Yearly Archives: 2011

Weekend Forecast 9/23-26

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from:    -Matt Baranowski
-9/22/11 (Thursday)
-8:00pm CDT

http://centralstorm.wordpress.com/

 

The end of the week is almost here. Time for everyone to kick back and relax. This may be, depending on where you live, the last warm weekend of the year as October is knocking on the doorstep. We have quite a difference in areas of warm temperatures, rainy temperatures, chilly temperatures and normal temperatures all over the Nation. This forecast, which I am going to explain below, will go through Monday Spetember 26, 2011. 

Everyone in the west and in the Rockies region is probably going to jump up and down seeing this graphic. Yet others will want to rip it up in pieces. Here’s the situation:
As you can see by the black/white striped going from South Dakota through Missouri up to Ohio and up in the North East fashion. This is the jet stream forecast for the next few days. Now this will fluxuate back and forth a bit but that would be the ‘centered’ point on where that Jet Stream will lay out. Now with that Jet stream forecast brings Major differences in temperatures . With that stream like that, you have a build or a rise in the Stream to the North over Montana and South Dakota. This Jet stream comes from the Pacific Ocean so this would be called the Pacific Jet in MET Terms. Now whats going to occur is that high pressure that is currently their isn’t going to move much. This is going to keep this jet stream at its current place or move slowly throughout days. With that also we have the High Pressure that is forecast to build into the Midwest locations by Friday. With that will bring Cool Air from Canada southward. That means some locations won’t get out of the 50′s in the Northern Great Lakes. Now remember that Low Pressure that I forecast to impact the North East by Thursday days ago… Well it had slowed a bit and timing was just a bit off. So it now looks as North Eastern States will see the rainy conditions all the way through Monday and May be won’t stop till Tuesday. Flooding is a potential but widespread 6 inches like a first Isolated event is not a huge bet. Most areas will see 2-4 inches in that green area. As for the south, pop up storms will likely be in company Friday and Saturday and limit to a very Isolated Event come Saturday Night. Normal temperatures in the 80′s are in the forecast. Quick jump back to the Midwest and Great lakes… Not only will you see rainy off and on conditions but it will be chilly too. So please, you can catch a cold from this weather as conditions are expected to go back to the 80′s by Wednesday.

Forecast by Color:
-Orange Area: Warm Temperature. Humid farther south you get but not un controllable humid. Due to the high, Severe weather and rain in general is not likely. Temperatures in the 80′s in the north and middle areas and 90′s are a potential down south.

-Blue: A chilly, overcast and miserable weekend as that low pressure spins and you get the backside shower activity. Won’t be a wash out but it definitively will be cool with temps in the 50′s and 60′s.

-White: Normal Temperatures for this time of year. Not crazily hot with temperatures in the 80′s. Shower or a storm is a potential on Friday and Saturday but could also occur on Monday.

-Green: Like the Great Lakes Region, A miserable weekend. Some rains that fall could “train” and cause flooding so stay tuned and turn around don’t drown. Temperatures also chilly in the mid to upper 60′s. Most areas will see 1-4 inch rains depending on location.

Hope Everyone has a great weekend! Enjoy the warm weather while it lasts! (Excuse my mistake in the word “Overcast” in the graphic. Stay tuned to Storm Central for the latest on Ophelia. We will have the latest breaking news if anything changes.

-Rate by Stars!

Nostradamus & 9/11

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Did Nostradamus Really Predict the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks?

Benjamin Radford, Life’s Little Mysteries Contributor
Date: 11 September 2011 Time: 03:47 PM ET
WTC 9/11 Attack
September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centers in New York City.
CREDIT: Public domain image

It’s a story that began nearly a decade ago, circulated widely for months, and is still believed by many around the world: That the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centers had been foretold by the famous sixteenth-century French writer Nostradamus. He wrote in ambiguous, nearly inscrutable sets of phrases called quatrains that believers claim predicted everything from the American Civil War to Hitler to John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

Those who believe in prophecy sift through reams of Nostradamus’s vague writings trying to breathe new meaning into stale words. Here are a few of the Nostradamus prophecies that seemed to be eerily prophetic:

“Two steel birds will fall from the sky on the Metropolis / The sky will burn at forty-five degrees latitude / Fire approaches the great new city / Immediately a huge, scattered flame leaps up / Within months, rivers will flow with blood / The undead will roam the earth for little time.”

It’s easy to fit these words to the actual events of 9/11, and much was made of the second line, as New York City (the “Metropolis”), lies at about 40 degrees north latitude. To someone reading Nostradamus for the first time, one could be convinced that he might have predicted the tragedy.

