Monthly Archives: November 2012

New Discoveries on the Nature of Light

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Quantum Mystery of Light Revealed by New Experiment

Clara Moskowitz, LiveScience senior writer
Date: 05 November 2012
Light's Wave-Particle Duality
This illustration shows the dual nature of light, which acts like both particles and waves. In a new experiment reported in November 2012, researchers observed light photons acting like both particles and waves simultaneously.
CREDIT: S. Tanzilli, CNRS

Is light made of waves, or particles?

This fundamental question has dogged scientists for decades, because light seems to be both. However, until now, experiments have revealed light to act either like a particle, or a wave, but never the two at once.

Now, for the first time, a new type of experiment has shown light behaving like both a particle and a wave simultaneously, providing a new dimension to the quandary that could help reveal the true nature of light, and of the whole quantum world.

The debate goes back at least as far as Isaac Newton, who advocated that light was made of particles, and James Clerk Maxwell, whose successful theory of electromagnetism, unifying the forces of electricity and magnetism into one, relied on a model of light as a wave. Then in 1905, Albert Einstein explained a phenomenon called the photoelectric effect using the idea that light was made of particles called photons (this discovery won him the Nobel Prize in physics). [What’s That? Your Physics Questions Answered]

Ultimately, there’s good reason to think that light is both a particle and a wave. In fact, the same seems to be true of all subatomic particles, including electrons and quarks and even the recently discovered Higgs boson-like particle. The idea is called wave-particle duality, and is a fundamental tenet of the theory of quantum mechanics.

Depending on which type of experiment is used, light, or any other type of particle, will behave like a particle or like a wave. So far, both aspects of light’s nature haven’t been observed at the same time.

But still, scientists have wondered, does light switch from being a particle to being a wave depending on the circumstance? Or is light always both a particle and a wave simultaneously?

Artist’s impression, inspired by the work of the artist Maurits Cornelis Escher, of the continuous morphing between particle- and wave-like behaviour of light
Artist’s impression, inspired by the work of the artist Maurits Cornelis Escher, of the continuous morphing between particle- and wave-like behaviour of light
CREDIT: Nicolas Brunner and Jamie Simmonds

Now, for the first time, researchers have devised a new type of measurement apparatus that can detect both particle and wave-like behavior at the same time. The device relies on a strange quantum effect called quantum nonlocality, a counter-intuitive notion that boils down to the idea that the same particle can exist in two locations at once.

“The measurement apparatus detected strong nonlocality, which certified that the photon behaved simultaneously as a wave and a particle in our experiment,” physicist Alberto Peruzzo of England’s University of Bristol said in a statement. “This represents a strong refutation of models in which the photon is either a wave or a particle.”

Peruzzo is lead author of a paper describing the experiment published in the Nov. 2 issue of the journal Science.

 

The experiment further relies on another weird aspect of quantum mechanics — the idea of quantum entanglement. Two particles can become entangled so that actions performed on one particle affect the other. In this way, the researchers were able to allow the photons in the experiment to delay the choice of whether to be particles or waves.

MIT physicist Seth Lloyd, who was not involved in the project, called the experiment “audacious” in a related essay in Science, and said that while it allowed the photons to delay the choice of being particles or waves for only a few nanoseconds, “if one has access to quantum memory in which to store the entanglement, the decision could be put off until tomorrow (or for as long as the memory works reliably). So why decide now? Just let those quanta slide!”

from:    http://www.livescience.com/24509-light-wave-particle-duality-experiment.html

Winter Storm Athena Heading for East Coast

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First Hurricane Sandy, now Winter Storm Athena for the Eastern U.S.
Published: 2:57 PM GMT on November 07, 2012

Winter Storm Warnings are up for Southwest New Jersey, Northern Delaware, and Southeast Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia, PA, where Winter Storm Athena is expected to drop 3 – 5″ of snow today through Thursday morning. Slushy accumulations of up to 1″ are likely in Baltimore, and non-accumulating snow will fall as far south as Washington, DC. Athena, the season’s first Nor’easter and first winter storm to get a name under The Weather Channel’s new naming system, is spreading rain and high winds into Southern New Jersey and Eastern Long Island, NY this morning. Winds at buoy 44025, about 40 miles offshore from the coast of Central New Jersey, reached 40 mph, gusting to 49 mph, with a significant wave height of 14′, at noon EST. Winds at Nantucket, MA have gusted as high as 54 mph this morning. Athena is building a storm surge that has already reached 2.2′ at Atlantic City and 1.8′ at New York City as of noon EST. A storm surge of 2 – 3.5′ is likely along the section of coast most heavily damaged by Sandy’s storm surge, and battering waves up to 20′ high will cause moderate beach erosion along much of the New Jersey and New York shoreline. The storm surge will cause minor to moderate flooding during this afternoon’s high tide cycle near 1 pm EST, and again at the next high tide, near 1 am EST Thursday morning. Fortunately, the high tides this week will be some of the lowest of the month, since we are midway between the new moon and full moon. Wind gusts from Athena will likely reach 50 mph along the coasts of New Jersey and Southern Long Island, NY, and could hit 60 mph on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. I expect that Athena’s winds, rains, and wet, heavy snows will cause up to 50,000 new power outages today. As of early Wednesday morning, 676,000 customers were still without power in the wake of Hurricane Sandy (down from a peak of 8.5 million customers.)


