An airplane sits after crash landing at Penmar Golf Course in Venice California March 5, 2015 (Reuters / Lucy Nicholson)
March 5, 2015 - CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
- Actor Harrison Ford has been seriously injured after a World War
II-era training plane he was piloting crashed into a golf course in Los
Angeles.
Ford reportedly sustained injuries to his head as a
result of the crash, though he survived and is now being treated at a
hospital. The 72-year-old actor is in stable condition, with NBC News
reporting he suffered from cuts to the head and possible fractures.
Other reports suggested he had gashes on his head and was bleeding.
However, CNN stated that Ford's condition is still unknown and that he suffered "moderate trauma"
when he crashed. It's also unclear if Ford was attempting to land at
the time, but the network added that his plane reportedly hit a tree on
the way down.
Officials said he was conscious when taken from the scene of the crash. "We are very thankful that the passenger had [only] very moderate injuries," Los Angeles Assistant Fire Chief Patrick Butler said, as quoted by NBC Los Angeles.
The
LA Fire Department confirmed that Ford was the only individual in the
single-engine plane, and no other injuries have been reported. Howard
Tabe, who was at the golf course when the plane crashed, told NBC that
two doctors who were also at the scene rushed to treat the actor when
the incident occurred. Tabe also said Ford had blood on his face.
In a tweet, Ford's son Ben said that his father was "battered, but ok."
Ford
is an experienced pilot who has been flying since the 1960s. This isn't
the first time the famed 'Star Wars' and 'Indiana Jones' actor has
crashed, either. In a 2008 interview with National Geographic, he
described an incident that took place as he was flying a helicopter.
Here is brief footage of the plane that crashed on the Penmar Golf Course that may have been piloted by Harrison Ford pic.twitter.com/alBTZoDk5U
— Annenberg TV News (@atvn) March 6, 2015
"Well,
there was a mechanical failure while we were practicing power recovery
autorotations. It was more or less a hard landing," he said at the time. "Luckily, I was with another aviation professional and neither of us was hurt—and both of us are still flying."
Back
in 2000, Ford was involved in another crash as well, this time in a
six-passenger aircraft that was occupied by him and one other person.
The plane was damaged, but no injuries were reported. - RT.
March 5, 2015 - ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES
- Eight train cars filled with crude oil veered off the tracks in the
south of Galena, Illinois. At least two of them caught fire after the
105-car-long BNSF Railway train derailed.
The train derailed
around 1:20 pm (19:20 GMT) in a rural area where the Galena River meets
the Mississippi, according to railroad officials.
Galena city fire crews responded to the reports as soon as the emergency calls went through. “The report that came back to me from them is that eight tanker cars had left the track,” Galena City Administrator Mark Moran told reporters. “Two of those were still upright, the other six were not. They observed at least one of those tankers smoking.”
No reports of injuries have so far surfaced, and no evacuations have been necessary, Moran said, adding that there are “no structures and no houses in that area.” “I did confirm that the train crew was safely removed from the scene without injury,” he said.
Reuters
meanwhile reports that two cars have ignited. The train had 105 loaded
cars – 103 of which were carrying crude oil. BNSF has released two
statements regarding the derailment, but has not confirmed reports of
burning crude oil at the crash site.
Dubuque Fire Chief Rick
Steines told local media he has deployed firefighters with foam fire
suppression equipment to a derailment staging area. “We sent two people with our foam trailer because of a request we got form Jo Daviess County,” he said.
It’s still unclear what caused the derailment, according to a BNSF statement.
The
railroad is working with local responders and has notified the National
Transportation Safety Board and Federal Railroad Administration.
Firefighters
attempted to extinguish an initial small fire soon after the incident,
but were unable to stop the flames, pulling back for safety reasons at
around 3:20 pm, local time. “We couldn't access the seat of the fire, and it grew,” Assistant Fire Chief Bob Conley told local news. Responders are allowing the fire to burn itself out, he said. - RT.
March 5, 2015 - CHINA
- The Chinese do not plan to live in a world dominated by the U.S.
dollar for much longer. Chinese leaders have been calling for the U.S.
dollar to be replaced as the primary global reserve currency for a long time,
but up until now they have never been very specific about what they
would put in place of it. Many have assumed that the Chinese simply
wanted some new international currency to be created. But what if that
is not what the Chinese had in mind? What if they have always wanted
their own currency to become the single most dominant currency on the
entire planet? What you are about to see is rather startling, but it
shouldn’t be a surprise. When it comes to economics and finance, the
Chinese have always been playing chess while the western world has been
playing checkers. Sadly, we have gotten to the point where checkmate is
on the horizon.
On Wednesday, I came across an excellent article by Simon Black. What he had to say in that article just about floored me…
When I arrived to Bangkok the other day, coming down the motorway from the airport I saw a huge billboard—and it floored me. The billboard was from the Bank of China. It said: “RMB: New Choice; The World Currency” Given
that the Bank of China is more than 70% owned by the government of the
People’s Republic of China, I find this very significant.
It means that China is literally advertising its currency overseas,and it’s making sure that everyone landing at one of the world’s busiest airports sees it. They know that the future belongs to them and they’re flaunting it.
