Author Archives: marcia

Jean Houston on Spiritual Awakening

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The Spiritual Quest – from Jean Houston (Admin)

December 9th, 2011

If I am to know God directly, I must become completely God, and God I, so that this God and this I become one I.
–Meister Eckhart

Wandering the Earth as I do, I eventually run into everybody. And almost everybody I meet seems to be on a spiritual quest, or if not, they have a growing hunger for it. The hound of heaven woofs at their heels urging them to wake up to their spiritual possibilities.
The thing about everybody is that they try everything. For sheer creativity and inventiveness, nothing beats spiritual adventuring.
People meditate or fast or pray in search of Divine connection. They make outlandish promises–giving up sex, calories, comfort. They go mad or go manic, become zealots, hush their minds into quiescence and empty themselves of thought hoping to tempt God to fill the void.
They walk on burning coals, sit in the snow, count their breaths, twirl into ecstasy, make pilgrimages to places where God or His/Her local incarnations are reputed to have placed their feet. They try out religions as different as possible from the ones in which they were raised, go on spiritual shopping sprees, twist their bodies into uncomfortable positions, change their names.
Mostly, they shout at God, begging the Great One to finally show up in their lives.
I’m not criticizing these practices; I’ve tried them all. And don’t laugh–so have you, in other ways, perhaps.
There are many signs that point to your being on a spiritual quest, even if you have not named it as such:
Do you wonder every time you pass a book counter if truth is to be found on its shelves today?
How many books have you bought this year that have “soul” in the title?
Are you always heading off to a seminar or a church retreat?
Is your house filled with angel images–cards, statues, books, candles?
Do you have an acupuncturist, a massage therapist, a medicine cabinet full of supplements?
When you get the flu, do you take vitamins and echinecea instead of standard brand antibiotics?
Do you frequent health food stores?
Have you thought about trying to be a vegetarian?
Have you quit the softball league and signed up for a class in yoga or Tai Chi?
Are you surfing the Internet?
Do you find yourself hiding what you’re reading when your relatives enter the room, even though it’s not the least bit sexy?
Have you divorced a spouse because he or she just wasn’t on the same wave length?
Do your kids think you are weird?
Do your CD’s thrum with chants and drums and Celtic harps?
Are you a fan of TV shows about mythic heroes, outer space, immortals, parapsychology?
Are you sometimes unaccountably surprised by joy?
Are you reading this book?
If you have answered “yes” to any of the above, chances are you’re hooked! As well you might be, for the complexity of the present time seems to demand a deepening of our nature if we are going to survive. Deepening requires exploration. And for all its byways, exploration leads ultimately to the spiritual source of our existence.
Not since the days of Plato and Buddha and Confucius, some 2500 years ago, has their been such an uprising of spiritual yearning. But instead of being a Mediterranean and Asian phenomenon, as it was then, the explosion of spirituality is now happening worldwide.

from:   http://www.jeanhouston.com/blog/

On Transforming Fear

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Transform Fear Through Core Belief Work

Most of us have one or more challenging core beliefs which surface repeatedly over the course of our lives. These core beliefs are usually rooted in deep, unexpressed fears. Depending on your perspective, core beliefs either cause all sorts of problems, or present many opportunities for growth. When you choose to look at core belief work as an opportunity, you are much more likely to transform your fears into learning tools which lead to a better life. Below are the most common core issues, their related fears or beliefs, and suggestions for dealing with them.

Examples of Common Core Challenges and Associated Fears or Beliefs

  • Abandonment – Nobody cares about me. I’m all alone. I don’t matter. I can’t trust anyone.
  • Arrogance – I’m better than all of you. I’m too much. I’m right and you’re wrong.
  • Damaged – Something is wrong with me. I’m a failure. I’m damaged.
  • Inferiority – I’m not good enough. I’m stupid. I’m worthless. I’m boring. I’m hopeless.
  • Rejection – I’m a burden. I’m unwanted. Nobody wants to spend time with me.
  • Shame – I’m bad. I’m evil. I’m a mistake. I’m a monster. I’m disgusting. I’m possessed.

These challenging core beliefs often originate from childhood family scenarios. They can be a result of negative messages that were repeated many times to us by our parents or other significant people in our lives. Or one of these beliefs may have been driven deep into us during one or more traumatic experiences. Was one of the above core beliefs drilled into you in your early years?