Figure 1. Winter Storm Athena as seen at 9:01 am EST November 7, 2012. Image credit: NOAA/GSFC.


Figure 2. Predicted storm surge at Sandy Hook, NJ, for Winter Storm Athena, from the experimental Extratropical Storm Surge model, run by NOAA’s Meteorological Development Laboratory. This model used winds from this morning’s 6Z (1 am EDT) run of the GFS model. The peak storm surge (yellowish-brown line) is predicted to be 3.4′, occurring Wednesday evening. High tide (green line) occurs near 1 pm Wednesday afternoon, resulting in a peak storm tide of approximately 7.2′ around 1 pm Wednesday (black line). For comparison, Sandy delivered a 8.6′ storm surge to Sandy Hook before their tide gauge failed, with the storm tide reaching 13.2′ above MLLW (Mean Lower Low Water.)

The decision to name Athena
The Weather Channel announced in October that they would begin naming winter storms this year, in an effort to aid in raising awareness and reduce the risks the public faces. One of the main criteria for naming a storm is its impact on populated areas; the meteorology of the storm may not get it named, if the storm doesn’t affect a populated area. If Hurricane Sandy had not devastated the region of coast being affected by today’s Winter Storm Athena, it may not have gotten a name. With so many people still under recovery efforts even well inland, the combination of heavy, wet snow and wind prompted the decision to name Athena. The models have been trending towards more cold air getting pulled into this system, so it is possible Athena could drop heavier snows than currently advertised. The National Weather Service will not be referring to today’s Nor’easter as “Athena”. They put out this internal directive: “The NWS does not use named winter storms in our products. Please refrain from using the term Athena in any of our products.”

Here are the peak wind gusts from Athena as of 11 am EST on Wednesday, November 7, 2012:

Jeff Masters

from:    http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/article.html

Northwestern Iran Earthquake 11/07

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Dangerous earthquake in Northern Iran
Whats looks as a moderate Magnitude is always very tricky in Iran. USGS Has predicted a MMI VII for 2000 people. MMI VII means immediate shaking danger for damage and injuries. We are not confident at all that there will be no victims based on the current preliminary findings.
The epicenter area is the earlier destructed Ahar area (see our extensive August 11 earthquake report)
A lot of the houses in the area are still in a bad shape and may suffer again from today’s earthquake. Additionally, winter is on his way with very deep temperatures in this area of the world.
A quote from Tabriz, 51 km from the epicenter : “my bed,chair,computer desk and everything shaked and I ran out ! everybody came to streets , we’re worry about next ones!”
Update 08:31 UTC : Mehrnews reports that 30 people have been treated in hospitals so far
Update 09:11 UTC : The Iranian authorities are luckily reporting a lower Magnitude of M5.1  at a depth of 19 km, a lot weaker than reported by USGS and EMSC. What maybe comes as a surprise to us is not really a surprise in the area as aftershocks have been  rattling the area for some days (see below the stronger ones) !
– 2012/11/07 06:26:29 38.43 N 46.60 E 19 5.1 Varzaghan, East Azarbaijan
– 2012/10/27 03:56:41 38.40 N 46.65 E 4 4.0 Varzaghan, East Azarbaijan
– 2012/10/26 22:31:16 38.46 N 46.65 E 10 4.3 Varzaghan, East Azarbaijan
Update 11:16 UTC : The two quakes left more than 250 people dead, injured nearly 1,400 others and inflicted heavy damage on the region. More than 1,800 aftershocks have struck the area since the first quake.

