the era of heavenly visitations

sorry this is so late – i’ve already let two comets pass this year without comment.

Yuri Beletsky, a Magellan Instrument Support Scientist at Las Campanas observatory located in Atacama Desert in Chile, used a Canon 5D Mark II camera with an exposure time of ~ 30 seconds on Feb. 28, 2013 to capture this image of Comets Pan-STARRS and Lemmon.

there will be numerous opportunities to view comets in the night – and even during the daytime. and, next year, mars could take a direct hit, as a comet is set to pass within 31,000 miles ! that’s a close call, and as it approaches mars, we will be treated to a spectacular view of how heavenly bodies interact, when the comet’s and mar’s energy fields come in contact. there will be no doubt about the electric nature of the universe after that!

enjoy the show!

Big sun-diving Comet ISON might be spectacular in late 2013

Astronomers are excited about a sungrazing comet discovered late in 2012. For a short time, it might become as bright as a full moon. That’ll be around the time of its perihelion – or closest approach to the sun – on November 28, 2013. This comet is called C/2012 S1 (ISON) by astronomers. All of us around the globe should be able to see it. Look below for a month-by-month Comet ISON viewing schedule.

Comet ISON will come within 800,000 miles (1.2 million km) of our sun’s surface on November 28. That’s over 100 times closer to the sun than Earth. This close pass to the sun might cause Comet ISON to break to pieces. If it doesn’t break up, Comet ISON should become very bright. It might bright enough to see in daylight, near the sun, briefly. If it survives, it should go on to have a dazzling showing in December 2013.

The path of Comet C/2011 L4 (Pan-STARRS) over the next month.

Comet at its best right now

Comet Pan-STARRS will be at its brightest on Sunday (March 10) when it makes its closest approach to the sun. At that time the comet will be about 28 million miles (45 million km) from the sun — a bit closer to the star than Mercury, which will be about 37 million miles (60 million km) from the sun. [Comet Pan-STARRS in Night Sky Explained (Infographic)]

The comet will still be low in the western sky on Sunday, and may be lost in the sun’s glare. It will fade in brightness over the next few days, but at the same time will be higher in the sky at sunset. SPACE.com will provide up-to-date information on sighting opportunities for the comet.

Two comet-watching dates to prepare for now will be next Tuesday and Wednesday (March 12 and 13). On those evenings, the thin crescent moon will be close to the comet in the sky.

Depending on the size and direction of the comet’s tail, the moon may actually be silhouetted against the tail on March 13.

On April 3, Comet Pan-STARRS will pass within a few degrees of the Andromeda Galaxy, making for a great photo opportunity for stargazers with telescopes. The comet and the galaxy will both shine at about 5th-magnitude on that date.

from space.com

Comet ISON will be visible in both the morning and evening sky in December 2013. This view is looking west on the evening of the December 18, 2013.

Comet ISON month-by-month in late 2013.

August and September 2013. The comet should become visible in August and September 2013 to observers at dark locations using small telescopes or possibly even binoculars.

October 2013. Comet ISON should become visible to the unaided eye, but only barely in the early part of the month. The comet will be sweeping in front of the constellation Leo then. It’ll pass first near Leo’s brightest star Regulus, then near the planet Mars. Maybe these brighter objects will help you find it that month. Meanwhile, the comet itself will be getting brighter during October.

November 2013. Comet ISON will continue to brighten throughout the month as it nears its late November perihelion (closest point to our sun). Plus ISON will pass very close to the bright star Spica and the planet Saturn, both in the constellation Virgo.  Its perihelion (closest point to our sun) on November 28 will be an exciting time. The comet will come within 800,000 miles (1.2 million km) of our sun’s surface. If all goes well, and the comet doesn’t break up (as comets sometimes do), the terrific heating Comet ISON will undergo when it’s closest to our parent star might turn the comet into a brilliant object. Some are predicting that ISON will become as bright as a full moon! That would make Comet ISON a daylight object, briefly. Remember, though, at perihelion, Comet ISON will appear close to the sun on the sky’s dome (only 4.4° north of the sun on November 28). Although the comet will be bright, you’ll need to look carefully to see it in the sun’s glare. Some expert help around this time might be called for, and we’ll announce comet-viewing parties as we hear about them.

December 2013. This may be the best month to see Comet ISON, assuming it has survived its close pass near the sun intact. The comet will be visible both in the evening sky after sunset and in the morning sky before sunrise. As ISON’s distance from the sun increases, it’ll grow dimmer. But, for a time, it should be as bright as our sky’s brightest planet, Venus, and it should have a long comet tail. People all over Earth will be able to see it, but it’ll be best seen from the Northern Hemisphere as 2013 draws to a close.

January 2014. Will ISON still be visible to the eye? Hopefully. And on January 8, 2014, the comet will lie only 2° from Polaris — the North Star.

from skywatch

Could a Comet Hit Mars in 2014?

According to preliminary orbital prediction models, comet C/2013 A1 will buzz Mars on Oct. 19, 2014. The icy interloper is thought to originate from the Oort Cloud — a hypothetical region surrounding the solar system containing countless billions of cometary nuclei that were outcast from the primordial solar system billions of years ago.

According to calculations by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), close approach data suggests the comet is most likely to make a close pass of 0.0007 AU (that’s approximately 63,000 miles from the Martian surface). However, there’s one huge caveat.

Due to uncertainties in the observations — the comet has only been observed for 74 days (so far), so it’s difficult for astronomers to forecast the comet’s precise location in 20 months time — comet C/2013 A1 may fly past at a very safe distance of 0.008 AU (650,000 miles). But to the other extreme, its orbital pass could put Mars directly in its path. At time of Mars close approach (or impact), the comet will be barreling along at a breakneck speed of 35 miles per second (126,000 miles per hour).