And most everyone has assumed that Chinese currency would soon play a larger role in international trade.
But
things have moved so rapidly in recent years that now a very large
chunk of the financial world actually expects the renminbi to replace
the dollar as the primary reserve currency of the planet someday. The
following comes from CNBC…
The
tightly controlled Chinese yuan will eventually supersede the dollar as
the top international reserve currency, according to a new poll of
institutional investors. The
survey of 200 institutional investors – 100 headquartered in mainland
China and 100 outside of it – published by State Street and the
Economist Intelligence Unit on Thursday found 53 percent of investors think the renminbi will surpass the U.S. dollar as the world’s major reserve currency.
Optimism
was higher within China, where 62 percent said they saw a redback world
on the horizon, compared with 43 percent outside China.
And without a doubt we are starting to see the beginnings of a significant shift.
Just consider this excerpt from a recent Reuters report…
China’s
yuan broke into the top five as a world payment currency in November,
overtaking the Canadian dollar and the Australian dollar, global
transaction services organization SWIFT said on Wednesday.
The U.S. dollar won’t be replaced overnight, but things are changing.
Of
course the truth is that the Chinese have been preparing for this for a
very long time. The Chinese refuse to tell the rest of the world
exactly how much gold they have, but everyone knows that they have been
accumulating enormous amounts of it. And even if they don’t explicitly
back the renminbi with gold, the massive gold reserves that China is
accumulating will still give the rest of the planet a great deal of
confidence in Chinese currency.
But don’t just take my word for it. Consider what Alan Greenspan has had to say on the matter…
Alan
Greenspan, who served at the helm of the Federal Reserve for nearly two
decades, recently penned an op-ed for the Council on Foreign Relations
discussing gold and its possible role in China, the world’s
second-largest economy. He notes that if China converted only a
“relatively modest part of its $4 trillion foreign exchange reserves
into gold, the country’s currency could take on unexpected strength in
today’s international financial system.”
Meanwhile,
the Chinese have also been accumulating a tremendous amount of U.S.
debt. At this point, the Chinese own approximately 1.3 trillion dollars
worth of our debt, and that gives them a lot of power over our currency
and over our financial system.
Someday if the Chinese wanted to
undermine confidence in the U.S. dollar and in the U.S. financial
system, they have a lot of ammunition at their disposal.
And it
isn’t just all of that debt that gives China leverage. In recent years,
the Chinese have been buying up real estate, businesses and energy
assets all over the United States at a staggering pace. For a small
taste of what has been taking place, check out the YouTube video posted below…
On a purchasing power basis, the size of the Chinese economy has already surpassed the size of the U.S. economy.
And there are lots of signs of trouble ahead for the U.S. economy at this point. I like how Brandon Smith put it in one recent article…
We
are only two months into 2015, and it has already proven to be the most
volatile year for the economic environment since 2008-2009. We have
seen oil markets collapsing by about 50 percent in the span of a few
months (just as the Federal Reserve announced the end of QE3, indicating
fiat money was used to hide falling demand), the Baltic Dry Index
losing 30 percent since the beginning of the year, the Swiss currency
surprise, the Greeks threatening EU exit (and now Greek citizens
threatening violent protests with the new four-month can-kicking deal),
and the effects of the nine-month-long West Coast port strike not yet
quantified. This is not just a fleeting expression of a negative first
quarter; it is a sign of things to come.
In
addition, things continue to look quite bleak for Europe. Once upon a
time, many expected the euro to overtake the U.S. dollar as the primary
global reserve currency, but that didn’t happen. And in recent months
the euro has been absolutely crashing. On Wednesday, it hit the lowest point that we have seen against the dollar in more than a decade…
The
euro last stood at $1.1072, off 0.90 percent for the day and below a
key support level, Sutton said. It fell to as little as $1.1066, which
was the lowest level for the euro against the dollar since September
2003, according to Thomson Reuters data. The
euro also declined to one-month lows against the Japanese yen, which
was flat against the dollar at 119.72 yen to the dollar.
As the U.S. and Europe continue to struggle, China is going to want a significantly larger role on the global stage.
And as the billboard in Thailand suggests, they are more than willing to step up to the plate.
So will the road to the future be paved with Chinese currency? - Investment Watch.
The school bus was severely damaged in the crash. (Washington State Patrol photo)
March 5, 2015 - WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES -
One person was killed and 47 patients were taken to the hospital
Thursday after the driver of a large box truck fell asleep at the wheel
and crashed into a school bus and passenger car on rural Highway 97 in
Douglas County, the Washington State Patrol said.
Trooper
Darren Wright of the Washington State Patrol says 22-year-old Carmela
Cuellar Morales, who was driving the car, was killed in the 8:10 a.m.
crash about five miles north of Orondo.
At least seven other
people were "heavily injured," said Chief Jim Oatey of Douglas County
Fire District 4, including the driver and passenger in the box truck and
a 12-year-old girl who was riding in the car.
Dozens of students of all ages were aboard the school bus, operated by the Orondo School District.
"When
the truck crashed the bus, I (fell) and the kids fell out of the
seats," said 6-year-old Jasmine Gaona, who was sporting a bandaged knee
after being released from the hospital.