Image courtesy USGS

from:    http://earthquake-report.com/2012/11/07/major-earthquakes-list-november-7-2012/

Champerico, Guatemala Earthquake

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Massive earthquake close to Champerico, Guatemala

Last update: November 7, 2012 at 5:23 pm by By

Update 17:34 UTC : The Guatemalan Instituto Nacional de Sismología reports a Magnitude of 7.2 at a depth and mentions a MMI of V at many Guatemalan locations.  The earthquake was well felt at Guatemala, Jalapa, Jutiapa, Alta Verapaz, Quetzaltenango, Suchitepéquez, Zacapa, Escuintla and Quiché.

Update 17:26 UTC : Based on the current USGS data, 236000 people will have experienced a very strong shaking (MMI VII). Nearly 2 million people a strong shaking. We will have to wait a little longer to get a better view on the potential damage. The chance on damage cannot be excluded as the location of the epicenter has been relocated closer to the coast.

Update 17:23 UTC : The max. MMI has been increased by USGS from VI to VII (strong increased to very strong shaking). The main risk however is a tsunami risk at the closest shores to the epicenter.

USGS is currently reporting a Magnitude of 7.5 at  a depth of 33 km.
Luckily the epicenter is about 20 miles out of the coast which will weaken the shaking a lot.
So far a MMI VI has been reported (strong shaking).
There will certainly have been called a Tsunami alarm as the epicenter was close to the coast.
NOAA stipulates that there is NO tsunami warning for ALASKA/ BRITISH  COLUMBIA/ WASHINGTON/ OREGON AND CALIFORNIA…, which must be a relief for those areas.
NOAA Tsunami bulletin
We will soon start an in-depth article on this massive earthquake.
Update 17:09 UTC : The max. shaking values we have received so far are MMI VI, which is very hopeful (minor damage and injuries expected at these values).  The first reports we did receive did locate the epicenter closer to the coast, which is not confirmed by other agencies.

Shaking map courtesy USGS

Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : 7.4
UTC Time :  2012-11-07 16:35:50 UTC
Local time at epicenter : 2012-11-07 10:35:50 UTC-06:00 at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter) : 41.6 km
Geo-location(s) :
24km (15mi) S of Champerico, Guatemala
55km (34mi) SSW of Retalhuleu, Guatemala
60km (37mi) SSW of San Sebastian, Guatemala

from:    http://earthquake-report.com/2012/11/07/massive-earthquake-out-of-the-champerico-guatemala-coast/

Or Bodies as Predictors of the Future

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Can Our Bodies Predict the Future?

Tia Ghose, LiveScience Staff Writer
Date: 01 November 2012
Photo
CREDIT: The Skeptical Inquirer

People’s bodies know a big event is coming just before it happens, at least according to a new study.

If true, the research, published Oct. 17 in the journal Frontiers of Perception, suggests something fundamental about the laws of nature has yet to be discovered.

“The claim is that events can be predicted without any cues,” said Julia Mossbridge, a Northwestern University neuroscientist who co-authored the study. “This evidence suggests the effect is real but small. So the question is: How does it work?”

Other scientists are skeptical of this interpretation, however. They suggest some bias in which studies get published could play a role in seeing an effect where there is none.

Real effect?

Many studies have shown that physical responses including heart rate, pupil dilation and brain activity change between one and 10 seconds before people see a scary image (like a slithering snake). In most of these experiments, frightening pictures were randomly interspersed with more-neutral ones, so that in theory participants didn’t have any clues about which photo would pop up next. But because the finding seemed so unnatural, those studies were understandably met with skepticism.

To see whether the effect was real, Mossbridge and her team analyzed over two dozen of these studies. As part of the analysis, they threw out any experiments in which they saw bias or flaws.

They still found a “presentiment” effect, in which measures of physiological excitement changed seconds before an event. The finding suggests that people’s bodies subconsciously sense the future when something important is about to happen, even if the people don’t know it.

For instance, if you were a day-trader betting lots of money on one stock, “10 seconds beforehand you might predict your stock tanking,” Mossbridge told LiveScience.

The paper doesn’t claim that people are psychic or have supernatural or paranormal powers. Instead, the authors believe presentiment is a real, physical effect that obeys natural laws — just ones that nobody understands, Mossbridge said. [Infographic: Belief in the Paranormal]

Researchers skeptical

But others doubt presentiment exists at all.

While the statistical methods used in the study are sound, that doesn’t mean presentiment is real, said Rufin VanRullen, a cognitive scientist at the Center for Research on the Brain and Cognition, in an email.

“All it means is that there is a statistical trend for scientists who search for these so-called presentiment effects to actually find them,” wrote VanRullen, who was not involved in the study.

Instead, it’s more likely that the experiments are biased, perhaps unintentionally, in a way the study authors missed, Kyle Elliott Mathewson, a researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said via email.