Also, we don’t yet know how big comet C/2013 A1 is, but comets typically aren’t small. If it did hit, the impact could be a huge, global event. But the comet’s likely location in 2014 is also highly uncertain, so this is by no means a “sure thing” for Mars impact

see more, from discovery news

Comet Pojmanski, officially designated C/2006 A1 and discovered only in January. click on image to see more about this one.

reposted from gaian’s internet stew

see also; Immanuel Velikovsky – The Bonds Of The Past

the thunderbolt project

 

earthquake swarm devastates myanmar after obama’s arrival

Myanmar’s government welcomes Obama’s historic visit

November 11, 2012

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar’s government said last week that it “warmly welcomes” President Barack Obama’s decision to visit the country this month, saying it will increase the momentum of democratic reform.

Obama will become the first U.S. president to visit the onetime pariah nation, which is emerging from decades of military rule.

Presidential office spokesman Maj. Zaw Htay says he believes the “support and encouragement by the U.S. president and American people will strengthen the commitment of President Thein Sein’s reform process to move forward without backtracking.”

Zaw Htay said in a statement Friday that the government hopes “bilateral relations and cooperation will significantly increase after this historic visit.”

During his Nov. 17-20 trip, Obama will also travel to Thailand and Cambodia, the latter another first for a U.S. president.

Meanwhile, nine foreign embassies in Myanmar issued an unusual joint statement to push for assistance to residents of the strife-torn western state of Rakhine.

The planned visit comes as ethnic tension in Rakhine has caused international concern, threatening to slow the tide of goodwill toward Thein Sein’s elected government, which is modernizing and liberalizing the government after almost five decades of repressive military rule.

Almost 200 people have died since June in fighting between the Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities. More than 100,000 have been made homeless and are living in ramshackle refugee camps scattered around the state.

from minnesota public radio

Quake causes heavy damage in Myanmar

A magnitude-6.8 earthquake struck northern Myanmar on Sunday, collapsing a bridge and a gold mine, damaging several old Buddhist pagodas and leaving at least 12 people dead.

A slow release of official information left the extent of the damage from Sunday morning’s quake unclear. Myanmar, also known as Burma, has a poor official disaster response system, despite having lost more than 140,000 people to a cyclone in 2008.

Myanmar’s second-biggest city, Mandalay, reported no casualties or major damage. Mandalay, the nearest major population center to the quake, lies 72 miles south of the epicenter near the town of Shwebo. Smaller towns near the epicenter were hit harder.

The region is a center for mining of minerals and gemstones, and several mines were reported to have collapsed.

State television showed Vice President Sai Maul Hkam visiting the town of Thabeikyin, where the report said damage included 102 homes, 21 religious buildings, 48 government offices and four schools. The U.S. Geological Survey reported a magnitude-5.8 aftershock later Sunday, but there were no initial reports of new damage or casualties.

from cbs springfield

strong quake strikes Myanmar, 12 feared dead

Our World is Changing: Looking Beyond ‘the 2012′

this brief video packs a lot of information into very little time. for anyone interested in learning about the world we inhabit, the producer has provided a list of links to the source material he uses. read up! what you learn could help you survive the coming changes in our environment, our planet, the solar system and the galaxy. something big is happening, so it’s good to be alert.

Published on Oct 16, 2012 by Suspicious0bservers

DEDICATED to the Powers That Be: You were a wonderful pet. I miss you already.

Information courtesy of NASA, NOAA, the US Library, the Goddard Space Flight Center, the Jet Propulsion Lab, the Environmental Visualization Laboratory, the NASA Earth Observatory, SDO, SOHO, Stereo, ISWA, SSEC, HAARP, and SolarIMG – Your information, images, and videos were essential to this video.

• http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/images/ssn_recent2.gif
• http://www.ips.gov.au/Solar/1/6
• http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/01apr_deepsolarmini…
• http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/30sep_blankyear/
• http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/solar-minima.html
• http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2003/29dec_magneticfield/
• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3359555.stm
• http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/09/0909_040909_earthmagfield.html
• http://phys.org/news8917.html
• http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/magnetic-field-1.html
• http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/06/080630-earth-core.html
• http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/16dec_giantbreach/
• http://news.discovery.com/earth/earth-magnetic-field-north-110304.html
• http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/30oct_ftes/
• http://www.agu.org/news/press/pr_archives/2012/2012-19.shtml
• http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia13763.html
• http://phys.org/news/2011-08-giant-arrow-shaped-cloud-saturn-moon.html
• http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/19may_saturnstorm/
• http://www.science20.com/news_articles/now_broadcasting_radio_jupiter-93369
• http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/20may_loststripe/
• http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2006/02mar_redjr/
• http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/media/cassini-062804.html
• http://www.universetoday.com/93494/is-venus-rotation-slowing-down/
• http://dvice.com/archives/2012/09/video-jupiter-t.php
• http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2012/09/explosion-spotted-on-jupiter-a…
• http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/15oct_ibex/
• http://news.discovery.com/earth/earth-atmosphere-shrinking.html
• http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/special-reports/2011-spring-extremes/

STARWATER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiC-92YgZvQ

NOAA Environmental Visualization Lab: http://www.nnvl.noaa.gov/Default.php
Thunderstorms = Ozone Holes & UV Radiation: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/337/6096/835.abstract
US Floods: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USfloodmap8May2011.png
US Drought: You need no link.
2011 US Tornado Records: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/2011_tornado_information.html
US Record Wildfires 2011: http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/08/record-wildfire-year
2011 Weather: http://earthsky.org/earth/a-look-back-at-summer-2011s-weather-extremes-and-di…
2011 Texas Fire Record: http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2011/09/this-historic-texas-wildfire-season-has-…
2011/12 Bad Winter: http://www.Real-Science.com/images-from-the-winter-that-wasnt
2011/12 Winter– Europe Deaths: http://www.worldweatherpost.com/2012/02/03/europe-cold-wave-deaths-hit-200-lo… Europe Cold: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NWS-NOAA_Europe_Extreme_minimum_temperature…
Warm US Winter: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/03/26/us-winter-2011-2012-fourth-warmest-…
Atmospheric Ions: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=electric%20currents%20atmosphe…

northern italy rocked by earthquakes, thousands relocated

Italian Earthquake Kills at Least 15 in Emilia Romagna Region – more deaths likely as rescuers sift through rubble

Italy was struck by a 5.8-magnitude earthquake that killed at least 15 people in the northern region of Emilia Romagna, the second fatal temblor in the country this month.