Note that some people are overcompensators. If you are in this category, you may unconsciously do everything you can to make it appear as if you are anything but your core belief. For instance, someone with inferiority as a core belief might outwardly appear very macho or domineering. Yet deep inside, this is covering up a fear of being inferior. A person dealing with shame may be overly nice and giving to cover up a belief that they are really bad. Particularly if you are having trouble finding a core challenge, notice if any of your behavior is opposite of the core challenges above.

Examples of Behavior of Overcompensators

  • Abandonment – Always need to be included, join everything to avoid deeper feelings.
  • Arrogance – Act very humble, hiding their deeper belief that no one can match them.
  • Damaged – Present themselves as always great, avoid talking about their problems.
  • Inferiority – Macho, domineering, need to prove they are better than others.
  • Rejection – Present themselves as incredibly desirable, yet reject others easily.
  • Shame – Overly nice and giving. Overcompetency. Secretly fear being exposed as fraud.

Whether you are an overcompensator or not, by exploring the deep beliefs behind your fears, you can transform your life for the better. Though you may find that you have more than one of the above, generally one will be more prominent than the others. Particularly if this is new to you, we highly recommend you first focus on exploring your most prominent core challenge. To deal with this, you can then design intentions to gradually shift this deeply ingrained fear or belief.

Suggested Intentions for Transforming Fears, Core Beliefs

  • Abandonment – I am worthy of love. I can find ways to safely share myself with others.
  • Arrogance – I can learn from all around me. I can see goodness in everyone I meet.
  • Damaged – I am whole and complete just as I am. I can choose to love all of me.
  • Inferiority – I am a good, valuable person. I can make meaningful contributions to the world.
  • Rejection – I am an attractive, interesting person. People can enjoy getting to know me.
  • Shame – I can be gentle with myself. I can hold the best intentions for all deep in my heart.

At the root of all of these core challenges is a lack of acceptance and a deep feeling of being disconnected. This disconnection can be from ourselves, from others, from our spiritual nature, or from any combination of these. Here are two empowering intentions for transforming these most basic core beliefs: May I ever deepen my acceptance of myself and all around me. May I ever deepen my connection with myself and with all around me.

The above intentions are merely suggestions which you may or may not choose to use. By developing your own statements that resonate more strongly with your personal experience, you can transform your fears on a deeper level. Set aside time to explore these challenges. Change the wording any time you find something more appropriate. You might also invite close friends or family members to give suggestions. Writing down your intentions is highly recommended. Considerwriting a set of life intentions, and review them frequently to help keep you on track.

Once you have developed your intentions, cultivate an awareness of how and when your core challenge is triggered. Notice when you are telling yourself that same old story. Each time this happens, remind yourself of your deeper intention and open to shifting from your old, disempowering self-image into a new, fuller way of being. You can continually choose transformation by remembering to recognize fear as an invitation to growth.

This is not to suggest that you avoid or suppress your fears and core challenges. Working to accept and understand all parts of yourself, including your core challenges, opens the door to transformation and allows you more easily and naturally to access your beautiful deeper essence. This, in turn, can help you to live a much fuller and richer life. For overcompensators, who often have a strong tendency to avoid their fears, this is particularly important. You can find some empowering ideas on developing acceptance and understanding at this link.

Don’t be surprised if after having a significant breakthrough in transforming a core belief, you eventually find the same issue rearing its ugly head again in a different form. Most people find that transforming fear through working with their core beliefs is like peeling away layers of an onion. You make a significant breakthrough, only to eventually find the same old core belief manifesting in another, more subtle form. Yet as each layer is peeled away, you will very likely find your life to be richer, more meaningful, and more enjoyable than it was before.

By identifying and choosing to transform our core challenging beliefs, we transform our deepest fears and end up feeling more alive and more connected with ourselves and with those around us. This then inspires us to participate more fully and effectively in building a brighter future for all.

