
Random downtown shooting
Victim of downtown random shooting identified
A bystander was killed late Friday near Block E in downtown Minneapolis, prompting questions about the area's safety.
Police and community leaders said the shooting of Reitter near the Block E entertainment complex was a senseless act, and the death raised questions about safety downtown and led to calls for renewed efforts to stop gun violence in the city.
About a minute after the 11:35 p.m. shooting, police arrested a 21-year-old Minneapolis man, after a foot chase.
Numerous officers had converged on the area in response to a large fight and a report of shots being fired. But Dolan said the suspect has told police that he was not being threatened or assaulted, nor was he trying to defend himself when he began firing shots.
The suspect "just shot into a crowd of people," Dolan said.
Police said multiple shots were fired.
Reitter, the victim, was not involved in the fight. He was struck in the head as he was walking with friends. He died later at Hennepin County Medical Center.
Chris Greising, a worker at the Borders bookstore in Block E, was upstairs right before the shooting, looking at lines of perhaps 200 people outside the theater. Suddenly the crowd started running and screaming, and he heard at least two gunshots, he said.
"It was just sort of anarchy," he said of the people scattering. More than a dozen people started to rush into the bookstore, prompting Greising to call his manager and say, "We need to close now."
I think it's about time to start thinking about geting the hell out of here. Once you add this to the random shooting in Uptown two weeks ago, that was just blocks from my apartment. I don't want to live someplace where I have to be afraid to get get shot for no reason just going around the corner for a fucking cup of coffee.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Platypus!
I have no real reason for posting this. I just felt like putting up a picture of platypus.
Gravity
If John was earth, Kyle is water, and Colin would have been fire, does that mean that you will be air, my dearest heart, my twin soul? What does that symbolize for us?
Will you be the one to not only lift me up, but to give me wings? Are you truly the other half of my soul, my balance, my gravity? It certainly seems that you hold my breath in your heartbeat, my heart in your hands.
Are you any less deadly to me than any of the other loves I have known? Or will you become a tornado, breaking me to pieces when I try to hold you to me? Even so, I will reach out to enfold you in my arms, and take the risk that I will be dissolved in your embrace.
Oh how I love you, Irene, my darling, my dearest. I don't know what all this really means, or why it has happened. Honestly, I really don't care.
I just want to be able to hold you in my arms, to kiss you, to protect & take care of you, to make you smile. Just to wake up beside you would be heaven, to be able to touch you.
I have not yet touched you, or even looked upon your face in person, yet I am sure that I can not live with out you.
Will you be the one to not only lift me up, but to give me wings? Are you truly the other half of my soul, my balance, my gravity? It certainly seems that you hold my breath in your heartbeat, my heart in your hands.
Are you any less deadly to me than any of the other loves I have known? Or will you become a tornado, breaking me to pieces when I try to hold you to me? Even so, I will reach out to enfold you in my arms, and take the risk that I will be dissolved in your embrace.
Oh how I love you, Irene, my darling, my dearest. I don't know what all this really means, or why it has happened. Honestly, I really don't care.
I just want to be able to hold you in my arms, to kiss you, to protect & take care of you, to make you smile. Just to wake up beside you would be heaven, to be able to touch you.
I have not yet touched you, or even looked upon your face in person, yet I am sure that I can not live with out you.
Monday, March 27, 2006
mist
In the end we are all ghosts here. Screaming to be noticed in voices they never hear.
We become corporeal only when they want to take possession of us. Sometimes pleasant, sometimes distasteful, but almost always leaving us still empty inside. They only understand one way to fill us.
Why is it that men never seem to notice that we spend too much time invisible for our smiles to ever reach our eyes?
We become corporeal only when they want to take possession of us. Sometimes pleasant, sometimes distasteful, but almost always leaving us still empty inside. They only understand one way to fill us.
Why is it that men never seem to notice that we spend too much time invisible for our smiles to ever reach our eyes?
Scientists discover swimming ants
Scientists discover swimming ants
North Queensland scientists have discovered a new type of ant, believed to be the only species that can live, swim and navigate under water.
The ants nest in submerged mangroves and survive by hiding in air pockets and then swimming to the surface.
Dr Robson says it is amazing that the ants can survive in such a hostile environment.
"We've been doing a lot of studies on their foraging behaviour and there's a lot of things that eat them, so when they're swimming, fish will sometimes eat them, mud skippers will eat them, crabs will attack them," he said.
"It seems a very nasty place to live and we're still trying to work out how they manage to do so."
wierd! and kinda cool
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