Author Archives: marcia

2011’s Health & Happiness Lessons

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Top 10 Health & Happiness Lessons of 2011

Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer
Date: 31 December 2011 Time: 09:28 AM ET

Skiing at Snowmass, CO.
Outdoorsy Colorado remained the slimmest state in America in 2011.
CREDIT: Marcin Moryc, Shutterstock

A lengthy job search promotes worry, stress and anger, but a bad job is worse for happiness than no job at all.

Those findings are on the Gallup polling agency’s list of most compelling findings about health and happiness in 2011. The agency queries tens of thousands of Americans every year about their health, well-being and happiness. The resulting Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index is a day-by-day measurement of America’s mental state. Here’s what Gallup’s editors say intrigued them the most this year:

1. Long job searches are bad for well-being

The longer Americans search for jobs, the unhappier they are with their lives, according to a Gallup poll analysis released in February. Only 34 percent of unemployed Americans who had been looking for work for at least 11 weeks said they were “thriving” in life, compared with 47 percent of those who had been looking for 10 weeks or less. Sending out more job applications with no luck had a similar effect: Half of people who had sent out fewer than 10 applications said they were thriving, compared with 32 percent of those who had sent out more.

2. More Americans now normal-weight than overweight

For the first time in three years, more Americans qualified as “normal weight” than “overweight,” according to poll data released in October. That poll found 36.6 percent of Americans had a body mass index (BMI) placing them in the “normal” category, compared with 35.8 percent who were classified as overweight.

Still, 25.8 percent of Americans qualified for the more severe condition of being obese, defined by a BMI of 30 or higher. BMI is calculated using weight and height. That meant the majority of Americans – 61.6  percent –  are still in weight ranges that put them at higher risk for health problems such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. [8 Reasons Our Waistlines Are Expanding]

3. Fewer young adults go without health insurance

A growing number of young Americans had health coverage in 2011, thanks to a provision in the Affordable Care Act that allows children to stay on their parents’ health plans until age 26. Since that rule went into effect in 2010, Gallup found, the number of uninsured 18- to 25-year-olds without insurance dropped by 3.8 percentage points, to 24.2 percent.

However, the proportion of 26- to 64-year-olds without insurance increased over the same time period, from 18.1 percent to 19.9 percent. Overall, the survey found, 17.4 percent of Americans lacked health insurance in the second quarter of 2011.

4. Colorado is America’s skinniest state

An August Gallup report revealed that Colorado, with an obesity rate of 20.1 percent, remains the skinniest of the states. West Virginia had the heftiest population, with 34.3 percent of its people obese. That’s the highest rate Gallup has measured since it began obesity tracking in 2008.

Although Colorado is relatively svelte today, its current population would be the fattest in America if the state were to travel back in time 20 years. In 1991, not a single state reported an obesity rate of more than 20 percent.

5. Americans struggle to afford food

Obesity rates aside, Americans actually had a harder time affording food and other basic necessities in 2011 than in recent years. When asked if they always had enough money to buy food in the last year, 79.8 percent of Americans said yes, the lowest number since November 2008. At that time, the start of the economic crisis, 79.4 percent of Americans said they never struggled to afford groceries.

The reasons for these patterns is not entirely clear, Gallup reported in November.

6. “Suffering” holds steady

Four percent of Americans said in September that their lives were so bad that they were “suffering,” a number that has held steady for 2½ years. That’s one of the lowest rates in the world, Gallup reported in October. Perhaps unsurprisingly, income and suffering were correlated, with people making less than $24,000 a year about six times more likely to describe themselves as suffering as those with incomes over $90,000 a year.

7. Employers are offering less health coverage

Employer-based health insurance is on the decline in America, with only 44.5 percent of Americans getting health coverage through work in the third quarter of 2011. That percentage has been on a steady decline since Gallup began tracking health insurance numbers in 2008, when the rate was 49.8 percent. There has been a simultaneous increase in the number of Americans getting their health insurance from the government (up to 25.1 percent from 22.9 percent) as well as an increase in people without any insurance at all (up to 17.3 percent from 14.6 percent).