If you’re familiar with the writings of Nostradamus, though, this particular prediction does not ring true: This writing is actually a hybrid of real Nostradamus verse and fiction, and whoever rewrote it was spectacularly sloppy. Not only is it not written in quatrain form (Nostradamus’ typical writing style), but the phrase “two steel birds” is a obvious give away, as steel wasn’t invented until 1854, nearly 200 years after Nostradamus died.

Another suspect quatrain that surfaced after 9/11 reads: “In the city of God there will be a great thunder? / Two brothers torn apart by Chaos while the fortress endures? / The great leader will succumb / The third big war will begin when the big city is burning?- Nostradamus 1654.”

Given the fact that Nostradmaus died in 1566, 88 years before the quatrain was supposedly written, it seems a remarkable piece indeed. This was actually published on a Canadian website as part of an essay on how easily an important-sounding prophecy can be created using vague imagery. What began as an essentially skeptical piece explaining how prophecy can fool people eventually circulated as the real thing.

to read more, go to:    http://www.livescience.com/16001-nostradamus-predict-9-11-world-trade-center.html

 

Young Serbian Human Magnets?

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Are Serbian Cousins Human Magnets?

Benjamin Radford, Life’s Little Mysteries Contributor
Date: 20 September 2011 Time: 02:43 PM ET
7-year-old Bogdan is apparently magnetic.
7-year-old Bogdan
CREDIT: MSNBC

What’s in the water over in Serbia?

Earlier this year, a 7-year-old Serbian boy named Bogdan made international news with his alleged paranormal ability to make objects stick to his skin. Photos and videos of Bogdan showed various kitchen items (including flatware and plates) “magnetically” sticking to the smiling boy.

Little Bogdan may have competition on the Belgrade sideshow circuit, because it’s happened again. Twice.

Two young Serbian cousins, Luka and David Petrovic, are claimed by family members to attract small objects. Like Bogdan, photos show forks and spoons clinging to 4-year-old David’s chest. Both boys have been examined by doctors who say they are perfectly healthy and seem to suffer no ill effects from their strange ability (or affliction).Various explanations have been put forth for these and other so-called “magnetic people” over the years, including psychic powers and some unknown bodily energy field. One Belgrade radiologist told the Associated Press, “As far as I know, there is no medical or scientific explanation.”

Indeed, a closer examination is in order. We can begin by noting that not all of the objects that stick to these magnetic peoples’ skin are metal (some are glass or porcelain). So we know that whatever is making the object adhere to the skin is not based in magnetism.

Second, these objects only stick to bare skin — not through a shirt, for example. Thus we know that direct contact with skin is necessary for the objects to mysteriously stick. Third, most of the objects are fairly lightweight (such as keys and spoons), and/or have a lot of surface area compared to their weight (such as a shallow metal pan). Fourth, the objects are usually placed on the chest at an angle, so their weight is partly being supported by the chest muscles.

The answer to the mystery is that the objects are held in place by simple skin friction. Bare skin is not only pliable and elastic, but also emits oils which can cause lightweight objects to stick the skin. Most people don’t notice this, of course, because they don’t spend their time putting random household objects on their unwashed bare chests to see what sticks and what doesn’t.

So it is a hoax, or a mistake? My guess is that the Petrovic family really believes that their kids have this strange (and useless) ability. Or perhaps little Bogdan, the other Serbian magnetic kid, lives next door and they just wanted to keep up with the neighbors.

Eye Witness Testimony, Memory, & Emotion

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Eyewitness Testimony Can Be Tragically Mistaken

Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer & Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Managing Editor
Date: 22 September 2011 Time: 06:39 PM ET
Lady Justice holding the scales of justice.
A statue of Lady Justice holding scales.
CREDIT: Rob Wilson, Shutterstock

Last night’s execution of convicted murderer Troy Davis reportedly sent those convinced of Davis’ innocence into hysterics. One of their concerns — that eyewitness testimony in the case had been recanted — also concerns cognitive scientists.

“This is not the first time a person is pretty much convicted based on eyewitness testimony and circumstantial evidence,” said Jason Chan, assistant professor of psychology at Iowa State University, adding that the number of eyewitnesses who later recanted their testimony was “relatively unusual.”

Seven of nine witnesses who implicated Davis in the shooting of a police officer recanted their testimonies. Others reporting the man who originally implicated Davis was actually the killer.

Chan can’t speak to the truth of the case, but he said eyewitness accounts of crimes are like other memories: They’re not reliable.

Part of the problem with eyewitness statements comes from the mismatch between an eyewitness’ sureness in their memories and the true accuracy of those memories, Chan said.

“A lot of times people overestimate their ability to remember things, and this overconfidence can sometimes lead people [like a jury] to believe what they are saying,” Chan told LiveScience. “Guess what, most people’s memories are not all that reliable.”

