Earthquake of Hokkaido, Japan

Very strong earthquake near the Hokkaido Coast, Japan

Last update: November 24, 2011 at 11:43 am by By 

Earthquake overview : At 07:25 PM local time a very strong earthquake occurred at intermediate depth near the Hokkaido coast, Japan. JMA Japan has reported a weakening depth of 30 km. Max. reported intensity is 5- (on a scale from 0 to 7)

Update : The earthquake was felt as far as the Akita and Yamagata prefectures

Update :The earthquake happened in the Urakawa Oki area  of Hokkaido

Update : Nor JMA nor GDACS have called a tsunami risk

Update : Indirect damage by landslides is always possible, especially for road 235 and 236, close to the epicenter

Update : The area closest to the epicenter is mainly a wilderness area with very few villages and towns

 

Image from the wild Hokkaido coast – Panoramio image courtesy Yobito Kayanuma

 

Update : WAPMERR, the theoretical damage engine does not expect injuries, fatalities or major damagefrom this earthquake.

Update : Earthquake-Report.com does not expect serious damage as the epicenter is out in the sea and as we have an intermediate depth of 42 km (USGS) 30 km (JMA)

Update : this earthquake can be seen as a powerful aftershock from the cruel Tohoku earthquake and tsunami from March 11 earlier this year

Update :  5+ is seen by Earthquake-report.com as potentially dangerous
Shaking values from JMA Japan :

Solar Filaments

fr/spaceweather.com

QUIET BEAUTY: With more than half a dozen spots scattered across the face of the sun, the sunspot number is high. Nevertheless, solar activity remains low. None of the sun’s so-called “active regions” are actually producing flares. The starscape, meanwhile, is as beautiful as ever. On Nov. 22nd, Robert Arnold took these pictures from his private observatory on the Isle of Skye, Scotland:

“The sun is criss-crossed with magnetic filaments and plasma clouds,” says Arnold. “It’s a beautiful view.”


Upcoming Solar Eclipse

NTARCTIC SOLAR ECLIPSE: On Nov. 25th the Moon will pass in front of the sun, slightly off-center, producing a partial solar eclipse visible from Antarctica, Tasmania, and parts of South Africa and New Zealand. An animated map created by graphic artist Larry Koehn shows the eclipse unfolding across the southern end of our planet:

Maximum coverage occurs about 100 miles off the coast of Antarctica where the sun will appear to be a slender 9% crescent. Observers in the eclipse zone should be alert for crescent-shaped shadows and sunbeams. The sun-dappled ground beneath leafy trees is a good place to look. Of course that won’t work in Antarctica where trees are scarce.

fr/spaceweather.com

Snowy Few Days in New England

Graphics: Heavy snow to slam the New England areas now through Wednesday

Published on November 22, 2011 7:35 pm PT
– By TWS Senior Meteorologist
– Edited by Staff Editor


(TheWeatherSpace.com) – Snowfall is starting across Eastern New York as a strong surface low moves into the area, which will bring heavy snowfall and high ice/sleet accumulations to the New England zones through Wednesday.

Latest radar imagery shows a band of heavy precipitation entering the Eastern New York areas. This will bring heavy snow across there andSouthern Vermont tonight, spreading north and east through New England, all the way into Canada by morning
.Very heavy snowfall is expected early Wednesday morning across the New England zones.

This snowfall will end as the day moves on and the associated surface low moves into the Atlantic, through the Long Island areas.

Gusty winds will bring near-blizzard conditions across parts of the coastal zones of Maine on Wednesday.

In addition to the snowfall, thundersnow in the heaviest bands is very likely.

TWS has developed three maps for this event and they are available at the links below.

Snowfall Forecast

Ice Forecast

Sleet Forecast

 

from:   http://www.theweatherspace.com/news/TWS-112211-new-england-snow-amounts.html

Eckhart Tolle on Creativity

Eckhart on Creativity

Eckhart Tolle
a message from Eckhart Tolle
Friday, 18 November, 2011

There’s a particular dimension where creativity arises.  It’s a little bit like the wick burning the flame, and its sustenance is the oil – it’s in an oil lamp, and you are the flame.  All the analogies, by the way, are very deficient, but it’s just a distant approximation to get you into a sense of what that place is.  So you are the flame, and you feel your way into the very source – down the wick into where the oil is, inside yourself.  That’s the place, the source, so if anything is new, creative, then it has a fragrance of the source.

Somehow, humans, even humans who are still very much identified with their mind, many of them are touched by when they see or hear or whatever – come into contact with – something that came out of that deeper level, whether it’s a work of art, or a piece of music, or it could just be somebody talking.  And the words come from that deeper level.  It could just be somebody who has a good sense of humor – even that is already a form of creativity.  Spontaneous humor is to suddenly see something that one wouldn’t normally see – a connection between two seemingly unconnected things, and suddenly you connect them and everybody laughs.  Some people have that. Some people have one small area in which they can be creative, and that can be enough to provide you with fulfillment and an income, for the rest of your life – and to contribute that gift to others.