The quake, which came after one of a similar magnitude that killed seven people on May 20, hit the province of Modena at 9 a.m., the Civil Protection Agency said on its website. Seven people are missing and about 200 were injured, Antonio Catricala, Italy’s Cabinet Undersecretary, told Parliament.

Sources: Sawyer et al, Journal of Geoscience Education, 2005; Chamot-Rooke et al, DOTMED/Mem. Soc. Geol. France, 2005; Google Earth; USGS
Credits: Alyson Hurt and Kathleen Masterson / NPR

About 8,000 people were evacuated today, bringing the total to about 14,000 in the two earthquakes this month, Catricala said. The severest damage was reported near the epicenter surrounding towns including Cavezzo, Medolla and Mirandola, Emilia Romagna’s administration said in a statement.

The quake was felt throughout northern Italy, including the financial capital Milan, where some buildings and schools were evacuated, and as far south as Tuscany and Umbria. The Italian government “will do everything necessary to respond” to the emergency,” Prime Minister Mario Monti said in Rome. The Cabinet will review emergency funding at a meeting tomorrow.

“Emilia Romagna won’t be left alone,” said Vasco Errani, head of the regional government, who was meeting with Monti in Rome when today’s earthquake struck. June 4 has been declared a day of mourning for the victims, Catricala said.

Two of today’s victims were in San Felice sul Panaro, where three towers of the town’s 15th-century castle collapsed in the May 20 quake, Ansa reported. Two factories in the cities of Mirandola and Medolla were reduced to rubble, and rescuers are digging in the area, Ansa said.

from the sfGate, of the san francisco chronicle

numerous aftershocks continue to rock the region, north and west of bologna

5.1 - 2km SE Of Moglia, Italy 2012-05-29 11:00:2544.916°N10.934°E10.0

5.4 - 3km NW Of Cavezzo, Italy 2012-05-29 10:55:5744.859°N10.991°E9.9

5.8 - 3km SSE Of Medolla, Italy 2012-05-29 07:00:0344.814°N11.079°E9.6

4.7 - 3km WNW Of Cavezzo, Italy 2012-05-29 08:40:5744.853°N10.990°E10.1

4.7 - 6km ENE Of Carpi, Italy 2012-05-29 08:25:5144.814°N10.948°E10.0

Twin quakes rock Japan Sunday, Storm Headed to Fukushima, Unit 2 Reactor Core “liquified.”

Fukushima Forever

In the first week after Fukushima, this physicist genius called for a massive international effort to bury the entire nuclear complex to protect as much as possible the human race from nuclear contamination.

Dr. Michio Kaku said early on that “Tepco utility people are outclassed and overwhelmed and should be removed from their positions and that we would see increases in leukemias and thyroid cancers from the massive amounts of radioactive iodine being released.”

Now he is weighing in with the threat from the spent-fuel pool in reactor building No. 4 in focus saying, “People don’t realize that the Fukushima reactor is on a knife’s edge; it’s near the tipping point. A small earthquake, another pipe break, another explosion could tip it over and we could have a disaster much worse, many times worse than Chernobyl. It’s like a sleeping dragon.”

Kaku explains that just in the last few weeks it has been reported to some degree that Units 2, 3 and 4 have been shown to be in a very dire situation. Unit 2 is completely liquefied, something that’s never been seen in the history of nuclear power, a 100% liquefaction of a uranium core. Unit 4, on the other hand, has an even worse problem as it’s a spent-fuel pond that is totally uncovered because of a hydrogen explosion that took place last year.

The issue of planetary contamination is more important than the economic crisis the media is covering, which threatens to go into its own kind of meltdown. Economies grow and collapse as civilizations rise and fall. There have always been the good times when life is sweet and the bad times when human savages must have their wars or when Nature decides to have her way with us or when the elite bankers’ monetary games run through their cycles.

What are our chances of this nuclear nightmare going away?

Things are so bad at Fukushima that, “Humans cannot come close to certain parts of the reactor site and even robots get fried. They’re delicate machinery; their micro-circuitry cannot withstand the intense bombardment of radiation,” reports Kaku.

And yesterday, Sunday the 20th, we read:

6.0 magnitude earthquake strikes off the coast of Japan

Japan was hit by two shallow earthquakes in the space of just eight minutes on Sunday, one of them measuring a strong 6.2-magnitude, but there were no reports of damage and no tsunami alert.

The 6.2-magnitude quake struck at 4:20pm (0720 GMT) off Japan’s northeast Pacific coast, the national meteorological agency said, followed by a tremor with a reading of 5.7 at 4:28pm.

The US Geological Survey estimated the magnitude of the first quake at 6.0.

The depth of both quakes was about 10 kilometres, the agency said.

“Sea levels may change slightly due to the (first) earthquake but there is no fear of damage resulting from it,” the agency said in a statement.

A 9.0-magnitude undersea earthquake off the same coast triggered a monster tsunami on March 11 last year, leaving about 19,000 people dead or missing and crippling the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

via Twin quakes rock Japan | Deccan Chronicle.

6.2-magnitude Quake Jolts Northeast Japan

A 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit seas off northeastern Japan on Sunday afternoon, said the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).

The focus of the quake, which occurred at 16:20 p.m. local time (0720 GMT) , was located some 10 km under the sea off the northeastern Sanriku region on the Honshu Island, according to the agency.