It’s also possible that scores of researchers looked for this result, failed to find it and forgot all about it, added Mathewson, who like VanRullen wasn’t involved in the study. Those studies would never be published, he said, so the overall effect in the published studies would be biased.

According to the researchers, in order for such bias to explain their results, at least 87 other unpublished studies would need to show no effect.

“Between psychology labs and parapsychology investigations, I can imagine this many failed experiments that go unreported easily,” Mathewson wrote.

from:    http://www.livescience.com/24479-bodies-predict-the-future.html

November 4-10 Chromoscope

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Some Light Action This Week in the Living RoomNovember 4-10

Overall Color for the Week:    Molasses Brown

The theme this week is AWARENESS.  In all you do, you encounter, you say, you experience, etc. be aware of the larger picture.  When you see something, KNOW that you see it.  When you hear something, KNOW that you hear it.  When you smell something, KNOW that you smell it.

So, this is a week in which nothing happens because everything is happening, and there are so, so many who do not want things to change.  And this, then, is the conflict, the push-me/pull-you energy which makes everything seem so confused, those holding on to the past, to how it has always been, versus those who are moving forward, who have realized that things will never ever be the same again.  Change is in the air.  There are so many shifts going on.  The various layers of existence are drifting apart.  People, places, things, which seemed to be right here, right now are holding onto their comfort levels, some with defiance, some with anger, and some with violence.  There is regret in the air this week.  There is sorrow.  There is understanding.  It is just how things are right now.  It is important to know that, to accept that as true, and to be kind to yourself.  This is not a week for judgment or guilt.  Things are moving forward as they must.  There will be some surprises and some shake-ups, but if you are in touch with the larger pattern, you will be able to see all of these things for what they are.  There is much learning going on this week.  Also, the time is right to look at all the stuff in your life, on all levels, and start clearing out.  Yu will need lots of room for the novelty that is arriving.

On the larger scale, the shake-ups continue on all levels.  There is sorrow here too.  Gaia has more to say to all, and it is important to be aware of where this is happening.  There are messages for those who live in those areas.  Again, there will be Earth movements and storms in out of the way places, which will not be noted in the media.  It is well to research these things for they are the beginnings of chain reactions that will come down and affect the globe.  Some of these things will be below the surface of the waters.  The oil spill will come back into the news as it is realized that is continues to this day.  The Gulf Stream is changing, and that will bring some anomalies.  The financial picture is blurred and becoming blurrier.  Things are falling apart on that level.  This is not a time for going into fear, rather be aware that the financial core is melting, and there will be some reverberations in that area as the month progresses.  This can lead to wild spending as well as the pulling in of money by the larger holders.  Travel will be a challenge this week, as Mercury goes retrograde on Tuesday.  This will also affect the election process.  The aftermath of Sandy continues to plague the east Coast which can lead to some unexpected maneuvers on the part of the people in charge and the police forces.  It is well to be aware of what is going on in regards to the whole idea of control, particularly by the militia.  There are people who are feeling that they are no longer pulling the strings as they did before, and this can lead to some odd events.  It is important to stay grounded and centered through all of this.  Know your power and approach everything, from this point forward, from your place of power.  Do not accept the opinions of others, for in so many cases they are mere categories that they are using to entrap you.  The Galaxy has surprises for us.  There can be some mention of this in the news.  That Galactic energy is making itself felt, even as the extra-terrestrial presence becomes more obvious.  Expect some sightings in areas of tension.  The Indian subcontinent can see some unusual events this year. There is also an individual who is coming forth who can startle with his charismatic pronouncements.  Expect also some startling news about this year’s harvest and the use of GMO’s.

Sunday, November 4:   Light Sage

Everything will be happening too late today.  If you had things you wanted to get done, you will, however they will be last minute completions.  Funny, though, this will not bother you, rather it can free you from a lot of the scheduling stuff that has kept you on a treadmill, running, running, running, and getting nowhere.  This is the first day in a long time in which you will end the day feeling that, in fact, you did get somewhere.  There are lessons here.

Monday, November 5:    Bright Sapphire

Things remembered and things forgotten.  It will all come together in the current energy.  All of tis can leave you feeling somewhat confused, and, at the same time, needing to seem to be in control of it all.  Let go of that.  It is not time to let the ego take hold.  It is time to let the deeper self see what is going on, which means to feel the situation and to show you what it means for you.  There is a whole lot of learning in the air today.  Some will be easy, some not quite so.  But it is all stuff you have known for so long.  You just needed to be reminded.  When a helping hand is offered, take it.  There is no agenda, just compassion.