For more on transforming fear and core beliefs, there are many books, therapists, and workshops which explore this fertile topic. We particularly recommend two inspiring books. Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth provides many powerful suggestions to recognize and transform limiting aspects of ourselves. Undefended Love, by Jett Psaris and Marlena Lyons, also gives excellent ideas and tools. Or search “transform fear” and “core challenges” on any search engine to find more. By transforming your fears, you can have a richer life.

from:    http://www.wanttoknow.info/coreissue

Questions on the Patriot Act

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Democratic Senators Issue Strong Warning About Use of the Patriot Act

By 
Published: March 16, 2012

WASHINGTON — For more than two years, a handful of Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee have warned that the government is secretly interpreting its surveillance powers under thePatriot Act in a way that would be alarming if the public — or even others in Congress — knew about it.

On Thursday, two of those senators —Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mark Udall of Colorado — went further. They said a top-secret intelligence operation that is based on that secret legal theory is not as crucial to national security as executive branch officials have maintained.

The senators, who also said that Americans would be “stunned” to know what the government thought the Patriot Act allowed it to do, made their remarks in a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. after a Justice Department official last month told a judge that disclosing anything about the program “could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the United States.”

The Justice Department has argued that disclosing information about its interpretation of the Patriot Act could alert adversaries to how the government collects certain intelligence. It is seeking the dismissal of two Freedom of Information Act lawsuits — by The New York Times and by the American Civil Liberties Union — related to how the Patriot Act has been interpreted.

The senators wrote that it was appropriate to keep specific operations secret. But, they said, the government in a democracy must act within publicly understood law so that voters “can ratify or reject decisions made on their behalf” — even if that “obligation to be transparent with the public” creates other challenges.

“We would also note that in recent months we have grown increasingly skeptical about the actual value of the ‘intelligence collection operation,’ ” they added. “This has come as a surprise to us, as we were initially inclined to take the executive branch’s assertions about the importance of this ‘operation’ at face value.”

The dispute centers on what the government thinks it is allowed to do under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, under which agents may obtain a secret order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court allowing them to get access to any “tangible things” — like business records — that are deemed “relevant” to a terrorism or espionage investigation.

There appears to be both an ordinary use for Section 215 orders — akin to using a grand jury subpoena to get specific information in a traditional criminal investigation — and a separate, classified intelligence collection activity that also relies upon them.

The interpretation of Section 215 that authorizes this secret surveillance operation is apparently not obvious from a plain text reading of the provision, and was developed through a series of classified rulings by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

The letter from Mr. Wyden and Mr. Udall also complained that while the Obama administration told Congress in August 2009 that it would establish “a regular process for reviewing, redacting and releasing significant opinions” of the court, since then “not a single redacted opinion has been released.”

from:   http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/16/us/politics/democratic-senators-warn-about-use-of-patriot-act.html?_r=1

This Galaxy is a Real Square

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Strange Square-Shaped Galaxy Discovered

 

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An international team of astronomers discovered a rectangular‑shaped galaxy within a group of 250 galaxies some 70 million light years away. “In the Universe around us, most galaxies exist in one of three forms: spheroidal, disc-like, or lumpy and irregular in appearance,” said Alister Graham from Swinburne University of Technology.

He said the rare rectangular-shaped galaxy was a very unusual object. “It’s one of those things that just makes you smile because it shouldn’t exist, or rather you don’t expect it to exist. It’s a little like the precarious Leaning Tower of Pisa or the discovery of some exotic new species which at first glance appears to defy the laws of nature.”The unusually shaped galaxy was detected in a wide field-of-view image taken with the Japanese Subaru Telescope for an unrelated program by Swinburne astrophysicist Dr Lee Spitler.The astronomers suspect it is unlikely that this galaxy is shaped like a cube. Instead, they believe that it may resemble an inflated disc seen side on, like a short cylinder.

Support for this scenario comes from observations with the giant Keck Telescope in Hawaii, which revealed a rapidly spinning, thin disc with a side‑on orientation lurking at the centre of the galaxy. The outermost measured edge of this galactic disc is rotating at a speed in excess of 100,000 kilometres per hour.

“One possibility is that the galaxy may have formed out of the collision of two spiral galaxies,” said Swinburne’s Professor Duncan Forbes, co‑author of the research. “While the pre-existing stars from the initial galaxies were strewn to large orbits creating the emerald cut shape, the gas sank to the mid‑plane where it condensed to form new stars and the disc that we have observed.”