Officials initially said
five students and the school bus driver were taken to the hospital with
minor injuries. Later, state troopers said 43 students, the bus driver,
the two occupants of the box truck and the 12-year-old girl in the car
were taken to the hospital to be checked out or treated for injuries.
"We
did see a few fractures," said Tracey Kasnic, Chief Nursing Officer at
Confluence Health. "But mostly bumps, bruises and lacerations."
None of the students needed to be admitted, Wright said.
Investigators
say it appears the driver of the large box truck collided head-on with
the passenger car, then careened head-on into the school bus. The driver
of the car and a passenger in the box truck had to be removed from the
tangled wreckage with special extrication equipment.
"We are investigating the truck (driver) for fatigue issues," Wright said. "He crossed the center line and struck the vehicles."
State
Patrol reports also show the driver of the box truck, identified as
54-year-old Kenneth A. Hahn, was involved in another crash near the same
spot on US-97 just over a year ago. On Feb. 13, 2014, Hahn was driving a
1998 International Van truck when he crossed the center line about 10
miles north of Orondo and struck a Honda Pilot with three people inside,
including a 3-year-old boy, according to the crash report. All three
survived but the two adults in the Pilot were hospitalized. The report
states Hahn was cited with driving over the centerline.
There is
one school in the town of Orondo, a combination elementary-middle school
with about 160 students. The bus was on its way there with a full load
of students at the time of the crash.
Douglas County Sheriff
Harvey Gjesdal said it was the worst accident in his 30-year career in
law enforcement. "Anything involving a school bus causes great concern -
sad, sad," he said.
Millie Watkins, superintendent of the Orondo
School District, agreed. "Obviously, this has been upsetting for
everyone," she said. - KOMO News.
March 5, 2015 - RUSSIA
- The Russian Defense Ministry has launched massive military exercises,
involving over 2,000 troops and some 500 items of weaponry in southern
Russia, including in the Caucasus.
The field-type exercises of the
air defense forces will be taking place until April 10 in twelve
military firing ranges, located in Russia's South, the North Caucasus
and Crimean Federal Districts, as well as at Russian military bases in
Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Armenia. “Over 2,000 troops have
been involved into the battle drills, and over 500 items of weaponry and
military hardware are being used,” Interfax quoted a statement of the Southern Military District.
The training day will last for 10 hours, and half of the drills will take place at night.
During
the month-long drills, Russian troops will be practicing tactical,
special and technical skills, alongside driving modern military
equipment, shooting and fire control.
The drills involve self-propelled howitzers “Gvozdika”, multiple artillery rocket systems “Grad”, mortars “Podnos”, anti-tank missile systems “Konkurs”, and modern intelligence drones “Navodchik-2”. “At the end of the field drills, tactical maneuvers are planned,” the statement said. Combat units will repeal strikes from the aggressor’s tactical aircraft, drones and precision weapon projectiles.” “They will also carry out operational reconnaissance of the air situation in conditions of the electromagnetic warfare”, it added.
On Wednesday, a NATO flotilla of six ships arrived
in the Black Sea to take part in the exercises with the Bulgarian,
Romanian and Turkish ships, the alliance said in a statement, stressing
that the training will take course “in full compliance with
international conventions”.
Russia carries out military exercises
on a regular basis. The country’s south saw 1,700-strong drills of
radiation resistance troops in February, and the Pacific Fleet of the
Russian Navy is set to exercise in the sea of Japan. - RT.
March 5, 2015 - UNITED STATES - Treacherous winter storm systems in the United States stranded hundreds of drivers in Missouri and Kentucky.
The snow has caused traffic to come to a standstill and a huge section
of roadways have become a virtual parking lot - leaving cars and trucks
littered across the roads.
Pileups Snarl Missouri Highway as Snow Moves Through State
Tractor-trailers and cars are seen on Interstate 44 in Missouri after a chain-reaction crash near Rolla, Missouri, Saturday.
A
chain-reaction crash shut down a Missouri highway Saturday after a
Greyhound bus slammed into a tractor-trailer and caused a 25-vehicle
pileup west of St. Louis, authorities said. Elsewhere on the same
interstate two people were killed in a crash as snow moved through the
state.
In the chain-reaction
wreck, at least 25 vehicles crashed into one another after a Greyhound
bus carrying 55 people rear-ended a tractor trailer on Interstate 44
near the town of Rolla, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said. Crumpled
tractor-trailers and cars were seen scattered all over the roadway and
in a ditch after the 1:30 p.m. crash.
Eleven
people on the bus were sent to a local hospital with minor to moderate
injuries. One of the trucks involved in the later crashes was carrying a
flammable and corrosive chemical and some of it spilled, but the
highway patrol said the spill was minor.
Hours
after that pileup, two people were killed after several cars crashed at
around 4 p.m. on I-44 near Lebanon, about 60 miles west of Rolla, the
highway patrol said. Snow began falling Saturday morning as a winter
storm moved through, making roads treacherous.
The
National Weather Service said heavy snow falling at a rate of one to
two inches was possible in the heaviest parts, and the area where the
crashes occurred is expected to get between four to eight inches of
snow. - NBC News.