Tuesday, November 6:     Asparagus Green

Reverberations.  That is what the day is all about.  Everything has been out  there before.  Some things for quite some time, others just recently but the reverberations are being felt today.  This can affect you in every area.  Look to your health and do not overtax yourself.  Look at the people around you.  You will be seeing what they truly are about.  This can give you a few moments of misgivings, but it is important to let it go.  The reverberations are only what was always there coming to the surface. If you can move into your inner knowing, you will know that you knew it all before.  This is a day for strength  When what you knew intuitively comes to the surface it can surprise, startle, shock and even hurt you if you are not open to what it is that you know.  Let things be as they are.  See what you see , know what you know, and move into the larger perspective.  It is all part of that pattern.  The jigsaw puzzle is taking form.  There are things that are important to you and things that are not.  But through it all is the universal pattern.  Regardless, there are some in-your-face moments coming out today.  Time for a mirror.  Send them back to the ones who do not want to see what THEY are.

Wednesday, November 7:      Khaki Yellow

It is time to let go.  It is time to know that so much you thought was important, even critical, was only illusion, and that illusion has been manipulated to make you feel that it was real.  This is a day for going within.  To honor, recognize, amaze at, the power that is within.  To know that any true power comes from within.  This is a day on which perspectives are being tested, wrung out, and replaced.  It is good.  We often do not trust what we know within the heart until we have no other choice.  Right now, there is no choices other than to act from what we know to be true based upon the deepest essence of WHO we are.  Trust your intuition.  It works on so many more levels than the poor limited human psyche.  There are lessons based on the wisdom of the heart that will be coming your way today.  They can intrigue you, but most of all, they will console you in knowing that if you trust your connection to the Universal  Consciousness, you can create miracles.  As with so many things, you have to do them in order to know that you CAN do them.  Fly.

Thursday, November 8:    Sage Green

The lessons continue in the current energy.  Interestingly, however, you are both student and teacher in much of this.  There is a new cooperation that is eddying around everyone, and if you allow yourself to be open to it, you will find that you move into the flow with more ease and confidences.  This can affect all parts of your physicality, and will, in time be reflected in how your body looks.  The lights inside the bio-photons, are being charged up by the increasing action of the Sun, regardless of what NASA may be telling you about the Sun’s effects at this time.  You are learning what it is to participate with Gaia as a true light being, and the energies of the day can bring you forward in this.  There is much learning to be done, and a large part of what you do is according to your own choices.  This is another shift day.  Take the time to go within and review your pacts with yourself and the Universe.  There is much work to be done, and you have many more resources than you knew  Time spent in contemplation, creation, meditation can bring to you the depths of your awareness while awakening you to your potential and your connectedness.

 

 

First Sandy, and Now, A Nor-easter

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A moderate-strength Nor’easter on Wednesday looking increasingly likely
Published: 7:38 PM GMT on November 03, 2012

Storm-weary U.S. residents pounded by Superstorm Sandy may have a new storm to contend with on Wednesday: an early-season Nor’easter is expected to impact the mid-Atlantic and New England with strong winds and heavy rain. Our two top models, the European (ECMWF) and GFS (run by the U.S. National Weather Service), are now in agreement on both the track and intensity of the storm. The storm will move off the coast of South Carolina/Georgia on Tuesday evening. Once over the warm waters off the coast, the low will intensify, spreading heavy rains of 2 – 3″ over coastal North Carolina on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. The storm will accelerate to the north-northeast on Wednesday and pull in cold air from Canada, intensifying into a medium-strength Nor’easter with a central pressure of 984 mb by Wednesday evening. The European model, which did an exemplary job forecasting Hurricane Sandy, is slower, predicting the Nor’easter’s highest winds will begin affecting New Jersey on Wednesday night. The GFS model is about 12 hours faster, predicting the strongest winds will arrive on Wednesday morning. A 12-hour period of strong winds of 40 – 45 mph will likely affect the coast from Maryland to Massachusetts, accompanied by a swath of 2 – 3″ of rain. The heaviest rains will likely fall over Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The storm also has the potential to bring more than a foot of snow to mountain areas of New England. The storm is still four days away, and four-day forecasts of the path and intensity of Nor’easters usually have large errors. Nevertheless, residents and relief workers in the region hit by Sandy should anticipate the possibility of the arrival on Wednesday of a moderate-strength Nor’easter with heavy rain, accompanied by high winds capable of driving a 1 – 2 foot storm surge with battering waves. The surge and waves will potentially cause moderate to severe erosion on New Jersey coast, where Hurricane Sandy pulverized the protective beach dunes.


