Here is a good representation of the Karthala lava that has been the subject of recent news. The image has been floating around the net and someone just pointed out to me that if you look carefully there is a hint of who or what took the image. Free rock of lava goes to the person who can guess correctly.
Dangerous Wind in Europe
No, this is not about the effects of some kind of smelly cheese. The weather has yet again taken a turn for the worse in Europe and apparently produced winds strong enough to kill almost fifty people (reported so far), most of whom are said to have been motorists. What percentage of the population would not be considered a motorist these days?
The hurricane-like storms also shutdown oil pipelines and public transportation and even led to a computer virus warning.
Most news reports said something to the effect of the “worst storm in years”, perhaps due to the fact that the storms in 1999 and 2000 were called the “worst storms in living memory”. Scientists quoted in the news all seem to point to a predicted increase in severe weather related to a steady rise measured in sea temperatures. The consequences of this were also described in the movie “An Inconvenient Truth”.
This reminded me of an incident several years ago when a Monterey Bay research buoy was launched to study extreme weather conditions.
The new MBARI mooring deployed earlier this month broke free from its anchor during the heavy storm Saturday, December 14. The oceanic buoy was anchored 52 kilometers from shore in Monterey Bay. It successfully sent data back to shore even through the storm. The mooring is an engineering prototype for the MBARI ocean observing system (MOOS) project. The mooring was intentionally deployed during the winter to monitor how the buoy and cable respond to environmental stresses when wind and waves reach their maximum strengths.
I guess this might have been called a beta test, but I wonder how much more it would have cost to make the buoy less susceptible to being broken in its first month. Or perhaps the data that was used during the buoy design phase to estimate future storm strength was incomplete or optimistically inaccurate?
Station fires 10 for hyper-hydration contest death
I just read an update to the sad story about a the woman who died after winning second place in a contest to see who could drink the most water without urinating. According to the AP the station has fired the employees it found responsible for the contest:
“They are no longer with the company for violating the terms of their employment agreements with the station,” said the spokesman, without elaborating on contract details.
“This is part of an ongoing, thorough investigation.”
The AP also points out some rather disturbing context:
In an online recording of the show, the DJs can be heard making comments joking about people dying from water intoxication, even discussing a case in Northern California two years ago in which student Matthew Carrington, 21, died after drinking too much water during a fraternity pledge.
One of the DJs even admitted they maybe should have done some research before the contest.
One female caller, who identified herself as Eva, also phoned in to warn the radio station that drinking too much water can kill.
Tragic story.
Another DJ said with a laugh: “Yeah, they signed releases, so we’re not responsible. We’re OK.”
Birds torch building with lit cigarettes
It’s just a theory, the officials admit, but it makes for some interesting security discussion:
Fire Capt. David Bias said a pigeon or another kind of bird may have carried a smoldering cigarette into the Ratcliff Place on Jan. 10. Either that, or the mere volume of decomposing material in the nearly 5-foot-wide nest found in a ceiling may have combusted.
It’s just a theory at this point, Bias said, one that he’s “taking a good bit of ribbing over.”
“People are telling me we should have a pigeon lineup,” he said Wednesday.
Pigeons are always under suspicion for destroying urban architecture, this just adds to the fear of the birds. Who wants to bet there would be less ribbing and more fear of cigarettes if a bald eagle was supected instead?