Storm strands hundreds along Kentucky interstates
Authorities say heavy snow has left hundreds of vehicles stuck on rural stretches of interstates in Kentucky.
By
midday Thursday, a strong cold front moving across the eastern U.S. had
dumped more than 20 inches of snow into parts of Kentucky, and
conditions worsened in the Northeast as snow
was starting to pile up, reaching nearly 6 inches and counting in King
of Prussia, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia, by early afternoon.
A still image from a Kentucky Transportation Cabinet camera shows a line of trucks stranded on Interstate 65 south of Louisville,
Kentucky, March 5, 2015. Kentucky Transportation Cabinet/handout via Reuters
Gov.
Steve Beshear said Thursday that during the height of one pileup in
western Kentucky, more than 400 vehicles were stuck along westbound
Interstate 24 between Cadiz and Eddyville. Beshear says about 200
vehicles are still stuck.
Another huge pileup occurred along a stretch of Interstate 65 near Elizabethtown in central Kentucky.
Kentucky State Police Trooper Jeff Gregory says some people have been stranded in their vehicles since Wednesday night.
WATCH: Storm strands hundreds along Kentucky interstates.
Gregory says about 200 tractor-trailers, plus hundreds of passenger vehicles, were stuck along an eight-mile stretch of I-65.
Beshear declared an emergency authorizing the National Guard to help with relief efforts. - CBS News.
The train hit the back end of a truck caught at a level
crossing in Perth’s western suburbs, causing peak-hour chaos for
commuters.
March 5, 2015 - PERTH, AUSTRALIA - A train has hit a truck at a level crossing on the Fremantle line.
The
Perth-bound train clipped the rear of a mid-sized truck which was
waiting to turn onto Curtin Avenue at the Victoria Street crossing at
about 4.40pm.
No one on the train was injured and the driver of the truck was also unharmed.
Train
services were suspended between Loch Street and Fremantle for about 90
minutes, leaving hundreds of commuters waiting to get on replacement bus
services at Loch Street station.
Mosman Park resident Michael Raj waited for more than 30 minutes to catch a bus.
Mosman Park resident Michael Raj waited for more than 30 minutes to catch a bus.
Train services were delayed while there was traffic chaos after the crash. Picture: Sean Middleton
Crews clean up after the collision. Picture: Sean Middleton
"I have been working for about 10 hours and I just want to get home," he said.
East
Fremantle resident Jana Boffey said the interruption to her journey
home would not deter her from using public transport in future.
"We were waiting for a train in Perth and an announcement came up that we had to get off at Loch Street," she said.
"This type of thing happens every six months. It won't stop me from using public transport."
Railway Road near Claremont was lined with people this evening, and replacement buses were packed with commuters. - Yahoo Australia.
March 5, 2015 - UNITED STATES
- Hundreds of thousands without power - Ice shutting down roads from
Virginia to Mississippi to Louisiana to Alabama - D.C. government
offices shut down - Almost no mention on national media.
A
storm system will continue to blast areas from Texas to New York with
widespread snow and flooding rain through Thursday, says
accuweather.com.
"Snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour will
occur at times from south of New York City to Washington, D.C., and
northern Virginia," AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said.
Some
40,000 customers are without power in West Virginia and at least 19,000
in Ohio, where snow is hindering restoration efforts in some areas.
WATCH: Crazy snow in West Virginia.
FlightStats
reports that 2,460 flights have been canceled nationally so far on
Thursday. An additional 1,121 flights have faced delays. With
reports of 10 inches, 12 inches, 17 inches, even as much as 25 inches
(62 cm) of snow in some parts of the state, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear
has declared a state of emergency for the state.
Kentucky Department of Transportation cameras show a line of cars stuck
on I-65 northbound outside of Elizabethtown. Emergency management
reports that crews are working as fast as possible to safely assist the
stranded drivers and passengers. Some have been stuck in their cars for more than 9 hours.
"Tow trucks and snow plows are out, but also getting stuck as well,"
Hardin County Emergency Management said on their Facebook page. Up to 8 inches of snow is also expected in Virginia
Ice shutting down roads from Virginia to Mississippi to Louisiana to Alabama
"Meanwhile, sleet is advancing across the South and extends from the
I-81 corridor in southwestern Virginia to I-20 in Mississippi and
northeastern Louisiana," Sosnowski said.
Sleet and ice are also
creating dangerous travel in Alabama. One inch of sleet has been
measured by the National Weather Service in Huntsville.
Madison
and Franklin Counties in Alabama report that roads are impassable.
Limestone County, Alabama, is reporting that all roads are becoming
treacherous and impassable. And in Colbert, all roads and bridges
"should be considered IMPASSABLE until further notice."
The list goes on and on and on, but I find almost no mention of this on any of the major national news networks.
Rare snow on Huntington Beach plus waterspouts near Los Angeles
Yes
you read that headline correctly. Yesterday in Huntington Beach there
was snow. And, in Redondo Beach, waterspouts were reported. I'm sure it
won't be long before somebody tries to blame these weather events on
"global warming" which is fast becoming the "universal bogeyman" for any
weather event.