Figure 1. Predicted wind speed for Thursday morning, November 8, 2012, from the ECMWF model (left) and predicted wind speed for 2 pm EST on Wednesday, November 7, from the GFS model (right). Both models runs were done beginning at 12Z (8 am EDT) on November 3, 2012. Winds tropical storm-force (39+ mph) are predicted to extend from coastal Virginia to Massachusetts. The GFS model brings the Nor’easter to a point off the New Jersey coast about 12 hours faster than the ECMWF model.


Figure 2. Forecast track error for four of our top models used to predict Hurricane Sandy. The GFS model performed the best for 1 – 3 day forecasts, but the European (ECMWF) model far out-performed all models at longer-range 4 – 5 day forecasts. This may be due to the fact the model was able to successfully predict the timing of the arrival of a trough of low pressure over the Eastern U.S. that acted to steer Sandy to the north and then northwest. Image credit: Morris Bender, NOAA/GFDL.

Charities mobilize for Sandy
Sandy’s death toll of 109 in the U.S. makes it the 25th deadliest hurricane in U.S. history, and the 2nd deadliest since 1972, when Hurricane Agnes killed 122 in the Northeast U.S. The main owners of The Weather Channel have agreed to match donations of up to $1 million to the American Red Cross, with all donations to benefit people in the hard-hit areas of the U.S. To have your donation matched, please visit www.redcross.org/sandy, or text SANDY to 90999. I also recommend my favorite disaster relief charity, Portlight.org. They are focusing their response efforts exclusively on the post-Sandy needs of people with disabilities.Check out the Portlight blog to see what they’re up to. Sandy’s greatest devastation occurred in Haiti, where rains of up to 20 inches in 24 hours unleashed rampaging flood waters that killed at least 54, left 200,000 homeless, wiped out thousand of acres of crops, and killed massive numbers of livestock. For impoverished families in Haiti still struggling to recover from the earthquake in 2010 and Hurricane Isaac in August, Sandy was devastating. These crops are the very essence of rural Haitian’s livelihoods, and there are fears widespread starvation will result. A disaster relief charity in Haiti that I’ve contributed to for many years, The Lambi Fund of Haiti, is seeking donations to help farmers purchase local seeds so that they can replant their crops in the wake of this latest terrible Haitian catastrophe.

I’ll have an update Monday, unless there’s some major change in the model forecasts for the coming Nor’easter.

from:    http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/article.html

Fireballs fr/Constellation of Taurus

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TAURID FIREBALLS: Sky watchers should be alert for fireballs in the nights ahead. Forecasters say Earth might be heading for a swarm of gravelly debris from comet Encke. If so, meteoroids the size of pebbles and small stones hitting Earth’s atmosphere at 25 km/s would produce a slow drizzle of very bright fireballs flying out of the constellation Taurus–hence the name “Taurids.” The display is expected to peak with a few fireballs every hour during the nights of Nov. 5-12.

NASA’s network of all-sky meteor cameras is already picking up some Taurid fireballs–“7 in the past two nights and 11 altogether since Halloween,” reports Bill Cooke of the Meteoroid Environment Office. Here are their orbits:

In the orbital diagram, the location of Earth is denoted by a red splat. The orbits of the meteoroids (yellow) roughly match that of parent Comet Encke (orange), confirming their association with the Taurid debris swarm.

“What always strikes me about the Taurids,” notes Cooke, “is how deeply they penetrate Earth’s atmosphere. On average, they make it to an altitude of 44 miles. Contrast this to the recent Orionids, which burn up at an average altitude of 58 miles. Part of this is due to the speed difference: Taurids are slow (27 km/s) while Orionids are fast (66 km/s). In addition, many Taurids are made up of stronger stuff than the Orionids.”

Yesterday, Cooke received this report from a hunter in Tennessee, who was near the terminus of a Taurid fireball which made it all the way down to 18.5 miles altitude: “On the morning of October 30 at approximately 6:00 CDT I was walking into a hunting spot in the middle of the Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge. As I was standing, this bright white light appeared from the north, illuminating the woods like daylight, casting shadows of the trees, and as it passed overhead in a couple of seconds, the shadows quickly reversed direction. It was so intense I felt like a searchlight from an overhead helicopter was on me, but there was no noise. As it disappeared into the southern sky, I heard three extremely loud booms which I also felt much like a sonic boom from a plane. The resident birds all began to call for a minute after. In my 62 years of living on this planet, and witnessing several meteor showers- some very bright- I can tell you I have never witnessed anything like this. The experience was not totally unlike that seen in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind when the man’s truck was stopped at a railroad crossing and he was engulfed in light!”

from:   spaceweather.com

Pesticide Corps Mobilize to Back Monsanto

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6 Largest Pesticide Corporations Funding Effort to Try to Defeat GMO Labeling Proposition 37

25th October 2012

By J. D. Heyes – naturalnews.com

In what should probably surprise no one who has been following the Proposition 37 issue, a California proposal that would require the ingredients in all GM foods to be labeled, the so-called “Big 6″ pesticide corporations have become the movement’s main opponents.