8. Americans caring for each other

While working a day job, one in six Americans also acts as a caregiver for an elderly or disabled family member, Gallup reported in July. The caregiver job was most prevalent in the 45- to 64-year-old age demographic, with 22 percent of people in that group reporting caregiving responsibilities. Women were more likely to be caregivers for a needy relative than men were, 20 percent to 16 percent.

9. Bad health costs $153 billion a year

Weight-related health issues and other chronic problems cause American workers to miss an estimated 450 million days of work more each year than normally healthy workers, Gallup reported in October. That absenteeism costs more than $153 billion in lost productivity annually.

Normal-weight workers without chronic health conditions experience about 4 days a year when health interferes with their normal activities. Workers who are overweight and obese with one or two chronic conditions average 13 “unhealthy” days a year, while overweight or obese workers with three or more chronic conditions report 42 unhealthy days annually.

Workers do not take all of these “unhealthy” days as sick days, but Gallup researchers calculated that workers miss about one day of work for every three unhealthy days they experience.

10. A bad job is worse than no job

Workers who are emotionally disengaged from their jobs view their lives more negatively than workers who have no job at all, Gallup reported in March. Forty-two percent of the people who said they felt disconnected from their work and workplaces described themselves as “thriving” in life, compared with 48 percent of the unemployed. Workers who were happily engaged and enthusiastic with work were happiest in life. Of that group, 71 percent said they were thriving.

from:    http://www.livescience.com/17695-10-health-happiness-lessons.html

Massive earthquake Shakes Japan

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Massive deep earthquake sends a vibration all over Japan

Last update: January 1, 2012 at 1:45 pm by By

Earthquake overview : A massive earthquake occurred in the hot solid mantle of the earth.  Due to the focal depth of 370 km this earthquake has been felt all over Japan. The earthquake was however harmless due to the weakened impact.

Intensity map courtesy JMA Japan

Update : The hypocenter of this earthquake was far too deep to generate a tsunami.

Update :  Values of other seismological agencies
EMSC : 7.0 at 365 km
GEOFON : 6.7 at 361 km
CEN : 7.0 at 360 km

The earthquake must have been felt by millions of people.

A little bit to our surprise the shaking was strongest in the greater Tokyo area (see yellow bullets on the JMA map) , although other areas in Japan felt it as a weak shaking and were located closer to the epicenter. Part of the reason will certainly be the propagation of the wave.

The earthquake was calculated to be felt as a weak shaking based on the USGS Data, however the Japanese seismological agency JMA reported a V MMI (moderate shaking). These values are approx.  4 JMA (Japanese use another seismic intensity scale)

Very strong but very deep earthquake with an hypocenter (focal depth) in the hot solid mantle of the earth. Based on calculations of the seismological centers, only a weak shaking will have been felt in a very wide area. The epicenter was located in between a lot of submarine volcanoes .

Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude : 7.0 (JMA) 6.8 (USGS)
UTC Time : Sunday, January 01, 2012 at 05:27:54 UTC
Local time at epicenter :  Sunday, January 01, 2012 at 02:27:54 PM at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter) : 370 km (JMA) 349 km (USGS)
Geo-location(s) :
242 km (150 miles) SW of Hachijo-jima, Izu Islands, Japan
365 km (226 miles) S of Hamamatsu, Honshu, Japan
393 km (244 miles) S of Shizuoka, Honshu, Japan
495 km (307 miles) SSW of TOKYO, Japan

for more information and updates go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2012/01/01/massive-deep-earthquake-sends-a-vibration-all-over-japan/

 

Bridges Across Deep Sea Trenches

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Seafloor “Bridges” Found to Span Earth’s Deepest Trench

Crystal Gammon, OurAmazingPlanet Contributor
Date: 29 December 2011 Time: 12:34 PM ET

Mariana Trench
Areas of the Mariana Trench that were mapped.
CREDIT: James Gardner

The Mariana Trench, located in the Pacific Ocean off the eastern coasts of Japan and the Philippines — at a depth of around 6.8 miles (11 kilometers) below sea level — is famous for being the deepest point on the planet’s surface.

