From Denny: This news will get you wondering how to safeguard yourself. There are so many contaminates in the air, the soil and the oceans that it is migrating into our food supply. Dr. Oz talks about mercury and pesticides as a promotion for a full length show he devotes to the safety of our food supply. He also provides healthy diet tips.
*** THANKS for visiting, come back often, feel free to leave a comment, a big shout out to current subscribers - and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email!
From Denny: Thank you everyone who has been checking back on this blog. I took some time off the first of the year and was ready to start writing science posts again - and then the Haiti earthquake hit.
One of my cousins goes in and out of Haiti often, donating her time as a music teacher. Yes, turns out she was there - along with 45,000 other Americans - when the earthquake devastated the place. The family has been trying frantically for weeks to find out if she survived. Official channels were jammed with high call volume and unofficial channels were chaotic to say the least. We did manage to confirm through several of her music friends they had talked to her immediately after the earthquake.
Finally, more than two weeks later she got a message out to her family. She is fine with only minor bruising and she plans to remain for a while to help the people of Haiti.
Now that big drama is resolved it's on to the science... You can bet since the Haiti incident I've been looking at a lot of articles about earthquakes and violent weather! :)
Check out the latest science idea - which I find incredulous. It seems humanity keeps trying to take on bigger and bigger projects without fully thinking through the unintended consequences.
How smart is this? First humanity develops destructive atomic bombs, biological warfare, then Star Wars armed space satellites and now we are going to start tinkering with Mother Nature's weather systems we still don't understand well? Where does the arrogance of "because we can" and the fear of what we might lose intersect with wisdom?
*** THANKS for visiting, come back often, feel free to leave a comment, a big shout out to current subscribers - and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email!
From Denny: This has been an interesting week. The State of the Union address by President Obama basically summed up how the Republicans have been screwing over the entire country in every aspect of our lives and how much fun the Republicans have had screwing over Prez Obama at every turn while he continues to be inclusive and gracious to them.
Let's see, then our very own highest court in the land decided toscrew overthe American people by letting loose the floodgates of the greedy Big Business monopolies to fund elections and completely control the politicians elected. Granted, the corrupt basically control most of the politicians, all of the Republicans and far too many of the Democrats.
And the most recent group to get screwed over? The print publishing industry. Those adorable hold-in-your-hand books may soon be no more. Why anyone is shocked is the surprise. Come on; we all grew up on Star Trek and Sy-Fy spin-off shows where they featured hand-held computers and digital books decades before computers were any smaller than a football field, filling whole cavernous rooms like over at NASA. Of course, comparing Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, to God is a bit of a stretch - OK, it's downright creepy. :)
Take a look and chuckle for the day at how the cartoonists responded to this week's news stories:
*** THANKS for visiting, come back often, feel free to leave a comment, a big thank you and shout out to current subscribers - and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email!
From Denny: The outpouring of donations worldwide for the relief of suffering in Haiti following a 7.0 devastating earthquake is incredible. The following are a list of 67 well-known established charities to which you can donate safely.
The Mobile Giving Foundation has received over $30 million in text pledges from cell phone donors the past two weeks. Even the Pew Research Center was well impressed and threw out some statistics:
14% donated by text message 12% donated by phone 23% donated via the web 5% donated via email 39% donated in person via a church or other group
Here's something I doubt any of us thought about when we donated by text message or phone: how long will it take for the phone companies to send out that donation? Turns out it can take from 30, even up to 60 days to transfer customers' contributions, which is then added to the mobile phone bills.
The biggest carriers like Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile have all decided to expedite those donations.
Here's each company's status:
Verizon Wireless: Last Friday, 22 January, they transferred $2.98 million. Today, 28 January, they transferred $4.84 million. Jeffrey Nelson declared the campaign "the largest outpouring of charitable support by texting in history — by far. In all of 2009, all mobile giving (via texting) to all charities totaled just under $4 million for the year."
AT&T: Donations are up to $10 million. The company says they will "advance payment of verified texted donations" to the Red Cross.
Sprint: Donations so far are $3.1 million. By Friday, 29 January, they will advance 80% of the donations with the remaining 20% placed into the usual 30 to 90 day settlement cycle.
T-Mobile: They are working hard to expedite on a weekly basis.