Filings released this week by the California Secretary of State’s office denote that the world’s six largest pesticide corporations have become the six biggest contributors to opponents of Prop 37. In all, they have funneled in excess of $20 million to oppose the measure which, again, would require what should already be happening: the labeling of genetically engineered or modified food. The money has especially funded an aggressive, extensive ad campaign in recent weeks.

“Pesticide corporations like Monsanto continue to enjoy unfettered and unlabeled access to the market, while consumers are left largely in the dark,” said Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, PhD, senior scientist at Pesticide Action Network. “Despite the best efforts of the big six to confuse and distort the issue, Californians have a right to know what’s in their food and how it’s grown.”

The Big 6 – Monsanto, BASF, Bayer, Dow, DuPont and Syngenta – far and away dominate the global seed and pesticide markets; they are actively opposing Prop 37. In filings released recently, each of the corporations “made contributions of at least $2 million, with Monsanto’s contribution alone totaling more than $7 million,” said PAN, in a press release.

What do the Big 6 have to hide?

The opposition really wants Prop. 37 defeated. Including Big 6 donations, so far those committed to defeating it have ponied up in excess of $37 million; they’ve spent $19 million with Sacramento public relations firms and on aggressive television advertising and paid mailings to voters.

But why? Why are companies so opposed to openness and honesty when it comes to allowing consumers the right to know what’s in the GM foods they are buying?

The answer may lie in a comprehensive study released a week ago. According to Dr. Charles Benbrook, who conducted the study using federal government data, the Big 6 likely don’t want you to know that genetically engineered crops drive up the use of dangerous pesticides while they open more markets for them as well (as usual, “follow the money”).

Benbrook found that GM crops have “increased pesticide use by over 400 million pounds in the United States over the past fifteen years,” said the PAN statement.

“Increased pesticide use has led to greater and greater weed resistance. In turn, this has led to more applications of pesticides – as well as use of more hazardous pesticides – in agricultural fields, putting rural communities and farm workers at the greatest risk of harm due to pesticide exposure,” the activist organization said.

More pesticides, more chemicals, more danger

In addition to the use of more pesticides, the control over seeds has also benefited these giant biotech companies – at the expense, of course, of consumers.

“The Big 6 chemical and seed companies are working diligently to monopolize the food system at the expense of consumers, farmers and smaller seed companies,” said Philip H. Howard, an associate professor at Michigan State University and an expert on industry consolidation.

In all, Monsanto alone controls 23 percent of the world’s seed market, while Bayer controls 20 percent of the global pesticide market.

So what’s the big deal, really? Why should GM foods be labeled anyhow?

Probably the biggest reason why is because GMOs – genetically modified organisms – in general were not created by food or agriculture companies. They were created by Monsanto – the same biotech and chemical company that brought us DDT, PCBs and Agent Orange. Monsanto also marketed aspartame and created bovine growth hormone (rBGH) to infect milking cows that put pus into commercial milk.

That’s what the big deal is.

from:     http://wakeup-world.com/2012/10/25/6-largest-pesticide-corporations-funding-effort-to-try-to-defeat-gmo-labeling-proposition-37/

The Toll Of Hurricane Sandy

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Sandy by the numbers: trying to comprehend a stunning disaster
Published: 7:19 PM GMT on November 01, 2012

The immensity of the impact of Superstorm Sandy on the Eastern U.S. is difficult to comprehend, and the scenes of devastation coming from the impact zone are stunning and heart-wrenching. To help understand the extraordinary scale of this historic storm, I’ve put together a list of notable statistics from Sandy:

Death toll: 160 (88 in the U.S., 54 in Haiti, 11 in Cuba)

Damage estimates: $10 – $55 billion

Power outages: 8.5 million U.S. customers, 2nd most for a natural disaster behind the 1993 blizzard (10 million)