Despite its apparent uniqueness, partly due to its chance orientation, the astronomers have managed to glean useful information for modelling other galaxies.While the outer boxy shape is somewhat reminiscent of galaxy merger simulations which don’t involve the production of new stars, the disc-like structure is comparable with merger simulations involving star formation.

“This highlights the importance of combining lessons learned from both types of past simulation for better understanding galaxy evolution in the future,” said Associate Professor Graham.“One of the reasons this emerald cut galaxy was hard to find is due to its dwarf-like status: it has 50 times less stars than our own Milky Way galaxy, plus its distance from us is equivalent to that spanned by 700 Milky Way galaxies placed end-to-end.“Curiously, if the orientation was just right, when our own disc-shaped galaxy collides with the disc-shaped Andromeda galaxy about three billion years from now we may find ourselves the inhabitants of a square looking galaxy.”

The results will be published in The Astrophysical Journal.More information: Pre-publication: http://arxiv.org/p … 3.3608v1.pdf

The Daily Galaxy via Swinburne University of Technology

from:    http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2012/03/strange-square-shaped-galaxy-discovered.html#more

Celia Fenn on the March Equinox

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New Earth Rising : The Equinox Report for March 2012!

Celia Fenn
a message from Celia Fenn

As we approach the first Equinox of 2012, the energies on Planet Earth are becoming very active and intense and a little unstable. Many people have noticed this, especially in the wake of a series of Solar Flares that have brought new information and new Light Codes for Evolution into our Planetary and Personal Light Body Fields. But, at this time, there is more going on than simply Solar Flare activity. The Earth is preparing herself for the alignments and passages of 2012, we are being brought “up to speed” in a very literal way.

Firstly, the Solar Flare activity brought through the new Light Codes that would begin anchoring in the 8th and 9th Dimensions of Consciousness and begin the structuring of the Earth Keeper Councils. This information is received by the Pineal Gland and then the Pituitary Glands in the Body. Both of these glands are in “hyper” mode right now. This can be compared to a major “download” or “upgrade” in a computer, where the new information requires extensive re-patterning and rebooting. Our cells are receiving new instructions and out neural networks receiving new patterns. We need some “down time” to reboot. I personally spent the week-end in bed just allowing the process. The most likely symptoms of this process are dizziness, as the Pineal is activate to the maximum, inability to sleep also due to Pineal activation, and mood swings and depression, this related to pressure on the emotions and hormonal system via the Pituitary gland.

This energy is being felt by everyone on the Planet in some way, whether conscious or not. And, as if that were not enough, there is another process happening right now. Archangel Michael informs us that the Earth is raising her “base frequency” right now, which means that on the holographic level the frequency rate is rising and everything is accelerating. This is to facilitate the Earth’s passage through the 2012 Portal at the end of the year. You can imagine it like the Earth lining up to pass through the eye of a needle, the aim has to be just right and the speed just right, so that we all make it through.

What this means on the physical level is that the lower chakras, the Base, Sacral and Solar Plexus, are all accelerating their spin. Which in turn means that any old “stuff” still lurking there is being spun off and there is pressure on these chakras. This in turn means that you may feel pain and stress in your body as the body gets used to the increased frequency. The good part of this, of course, is that the higher frequencies will support the manifestation of the New Earth in the physical plane at the same time that the old stuff is getting spun out of the cycle. We can expect more of the old to fall apart and more of the “new” to start to manifest.

You may feel, a bit like I have, that you are being spun out of the cycle yourself, but hold in there, it is just a time of change, transition and acceleration, like changing gear as you head out onto the open road!

I would also like to say that it is our beautiful children who are assisting us with this change….there are so many beautiful Crystal Starchildren now who have been born in the last ten years and who are “wired” for this acceleration. In fact, they are leading it, and that is why so many children are having a difficult time physically right now.

And another point is that as we accept this acceleration and seek to bring it into balance within ourselves, we are assisting the planet in not having to experience a “disaster” to release this energy. Remember this time last year, with Japan and the tsunami? This year, let’s hope we can work to balance this energy together with the Elementals and the Dragons so that the Earth can stay in balance.