And in downtown:
Huntington Beach dusted with a light covering of snow this morning
Waterspouts:
Pair of waterspouts seen this evening off the coast of Redondo Beach, CA
These
events were all part of a frontal system moving through, hardly
unprecedented. It seems there was a similar event with snow on the beach
in 1987.
Observers indicated the snow might be very fine hail, possibly from a cold core thunderstorm. Whatever it is, it has nothing to do with "global warming".
Bostonians, gluttons for punishment, want to set snow record
Talk
about gluttons for punishment: Bostonians buried beneath more than 8½
feet of snow suddenly are clamoring for a little more so they can boast
of a new record.
The city is just a smidgeon over 2 inches away from setting an all-time snowfall mark. So far this winter, it’s gotten 105.5 inches, according to National Weather Service measurements taken at Logan International Airport.
The record is 107.6 inches recorded during the 1995-96 season. Records date to 1872.
Having endured weeks of misery, residents like Erin O'Brien insist they deserve bragging rights. Otherwise, some wonder, what was the point of it all?
‘‘I want the record. We earned the record,’’ said O'Brien, a professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts-Boston.
More snow was expected Thursday, but the weather service was predicting accumulation of an inch or less in Boston, making it questionable that a record was within the grasp of Bostonians’ mittened hands.
‘‘Elusive is a good word,’’ National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Simpson said Wednesday. ‘‘We’re no longer in that superactive pattern. We quiet down after (Thursday) so there are no guarantees.’’
Many took to social media, urging the city to send up snowy vibes and get the record for the entire season, which is measured from July 1 through June 30.
‘‘Have folks already given up? We've got more than a month of snow potential. We'll take the crown. Don’t stop believin’,’’ public relations executive Mike Spinney said on Twitter.
Not everyone, naturally, is on board. After digging out repeatedly from back-to-back snowstorms that have crippled public transportation and cost the city millions in cleanup, some don’t want to see one more snowflake fall.
‘‘I really don’t care if we don’t beat the record for snowiest winter,’’ said Amy Ouellette, a marketing associate in Salem, north of Boston. ‘‘I just want it over and I want spring and sun to melt it all.’’ - Boston.
Winters are going to get colder...much colder - NASA consultant
The
Maunder Minimum (also known as the prolonged sunspot minimum) is the
name used for the period roughly spanning 1645 to 1715 when sunspots became exceedingly rare, as noted by solar observers of the time.
During one 30-year period within the Maunder Minimum, astronomers observed only about 50 sunspots, as opposed to a more typical 40,000-50,000 spots. (Source) Climatologist John Casey, a former space shuttle engineer and NASA consultant, thinks that last year's winter, described by USA Today as "one of the snowiest, coldest, most miserable on record" is going to be a regular occurrence over the coming decades.
Casey asserts that there is mounting evidence that the Earth is getting cooler due to a decline in solar activity. He warns in his latest book, Dark Winter that a major alteration of global climate has already started and that at a minimum it is likely to last 30 years.
Casey isn't alone in his thinking. Russian climate expert and
astrophysicist Habibullo Abdussamatov goes one step further and states
that we are at the very beginning of a new ice age.
Dr. Abdussamatov points out that Earth has experienced such occurrences five times over the last 1,000 years, and that:
"A
global freeze will come about regardless of whether or not
industrialized countries put a cap on their greenhouse gas emissions.
The common view of Man's industrial activity is a deciding factor in
global warming has emerged from a misinterpretation of cause and
effect." (source)
Despite
no global warming in 10 years and recording setting cold in 2007-2008,
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic Change (IPCC) and computer
modelers who believe that CO2 is the cause of global warming still
predict the Earth is in store for catastrophic warming in this century.
IPCC computer models have predicted global warming of 1° F per decade,
and 5-6° C (10-11° F) by 2100 which would cause global catastrophe with
ramifications for human life, natural habitat, energy, water resources,
and food production. All of this is predicated on the assumption that
global warming is caused by increasing atmospheric CO2 and that CO2 will
continue to rise rapidly.
The list of climate scientists that are moving into the global cooling camp is growing, many
of them base their views on past climate records and history suggests a
link between diminished solar activity and bitterly cold winters, as
well as cooler summers, in the northern hemisphere.
"My opinion is that we are heading into a Maunder Minimum,"
said Mark Giampapa, a solar physicist at the National Solar Observatory
(NSO) in Tucson, Arizona. "I'm seeing a continuation in the decline of
the sunspots' mean magnetic field strengths and a weakening of the polar
magnetic fields and subsurface flows."
David Hathaway of NASA's Marshall Solar Physics Center explains:
"We're
at the sunspot maximum of Cycle 24. It's the smallest sunspot cycle in
100 years and the third in a trend of diminishing sunspot cycles. So,
Cycle 25 could likely be smaller than Cycle 24."
A NASA Science News
report of January 2013 details the science behind the sunspot-climate
connection and it well worth reading. It should be remembered that since
the report was written Solar cycle 24 has been proven to be not the
smallest cycle in 50 years, but the smallest for more than 100 years. The last one with sunspot numbers this low was 1906, solar cycle 14.