Great stand up comedians, for example, have that gift.  Of course, not everything they say is spontaneous, but when they prepare their stuff, they have to be creative.  Now I don’t know if anybody here has tried to be a standup comedian, but it’s difficult.  Many people try.  It’s hard to be funny.  But some have it, and it’s amazing – those few that have that gift.  And there too, the sense of humor is spontaneously something arises, and there it comes.  It’s being in touch with that.  It’s wonderful to be able to be in touch with that, and feel the power that flows from there, out into this world.  Now for that, of course you need some kind of vehicle, because the power needs to flow into some kind of form.

You can touch that place also, within, and it may not flow into creativity, because you have not developed a vehicle for it.  The very same power that gives rise to creativity can also manifest itself in different ways that we would not call creativity.  It could be a healing power that comes into effect the moment you enter into relationships with others.  Healing in a wider sense, not just physical healing.  You will not suddenly become a great musician if you have never touched an instrument, just because you touch that place within yourself.  It’s not going to manifest as a great scientific discovery in my case, because the vehicle is not prepared for that.  My mind is not prepared for that.  It doesn’t even work that way.  So for me to expect to come up with the Unified Field Theory that Einstein didn’t come up with – he tried after the theory of relativity, he tried for the rest of his life to come up with that – I am not going to come up with that.  It’s very unlikely.  The vehicle has not been prepared. I am not going to be a great pianist, because I don’t know how to play the piano.  So no matter how deeply I go within, it’s not going to flow into that.  You need to prepare the vehicle for creativity.

More important than that is the place – to be able to go within to that place of vibrantly alive stillness, where creativity arises.  And you can go in there, and if there’s no vehicle, it will not express itself in any form of creativity, not any conventional form of creativity.  But it may actually express itself in different ways.  I just mentioned one, which is an outflow in human interactions – and outflow of – very hard to put a word to it, but you can sense it, when you meet a person who is present in the interaction.  It’s a different energy frequency that operates.  And that is healing.  It is so formless that it does not require a previously prepared vehicle.  You can just be.  And you emanate Being.

© copyright 2008-2011. Eckhart Tolle . All rights reserved. http://www.eckharttolle.com/

Latest on El Hierro

El Hierro Volcano (Canary Islands) : Red alert – spectacular increase of harmonic tremor

Last update: November 20, 2011 at 1:29 am by By 

Late night data update 19/11 – 23:16 UTC
– 15 M+1.5 earthquakes today
– Strongest earthquake being a 3.3 at 18:27
– Depth of the earthquakes since midnight : 16 to 23 km
– Harmonic tremor remains 
strong since 17:16 UTC tonight
– GOOD air quality all day long

 

Important update 19/11 – 17:46 UTC
– We have just noticed that the harmonic tremor is almost saturated again, the biggest change since the fallback on November 17. The second graph shows the harmonic tremor from November 17 when it collapsed, until the new saturated graph today.

Increase of harmonic tremor between 17:00 and 18:00 UTC on November 19 – image courtesy IGN

 

harmonic tremor from late November 17 until November 19 – Click on the image to see it in full size

 

Data update 19/11 – 16:37 UTC
– 10 M+1.5 earthquakes since midnight (a lot less than we have expected)
– Strongest earthquake being a 2.8 at 08:20
– Depth of the earthquakes since midnight : 16 to 23 km
– GOOD air quality values this morning

Update 19/11 – 16:37 UTC
– Ian Carson reports from El Hierro : Civil guard went out to sea in RIB (rigid inflatable) this morning. Spoke to English speaker also aboard. He said ‘volcano quiet today, stain still visible but much lighter than in past ‘Jacuzzi’ times.

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

November 20-26

Overall Color for the Week:   Moss Green

This week there is much in the air that indicates the direction of things as the year winds down and the Holiday Season begins.  Take time to see what it is that you wish to have as your culmination for 2011.  Look around at things that are and are not working in your life, and know that in the crescendo of the energy at this time, there is the potential for great and quick change.  This is not a time for over-thinking things, that can just lead to some overlooking.  This is a time for truly being in the flow and in the know, the know being that you are taken care of and if you allow the best you deserve, it will happen.  Trust your intuition.  That cannot be stressed enough.  Intuition will get you through many tough situations.  Do not fall into judgment about yourself or others. You will see more and more odd behaviors from those whom you have known for quite some time.  As this month nears it close, more and more unions are being shaken up and more and more health situations are arising.  Again, if you go within to your heart, you will feel what this is all about.  Know that in all things you have both power and choice.  Use them wisely.  You will also be finding that more and more things are going bump, as odd noises and occurrences happen.  Your senses are changing.  You see things that cannot be there, but are.  The same with sounds, hearing odd things.  Taste preferences are changing.  Smells are affecting you differently.  And even the feel of things is shifting. Continue reading →

Reno Wildfire

Nevada declares emergency over wildfire near Reno

By Riley Snyder | Reuters – 

RENO, Nev (Reuters) – Nevada’s governor declared a state of emergency on Friday over a wildfire raging at the edge of a hilly Reno suburb that has damaged 25 structures, forced 9,500 people from their homes, and was blamed for an elderly man’s death.