So, to everyone reading this, hang in there for the next few days and stay balanced. Rest when you need to, look after your physical being, and know that this will pass in a few days! This is our privilege, to carry the energy as Earth Keepers and assist our beautiful Planet in her Journey of Ascension.

© 2006-12 Celia Fenn and Starchild Global http://www.starchildglobal.com – You are free to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work under the following conditions: You must give the author credit, you may not use this for commercial purposes, and you may not alter, transform or build upon this work. For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. Any other purpose of use must be granted permission by author.

from:    http://spiritlibrary.com/starchild-global/new-earth-rising-the-equinox-report-for-march-2012

Guerrero, Oaxaca, Mexico 7.9 Earthquake

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Earthquake in Guerrero – Oaxaca, Mexico – 500 houses severely damaged at least – but slight damage for such a quake

Last update: March 20, 2012 at 9:33 pm by By 

Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude :  7.9 (preliminary)
UTC Time : Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 18:02:53 UTC
Local time at epicenter : Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 12:02:53 PM at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter) : 10 km
Geo-location(s) :
52 km (32 miles) NE (39°) from Ometepec, Guerrero, Mexico
53 km (33 miles) WSW (241°) from Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca, Mexico
193 km (120 miles) E (83°) from Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico   

Update: 2 buildings in the historic center of Mexico city have also been reported damaged.

– Update: No casualties have been reported from Omotopec which is good news given the damage.

– Update:  We have reports from Mexican radio (from Carlos) that 500 houses have been severely damaged or destroyed in Guerrero. As expected Omotopec has had a lot of this damage.

– Update: Currently only 60 houses are still being reported destroyed in the epicentral region with an extra 400 damaged.

– From Carlos Robles – our US/Mexico Earthquake correspondent:- A wall collapsed leaving one with serious injuries in Mexico City. Damage has been reported in Ciudad de Mexico like cracked roads, damaged buildings, and the bridge that collapsed in a bus with no casaulties.  Damage has been reported in Oaxaca with cracked roads and damaged buildings.

In Puebla the Palacio Municipal (Municipal palace, is a government building.) there were 2 cracked walls. Fissures in churches all over Mexico have been reported. Mobile phones were suspended due to overuse. The subway was suspended. The daughter of president Obama was in Oaxaca when the earthquake hit, she only felt the earthquake and has no injuries.

– A highway in Oaxaca has had a landslide cover a small section. It only caused slight damage in the form of a small car crash. Apart from that, other roads are all clear according to authorities.

– Earlier reports of a footbridge collapsing onto a bus in Mexico City were incorrect. In fact, it was the 10 meters of concrete guard rail of the footbridge which collapsed. No people were killed.

– Update : 1 person has been injured in Colonia Juarez – of a nervous breakdown. In addition a staircase collapsed in a police building and there are reports of minor injuries. Other than that only minor damage has been reported. Some bridges have been closed around Mexico as a precaution.

– Update : At least 60 houses have been destroyed in Guerrero. Most of these are expected to be old adobe houses. Omotopec is expected to have major damage. Damage will likely be in the tens of millions of US dollars.

2.5 million users have had outages in their electricity following the earthquake. After 90 minutes, 1.5 million users were restored to the grid. In the Eastern control area partial outages  in the cities of Poza Rica and Coatzacoalcos and parts of the states of Puebla, Tlaxcala and Morelos. CFE crews will continue working to restore power as quickly as possible in the affected areas.

– Update :  We notice, as expected, a lot of aftershocks, the strongest ones ranging from M 4.7  to M 5.3.

– Update :   – President Calderon has just confirmed that so far NO lives have been lost.
– Power plants are working normally
– The President has also declared that NO major damage was inflicted
– The Mexican Seismological service is maintaining a Magnitud of 7.8

– Update :  YouTube video of the shaking. The shaking we see on the video was more than 300 km from the epicenter! Swaying is more accentuated in high rise buildings.

 

I have felt it Map courtesy USGS

– Update :  At 13:52 local time (1 hour 50 minutes after the earthquake),  NO fatalities have been reported so far, a very good sign !