"Indeed,
the sun could be on the threshold of a mini-Maunder event right now.
Ongoing Solar Cycle 24 [the current short term 11 year cycle] is the
weakest in more than 50 years. Moreover, there is (controversial)
evidence of a long-term weakening trend in the magnetic field strength
of sunspots. Matt Penn and William Livingston of the National Solar
Observatory predict that by the time Solar Cycle 25 arrives, magnetic
fields on the sun will be so weak that few if any sunspots will be
formed. Independent lines of research involving helioseismology and
surface polar fields tend to support their conclusion."
Livingston
and Penn are solar astronomers With the NSO (National Solar
Observatory) in Tuscon, Arizona. They use a measurement known as Zeeman
splitting to gather data on sunspots. They discovered in 1990, that the
number of sunspots is dropping and that once the magnetic field drops
below 1500 Gauss , that no sunspots will form. (A Gauss is a magnetic
field measurement. The Gauss of the Earth is less than one). If the
decline continues at its present rate they estimate that the Sun will be
spot free by 2016.
If
these scientists are correct, we are heading into a period of bitterly
cold winters and much cooler summers. Imagine year after year of 'polar vortex'
winters that start early, finish late and deliver unprecedented cold
across the country. Cool wet summers will affect food production, as
will floods from the melting snow when spring finally arrives.
The American Meteorological Society Journal gives the following
information regarding cold related deaths in comparison to heat related
deaths in the United States from 1979-1999. The article is entitled Heat Mortality Versus Cold Mortality.
During the study period from 1979 to 1999 a total of 3,829 people died
from excessive heat across the United states. An average of 182 deaths
per year. For the same time period 15,707 people died of cold, an
average of 748 deaths a year.
Based on these figures cold kills
four times more people than heat. If these scientists are right you can
expect that figure to rise dramatically as energy demand outstrips
supply. Power supplies are also impacted by ice storms and heavy snow
which will lead to more outages and the disruption that brings.
Generally the infrastructure will fail to cope with month after month of
excessive cold. Transportation is severely impacted by weather events
and that has the knock on effect of hitting the economy as people
struggle to get to work. For the unprepared regular food deliveries not
making it to stores will leave many hungry and increasingly desperate.
March 5, 2015 - CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
- The second California hospital in two weeks has reported cases of a
deadly “superbug” infection, thought to be related to a diagnostic
camera device.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles
confirmed at least four patients have been infected with the antibiotic
resistant bacterium CRE. One patient died, but the hospital said the
death was due to the pre-existing medical condition, rather than the CRE
infection. Free home-testing kits have been sent to 67 other patients
that may have been exposed between August and January.
CRE, or carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, can cause potentially lethal infections of the bladder or lungs.
Two
weeks ago, the Ronald Reagan Medical Center at the University of
California Los Angeles (UCLA) reported seven infections with the deadly
pathogen, resulting in two deaths, and 179 potential exposures.
There
have been no updates on test results.
The Cedars-Sinai hospital is pictured in Los Angeles, California (Reuters / Benoit Tessier)
Both
incidents are believed to be related to a medical camera known as the
duodenoscope, used to diagnose pancreatic and bile-duct problems. The
device is a flexible fiber-optic tube, inserted down the throat to
enable a doctor to examine internal organs. However, it is very
difficult to clean and disinfect properly, leaving patients potentially
at risk of exposure to CRE and other “superbugs.”
Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention have alerted the Food and Drug
Administration concerns about the possible connection between the use of
duodenoscopes and “multidrug-resistant bacterial infections” in 2013,
AP reported.
The latest two outbreaks have been linked to the
Olympus TJF-Q180V duodenoscope, a version in use since 2010. On
Wednesday, the FDA confirmed the manufacturer did not seek their
clearance for the latest version, as required by law. The agency said it
did not intend to withdraw the device from service, however, as that
would deprive patients of a “beneficial and often life-saving
procedure.”
The FDA confirmed it had received reports
of 135 patients in the US who may have been infected via scopes between
in 2013 and 2014, and that it is aware the design of the scopes makes
them difficult to clean. Almost half a million endoscopic procedures are
performed in the US every year.
Cedars-Sinai said it has
stopped using the scope for the time being, and will resume endoscopies
after consulting with government agencies and other hospitals. - RT.
March 5, 2015 - NORTH AMERICA -
How rough a winter has it been on the Great Lakes? Ask the crew of the
freighter Arthur M. Anderson — whenever they make it back to port.
The 767-foot bulk carrier, due in port a week ago, was only just west
of St. Ignace in northern Lake Michigan as of Monday afternoon, making
its way to its winter layover port in Sturgeon Bay, Wis. The Anderson —
famously the last ship to receive communication from the freighter
Edmund Fitzgerald before it sank during an intense storm on Lake
Superior in November 1975, killing all 29 crew members — was stuck in
ice west of the Mackinac Bridge all day Sunday. A U.S. Coast Guard
icebreaker had to free it, the boatnerd.com reported.