The failure of memory

Some of this failure of reliability happens at the scene of the crime, said Maria Zaragoza, a psychologist at Kent State University in Ohio. Things happen quickly; the emotional charge of witnessing a crime may keep people from cuing into important details. If there’s a weapon, Zaragoza said, people tend to become hyper-focused on it. They pay more attention to a gun than to the face of the person holding it.

Often, “the information getting into the memory system is very limited,” Zaragoza told LiveScience.

The next source of memory uncertainty happens during the investigation. Suggestive questioning can distort memories, Zaragoza said. Each time you relive the crime, either out loud to an investigator or in your own head, that distorted memory is strengthened.

In one famous case, 22-year-old college student Jennifer Thompson was raped at knifepoint by an intruder in her bedroom. Through her terror, Thompson tried to categorize the details of her assailant’s face. She went to the police and worked with an artist to draw a composite sketch. In photo, in a lineup and in court, she identified her rapist as Ronald Cotton.

“I was completely confident,” Thompson (now Jennifer Thompson-Cannino) wrote in a 2000 editorial in the New York Times. “I was sure.”

But 11 years later, new DNA techniques disproved Cotton’s guilt. He’d spent more than a decade in prison for a crime committed by another man, Bobby Poole.

It’s likely that working on the police sketch altered Thompson’s memory of her rapist’s face, Zaragoza said. Later, when she’d picked him out of a lineup, her confidence only grew. Cotton’s face started haunting her flashbacks. When she met her real rapist in court, she didn’t even recognize him.

What happened to Cotton and Thompson, chronicled in the book “Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption” (St. Martin’s Press, 2009), wasn’t a weakness of Thompson’s, Zaragoza said. Anyone’s memory can become twisted with time.

And often in witnessing traumatic events, such as a murder or even the 9/11 terrorist attacks, we think we remember all of the details vividly. The truth is, we’re often wrong, research has shown. In one 2004 study, researchers were even able to corrupt witnesses’ memories of a terrorist bombing by suggesting to them that they’d seen things — such as an angry animal — that hadn’t actually been in the scene.

Combining memories

to read more, go to:

Earthquake Near Tonga Volcano

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Very strong shallow earthquake near Niuafo’ou volcano (Tonga) – NO special volcanic activity reported

Last update: September 23, 2011 at 1:04 am by By 

Article also compiled by Carlos Robles
Earthquake overview :  Very strong earthquake near a rim volcano island in Tonga. As this earthquake is extremely shallow and as the location of the epicenter has a substantial error margin, we feared for volcanic activity.

NOAA tsunami message for the Pacific :
NO DESTRUCTIVE WIDESPREAD TSUNAMI THREAT EXISTS BASED ON HISTORICAL EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI DATA

IMPORTANT UPDATE 00:57 UTC :
Matangi reports : The earthquake was felt by Niuafo’ou residents. Meola Vaka at the Western Union office at ‘Esia said she felt an earthquake this morning that lasted for less than a minute. She said there was no unusual volcanic activity evident on the island.

Update 23/09 – 00:11 UTC : Both EMSC and USGS have epicenters approx. 30 to 40 km from the volcanic island.  If the epicenter locations are accurate which we do not know at the moment, it may be well a normal earthquake close to a volcano.

Update 23/09 – 00:11 UTC : The latest known eruption from the volcano was in 1985.

Update 23/09 – 00:04 UTC : Between 1946 and 1947, the island was completely evacuated by the Tongan government following a volcanic eruption. In 1957 about half of the population returned to Niuafo’ou, and the rest remained in ‘Eua (source Wikipedia)

Update 23:59 UTC : As this earthquake is extremely shallow and as the location of the epicenter has a substantial error margin, we do not exclude volcanic activity.

for more and to get updates, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/23/very-strong-shallow-earthquake-near-niuafoou-tonga-volcanic-origin/

Equinox Sunrise

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QUINOX SUNRISE: The seasons changed this morning at 5:05 a.m. EDT when the Sun crossed the celestial equator heading south. Fall began in the Northern Hemisphere, spring in the Southern Hemisphere. Geoffrey Wyatt of Sydney, Australia, woke up early to watch the equinox sun rise over Watson’s Bay:

“This is how the first day of spring began in Australia,” says Wyatt. “Recent fires in the Sydney area have contributed to redder than usual sunrises and sunsets.Temperature gradiants over the water produced the added bonus of a miraged sun.”

Happy Equinox!