Now, to add to the Mariana Trench’s fame, marine geophysicists recently mapped a set of surprising seafloor features nearby. At least four underwater “bridges” span the depths of the trench, where the Pacific Plate dives under the Philippine Plate.

“It wasn’t common knowledge that these bridges occurred at all,” said James Gardner, a marine geophysicist at the University of New Hampshire who found the structures. “This is really the first time they’ve been mapped in any detail.”

Bridging the trench

As the Pacific and Philippine tectonic plates converge, they carry seamounts (mountains on the ocean floor that don’t reach the water’s surface) and other underwater features with them toward the trench itself. Some of these plow into other structures on the opposite side of the trench — in a sort of slow-motion seamount collision — or into the trench wall itself.

The result is an underwater “bridge” that stretches across the Mariana Trench. Gardner and a colleague found four of these structures, some rising as high as 6,600 feet (2,000 meters) above the trench and measuring up to 47 miles (75 km) long.

The largest of the four, Dutton Ridge, was mapped in low resolution in the 1980s, but scientists hadn’t noticed any other similar structures in the area. Because the seafloor in the region is riddled with seamounts, guyots (flat-topped seamounts) and other features — many of them part of the Magellan Seamount chain — Gardner suspected he could find other bridges.

“As the Pacific Plate gets thrust down underneath the Philippine Plate, it wouldn’t be totally unexpected that you’d find these things bridging across the trench and being accreted to the inner wall,” Gardner told OurAmazingPlanet.

Using a multibeam echosounder (a tool that uses sonar to measure the topography of the ocean floor in detail), Gardner and a colleague mapped a large swath of the ocean floor surrounding the trench. They presented their findings at the December meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

Deep, cold and creeping slowly

What the bridges mean for the ocean floor and its occupants is unclear, Gardner said.

“I would certainly expect Dutton Ridge and the others to have different fauna and flora than the trench floor, because they stand about 2 kilometers [1.2 miles] higher,” Gardner said. “But the extreme depth would make it hard to monitor the biology or seafloor currents in the area.”

In fact, the pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench is more than eight tons per square inch, and water temperatures hover just above freezing, making it a challenging environment for researchers and sea life alike.

The long-term fate of the bridges is also unknown, Gardner said.

Dutton Ridge, the northernmost of the four bridges, has settled in over the Mariana Trench and seems to be “choking” the plate boundary for now, Gardner said. He also found evidence suggesting that the trench may have already swallowed up other similar bridges.

Whether and when Dutton Ridge and the other three bridges will plunge to the same end isn’t clear. And with the Pacific and Philippine plates creeping steadily toward each other at a rate of less than an inch (2 cm) per year, we aren’t likely to find out anytime soon.

from:    http://www.livescience.com/17673-seafloor-bridges-span-deepest-ocean-trench.html

Monsters, Doomsday, & UFO’s for 2012

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Monsters and UFOs to Watch For in 2012

Benjamin Radford, Life’s Little Mysteries Contributor
Date: 28 December 2011 Time: 07:56 PM

The Flying Saucer movie poster
Promotional poster for the 1950 film ‘The Flying Saucer.’
CREDIT: Colonial Productions

2011 was a year of weird news, and sitting on the cusp of 2012, it’s time to look back on the odd year that was — as well as look ahead to a year that promises a new level of strangeness.

Monster sightings in 2011: Researchers looking in Siberia for the yeti — the Asian version of North America’s Bigfoot — claimed in October to have found “indisputable proof” of the long-sought mystery beast. The Russian team, which included several American scientists, located some odd footprints, as well as some gray hairs in a cave. About a month later, a member of the expedition, biologist John Bindernagel, claimed his group found even more evidence, including nests and shelters made of tree branches twisted together. However, another member of the same group reported finding evidence of hoaxing and branded the whole expedition a publicity stunt.

