Have a big slice of awsome – The Northern Lights – as seen from space. Beautiful
LINK (Much bigger picture)
Monthly Archives: December 2008
Earthquake Swarm Signals Global Doom
1 CommentsDecember 30, 2008 – 8:08 pm
What’s the worst possible news immaginable in terms of global doom? Comet on the way? – Could be shot down by Bruce Willis to a soft rock soundtrack. Pandemic? Dustin Hoffman and a monkey will save the day. Massive planet damming volcano starts rumbling… Anyone? No…? Uh oh. (i’ll give you Micael Riley if you’re feeling nitpicky)
Anyway. For those not in the know, below Yellowstone National Park sits a massive ( 55 kilometers (34 mi) by 72 kilometers (45 mi)) volcano. Just sitting there. If it was to erupt Secrets Of Survival tell us that…
First, anyone within about 100 kilometers of such an explosion would simply be killed by the explosion itself (remember that the eruption 640,000 years ago emitted 240 cubic miles of material) or the volcanic ash quite quickly.
Next, such an explosion would leave the majority of the North American continent below ash. The ash would be more significant closer to the explosion, but dangerous amounts would still reach three quarters of the continent.
Not good. And currently there is a swarm of earthquakes occuring right above the Caldera.
The largest of the earthquakes was a magnitude 3.9 at 10:15 pm MST on Dec. 27, a day after the swarm began. The sequence has included nine events of magnitude 3 to 3.9 and approximately 24 of magnitude 2 to 3 at the time of this release. A total of more than 250 events large enough to be located have occurred in this swarm.
Scientists wonder if the shaking might presage a larger event. This month’s swarm is the most intense in this area for some years, scientists said. It is centered on the east side of the Yellowstone caldera, a giant basin created in a colossal eruption some 620,000 years ago.
Thats a sense of impending doom you’re feeling right now…
LINK
The Cream of Tank Girl
1 CommentsDecember 30, 2008 – 11:11 am
If, like me, you often feel a bit left out simply because you were born too late to fully appreciate ground-breaking stuff (Led Zeppelin, D-Day, Florida in the 80’s), every now and again something comes along to help you out.Of course you all know about Tank Girl – if I am assuming too much, please sort your life out. But for many of us, we were simply too young to make the oh-so-edgy purchase of Deadline magazine in which she first appeared. But now your patient consciences can be appeased. The Cream of Tank Girl has recently been released (are books released? Published then) in which you can pore over sketches, exclusive images and read about the creation and history of one of the greatest comic characters ever. It’s a sort of encyclopedia of Tank Girl knowledge written by the two creators Alan Martin (writer) and Jamie Hewlett (illustrator). So it’s also slightly autobiographical, but in a good way.
I’ve only managed to flip through a copy of it myself, but from what I see, this is something you’ll all appreciate if you are cool, cultured and know what’s good for you. It’s only a tenner on Amazon too.
LINK (Amazon)
Beer Stalker
1 CommentsDecember 30, 2008 – 10:34 am
You suddenly become aware of the situation. Well, the most obvious bits. Your friends are nowhere to be found and you are in a neighbourhood you don’t recognise. All you know is that you can barely walk for all the beer that has been drunk and your phone, for reasons to various to explain is unavailable.
“The Zoombak Universal A-GPS Locator, already the leading product in the Personal GPS Category, enables users to monitor, track and/or locate virtually anything of value from cars, motorcycles and other vehicles to luggage, backpacks, sports equipment, and even pets.”
Getting Buzzed
0 CommentsDecember 24, 2008 – 10:10 am
Been wondering where the Bees have been disappearing to? It seems likely their either in bed with one of those ‘kidney-punch’ hangovers, or hiding out, shamed of who they woke up next to. In an experiment which we are filing under ‘bloody pointless’, science today tells us that Bees on coke behave pretty much the same way we do. Yep that’s right, bad dancing and worse chat-up lines. For some stupid reason, Dr Andrew Barron of
“This is a specialized form of communication to tell their nest mates about the rewards they have found.”
Rather like passing the word on the neighborhood crack dealer then. Given the fact that Bees lack gums, ES questions the usefulness of this research, but is pleased to find crap like this making it into the John Carpenter-esque Journal of Experimental Biology.
LINK (Guardian)