That's after the Anderson spent more than two weeks battling through
ice in southern Lake Erie, for a trip from Conneaut, Ohio, to Gary,
Ind., that typically takes two days. The freighter became frozen in
place off Conneaut on Feb. 19, in deep, pressure-ridged lake ice stacked
upon itself by winds. A U.S. Coast Guard cutter escorting the ship
couldn't break it out, and two additional cutters from the Canadian
Coast Guard were sent to assist. The Anderson sat locked in ice for two
days before being freed.
It's the second straight tough winter
for Great Lakes shipping, and the lakes altogether were 88.3%
ice-covered as of Sunday — more than the 86% ice cover on the lakes on
March 1, 2014, amid a winter with record snowfall and near-record frigid
temperatures.
"Last winter, we had a little bit of a warm-up
near the end of February, before we got another cold blast. This winter,
we've had consistently cold temperatures," said George Leshkevich, a
physical scientist with the Great Lakes Environmental Research
Laboratory in Ann Arbor.
Last winter's Great Lakes ice cover
peaked at 92.5% on March 6 — the second-most since 1979. A flirtation
with the documented record of 94.7% in 1979 may not happen this year,
Leshkevich said.
"We're
close to the time when we could expect the ice to start deteriorating,"
he said. "But if we keep getting cold temperatures, that could change. I
hate to make forecasts like that, because you can be so wrong."
The overall ice-cover number is being held down by about 25% open water
in Lake Ontario, and Lake Michigan, which is only 71.2% covered by ice.
But Lake Superior was at 94.1% ice cover as of Sunday, with Huron and Erie at about 96%.
There's only a moment for Great Lakes haulers to catch their breath
before a new shipping season begins next week, when the first cement
boat gets underway March 12, said Glen Nekvasil, vice president of the
Lake Carriers Association, a shipping trade group.
"I think they will need some ice-breaking assistance,"he
said. "It's always easier to keep going in ice than it is to get
started. The traffic in the shipping lanes helps keep them from
freezing. But now that the ships are in port, when we get going again,
it will be tougher to get going."
After a second straight
difficult winter for freight haulers, the Lake Carriers Association is
appealing to the U.S. and Canadian governments to put more ice-breaking
boats on the Great Lakes in the winter.
"We need adequate
ice-breaking resources here on the Great Lakes," he said. "The economy
doesn't know the weather; it still needs the products." - Detroit Free Press.
WATCH: Ohio firefighters rescue horse from frozen lake.
The leader of the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau (C) delivering a speech.(AFP Photo / Boko Haram)
March 5, 2015 - NIGERIA
- At least 68 people have been killed by Boko Haram militants in
north-eastern Nigeria close to Maiduguri, the capital of the Borno
state, witnesses said. Many kids are reported to be among those killed,
as a village was stormed and then put on fire.
The gunmen attacked
the village Njaba in Dambua area, about 100 km from Maiduguri, early on
Tuesday at the time of the morning prayer. The incident was reported
much later due to the remoteness of the location.
Witnesses, who managed to escape from the village, said the militants targeted mainly men. “There was pandemonium everywhere,” Fatima Abakar said told The Sahara Reporters. “I
ran into the bush. Since then I [have] never seen my husband and three
children. [I] came back to our village in the afternoon, dead bodies was
scattered everywhere.""
In the course of the massacre the gunmen blew up houses with petrol bombs, setting the village ablaze before leaving. “They burnt many houses. Many people fled the villages into the bush," Kurri Bulama, local resident, said.
The survivors who returned to the village after the attack said the dead bodies were lying everywhere in the area unattended. “I participated in the counting of dead bodies. Sixty-eight people were killed,” Muminu Haruna, a witness, told AFP after escaping the attack on Tuesday in Njaba.
The witnesses said there were no military present in the village since Monday.
Boko
Haram is trying to create an Islamic state in the northeast of Nigeria
and has killed thousands and kidnapped hundreds in the process. It has
also threatened Nigeria’s neighbors: Chad, Cameroon and Niger.
Some
1.6 million Nigerians have been displaced, and thousands have been
killed as a result of the militants’ deadly attacks. In January the
group massacred more than 2,000 people in the northeastern town of Baga.
The
area of Maiduguri is seen as a key strategic goal for Boko Haram, which
wants to carve out an Islamist state in northern Nigeria. The terrorist
organization last tried to take the city in December 2013. They managed
to seize a local air force base which led to clashes with regular
troops. - RT.
March 5, 2005 - UNITED KINGDOM -
Villagers are looking for reassurance that land in Bovingdon where a
reoccurring sinkhole has appeared is suitable for future development and
reports surfaced on Monday morning of another sinkhole in Cambridge
Road, within touching distance of the spot where the road caved in
during January.
Villagers concerned over reappearing sinkhole in Bovingdon, UK
After sinkhole was filled in by the land owners, HMP The Mount, but collapsed again.
The
sinkhole, which first appeared around January 17 this year on land by
HMP The Mount, was said to be approximately 15ft deep. But soon after
the owners of the land, the prison, filled the sinkhole with concrete
and soil, the hole collapsed again on February 23.
Many residents in Bovingdon have joked about the hole being a
prisoner's escape but serious questions have been raised surrounding the
suitability of the land for future housing development plans, whether
the hole was filled properly the first time, and what the hole means for
residents living nearby.