"HAITI" 90999 American Red Cross $10 "QUAKE" 20222 Clinton Bush Haiti Fund $10 "GIVE" 25383 MTV telethon $10 "HAITI" 25383 International Rescue Committee $5 "HAITI" 85944 International Medical Corps $10
"YELE" 501501 Yele Haiti foundation $5 "HAITI" 52000 The Salvation Army $10 "HOPE10" or "UNICEF" 20222 UNICEF $10 "HABITAT" 25383 Habitat for Humanity $10 "OXFAM" 25383 Oxfam America, Inc $10
"HAITI" 40579 National Religious Broadcasters $10 "SAVE" or "SAFE" 20222 Save the Children Federation $10 "GIVE" or "WORLD" 20222 World Vision, Inc $10 "CARE" 24383 CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, Inc) $10 "AJWS" 25383 American Jewish World Service $10
*** THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS - even the smallest amount delivers a huge impact!
*** THANKS for visiting, come back often, feel free to leave a comment, a big thank you and shout out to current subscribers - and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email!
From Denny: On the Richter scale this earthquake was a hugely powerful "7." What does that mean in explosive power of Mother Nature? Try 35 times more powerful than one atom bomb. The quake lasted a long full minute when most quakes last only a few seconds. This is why there is so much devastation.
There is a long lateral fault that runs through Haiti and scientists had warned the country they were at risk for a huge earthquake. It has been 200 years since the country experienced this scale of disaster and this type of magnitude quake tends to run in 200 - 250 year cycles according to geologists.
This one shows diagrams of the underlying seismic plates and how they interacted along the fault line of about 40 miles running laterally through the country to create so much damage.
From CBS: About 90 percent of the world's earthquakes strike inside the "ring of fire," which is a 25,000 mile stretch of ocean trenches and volcanoes. Haiti's earthquake was rare, but expected.
*** THANKS for visiting, come back often, feel free to leave a comment, a big shout out to current subscribers - and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email!
From Denny: Finally, a happier story of triumph as a woman named Jeanette was pulled from the damaged building in strong health with minor injuries and dehydration after six days pinned down. This is an awesome story of her faith in God and her determination to survive to be reunited with her husband.
Of course, with any horrific disaster it helps to focus upon the positive. Nothing is more positive and heart-warming than the birthing of a new life. How fortunate this young mother was to have an entire USS Navy ship at her beck and call. The crew is all smiles to be a part of something so life affirming. Can you guess the new baby boy's name? Yes, it's Vinson, in honor of the ship and crew.
The ship is about 17 miles out from the shore of Haiti. They have been taking in any and all injured discovered on the streets of Haiti by U.S. troops. They were the closest American ship in the area and the first to arrive after the disaster.
Can you imagine being pregnant and deep in labor right after an earthquake? The things that had to be going through her mind as she was getting ready to birth her baby. Luck had it she was found by American troops who quickly transported her to the ship to deliver her baby safely.
*** THANKS for visiting, come back often, a big thank you to current subscribers - and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email!
From Denny: This rare eclipse was only seen by part of the world: Africa, Asia and the Indian Ocean, an eclipse that lasted a long 11 minutes. It was the longest eclipse in 1,000 years. Guess what, it will be another 10,000 years before this phenomenon occurs again!
From CNN:
The Indian Space Research Organization has already sent up three rockets, and at least five others are scheduled for launch during the eclipse, its spokesman, S. Satish, told CNN.
Astronomers term the Friday phenomenon an annular eclipse, when the moon covers the center of the sun and not its edges.
The Indian rockets will record changes the eclipse causes in the lower and middle atmosphere as it races from Africa to Asia, he said.
"The occurrence of (the) eclipse will result in a sudden cut-off of solar radiation. This affects the atmospheric structure and dynamics," the space agency said in a news release. "The uniqueness of this eclipse is that it occurs during the noontime, when the incoming solar radiation is in its maximum, (the) sun being at its zenith."
From the Indian Space Research Organization:
The annular eclipse of the sun will be visible Friday inside a 300-kilometer-wide (190-mile-wide) track that will traverse half of Earth, according to scientists. An annular eclipse is one that occurs when the moon is near the point in its orbit where it is farthest from Earth. Its disk then appears smaller than that of the sun, so it cannot block out the sun entirely as in a total eclipse. The uniqueness of this eclipse is that it occurs during the noontime, when the incoming solar radiation is in its maximum, (the) sun being at its zenith.
The longest annular solar eclipse of the millennium began on Friday and traveled its way across several African countries. Its path will continue its way through the Indian Ocean and later be observed in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and China. Cali Carlin reports.
*** THANKS for visiting, come back often, feel free to comment, a big shout out to current subscribers - and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email!
