Archive
Roll to observe Elenin – STEREO BEHIND looks at a hot topic
Story submitted by Robert Bateman
In just a few hours from now, NASA rolls the STEREO BEHIND solar satellite to have a look at Comet Elenin (P/2010 X1), and if you haven’t been paying attention, it is one red hot topic topped with wilder imaginations, dooms, hypotheticals and omens than previously imagined.
From being on a par with/substitute for Read more…
6.0 Quakes Every Day, California Swarms
US debt crisis: US House passes debt bill
As the House of Representatives passed a last minute bill to raise the US borrowing limit while cutting spending by $2.4 trillion, Left-wingers felt betrayed by the White House, saying the price paid to win Republican support had been much too high.
The legislation is due to be approved by the Senate on Tuesday, just hours before the US was due default on its obligations for the first time in its history.
It was approved by 269 votes to 161 votes as both discontented liberals and Tea Party Republicans who wanted even more spending cuts voted against.
Representative Emanuel Cleaver, a Missouri Democrat, said: “This deal is a sugar-coated Satan sandwich. If you lift the bun, you will not like what you see.”
Another, Cedric Richmond from New Orleans, said he feared it would have a “devastating impact” on working and middle class families, whom Read more…
Rare, Powerful Tornado Hits Russian City
A rare tornado touched down in Russia last night (July 31), according to news reports.
The tornado hit Blagoveshchensk, a city of about 200,000 in eastern Russia near the China border.
The twister lasted 13 minutes and caused a reported 80 million rubles ($2.9 million) in damage.
Tornadoes have touched down in every continent except Antarctica. They can occur wherever cold, dry air hits moist, warm air high in the atmosphere. Most of the Earth’s tornadoes occur in the hotbed known as Tornado Alley, but the United Kingdom reports the most tornadoes by land area, given its Read more…
Israel Protests: Has Israel Been Hit by the Arab Spring?
As Israel‘s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing the strongest wave of protests since he took office, he was forced to announce that members of his government would meet protesters to try and calm public discontent.

Reuters
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
In the last two weeks, tens of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets to demonstrate against the rising living costs, putting pressure on Netanyahu and asking for reforms.
This week-end has seen the largest wave of protests hit the country when more than 150,000 protesters gathered at sites across Israel on Saturday night, which analysts say could have been inspired by anti-government protests in neighbouring Arab countries.
Israelis are growing concerned with the increasing gap between rich and poor, high taxes and food prices, the cost of education and call for greater state involvement.

On the other hand, the middle class is also unhappy and insist it has become a de facto minority. Protests over Read more…
Is the weather worsening?
Extreme weather events occur every year in various parts of the earth, but the United States — and Missouri — have seen natural disasters strike its ground this year seemingly more often than not.The jury is still out as to what has caused these extreme events, pending major climatology studies that often take years to complete. Some say it’s due to a naturally variable earth, others argue it’s due to a changing climate, one that’s getting warmer and more intense, leading to weather events we’ve never seen, before calming down again.
Recent devastationMany scientists argue that 2010 was the most extreme year ever in terms of natural disasters across the globe. Devastating worldwide events made the headlines during what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said was the world’s warmest year on record (it tied with 2005).Among the most devastating were Pakistan’s flood, the most expensive natural disaster in its history, Russia’s deadliest heat wave in recorded history, and Read more…
Solar Climate Change: Armageddon Ready: Russian solar probe to predict Earthly cataclysms
Some scientists believe bursts of solar activity cause natural disasters on our planet, but until now the Read more…
Giant Fungus Discovered in China

The most massive fruiting body of any fungus yet documented has been discovered growing on the underside of a tree in China.
The fruiting body, which is equivalent to the mushrooms produced by other fungi species, is up to 10m long, 80cm wide and weighs half a tonne.
That shatters the record held previously by a fungus growing in Kew Gardens in the UK.
The new giant fungus is thought to be at least 20 years old.
The first example of the new giant fungus was recorded by scientists in 2008 in Fujian Province, China, by Professor Yu-Cheng Dai of the Herbarium of biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shenyang and his assistant Dr Cui.
“But the type collection was not huge,” Prof Dai told BBC Nature.
However, “we found [the] giant one in Hainan Province in 2010.”
The researchers were in the field studying wood-decaying fungi when they happened upon the specimen, which they describe in the journal Fungal Biology.
“We were not specifically Read more…
Chinese Nuclear Accident Alleged

by DAVID AXE
A nuclear submarine in the port of Dalian in northern China has suffered an accident and is leaking radiation, according to a former Japanese fighter pilot-turned-blogger.
“The area is strictly closed off by the Chinese military, and the situation is said to be very dangerous,” Mamoru Sato wrote in Japanese of the alleged July 29 incident.
As with all news stories about Chinese military developments, Sato’s account should be read with a healthy dose of skepticism. As of July 31, no major media had reported on the alleged accident. The only corroboration came from Twitter user “28481k(Alan Lai),” who wrote, “Bohai is closed after a suspected nuclear leak occurred on new nuclear submarine building in Dalian.”
Bohai is one of the shipyard complexes in the vicinity of Dalian.
If true, Sato’s report could spell big trouble for the Chinese navy. The People’s Liberation Army Navy’s first aircraft carrier, the former Read more…
Papua New Guinea rattled by 6.8 quake
SYDNEY — The Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea was jolted by a powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake Monday, prompting a minor tsunami warning, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
The US Geological Survey said the quake occurred at a depth of 16 kilometres (10 miles), some 131 km (81 miles) east of Wewak and 706 kilometres north of the capital Port Moresby.
“No destructive widespread tsunami threat exists based on historical earthquake and tsunami data,” the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said.
“However, earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within a hundred kilometers of the earthquake epicentre.
“Authorities in the region of the epicentre should be aware of this possibility and take appropriate action.”
GeoScience Australia measured the quake at 6.6 and said it would have been felt more than 800 kilometres (496 miles) away, but damage would only have been caused within a radius of 67 kilometres from the epicentre.
The PNG Geophysical Observatory said that residents of the coastal town of Wewak, home to about 18,000 people, would have been severely shaken, but early reports suggested no major damage or injuries.
“Preliminary reports we are receving indicate that no real life-threatening damage and it is not an event where a tsunami is thought to be Read more…
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