Maximum U.S. sustained winds: 69 mph at Westerly, RI

Peak U.S. wind gusts: 90 mph at Islip, NY and Tompkinsville, NJ

Maximum U.S. storm surge: 9.45′, Bergen Point, NJ 9:24 pm EDT October 29, 2012

Maximum U.S. Storm Tide: 14.60′, Bergen Point, NJ, 9:24 pm EDT October 29, 2012

Maximum wave height: 33.1′ at the buoy east of Cape Hatteras, NC (2nd highest: 32.5′ at the Entrance to New York Harbor)

Maximum U.S. rainfall: 12.55″, Easton, MD

Maximum snowfall: 36″, Richwood, WV

Minimum pressure: 945.5 mb, Atlantic City, NJ at 7:24 pm EST, October 29, 2012. This is the lowest pressure measured in the U.S., at any location north of Cape Hatteras, NC (previous record: 946 mb in the 1938 hurricane on Long Island, NY)

Destructive potential of storm surge: 5.8 on a scale of 0 to 6, highest of any hurricane observed since 1969. Previous record: 5.6 on a scale of 0 to 6, set during Hurricane Isabel of 2003.

Diameter of tropical storm-force winds at landfall: 945 miles

Diameter of ocean with 12′ seas at landfall: 1500 miles


Figure 1. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite acquired this image of Superstorm Sandy around 3:35 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (7:35 Universal Time) on October 30. This image is from the “day-night band” on VIIRS, which detects light wavelengths from green to near-infrared. The full Moon lit up the tops of the clouds. Image credit: NASA.


Figure 2. Preliminary death and damage statistics for Sandy as compiled by Wikipedia on November 1, 2012.


Figure 3. Precipitation from Superstorm Sandy for the 7-day period ending at 8 am EDT Thursday, November 1, 2012. Image credit: NOAA/NWS/AHPS.


Figure 4. Top five weather-related power outages in the U.S.


Figure 5. Strong winds from Sandy blow snow in West Virginia on October 30, 2012. Image credit: Facebook/Cheryl Clay

Sandy’s snows
Several cities set records for snowiest October day on record during Sandy: Elkin, WV (7″, previous record, 4.6″ in 1917) and Bluefield (4.7″, previous record 3.2″ in 1993.) Heavy snows caused roof collapses in West Virginia, and snows of two feet or more fell in four states–West Virginia, Tennessee, Maryland, and Virginia. However, Sandy fell short of setting the all-time record for snowfall from a hurricane. The Vermont Journal estimated that the Snow Hurricane of 1804 dumped up to 4 feet of snow in Vermont.

36″ Richwood, WV
34″ Mount Leconte, TN
34″ Sevier, TN
33″ Clayton, WV
32″ Snowshoe, WV
29″ Quinwood, WV
28″ Frostburg, WV
28″ Davis, WV
28″ Huttonsville, WV
28″ Flat Top, WV
26″ Redhouse, MD
26″ Garret, MD
26″ Craigsville, WV
24″ Oakland, MD
24″ Alpine Lake, WV
24″ Nettie, WV
24″ Norton, VA
24″ Quinwood, WV
24″ Alexander, WV

Links
Impressive loop of 1-minute visible satellite imagery spanning 6 days of Sandy’s life.

A one-day time lapse video from a New York City webcam showing Sandy’s impact on the city. It’s eerie to see the city suddenly plunged into darkness.

First round of damage assessment aerial imagery collected by NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey on Oct. 31 along the New Jersey coast.


Figure 6. Flooding in Haiti from Hurricane Sandy. Image credit: The Lambi Fund of Haiti.

Charities mobilize for Sandy
The outpouring of charitable donations in the wake of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy has been one of the bright spots in the gloomy aftermath of the storm. The main owners of The Weather Channel have agreed to match donations of up to $1 million to the American Red Cross, if you text SANDY to 90999 ($10). I also recommend my favorite disaster relief charity, Portlight.org. They are focusing their response efforts exclusively on the post-Sandy neeeds of people with disabilities.Check out the Portlight blog to see what they’re up to; donations are always needed.

Sandy’s greatest devastation occurred in Haiti, where rains of up to 20 inches in 24 hours unleashed rampaging flood waters that killed at least 54, left 200,000 homeless, wiped out thousand of acres of crops, and killed massive numbers of livestock. For impoverished families in Haiti still struggling to recover from the earthquake in 2010 and Hurricane Isaac in August, Sandy was devastating.  These crops are the very essence of rural Haitian’s livelihoods, and there are fears widespread starvation will result. A disaster relief charity in Haiti that I’ve contributed to for many years, The Lambi Fund of Haiti, is seeking donations to help farmers purchase local seeds so that they can replant their crops in the wake of this latest terrible Haitian catastrophe.

from:    http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/article.html