– Update :  New Intensity calculations(based on the M 7.4 Magnitude) are giving the following impact :
182,000 people MMI VII (very strong shaking)
596,000 people MMI VI (strong shaking)
2,736,000 people MMI V (moderate shaking)
32 million people MMI IV (light shaking)

– Update :  USGS has further decreased the Magnitude from 7.6 to 7.4, a lot weaker than the initially reported 7.9. The depth has been recalculated to 20 km. All this explains the lesser than originally expected intensity.

– Update :  GOOD preliminary news : Only light damage is currently reported out of the epicenter area. Based on our own experience, we think it is far too soon to have a final estimate, but after such an earthquake, we like to hear that the damage is not general.

– Update :  A concrete walkway bridge has collapsed on a microbus. No reports yet about victims. Some people have been hospitalized by a nervous breakdown.

– Update :  Everybody in the country could be found on the streets after evacuating houses and buildings. The situation on the roads of the bigger cities is simply chaotic. Everybody wants to drive back home.

– Update :  NOAA has released the following Tsunami bulletin : A DESTRUCTIVE WIDESPREAD TSUNAMI WAS NOT GENERATED BASED ON EARTHQUAKE AND HISTORICAL TSUNAMI DATA. HOWEVER, THERE IS THE  POSSIBILITY OF SOME LOCAL TSUNAMI EFFECTS.  THIS EARTHQUAKE IS LOCATED INLAND FROM THE COAST.
GDACS another agency who calculates tsunami heights has calculated that a max. tsunami wave of 0.1 meter may have occurred, nothing to be scared of.

– Update :  the closest airports to the epicenter are Pinotepa Nacional (77km) and Ta Lo De Soto (71km)

– Update :  there are NO hydrodams or NO Nuclear Plants in the vicinity of the epicenter

– Update :  GDACS reports that the nearest populated places are: Coyul (16km), Putla de Guerrero (18km), Cuitlapa (15km), Laguna (3km). The closest civilian airport is Pinotepa Nacional (77km).

– Update :  The area has currently a lot of aftershocks as could be expected. These aftershocks will go on for many hours and even days. Gradually they will get weaker but sometimes even M 6.x can be reached.  People in the epicenter area will have to spend the night on the streets out of fear for aftershocks.

– Update :  This earthquake is a subduction earthquake, which means that the Oceanic plate is gliging below the North American plate and often hangs for a while. When the accumulated energy is suddenly freed a massive earthquake is generated.

for more information and updates, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2012/03/20/massive-extremely-dangerous-earthquake-in-guerrero-mexico/:

 

Signs of Volcanic Unrest on Santorini

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Scenic Greek Island Shows Signs of Volcanic Unrest

Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer
Date: 13 March 2012 Time: 02:59 PM ET
Buildings crowd a steep oceanside cliff on Santorini.
The crowded cliffsides of Santorini island in Greece.
CREDIT: Maugli, Shutterstock

The volcanic caldera on the picturesque tourist island of Santorini is showing signs of unrest. But researchers detecting the caldera’s movement say it doesn’t necessarily mean an eruption is imminent.

The Greek island was the site of one of the most massive volcanic eruptions in history 3,600 years ago. That eruption, which created tsunamis 40 feet (12 meters) tall, may have spawned thelegend of the lost city of Atlantis. The volcano last erupted in 1950, albeit on a much smaller scale.

Global positioning system (GPS) sensors placed on the caldera have detected renewed movement after decades of peace. The earth around the caldera (a depression at the top of a volcano) is deforming, or expanding outward, researchers report in an upcoming article in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. GPS instruments on the northern part of Santorini have moved between 1.9 and 3.5 inches (5 to 9 centimeters) since January 2011, said study researcher Andrew Newman, a geophysicist at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

“What we’re seeing now is the first significant deformation and the first deformation that has any significant earthquake activity associated with it,” Newman told LiveScience.

In the same time period, the magma chamber under Santorini has swollen by almost 500 million cubic feet (14 million cubic meters).

Newman and his colleagues say it’s unlikely that the deforming caldera portends an eruption. Excavations of extinct volcanoes suggest that 90 percent of the time, belowground magma movements don’t end in eruption. A similar caldera system, the Long Valley Caldera in California, started deforming in 1980, Newman said. It then quieted again until 1989, repeating the cycle in 1997 and 2002, with nary an eruption.