2011 was also the year that the mystery of the chupacabra, the Hispanic vampire beast, was solved, after some 15 years of mystery. DNA testing on dead “chupacabras” found in Texas and elsewhere revealed them to be mostly dogs and coyotes afflicted with mange, and the legendary creature’s origin was traced back to a 1995 monster movie instead of any real-life encounter.

Monsters to look for in 2012: Will the yeti footprints and hair samples finally reveal the truth? If the claims made by the Russian expedition are not hype or hoax, then perhaps the world will finally get definitive proof of the long-rumored creature. Surely after so many decades of ambiguous sightings and searches, hard evidence of Bigfoot or the yeti is long overdue. As for the chupacabra, people in North America and elsewhere will continue to find mangy dogs and coyotes and assume the unfortunate beasties are chupacabras.

Doomsday predictions made in 2011: The year began on an ominous note when fundamentalist Harold Camping, leader of the ministry Family Radio Worldwide, concluded after careful study of the Bible that the world would end May 21. The announcement made national news, and concerned many believers. Camping and his followers were embarrassed when May 21 came and went without a hitch, and he eventually admitted there must have been a miscalculation somewhere. Camping moved the date back a few months, concluding that October was the real month Armageddon would begin. That doomsday date came and went, as well, and the only thing destroyed was Camping’s credibility.

Doomsdays to prepare for in 2012: The upcoming year is certain to bring more concerns about doomsdays and apocalypse — not necessarily from Bible-thumping evangelicals but (supposedly) from the ancient Mayans, whose calendar “ends” next year. Some New Agers think the world will end along with the end of the Mayan calendar cycle; others believe a new age of global peace and harmony will emerge. For other groups, the concern isn’t so much the calendar date but a collision between Earth and the mysterious (and nonexistent) planet Niburu. Of course, people have been predicting doomsdays for millennia, and while nary one has come to pass, one day, sooner or later, the prognosticators will be right.

UFOs and aliens spotted in 2011: The summer of 2011 was an especially busy period for UFO sightings, according to an organization that tracks such reports. The Mutual UFO Network noted that sightings in some states more than doubled their usual numbers. The group could not explain the apparent increase, saying that it could be real, or possibly just a computer error.

As the reports of sightings soared, so did the lights in the skies. In early October more than a dozen strange lights were seen over the northern Utah city of Washington Terrace just after 11:30 p.m. They emitted a strange, fiery glow as they headed north at an estimated speed of about 70 mph, according to one eyewitness. The lights puzzled the public and police and had the UFO community buzzing. Finally, students at the local Bonneville High School admitted they had launched 16 lit Chinese lanterns that night; the lanterns had been reported as UFOs.

Even close-up views of alien spaceships proved to be of something else. That was the case of a “flying saucer” spotted being hauled down a main street in a Kansas town; it turned out to be a (comparatively mundane) military spy plane.

UFOs and aliens to look out for in 2012: There’s some reason to believe UFO sightings will continue at the same rate, or even increase, through 2012. UFO reports historically occur in clusters or “flaps.” And reports could be on the rise because more and more people carry cellphones with built-in cameras, making it easier than ever to report a potential sighting.

A few sightings tend to encourage even more sightings. Will extraterrestrials finally make their presence clearly known, landing on the White House lawn or staying still long enough to get some clear, sharp photos or videos? That’s been the hope and promise of UFO believers for decades now.

from:   http://www.livescience.com/17669-monsters-ufo-doomsday-2012.html

New Solar Flares

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ACTIVE SUNSPOT: New sunspot 1389 is crackling with M-class solar flares. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded this extreme UV flash from the active region at 2151 UT on Dec. 29th:

Although the sunspot is not directly facing Earth, its flares can affect our planet. X-rays and UV radiation from yesterday’s flares created waves of ionization in the upper atmosphere, altering the propagation of radio waves. The phenomenon was particularly strong over Europe where radio amateurs using low frequency receivers detected sudden ionospheric disturbances (“SIDs“) above Ireland and Italy. Student groups who wish to detect solar flares in this way can ask about obtaining a SID monitor from Stanford University.

NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of more M-flares during the next 24 hours. There’s also a 5% chance of X-flares

from: spaceweather.com

 

New Island Created by Jebel Zubair Volcano

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Surtseyan eruption along the coast of Yemen forms a new island – Today eruption cloud + stain !

Last update: December 30, 2011 at 3:07 pm by By

Jorgen Aabech, a Norvegian volcano enthusiast writing already a long time in his blog vulkaner.no, wrote us an email on  December 20 to attract our attention on a probably new eruption of the Jebel Zubair volcano, which is an island formation on the territory of Yemen. Jorgen asked us if we had any mention of earthquakes in the area, which was negative.
When looking at the Modis Terra and Aqua satellite picture on December 20, we saw indeed a very small cloud in the island area, but nothing important to us.  We also followed the Sat24 weather satellite pictures for a while to eventually detect heat on their Infrared images, but also this was negative.  This whole eruption, actually found by the scanning of Jorgen Aalbach (if we are right), was almost forgotten until NASA’s Earth Observatory published a far better satellite picture showing more detail of the eruption. Just like during the Eritrea Nabro eruption, satellite images are the only source in this part of the world (in other words, these countries have other concerns than following an active volcano area all the time)

Update December 30
– NASA Modis Aqua satellite picture is showing more activity today. The quality of the Satellite images differs because of indirect circumstances like high cloud, etc (visual image)

 

Update December 29 (all other info below).
– As you can see on the picture above, the eruption is still ongoing (white cloud and blue stain)
– It is a pity that nobody was around to make beautiful pictures from this Surtseyan eruption (not too late though – to all nature photographers : take your backpack and travel to Yemen (do not forget to hire some armed guards as the country has still a lot of armed rebels and as almost everyone carries a knife and a gun).

NASA MODIS Aqua December 29 satellite picture showing eruption cloud and stain – courtsey NASA

– The Yemen times, a local Yemenite newspaper (who does not mention the creation of a new island) wrote the following :
The Monitoring Center for the Study of Earthquakes and Volcanoes has reported the presence of light volcanic activity on one of the unpopulated islands of ‘Jabal Al-Zubair’ archipelago, 120 km northwest of Hodeida Governorate. Jamal Sha’alan, the manager of the center said that initial indications are that the volcanic eruption was light and will not pose a threat to marine navigation. Saleh Al-Maflahi, the assistant manager of the center, also confirmed that initial indications of the volcanic eruption are reassuring, saying that the centre has commissioned technical experts to travel to the site of the volcano to conduct studies. The team has installed a seismic monitoring station there to alert them to seismic activity that may be the precursor to volcanic activity, according to Al-Maflahi. “The volcanic activity and rising smoke was witnessed by some visitors,” he said, adding that a good deal of seismic activity had recently taken place. He said that the results of a survey of the area’s volcanic history showed that Jabal Al-Zubair is an active volcanic site, and that it witnessed volcanic activity 187 years ago. In September 2007, a volcano on Jabal Al-Tair Island – 20 km southwest of Al-Zubair and 140 kilometers off Yemen’s western coastline – caused the death of eight Yemeni soldiers in addition to injuring others stationed at a military base. Read the complete article here

Distance from the new created island to “Rugged Island”, part of the Zubair volcano group

The text below is courtesy Jorgen Aabech vulkaner.no and a few other sources which are referred to if used

December 19 – Jorgen Aabech wrote in his blog :
A possible eruption occurred at Az Zubair archipelago on 19th December 2011. Fishermen from Salif port city in the west of Yemen reported seeing an eruption with red lava rising to a height of 30 m. This was the first eruption the fisherman can recall from the area. Satellite images showed raised sulphur dioxide emissions close to the volcano on the following day.
On December 19 the NASA Aura/OMI SO² satellite captured a picture that revealed a strong SO² cloud column. This satellite is of great importance to detect remote located volcanoes.