The Caughlin Fire in northern Nevada broke out overnight and blackened more than 2,000 acres as it moved through populated areas on the outskirts of the city, said Michele Anderson, spokeswoman for Reno Mayor Bob Cashell.

“The firefighters are battling with extremely high winds right now that are also extremely erratic,” Anderson said, adding that firefighters were focused on protecting homes in the area. Two evacuation centers had been set up.

Hundreds of embers were flying through the air as winds gusted up to 60 miles per hour, carrying the danger of starting spot fires up to a mile away, fire officials said. But by afternoon, a team of 450 firefighters had halted the blaze’s forward advance, the officials told a news conference.

Sixteen people were hospitalized for respiratory or cardiac illnesses, according to theRegional Emergency Medical Services Authority.

A 74-year-old man died after he suffered a heart attack and his car veered off the road as he evacuated his home with his wife, said Kevin Romero, EMS director for Reno’s Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority.

“We’ve been through a lot the past six months,” Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval said during a press conference, referring to a string of deadly disasters that has disproportionately affected the northern part of the state.

“This community has once again come together. I’m so proud of how everybody has done this.”

‘A PERFECT STORM’

Sandoval requested and received approval for federal assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, he said in a statement.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have been and are being affected by this fire,” Sandoval said on his website.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, acknowledged the fires ravaging his home state on the Senate floor in Washington on Friday, saying his son, Leif, could see the fire from his home.

“Unfortunately strong winds, including 60-mile-per-hour gusts, are working against them. Firefighters are calling the winds a perfect storm,” Reid said. “Winds are so strong, helicopters can’t take off to assist in containing the fire.”

The area in which the fire was burning is very hilly with a lot of dead grass and sage brush, in the immediate vicinity of residential areas.

Air quality readings are elevated and residents are encouraged to stay indoors, Anderson said. Several nearby casinos were offering free rooms for those who lost homes in the blaze, and discounts to anyone evacuated.

The fire is the latest in a string of northern Nevada disasters in recent months. A deadly Amtrak collision 70 miles east of Reno killed six people in June.

Later, a gunman opened fire in a Carson City pancake house in September, killing four people before committing suicide. Then, in the same month, a vintage plane nose-dived near the grand stands at a Reno air race, killing 11 people.

from:    http://news.yahoo.com/nevada-governor-declares-state-emergency-wildfire-183519108.html

Small Business SATURDAY

Shop Small: Small Business Saturday

by 
Published on November 18th, 2011

Photo: Flickr/Ed Yourdon

Written by Melissa Hincha-Ownby, MNN

If you have pledged to participate in Buy Nothing Day next Friday, November 25 but don’t think you can go for the Buy Nothing Christmas then I have another pledge for you to take: participate in Small Business Saturday. When you head out to do your holiday shopping next Saturday, November 26 avoid the big box national chain stores and shop at your local small business instead.

Although this is only the second year for the event, it is already quite popular among the Facebook crowd. The official Small Business Saturday Facebook page has more than 2.2 million Likes. People don’t just like the site, they are also discussing it. At this time more than 260,000 people are actively talking about the day.

If you want to know why you should shop local when you might be able to find a better deal at your local big box store then let me share with you a statement that New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg made in advance of last year’s inaugural Small Business Saturday.

“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and the glue that holds communities together, and we’ve always sought new ways to support them – something that became even more important when the national economic downturn began.” Source: American Express

Here it is a full year later and the economy is still struggling. The nation’s small business owners are the key to the recovery and the more that we can do to help boost our local economies, the better the national economy becomes.

If you’re not moved by the spirit of the day, perhaps a small financial incentive will convince you to shop local next Saturday. American Express cardmembers can register to receive a one-time $25 statement credit if they use their American Express card and spend at least $25 at a small business on November 26. Of course this offer comes with several terms and conditions that must be met so make sure you read the fine print first.

American Express doesn’t have the shop local movement cornered with its Small Business Saturday. Portland, Oregon has set up a program of its own: Little Box PDX. If you live in the Portland area simply visit one of the locally owned shops listed on the website. Take your receipt from that store to another store on the list and receive a 10 percent discount.

What are your plans for next week? Are you going to participate in Buy Nothing Day, hang out at local shops for Small Business Saturday or go for the gusto and pledge to have a Buy Nothing Christmas?

from:http://earth911.com/news/2011/11/18/shop-small-small-business-saturday/