If a Santorini eruption did occur, Newman said, it would be nothing like the Minoan eruption of 1650 B.C. that birthed the myth of Atlantis. That eruption was a once-in-100,000-year event, and the expansion of the magma chamber happening now is only 1 percent of what would have gone on prior to the ancient blast. [The 10 Biggest Eruptions in History]

Geophysicists are keeping an eye on the caldera, however. An eruption could generate local tsunamis within the Santorini archipelago, Newman said, damaging ports and disrupting ship traffic. Even if the volcano doesn’t erupt, the shifting caldera could increase earthquake risk, and the island cliffs are vulnerable.

“We don’t need an eruption to have earthquake-induced landslides,” Newman said.

There’s no telling how long the deformation will continue, but it could stretch years or decades, perhaps cycling between activity and peace, Newman said. While no reason to be alarmed, the restless caldera is important for scientific study, he added.

“It is one of very few of these really large caldera volcanoes,” he said. “So any information we gather from ongoing activity adds significantly to our database of how these systems evolve.”

from:    http://www.livescience.com/19018-santorini-greek-volcanic-unrest.html

Most Ethical COmpanies

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World’s Most Ethical Companies’ Revealed

David Mielach, BusinessNewsDaily Staff Writer
Date: 17 March 2012 Time: 11:41 AM ET

 

ethics social media misconduct
CREDIT: Dreamstime

Turns out successful businesses aren’t concerned only with their bottom line. At least that is the case for companies like Aflac, American Express,  General Electric, Patagonia and Starbucks. Those companies and 18 others have made the list of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for the sixth straight year.

In all, 145 companies from around the world appear on this year’s list.

Ethisphere Institute, which compiled the list, says it based its rankings on the following factors: ethics and compliance programs; reputation, leadership and innovation; governance; corporate citizenship and responsibility; and culture of ethics.

Notable companies on this year’s list included:

  • Gap Inc.
  • Timberland
  • Ford Motor Company
  • Microsoft
  • eBay Inc.
  • Waste Management
  • PepsiCo
  • Kellogg Company
  • Target
  • Best Buy
  • Cisco
  • UPS

The complete list can be found at the Ethisphere website.

“Each year the competition for ‘World’s Most Ethical Companies’ intensifies as the number of nominations submitted for consideration grows,” said Alex Brigham, executive director of Ethisphere. “This year’s winners know that a strong ethics program is a key component to a successful business model, and they continue to scrutinize their ethical standards to keep up with an ever-changing regulatory environment

from:    http://www.livescience.com/19132-world-ethical-companies.html

 

El Hierro Update

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El Hierro Volcano : Yellow alert – Images of Glowing Lava at 70 meter depth

Last update: March 19, 2012 at 6:41 pm by By 

VERY IMPORTANT Update 19/03 – 17:02 UTC
– ER reader Roland (see comments) has given us the lead to a report of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria showing the still erupting submarine El Hierro volcano with glowing lava seen floating at a depth of 70 meter.
What nobody could accomplish so far, has been done by the ROV E-Wally on board of the SOS-Oceanos, Q-Star, Atlantic Explorer ship by the scientists of the Universidad de Las Palmas the Gran Canaria.
– The images have been captured on March 14 as the date on the images reveal. The images are of course foggy as a lot of suspended material is polluting the water.
– No doubt that Q-Star and the University has also some video footage that they will probably release later on (the pictures are probably screen captures of the video).
We are however VERY PLEASED that all those who cooperated on this mission have proved that the eruptive process is not yet entirely finished (at least it was not after the date that Pevolca said that the eruption stopped).

Original images courtesy Q-Star and Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

ER manipulation of the color saturation and contrast from the original picture above, a lot more details are appearing

 

Image Courtesy Q-Star and Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Update 19/03 – 16:00 UTC
– Images of Joke Volta of today March 19

Update 19/03 – 11:17 UTC
– Nothing unusual this morning.
– Since midnight NO listed earthquakes since Saturday
– Sunday afternoon we noticed increased microseismicity. The variation in HT signal is often caused by changes in tide, wind, waves etc, external factors which have nothing linked to the eruption. However, a minimal HT is still present.
– Joke continues taking her daily pictures, with of course more focus to the island itself these days. She does not want to give up right now as the eruption might get stronger again.

for more information and updates, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/