Ross Butcher, national chair of
ModeShift, who lives in Mitchell Close next to the Molyneaux Avenue
prison, said: "The sinkhole was discovered by someone walking their dog
one morning, and I then went out the next day to take pictures.
"I can also see the hole from my bedroom window.
"It's certainly created a stir in the village, particularly as the land has been identified for development."
The site is included in Dacorum Borough Council's strategy for housing development in Bovingdon up to the year 2031.
Mr Butcher added: "Residents have also raised concerns as to whether
the hole was filled in or surveyed properly the first time, because it
collapsed again, and are asking whether developing on the land is the
right thing to do.
Shaun Jepson, speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Justice, has responded to reassure residents.
He said: "We are aware of an issue regarding the land next to HMP The Mount and are working to resolve it.
"There is no risk to members of the public, prisoners or prison staff
as the area has been fenced off and is on private property with no
public access.
"We are still in discussions with the Homes and Communities Agency regarding future options for the surplus land.
"The Ministry of Justice is required to dispose of any surplus property
as quickly as possible while ensuring we get the best value for
taxpayers' money." - Watford Observer.
Another vast sink hole has opened up in a road in Aldershot - just weeks after Thames Water patched up the last one.
Residents
in Cambridge Road awoke on Monday morning to find another yawning chasm
right outside their houses, within touching distance of the previous
carriageway repairs.
The latest hole appeared
after a bin lorry drove over an apparent weak spot in the road just
yards from where Thames Water dealt with a collapsed sewer in January.
Cambridge Road itself reopened less than a month ago, but already there appears to be fresh problems with the embattled road.
Pictures sent in to the Historic Aldershot Military Town Facebook group
on Monday by Gregan Court resident Hayley Else-Williams show a similar
hole in the middle of the carriageway, around a metre-and-a-half in
length by half-a-metre wide.
The images show the new hole to
have opened up towards the Alexandra Road end of Cambridge Road, barely a
metre from a patch of freshly laid tarmac from the last repair job.
"It's disgusting, frankly, absolutely disgusting," said Ms
Else-Williams, 34. "The bin men had just gone down the road and then it
just caved in. I couldn't believe it.
"We've only just had the
road reopened, now we're all going to be stuck again. It was a nightmare
last time, especially for parking.
"It really is concerning
for us. I have young children. I can't even begin to imagine what might
happen if we were in the car and went through the surface.
"I
know it's not likely, but it really is that deep - it could cause some
serious damage. The bin men really were very lucky this morning. I spoke
to a few of them when I got back from dropping the kids off at school. I
dread to think what could have happened."
A spokesman for Thames Water said it wanted to apologise to residents again for further disruption.
"We've made the area safe and will begin to repair the damaged sewer pipe first thing tomorrow.
"We believe the problem is due to the sandy ground in the area and
we'll be investigating how we can reduce the affect it has on our
pipework in the future."
A spokesman for Hampshire County Council added the hole had emerged along the line of the Thames Water foul sewer.
"A representative of Thames Water has been to the site today and has
arranged for a works gang to be in attendance tomorrow morning (March
3)," he said.
"In the meantime, Hampshire County Council has had to close the road for safety reasons." - Aldershot News & Mail.
Wednesday’s early morning blast, believed to be caused by a build-up of
methane gas, hit the Zasyadko mine
near the city’s bomb-scarred airport
in what officials described as a ‘terrible tragedy’.
March 5, 2015 - DONETSK, UKRAINE
- A catastrophic explosion at the Zasyadko mine in Donetsk has left at
least 32 workers dead with 1 still considered missing and likely dead,
according to the regional administration and emergencies ministry.
Regional
emergency services confirmed that 32 victims, the bodies of whom have
been found, are being recovered from the mine. Rescuers are still
searching for the last missing person, RIA Novosti reports citing
emergency official.
The local administration reported earlier, that “23 bodies of miners have been found,”adding that alongside the bodies recovered earlier, the total death toll could be as high as 33 people.
The
Emergency Ministry and the independent miners’ trade union suggest that
there were either 73 or 207 people underground at the time of the
incident. According to Interfax, as many as 230 people were underground
at the time of the explosion.
Ukrainian coal miners load the bodies of colleagues killed in this
morning’s explosion the Zasyadko mine in Donetsk, Ukraine, Wednesday,
March 4, 2015.
Authorities suspect that the blast
was caused by a methane buildup. Head of DNR emergency services Aleksey
Kostrubitsky told journalists, “Presumably, it was a methane explosion.”
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has ordered a period of mourning be declared once the number of dead is established.
The
head of the Kievsky district in Donetsk, Ivan Prikhodko, told LifeNews
media outlet that there is no communication with the miners who are
underground.
The mine’s administration hasn't confirmed the blast, TASS reported.
WATCH: Donetsk mine explosion with many feared dead.
The Zasyadko mine is known for fatal incidents, with over 200 miners having been killed over the past few years.
The
biggest blast happened in November 2007, with 101 killed in the
explosion. Two weeks later, two more explosions rocked the mine, leaving
five more people dead.
In January, some 500 miners found
themselves trapped underground after shelling cut the same Donetsk
coalmine from power supply. - RT.