The tremor was most felt in prefectures of Iwate and Miyagi, and parts of Yamagata.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage to properties, and no tsunami warning was issued.

from cri english, 6.2-magnitude Quake Jolts Northeast Japan

and earlier

Earthquake hits eastern Japan, no tsunami warning issued

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.8 hit eastern Japan on Friday, shaking buildings in the capital Tokyo.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, and no tsunami warnings were issued.

from reuters

FUKUSHIMA UPDATES: 

Storm warning to Fukushima plants for the morning of 5/23/2012

Japan meteorological agency gave out storm warning to Hamadori Chubu, where Fukushima plants are located at.

The storm is assumed to hit Fukushima for the early in the morning of 5/23/2012.

FUKUSHIMA DEBRIS SPREADS SOUTHWARD, AS FAR AS OKINAWA

The radioactive debris finally went to Kyushu. Soon it will reach Okinawa too. Infinite stupidity prevails everywhere.

I think it will be worse than anyone can imagine. Less and less food remain uncontaminated.

For some reason, Japanese society is concentrating on spreading the contamination. It looks like Tsunami for me.

Nothing can be against it. The only thing we can do is to increase entropy. I mean, get out of the craziness, I think. The Tsunami mess will not end until it consumes all of the energy. The energy is people themselves like Tsunami is made of molecular of H2O.

In my assumption, in 6 months from now, there will be only 2 types of people in Kanto area.

1. Blame it all on radiation to be sick. (Anti-nuke)
2. Blame it all on McDonald’s to be sick. (Pro-nuke)

but there won’t be anyone healthy.

from fukushima diaries

In the area around the nuclear power station radiation is spreading but officials are slow to evacuate even after radiation levels exceed the criterion for evacuation.

Already the UN is urging that Japan reassess the situation, adding its weight to that of Greenpeace, which has indicated alarm for residents already told not to drink the tap water, but not told enough about ways to deal with the contamination—and not told to leave either.

Orthodox contemporary medicine cannot bear the humiliation of being wrong about how medicine should be practiced in the face of toxic threats. It is really too bad that it is impotent as an institution and worse. Allopathic medicine is totally caught in a web of its own choosing, sponsoring what can only be called pharmaceutical terrorism with their own use of highly dangerous and toxic drugs as well as radiation for their diagnosis and treatment of disease.

They are not exactly the ones we can trust to help us cope effectively or even measure what is and what is not a safe toxicity. It’s the “all is safe” boys who are the most dangerous people in society today and of course we all know that Obama has officially gone on record as being part of this crowd. At least Obama fanatics can go back to sleep since there is nothing to worry about as radiation falls at increased levels all around them.

So tainted is the government in this regard that we are even starting to hear obscene reports that the EPA is thinking of raising the levels of radiation that are to be considered safe. This is truly hard to believe because it would be such an obvious move in the face of the nuclear disaster in Japan that is already sending nuclear fallout to all of America. After decades in the nuclear age they are suddenly going to change definitions of toxicity?

from dr. sircus’ blog: Time To Do More Than Worry

Deadly earthquake hits Italy overnight: bbc video

An earthquake in northern Italy has killed at least six people and caused serious damage to buildings in several towns, local officials say.

The magnitude-6.0 quake struck in the middle of the night, about 35km (22 miles) north of the city of Bologna.

The tremor caused “significant damage to the cultural heritage” of Emilia Romagna region, the government said.

Later on Sunday, a magnitude-5.1 aftershock hit the region, causing more buildings to collapse.

The aftershock destroyed a clock tower and made a firefighter fall from a wall in the town of Finale Emilia, near the epicentre of the first tremor.

At the scene

Alan Johnston, BBC News, Finale Emilia, northern Italy

In one square, an old clocktower stood half-destroyed by the quake. A small crowd had gathered and was looking on at the ruin. Just as we joined them, another aftershock struck.

In front of us, what remained of the tower collapsed, tumbling down in a shower of bricks and timbers and sending a great cloud of dust rolling across the square.

With the situation still so unstable, many people were choosing to stay out in the relatively safety of the streets, not wanting to be trapped inside if there are going to be more tremors.

And there’s particular concern about many of the older, weaker, historic buildings. A large number of them show signs of damage, and nobody knows quite how vulnerable they may be to more shocks.

Sunday’s quake was the worst to hit the country since the L’Aquila tremor killed nearly 300 people in central Italy in 2009.

‘Big bang’

The earthquake struck at a relatively shallow depth of 10km just after 04:00 local time (02:00 GMT).

It was felt across a large swathe of northern Italy, including the cities of Bologna, Ferrara, Verona and Mantua and as far away as Milan and Venice.

The tremor forced many terrified residents into the streets.

Two people were killed in Sant’Agostino when a ceramics factory collapsed.

The mother of one of the victims told local media that “he wasn’t supposed to be there. He changed shifts with a friend”.

Another person – believed to be a Moroccan national – was killed in Ponte Rodoni do Bondeno.

In Tecopress di Dosso, one worker died when the roof of a foundry collapsed, Rai News24 reports.

Local media also say a woman died near Bologna, with reports suggesting that she may have had a heart attack. Another victim was an elderly woman in Sant’Agostino.

Northern Italy quake

• Kills at least six and damages buildings across Emilia Romagna region
• San Felice sul Panaro: 15th-Century castle severely damaged
• Finale Emilia: bell tower collapses, crushing cars
• Sant’Agostino: ceramic factory destroyed, killing two employees
• Tecopress di Dosso: worker dies when a factory roof collapses
• Buonacompra: historic church destroyed
• Tremor also felt in cities of Bologna, Modena, Ferrara, Rovigo, Verona, Mantua, Milan and Venice
• In pictures: Italy earthquake
• More than 3,000 people were later evacuated from their homes amid fears of fresh tremors.

via BBC News – Deadly northern Italy earthquake hits heritage sites.

Is Fukushima’s Doomsday Machine About to Blow?