Aura/OMI NASA SO2 satellite image from the December 19 2011 Zubair volcano group Surtseyan eruptionAura/OMI NASA SO2 satellite image from the December 19 2011 Zubair volcano group Surtseyan eruption

Surtseyan eruption in Yemen - Image courtesy vulkaner.noSurtseyan eruption in Yemen – Image courtesy vulkaner.no

December 20 – Jorgen Aabech Update (based on what he also read in Erik Klemetti Wired corner)
It seems like there is a lot of confusion about exactly where the eruption is taking place. A number of sources put the eruption at Jebel Zubair, another island volcano that is part of an archipelago that last erupted in 1824. Jebel Zubair is just to the south of Jebel at Tair, so looking at the OMI map and the new MODIS image found by Eruptions reader Kirby that looks to have a small plume (see above), it is more likely Jebel Zubair. However, there is still not a lot of information out there on this eruption.

December 22 – Jorgen Aabech
On 19 December a SO2 cloud was detected in an OMI satellite image. MODIS imagery from 20 December shows a plume rising from a submarine eruption about 1.5 km SW of Haycock and N of Rugged (near the N end of the Az-Zubair island group), and about 12 km NE of Jebel Zubair island.
A bathymetric sketch map made in 1973 indicates a water depth of about 100 m in that area.

Yemen TV showed an unstable and bad colored report in their news. We cannot trace whether this report is from this eruption, but it was published as it on You Tube.  It is however hard to believe that the December 19 eruption (no other SO2 traces on the satellite maps) have build the island in only a week. A possibility is that the eruption had started a lot earlier in his submarine phase.

December 28 – Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism program writes :
An eruption from the northern part of the Zubair Group continued during 21-27 December. MODIS imagery from NASA’s satellites on 22 December showed a plume, possibly containing ash, rising from what was thought to be a submarine eruption. Imagery acquired on 23 December from the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s EO-1 satellite showed a new island at the location with a plume rising from it, roughly 500 m N of Rugged Island and more than 500 m in diameter. The island was not present in a similar image acquired on 24 October 2007.

December 28 – NASA Earth Observatory – Proof of a new island
The Picture combination below from NASA Earth Observatory shows the birth of the new island. The cloud picture was acquired by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite. A thick plume rises from the island, dark near the bottom and light near the top, perhaps a mixture of volcanic ash and water vapor.

NASA Earth Observatory shows the birth of the new Zubair volcano group islandNASA Earth Observatory shows the birth of the new Zubair volcano group island

for more information and updates, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2011/12/29/surtseyan-eruption-along-the-coast-of-yemen-forms-a-new-island-today-eruption-cloud-stain/

Siberian Earthquake

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Very strong shallow and dangerous earthquake in Siberia – severe shaking reported

Last update: December 28, 2011 at 12:34 am by By 

Earthquake overview : A very strong earthquake (M 6.5 to M 7.0 following different sources) happened in the South Western part of Siberia. The epicenter was located in a sparsely populated wilderness area at a distance of 120 km from Kyzyl, a city with 109,000 inhabitants and the capital of the Tuva Republic.

“I have Felt it” Reports –> see below + Let us know “how you have felt this earthquake”
To read the full story as it happened, we advise our readers to start at the lower part of the page (earthquake data).

Keep this page open or return regularly as we will be back with more details when they become available

Landscape in the greater epicenter area – Panoramio image courtesy Roman Petrov

 

Update 28/12 – 00:34 UTC
Overview of the reported magnitudes and depth from the seismological agencies reporting worldwide earthquakes :
RAS (RUS) – M 6.5 @ 10 km
USGS (USA) – M 6.6 @ 6.9 km
EMSC (Europe) – M 6.5 @ 10 km
GEOFON (Germany) – M 6.6 @ 10 km
CEN (China) – M 7.0 @ 10 km

Update 28/12 – 00:13 UTC
RAS (Russian Academy of sciences) has reported 3 aftershocks of 4.6 @ 10km; 4.3 @ 10 km and 4.9 @ 15 km

Update 28/12 – 00:13 UTC :  RT (English broadcasting) is reporting that Mr. Shoigu has said that themagnitude was raised to 9.5. We do not believe this report. The Minister mentioned the number as MSK (almost equivalent to MMI and on a scale from 0-12).  A 9.5 magnitude at this shallow depth would have been totally destructive and damaging far beyond the epicenter. Kyzul suffered light to moderate shaking. As a result there might be some cracks in houses, but Kyzil (said to be at ca 100 km from the epicenter) had no severe damage or devastation.