CME & Aurora Watch

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from: spaceweather.com

MAJOR X-FLARE + CME: Yesterday, Earth-orbiting satellites detected a long-duration X1.4-class solar flare coming from sunspot 1302 on the sun’s eastern limb. The blast, which peaked at 1100 UT on Sept. 22nd, produced a significant coronal mass ejection (CME). Using data from the SOHO-STEREO fleet of spacecraft, analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab have modeled the trajectory of the CME and concluded that the body of the cloud will not hit Earth. A minor glancing encounter with the outskirts of the CME is, however, possible on Sept. 25th

Particle Exceeds Speed of Light

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CERN: Light Speed May Have Been Exceeded By Subatomic Particle

Light Speed

FRANK JORDANS and SETH BORENSTEIN   09/22/11 09:19 PM ET   AP

GENEVA — One of the very pillars of physics and Einstein’s theory of relativity – that nothing can go faster than the speed of light – was rocked Thursday by new findings from one of the world’s foremost laboratories.

European researchers said they clocked an oddball type of subatomic particle called a neutrino going faster than the 186,282 miles per second that has long been considered the cosmic speed limit.

The claim was met with skepticism, with one outside physicist calling it the equivalent of saying you have a flying carpet. In fact, the researchers themselves are not ready to proclaim a discovery and are asking other physicists to independently try to verify their findings.

“The feeling that most people have is this can’t be right, this can’t be real,” said James Gillies, a spokesman for the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, which provided the particle accelerator that sent neutrinos on their breakneck 454-mile trip underground from Geneva to Italy.

Going faster than light is something that is just not supposed to happen according to Einstein’s 1905 special theory of relativity – the one made famous by the equation E equals mc2. But no one is rushing out to rewrite the science books just yet.

It is “a revolutionary discovery if confirmed,” said Indiana University theoretical physicist Alan Kostelecky, who has worked on this concept for a quarter of a century.

Stephen Parke, who is head theoretician at the Fermilab near Chicago and was not part of the research, said: “It’s a shock. It’s going to cause us problems, no doubt about that – if it’s true.”

Even if these results are confirmed, they won’t change at all the way we live or the way the world works. After all, these particles have presumably been speed demons for billions of years. But the finding will fundamentally alter our understanding of how the universe operates, physicists said.

Einstein’s special relativity theory, which says that energy equals mass times the speed of light squared, underlies “pretty much everything in modern physics,” said John Ellis, a theoretical physicist at CERN who was not involved in the experiment. “It has worked perfectly up until now.”

to read more, go to:   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/22/cern-light-speed_n_977014.html

UARS Satellite Falling Faster Than Expected

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NASA Satellite Falling Faster Due to Solar Activity

UARS to crash-land Friday, but no one yet knows where.

Fireball picture: Hayabusa reenters the atmosphere.

The sample capsule from Japan’s Hayabusa spacecraft became a fireball as it fell to Earth last June.

Photograph by Takashi Ozaki, Yomiuri Simbun/AP

Traci Watson

for National Geographic News

Published September 21, 2011

It may be doomed, but the NASA satellite that’s about to crash-land on Earthisn’t going out quietly. 

To scientists’ surprise, the six-ton Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS, has picked up speed and is now expected to plummet through the atmosphere Friday.

Only two weeks ago government scientists projected that the satellite could return to Earth as late as the first days of October.

“The spacecraft is coming in a little faster than we’d originally anticipated,” said NASA orbital debris scientist Mark Matney. As a result, “it’s coming in sooner rather than on the later side.”

The satellite’s speed is due to a recent spike in the amount of ultraviolet rays being emitted by the sun, Matney said.

The radiation increase caused Earth’s atmosphere to expand, which increased drag on the satellite, causing it to fall faster.

A Thousand Pounds to Survive Reentry?

Experts predict that most of the UARS spacecraft will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.

But more than 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms) of debris will probably survive the fiery plunge and slam down to Earth.

The biggest piece to reach the surface intact will most likely be a 300-pound (150-kilogram) piece of the spacecraft’s frame.

However, it’s still too early to know where the satellite’s components will land, Matney said.

The only tip scientists can give for now about the location of the “debris footprint” is that it will be somewhere between 57 degrees north latitude and 57 degrees south latitude—an area encompassing most of Earth’s populated land.

Odds of Debris Hitting You: 1 in 3,200

UARS, which collected data on Earth’s atmosphere from 1991 to 2005, was designed well before scientists started to worry about space debris.

to read more, go to:    http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/09/110921-nasa-satellite-uars-space-debris-crash-land-earth-nation/

9/11 Video Puts it All Together

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Here is a five minute presentation of everything you always wanted to know about 9/11.

(Oh, and as for the plane flying into a building, about a year before 9/11, the emergency services in Putnam, Westchester, and other counties just north of New York City, had a drill in which a plane flew into a building, in this case a school.  The drill was held just outside of West Point.  As a member of a n ambulance corps in that area, I participated in that drill.)

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yuC_4mGTs98