On March 8, 2012, Dr. Hiroaki Koide, Research Associate at the Research Reactor Institute of Kyoto University, gave his bleak assessment of the situation on the Japanese a news program called, “Morning Bird”. Koide explained how 1,500 rods are presently located in a “fuel pool” that has been severely damaged. The rods have to be cooled constantly or a “huge amount of radiation contained in the spent fuel will be released outside”. If an earthquake hits and undermines the pool, the coolant will exit the pool, the rods will melt and radioactive plumes will rise into the atmosphere. Koide explained that the rods could not be safely removed from the existing pool because “if you hoist them up in the air, huge amount of radiation will come out from the spent fuel and people nearby will die.”

One of the journalists on “Morning Bird” asked Koide what would happen if the Unit was struck by another earthquake

Koide answered, “That will be the end.”

“The end,” the journalist asked, visibly shaken?

“The end,” Koide repeated emphatically. (“Fukushima Dai-Ichi No. 4: An earthquake before spent fuel rods are moved to safe storage would be “the end”, Lambert Strether, Naked Capitalism)

Now, check this out:

“Japan’s former Ambassador to Switzerland, Mr. Mitsuhei Murata… strongly stated that if the crippled building of reactor unit 4—with 1,535 fuel rods in the spent fuel pool 100 feet (30 meters) above the ground—collapses, not only will it cause a shutdown of all six reactors but it will also affect the common spent fuel pool containing 6,375 fuel rods, located some 50 meters from reactor 4. In both cases the radioactive rods are not protected by a containment vessel; dangerously, they are open to the air. This would certainly cause a global catastrophe like we have never before experienced. … Such a catastrophe would affect us all for centuries.”

(“Fukushima Daiichi Site: Cesium-137 is 85 times greater than at Chernobyl Accident”, akiomatsumura.com)

Murata’s concerns have been brought to the attention of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, to high-ranking officials in the Obama administration and EU, and to leaders around the world. The reaction has basically been the same everywhere, which is, “It’s Japan’s problem. Let them deal with it.”

There is no way to overstate the media’s complicity in concealing critical information about the tragedy that is presently unfolding at Fukushima. If there is another earthquake, the media will certainly be every bit as responsible as the government officials who saw the danger, but chose to do nothing.

via   Is Fukushima’s Doomsday Machine About to Blow?: Information Clearing House.

日本政府と東京電力では裏切り者は、意図的に、日本の人々を殺している！

Fukushima Never Again – video

Fukushima cover-up continues, opposition leader fears Japan will become uninhabitable.

Fukushima water cooling pumps fail at reactor 5, crippled reactors unprepared for storms

 

DOI refuses to believe it’s own data concerning fracking earthquakes

the u.s. dept. of the interior has published a carefully worded report which claims that the increase in earthquake activity in the continental u.s. has no relation to the practice of hydrofracking.

earthquake activity in 2011 was six times greater than it was on average for the 20th century.

from the DOI:

The fact that the disposal (injection) of wastewater produced while extracting resources has the potential to cause earthquakes has long been known. One of the earliest documented case histories with a scientific consensus of wastewater inducing earthquakes, is at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal well, near Denver. There, a large volume of wastewater was injected from 1962-1966, inducing a series of earthquakes (below magnitude 5).

We also have previously reported that the production of oil and gas (extraction) can potentially cause earthquakes when changes in the underground stresses created by the removal of large volumes of oil, gas or water are large enough.

And, of course, we know that the Earth’s crust is pervasively fractured at depth by faults. These faults can sustain high stresses without slipping because
natural “tectonic” stress and the weight of the overlying rock pushes the opposing sides of the fault together, increasing the frictional resistance to fault slip. The injected wastewater in deep wells can counteract the frictional forces on faults, causing an earthquake.

via Is the Recent Increase in Felt Earthquakes in the Central US Natural or Manmade?.

major earthquakes shaking the world apart

there have been no reports of dangerous tsunamis associated with these earthquakes…

see a live feed from the usgs -

Real-time Earthquake Map

starting from sunday evening:

4.7	Banda Aceh, Indonesia	2012-04-12 00:30:02	4.445°N	92.859°E	29.2
5.5	North Indian Ocean	2012-04-11 23:56:33	1.798°N	89.670°E	13.9
4.6	Ndoi Island, Fiji	2012-04-11 23:28:43	20.363°S	177.712°W	535.7
4.6	Off The West Coast Of Northern Sumatra	2012-04-11 23:18:50	3.089°N	92.839°E	10.2
6.5	Arteaga, Mexico	2012-04-11 22:55:10	18.272°N	102.732°W	20.0
5.4	North Indian Ocean	2012-04-11 22:51:58	2.897°N	89.597°E	14.7
5.9	Bandon, Oregon	2012-04-11 22:41:47	43.593°N	127.557°W	10.2
4.9	Off The West Coast Of Northern Sumatra	2012-04-11 22:35:34	2.488°N	90.185°E	14.8
5.0	Off The West Coast Of Northern Sumatra	2012-04-11 22:15:26	0.514°N	92.443°E	13.8
4.2	Adak, Alaska	2012-04-11 22:02:50	51.508°N	176.673°W	35.6
5.0	North Indian Ocean	2012-04-11 21:36:09	1.787°N	90.927°E	15.0
4.7	Off The West Coast Of Northern Sumatra	2012-04-11 21:02:49	0.717°N	92.407°E	15.2
5.5	Off The West Coast Of Northern Sumatra

Regulators Say Fracking Caused 12 Earthquakes in Ohio

Ohio regulators confirmed late last week what many observers already suspected: a fracking wastewater disposal well caused 12 earthquakes near Youngstown last year as the state threw open its doors to the controversial oil- and gas-drilling technique.

All the earthquakes were clustered less than a mile from an especially deep well where fracking fluids are stored as wastewater underground after being used for drilling. Earthquakes are extremely rare in the area.