Update  23:55  UTC : During the night, specialized rescue personnel from other areas have been transported to Kyzyl. They will leave as soon as possible to the epicenter area to assess the situation. The emergency minister was saying that many people had their second home in the greater epicenter area.  Having visited Siberia before i (Armand) know for sure that these houses are in 99% of the cases 1 level houses. Being the Siberian winter (freezing temperature at the moment is -20 to -30 °C) people will not be in these houses in great numbers. Our estimate is that there might be damage at these houses, but that apart of some accidental dead, the toll will be acceptable. This estimate is based upon the epicenter of USGS and the population numbers of GDACS ‘see below). Let us hope that we are right.

Update : The earthquake in Siberia is estimated at 9.5 MSK, according to Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Description IX MSK : Destructive – General panic. People may be forcibly thrown to the ground. Waves are seen on soft ground. Substandard structures collapse. Substantial damage to well-constructed structures. Underground pipelines ruptured. Ground fracturing, widespread landslides.

Update :  Magnitudes and focal depth are reported in different numbers by the different sources. Magnitude goes from 6.5 until 7.0. Focal depth ranges from 45 km to 6.9 km !

Update : The picture looks almost romantic, but bear in mind the people have to stay outside during the night at temperatures of -26 °C ! Luckily no fresh snow. Snow is however still on the streets. This is Siberia !

Update : MSK scale : The Medvedev-Sponheuer-Karnik scale is somewhat similar to the Modified Mercalli (MM) scale used in the United States. The MSK scale has 12 intensity degrees expressed in Roman numerals. The description of 8 MSK is as follows : Damaging / Many people find it difficult to stand, even outdoors. Furniture may be overturned. Waves may be seen on very soft ground. Older structures partially collapse or sustain considerable damage. Large cracks and fissures opening up, rockfalls. (source Wikipedia)

Update : 8 MSK at the epicentre according to RAS. Only 5 MSK at Kyzyl meaning that there is likely only minor damage.
In Novosibirsk, the intensity of the earthquake was to be 1.6 points. “This is the calculated data, while data from seismic stations, which
should fix the surface waves has been reported. As soon as they arrive and are processed, there will be more accurate, more likely, the strength of earthquakes will increase,” – said the RAS. According to Director of Geophysical Service (TOS), Siberian Branch of RAS Victor Seleznev, the epicenter of the earthquake was located in the upper Yenisei River east of the city of Kyzyl, in the area of Academician Obruchev. The scientist said that the shaking in Krasnoyarsk was 3-4 MSK, at the epicenter – 8 MSK.
(ER : 8 MSK means that there will be likely damage in the epicentral area – epicenter area damage has not been reported yet)

Update : According to the MOE, the epicenter of the earthquake was located 120 kilometers east of Kyzyl(Tuva). (ER : USGS reported the earthquake epicenter at 96 km from Kyzyl)

Update : According to preliminary data, there has been no deaths or destruction reported after the earthquake in Siberia , told RIA Novosti by telephone a representative of the Siberian Regional Emergency Center.

Update : Video from people having to spend the night outside their houses at a temperature of at least -20°C

Update : Residents of Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk and Khakassia felt the quake. The apartments had swaying chandeliers and furniture moving. People fled their homes. However, users of the Internet in their microblogs
reported outage of cellular communication in the area. Meanwhile it is reported that the earthquake in Siberia had no effect on the power plant there. (ER : these cities are several hundred km from the epicenter).

for more and updates, go to:   http://earthquake-report.com/2011/12/27/very-strong-earthquake-in-siberia/

Holiday Thoughts fr/Neale Donald Walsch

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The Reunion of God & Humanity

Neale Donald Walsch
a message from Neale Donald Walsch

The transformation of Humanity’s downfall into Humanity’s upliftment may be achieved through a simple reversal of thinking. It is a shift from Separation Theology to Unity Spirituality. It is the reunion of God and Humanity.