The largest earthquake, a 4.0-magnitude seismic event that was felt across the Youngstown area, occurred on December 31, just one day after regulators shut down the suspect disposal well. The next day, outspoken fracking proponent Gov. John Kasich put a moratorium on wastewater injection in the vicinity of the well, which will continue under new rules issued by regulators.

Anti-fracking activists and Ohio State Rep. Bob Hagan, a Democrat from the area, quickly lashed out last month at Kasich, who has enjoyed considerable campaign contributions from fracking companies and signed a bill last year allowing oil and gas firms to drill in state parks.

“Fracking” is short for hydraulic fracturing, an environmentally controversial oil- and gas-drilling technique that involves pumping millions of gallons of water and chemicals underground to break up rock and release fossil fuels. Some of the water returns as a wastewater brine contaminated with fracking chemicals and underground materials, so fracking companies often pump the brine into underground wells for permanent storage.

The discovery of massive natural gas reserves under Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, along with the development of enhanced horizontal fracking techniques, has prompted an oil and gas rush in the region. A lack of federal regulations has left states like Ohio scrambling to catch up.

via Regulators Say Fracking Wastewater Well Caused 12 Earthquakes in Ohio | Truthout.

state of pennsylvania given to natural gas industries

The upcoming legal fight over Pennsylvania’s pro-fracking law, Act 13, pits the civil rights of people against the economic rights of corporations.

In a handful of communities in eastern states, local anti-fracking activists have been heartened by recent lower court decisions that have upheld local zoning ordinances and statewidemoratoriums to keep the controversial natural gas wells out of their towns.

But in Pennsylvania, the epicenter of the controversial drilling, the legislature recently stripped all local zoning authority to prevent drilling, overturning the kinds of steps that have frustrated drillers in neighboringstates. As a result, a different and riskier strategy is emerging in the battle to keep drilling at bay: local ordinances and organizing elevating the civil rights of communities and nature while limiting the legal rights of corporations.

“What we are doing with our ordinances is challenging the authority of state government to license the corporations to violate rights,” said Ben Price, Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) project director. “The courts have never seen that argument before. There has not been a civil rights argument against industrial trumping of local authority, or against the state using licensing statutes to trump local self-governing authority to protect health, safety and welfare.”

Pennsylvania, where the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution were signed and where the U.S. coal, oil and nuclear industries began, has adopted what may be the most anti-democratic, anti-environmental law in the country, giving gas companies the right to drill anywhere, overturn local zoning laws, seize private property and muzzle physicians from disclosing specific health impacts from drilling fluids on patients.

The draconian new law, known as Act 13, revises the state’s oil and gas statutes, to allow oil companies to drill for natural gas using the controversial process known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking, where large volumes of water and toxic chemicals are pumped into vertical wells with lateral bores to shatter the rock and release the hydrocarbons. The law strips rights from communities and individuals while imposing new statewide drilling rules.

“It’s absolutely crushing of local self-government,” said Ben Price, project director for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which has helped a handful of local communities—including the city of Pittsburgh—adopt community rights ordinances that elevate the rights of nature and people to block the drilling. “The state has surrendered over 2,000 municipalities to the industry. It’s a complete capitulation of the rights of the people and their right to self-government. They are handing it over to the industry to let them govern us. It is the corporate state. That is how we look at it.”

via Fracking Democracy

see also:

Fracked-off: Gas extraction ’causes quakes’ – Features – Al Jazeera English

Thyroid cancer, fracking and nuclear power

Greedy Lying Bastards: US filmmaker attacks oil industry

other oil disasters in the u.s.

Confidential Document Shows Oil Company’s Strategy to Con Landowners into Giving up Drilling Rights

Fracked-off: Gas extraction ’causes quakes’ – Features – Al Jazeera English

Hydraulic fracking – pounding streams of high pressure water and chemicals into rock formations to loosen gas deposits – has been hailed as a solution to the US’s dependence on foreign petroleum. But residents of Ohio and other states worry the technology is moving the earth beneath them.

Susie Beiersdorfer was sitting in a deli in Youngstown, Ohio, on New Year’s Eve, when she felt the 4.0 magnitude quake which made headlines across the US. “It felt like a truck hitting the side of a building,” Beiersdorfer, a geologist who used to work in the energy industry, told Al Jazeera.

While this quake was one of the biggest to be linked to fracking and disposal of waste water from the process, it would not be the last. “They [state authorities] just released information on another quake that happened on January 13,” she said.

In early January, the state government – which is responsible for regulating the industry – ordered the shutdown of five wells near Youngstown, after quakes rocked the area.

At least 11 earthquakes have been recorded around Ohio since March, causing controversy for the 177 deep well injection sites in the state which are being pumped full of nearly 37,000 barrels of toxic waste water daily.

via Fracked-off: Gas extraction ’causes quakes’ – Features – Al Jazeera English.

7.6 earthquake hits south pacific island of tonga

A strong earthquake has struck far off the South Pacific island nation of Tonga. There are no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The U.S. Geological Survey reports the magnitude-7.6 quake struck Friday at 1:57 p.m. (1757 GMT) about 541 miles (870 kilometers) south of Nuku’Alofa on Tonga. The quake struck at a depth of 24 miles (39 kilometers).

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not immediately issue a tsunami alert.

The region lies on the “Ring of Fire” — an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones that stretches around the Pacific Rim. About 90 percent of the world’s quakes occur in the region.

Vanuatu updates

earthquake – oct. 20th 2012

 

M6.2 – 108km WNW of Sola, Vanuatu 2012-10-20 23:00:32 UTC

traveler’s overview:

Vanuatu is subject to a range of natural disasters. Cyclone season in Vanuatu is from November to April, however, severe tropical storms may occur in other months.

Earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions also occur. Vanuatu authorities monitor the activity of the volcanos visited by tourists and provide advice on the level of risk. Alert levels and accessibility to the volcanoes can change quickly so you should always check with local authorities for the latest advice prior to travelling to volcanic areas. See the Natural Disasters section below for more detailed advice.

from australia department of foreign affairs and trade, travel advice for vanuatu

i have a love/hate thing goin on with this entry.

it gets something like 20 percent of all the traffic here at end times news. mostly because of the map image, which often turns up on image searches in google. i can see why – i used it because of its mappy awesomeness.

at the time i first posted the image, in a brief article about an earthquake (post-fukushima, i was paying much attention to earthquakes in the pacific rim), i was happy to have the traffic, because i’d posted the aticle within an hour of the quake, so i had “scooped” the professional media in the u.s.

i attempted to update the story, but there wasn’t much follow-up.

anyway…i try to update this a few times per month…enjoy…

Vanuatu: Island of happy magic

Malekula is inhabited by two tribes, the Big Nambas in the north and the Small Nambas in the south, the name stemming from the size of the penis sheaths made from pandanus or banana leaves they wear.

It’s a fascinating place where black magic still exists – though not as strongly as on neighbouring Ambrym Island – and tradition still rules. The missionaries put clothes on the people but the chiefs will tell you custom is as important as church.

This isn’t, however, my destination. I’m heading for the even more remote Maskelyne Islands, a remote cluster of low lying tiny islands off the southern tip of Malekula.

After my truck ride the final leg is a 55-minute voyage in an aluminium boat with a 30hp Mercury engine, a great luxury in an area where most people get around in wooden dugout outrigger canoes, many of which we pass along the way.

Finally we arrive at Peskarus Village where Nina and her family are our hosts. She’s crouching on the dirt floor, stoking her tiny fire, cooking coconut milk mud crab in pots sitting on two iron rods supported by stones.

We are welcomed by the brightest, shyest smiles but it doesn’t take long before we are laughing and playing with her children Masel, Anna, Solomon and Cristova.

Soon we are helping prepare food, fetching water from the well and absorbing ourselves in village life.

Four-year-old Solomon is delighted to share his joke with us in English: “Knock Knock.” “Who’s there?” “Amos.” “Amos who?” “A mosquito!” He squeals with laughter and we hear the joke another 10 times each day.

Nina’s kitchen has split bamboo walls, charred black in parts, with a mangrove branch framework and a thatched roof, and it is the family hub.

The Ni-Vanuatu have twice been voted the World’s Happiest Nation by the United Nations and it’s easy to see why as we share laughter over the smallest things.

A particular source of amusement is our effort to learn a little of the endearing Bislama language (pidgin English). But I do succeed in saying “Me fulap tumas, Nina” as she tries to offer more food. It basically translates as “I am full thank you”.

The village is timeless and pretty, houses linked by smoothed pathways lined with colourful foliage, and full of happy people only too willing to talk with strangers. We find ourselves chatting with women sitting under shady trees to weave their mats. We become accustomed to the chatter of voices, the thunder of the sea on the distant reef, the eruptions of laughter and the daily chorus of roosters.

The interior of the island is jungle scattered with pig pens and a few gardens. The main gardening area is another island, Sakao, which has no inhabitants and especially no pigs or chooks. Every afternoon families arrive at Peskarus in canoes laden with produce from Sakao.

Imported supplies are not cheap nor are they easily accessible. Once a month a cargo ship anchors outside the reef and if the sea conditions allow, the villagers canoe out to bring in supplies.

There are a few shops in each village though they’re hard to spot. We meet Karlo Phillip who owns one, he’s standing under a tree with a cellphone in his hand and his family are laughing at his wife May who is terrified at the snake video he shows her on his new phone. It’s obvious technology is very recent.

Conditions are tough, there is no electricity and global warming is threatening the island. Nina tells us last year’s spring tides came dangerously close to her bungalows.

But Nina’s family, like the others on the island, functions pretty much like any other family around the world – except they do without the luxuries and technology we take for granted and they have more smiles and sparkling eyes than I’ve seen in any family from the developed world.

We shed tears when we leave because the people are a delight … and because Nina and her family have become our friends.

volcanic activity

Ambrym (Vanuatu) is showing signs of activity. After a longer period of silence on Modvolc, a strong thermal signal is again visible at Marum and Benbow craters on the MODIS Global Hot Spot monitoring tool from the University of Hawaii (ModVolc). …more [read all]

• More about Ambrym volcano

With the world rocked by economic turmoil, Dateline explores an alternative financial system that’s secure, stable and has stood the test of time.

Officially Vanuatu is one of the world’s ‘least developed countries’, but this is misleading. 80% of the population have almost no need for cash at all – they live on their own land and grow, fish and hunt for their food.

When they do need money, they simply make their own – traditional currencies like woven mats and pigs with tusks can be used to pay school fees and medical bills.

On the island of Pentecost there’s even a traditional bank that accepts deposits of pig tusks and claims to have reserves of $1.4 billion.

WATCH - See Amos’s insight into life on Vanuatu.

Island nation of Vanuatu to build 40 kW solar PV arrays

On March 20th, 2012, WPCS International Inc. (Xton, Pennsylvania, U.S.), which offers design-build engineering services for communications and energy infrastructure, announced that it has been selected by the Republic of Vanuatu to design and deploy 40 kilowatt (kW) solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays for the island of Espiritu Santo.

The Republic of Vanuatu received funding from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the PV project, which will be racked, mounted and connected to the electrical utility grid.

The Republic of Vanuatu is an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago is located about 1,000 miles east of Brisbane, Australia and south of the Solomon Islands. The island of Espiritu Santo is the largest island in the Republic of Vanuatu.
PV project to be managed by WPCS through its Australian operations

“We are pleased to be selected by the Republic of Vanuatu and the Asian Development Bank for this renewable energy project. Being one of the first such projects on the island of Espiritu Santo, it is important that we provide our highest level of design-build engineering capability to ensure a successful project outcome,” WPCS Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Andrew Hidalgo said.

Rising Seas Threaten Low-Lying Coastlines of the World

ISLAND NATIONS UNDER THREAT

Island nations under threat include Bermuda and the Bahamas in the Atlantic, the Pacific Islands of Palmerston, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Marshall Islands, Cook Islands, Fiji, Solomon Islands, and the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. However, in terms of numbers of persons impacted, the oceanic islands pale in comparison with the slow-motion disasters that will occur in densely populated, low-lying coastal cities like New Orleans, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Jakarta and Dhaka. Huge populations of several Asian countries will be forced to retreat from coasts, creating generations of “Greenhouse Refugees.” In the Western World, Greater Miami and the southeast Florida coastline has the dubious distinction of being among the most defenseless regions of high population density. A rise of 1.5 m would sever the Miami megapolis from the mainland and flood much of the Florida peninsula. Imagine, a century or two from now, a 100 km-long offshore “artificial reef” composed of crumbling high-rise apartments and freeway overpasses.

here’s the original entry:

from reuters:

A powerful magnitude 7.5 quake struck off the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

It said the quake, which struck at 3:55 a.m. on Sunday (12:55 p.m. EDT on Saturday), was centered 38 miles southwest of the town of Port-Vila and was quite shallow, at a depth of 25.2 miles.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the major quake had not triggered a Pacific-wide tsunami but said: “Earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within a hundred kilometers (80 miles) of the earthquake epicenter.”

Fukushima cover-up continues, opposition leader fears Japan will become uninhabitable.

Recent reports confirming that Reactors 1, 2, and 3 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility completely melted just hours after the devastating earthquake and tsunami hit the area on March 11 have been trumped by even worse news that those same reactors have all likely “melted through,” a situation that according to Japan’s Daily Yomiuri DY is “the worst possibility in a nuclear accident.”

And senior political official Ichiro Ozawa suggested in an interview with The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that the Fukushima situation could make the entire country of Japan “unlivable.”

A nuclear core meltdown involves nuclear fuel exceeding its melting point to the point where it damages the core, leaks out, and threatens to potentially release high levels of radiation into the environment. However, a nuclear melt-through is an even worse scenario, as nuclear fuel literally melts through the bottom of damaged reactor pressure vessels into out containment vessels — and possibly even melts through those outer vessels directly into ground, air, and water.

The report suggesting that melt-throughs have already occurred, which is set to be submitted to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is the “first official recognition” of this dire situation, according to DY. It also confirms early suspicions that such a scenario had been underway all along, as later reports confirmed that the epic disaster at the reactors had produced holes in come of the plant’s core containment vessels, and that radioactive water, and possibly even fuel, were leaking into the lower vessels.

IAEA has already stated that the Fukushima disaster is at least as bad as the Chernobyl disaster (http://www.theatlanticwire.com/glob…), but this new information now suggests that it is probably even worse. At this time, it is unknown whether the fuel that has accumulated in the outer containment vessels has seeped outside, where it has the potential to contaminate groundwater supplies and wreak widespread environmental damage.

In an interview conducted prior to the release of the new report, Ichiro Ozawa told the WSJ that areas around Fukushima were already becoming completely “uninhabitable.” He also suggested that as it currently stands, much of the rest of the country, including Tokyo, could suffer the same fate if nothing is done to properly and effectively contain the situation.

Worse than meltdown, government report says devastating ‘melt-through’ has occurred at Fukushima; Official suggests Japan could become ‘uninhabitable’

from Natural News – Worse than meltdown, government report says devastating ‘melt-through’ has occurred at Fukushima; Official suggests Japan could become ‘uninhabitable’ 

42 million people displaced by natural disasters in 2010

About 42 million people were forced to flee their homes because of natural disasters around the world in 2010, more than double the number during the previous year, experts said today (NZ time).

One reason for the increase in the figure could be climate change, and the international community should be doing more to contain it, the experts said.

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre said the increase from 17 million displaced people in 2009 was mainly due to the impact of “mega-disasters” such as the massive floods in China and Pakistan and the earthquakes in Chile and Haiti.

It said more than 90 per cent of the disaster displacements were caused by weather-related hazards such as floods and storms that were probably impacted by global warming, but it couldn’t say to what extent.

“The intensity and frequency of extreme weather events is increasing, and this trend is only set to continue. With all probability, the number of those affected and displaced will rise as human-induced climate change comes into full force,” said Elisabeth Rasmusson, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

The monitoring center and refugee council presented the report at an international conference about climate change and displacement in Oslo.

The number of people displaced last year — about 42 million — is roughly the size of Argentina’s entire population, and the onslaught of natural disasters so far this year also has been grim.

The March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan left more than 10,000 people dead, some 17,500 missing and about a half-million homeless.

In the United States, tornadoes have wreaked havoc from Alabama to Massachusetts, while floods have inundated states from Montana to Louisiana. In the southwest Missouri city of Joplin, the US’s deadliest tornado in six decades killed at least 141 people and destroyed more than 8000 homes in a city of about 50,000 people.

Speaking at the Oslo conference, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres called the issue of climate-related displacement “the defining challenge of our times” and criticised the international community for lacking the political will to reduce to pace of climate change.

via Disasters displace millions – europe – world | Stuff.co.nz.

“There is increasing evidence to suggest that natural disasters are growing in frequency and intensity and that this is linked to the longer-term process of climate change,” Guterres said.

Asia was the hardest hit region last year, with the largest number of displaced people seen in countries such as India, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia, China and Pakistan.

In China alone, more than 15 million people were forced to leave their homes following floods, while 11 million people were displaced in Pakistan, the report said. The large floods in India in 2009 also continued to force people to leave their homes in 2010.

“This report provides us with evidence of the extent and urgency of the problem that we cannot ignore. We must increase collaborative efforts to prevent displacement by natural disasters, and do a better job of protecting those displaced,” Rasmusson said.