It is easier to experience Reunion with God on an individual basis than it is collectively. That is because it takes a great deal more energy to alter Collective Consciousness than it does to alter Individual Consciousness.

Yet Collective Consciousness can be altered when the alteration of Individual Consciousness reaches critical mass. When sufficient individual energies are lifted, the entire mass is elevated to a new level.

The work of Conscious Evolution, therefore, is the work of changing consciousness at the individual level. This follows directly from the Third Illusion of Humans, given to us inCommunion with God, which is that Disunity Exists. When we attempt to change others we are implicitly affirming this illusion, which is why such efforts are invariably wasted. We can only change the One of Us That Is, and the aspect of the One of Us That Is which is most present to us is our experience of self. Therefore, when we change ourselves we change the world. That is why every effort to do so is critical.

Every individual undertaking, every individual thought, word, or action which leads to the transformation of the Self and to the lifting of any other being, is of extraordinary importance. It is not necessary to move mountains to move mountains. It is necessary only to move pebbles.

We must become People of the Pebbles. We must do our work on a person-to-person basis. Then we shall move mountains. Then the mightiest obstacles shall crumble, and the way shall be made clear.

So let us undertake to deeply understand on an individual level (and then to demonstrate on an individual level) how and why it is possible for The Divine to want nothing for Itself, and to seek only to distribute.

We begin by coming to clarity on who and what The Divine is.

The Divine is Everything. All that is seen and all that is unseen is The Divine. All that is known and unknown is The Divine. All that is experienced and unexperienced is The Divine. All that is here and all that is not here, all that is now and all that is forever, all that is limited and all that is unlimited is The Divine. All that is comprehensible and all that is incomprehensible is The Divine.

There is nothing that Is that is not The Divine.

Divinity is everywhere at once, and thus, it is nowhere in particular. Divinity is NOWHERE. Divinity is NOW/HERE.

All of this has been given to us in Conversations with God. None of this is new. It has been given to us a thousand times before Conversations with God. It has been given to us a thousand times since. Indeed, in every moment of every day, through a thousand individual manifestations of Itself, is Divinity revealing Itself. Yet we do not see. Or we see, but do not believe.

We do not believe the evidence of our own eyes. We do not hear the truth in the sounds of silence.

Yet, for those who have ears to hear, listen. And Watch. Observe. Observe the Self. Watch over your Self.

Look at what you are doing on this day. Are you spending most of your energy gathering, or giving? And if you are giving, are you giving in order to gather? Do you do the work you do in order for it to pay off for you? And what, exactly, is the payoff? What are you gathering?

Hugs and Love,

P.S. The thoughts above come from The Holy Experience, a full-length book that you may download for free at www.nealedonaldwalsch.com. Simply click on the Free Resources icon.

from:    http://spiritlibrary.com/neale-donald-walsch/the-reunion-of-god-humanity

Incoming CME — 12/28

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CME TARGETS MARS, EARTH: New sunspot 1387 erupted during the late hours of Christmas Day, producing an M4-class flare and hurling a CME toward Earth and Mars. Click to view an animated forecast track prepared by analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab:

The CME is expected to deliver a glancing blow to Earth’s magnetic field on Dec. 28th at 1200 UT and a direct hit to the planet Mars on Dec. 30th at 1800 UT. Using onboard radiation sensors, NASA’s Curiosity rover might be able to sense the CMEwhen it passes the rover’s spacecraft en route to Mars. Here on Earth, NOAA forecasters estimate a 30-to-40% chance of geomagnetic storms on Dec. 28th when the CME and an incoming solar wind stream (unrelated to the CME) could arrive in quick succession. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras on Wednesday night. 

UPDATE: The chances of a geomagnetic storm on Dec. 28th improved today when a second CME left the sun, this one even more squarely directed toward Earth. Ananimated forecast track shows the cloud reaching our planet on Dec. 28th at 20:22 UT.

fr/spaceweather.com