Strange Sunsets

While waiting for the fireworks to start, did you notice the strange clouds in the sky? If so, it was caused by swirling sulfur dioxide:
A massive plume of ash and sulfur dioxide expelled by Russia's Sarychev Peak volcano on June 12th is swirling through the stratosphere over the northern hemisphere.

Sarychev's emissions are causing some beautiful sunsets. Here's what to look for: When the sun goes down, delicate ripples of white appear over the western horizon. The ripples are volcanic aerosols--a mixture of ash and sulfur compounds. Then, as twilight deepens, the sky turns a lovely shade of "volcanic lavender." Lavender is what you get when you mix blue light scattered by fine aerosols with ordinary red sunset rays.
Is a plume passing over your area tonight? Keep an eye on the western sky for Sarychev sunsets.

You have to be pretty far north to see these sunsets. Visit www.spaceweather.com for more information. This site will also help you prepare for the large solar flares expected next week.

Giant Anaconda

From the website Phantoms and Monsters:

It sounds like an Indiana Jones adventure. After 23 years of research including the detailed study of ancient art, cultures spanning 3000 years and three continents to the latest in satellite imaging technology, a father and son make an extraordinary trip deep into the heart of the Peruvian Amazon to confirm their theories that this is where a giant anaconda with a difference lives.

I can't tell if this is a picture or artwork. Whichever, it is creepy!

A curious case of Lazarus Syndrome

Mr Wilkinson was pronounced dead by staff at the Royal Preston Hospital on February 1.
But 30 minutes after he was given the Last Rites doctors realised that his pulse had returned. He survived for two days before being pronounced dead a second time.
An inquest in the city heard that his return to life was known as Lazarus Syndrome - the spontaneous return of circulation once attempts at resuscitation have failed.
The syndrome takes its name from the biblical story of Lazarus being raised from the dead by Jesus. There are only 38 recorded cases in the world.
John Whittaker, a consultant at the Royal Preston's accident and emergency department, said it was "not a small thing" to pronounce a patient dead. "You make absolutely certain," he added.
In Mr Wilkinson's case medical staff had worked on him for 15 minutes before acknowledging that there was nothing more they could do to help him.
Mr Whittaker told the hearing: "There is a phenomenon known as Lazarus Syndrome. It is incredibly rare - there have only been 38 cases of this ever in the world."
He said that the patient's pulse had returned as a result of the drugs he had been administered.
Mr Wilkinson, a roofer, was pronounced dead a second time on February 3.

And the reason I posted this curious case is because a similar thing happened to a friend of mine who lost her 27 year old daughter suddenly to an allergic reaction. When the daughter was pronounced dead, the hospital administered a drug to help preserve her organs for she was to be a donor. The same thing happened though---within an hour, her heart started beating again. My poor friend--she had to sit around and wait for her daughter to die, again.

Wouldn't wish that on anybody!!

Strange clouds over Iowa

and never seen before...causing a 'whirlwind' of discussion amongst weather enthusiasts.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Looking out the 11th floor window of her law office, Jane Wiggins did a double take and grabbed her camera. The dark, undulating clouds hovering outside were unlike anything she'd seen before.
"It looked like Armageddon," said Wiggins, a paralegal and amateur photographer in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "The shadows of the clouds, the lights and the darks, and the greenish-yellow backdrop. They seemed to change."
They dissipated within 15 minutes, but the photo Wiggins captured in June 2006 intrigued — and stumped — a group of dedicated weather watchers who now are pushing weather authorities to create a new cloud category, something that hasn't been done since 1951.

Scenes from Manhattanhenge

Before and during

I don't see any fairies like I thought I would...this must not be the Village.

Manhattanhenge tonight

For 15 minutes around sunset on two days this summer, the sun will set in exact alignment with the cross streets of Manhattan's street grid, making the city's towering buildings function something like a modern-day Stonehenge.
They call it Manhattanhenge.
The first Manhattanhenge opportunity comes this weekend: On Saturday (May 30) at 8:17 p.m. EDT the ball of the sun will be half above the horizon, half below if you look west down a major cross-street (34th Street and 42nd Street are good viewing locations). On Sunday, May 31, the entire solar sphere will be visible just above the horizon at 8:17 p.m. EDT.
The second opportunity comes later in the summer, with another half-sphere sunset on Sunday, July 12, at 8:25 p.m. EDT and a whole-sphere viewing on Saturday, July 11, at 8:25 p.m. EDT.
These times are calculated every year by the astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York, who coined the term "Manhattanhenge."
The "henge" comes of course from Stonehenge, the prehistoric monument in the Salisbury plains of England. The large structure of stones and earthen mounds is thought to be a burial ground that was oriented to face the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset.
Manhattan's street grid doesn't run geographically north to south, but instead aligns itself with the direction of the island. If the grid did run north-south, Manhattanhenge would fall on the spring and autumn equinoxes, the only two days during the year when the Sun rises due-east and sets due-west. (The equinoxes occur when the sun sits directly over the Earth's equator and the length of day and night are roughly equal.)
Because Manhattan's grid is rotated 28.9 degrees east from geographic north, the days of alignment with the cross streets are also shifted.
Manhattan's street grid was laid down by the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, which was adopted by the New York State Legislature.
New York isn't the only city that can have its own "henge" events: Any city crossed by a rectangular grid has days where the setting Sun aligns with the streets. But a clear view of the horizon and straight streets are needed, and New York might be the only city that fits the bill.

I hope to post pictures of this event...unfortunately, Omar takes Saturdays off otherwise, we'd have on-site tweets.

Baby Mammoth found in Permafrost

A Russian man who found the corpse of a baby mammoth will receive 1 million rubles ($31,000) for reporting the find to the Republican Mammoth Museum.
The corpse was found in Yakutia, a republic in Russia’s north-eastern Siberia, by the side of Khroma river, Komsomolskaya Pravda daily reports Wednesday.
Specialists of the Republican Mammoth Museum studied the find and alleged it to be a young mammoth corpse some 15,000-30,000 years old. The animal, who died at about two years of age, had its head, legs and some intestines well-preserved in the cold climate of Yakutia.
In the past few years, mammoths have regularly been found in Russia. In 2004, the corpse of a one-year-old mammoth was found in Yakutia; in 2007, an extremely well-preserved six-month-old female was found in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area.

Someday, they will find a well preserved baby mammoth in a vat of Russian Vodka...

Space Shuttle Silhouette

Amateur Astronomer Thierry Legault snapped this one of kind photograph of Space Shuttle Atlantis, in silhouette against the Sun, on its way to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope.

Look at how huge that sun is...wow!

Makes you feel pretty inconsequential.

World's Smallest Car

A Buckinghamshire man has created the world's smallest roadworthy car from a former Postman Pat children's ride.
The mini motor is only 39 inches high and 26 inches wide and was converted by car fanatic Perry Watkins, 47, from Wingrave, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Mr Watkins, who has previously broken the record for the world's lowest car three times, found the inspiration for his latest motoring endeavour while surfing the internet.
"I searched on eBay for something suitable and found a Postman Pat coin-in-the-slot children's ride from a vendor in Scotland," he said.
"It was in non-operative order, but for what I had in mind this was of no consequence as I only wanted the bare fibreglass body from the ride."
Over a period of seven months, Mr Watkins reinforced the fibreglass shell with a steel frame and mounted it on a mini quad bike.
He added a 150cc engine, mirrors, windscreen wipers, lights, 'go faster' flames and mock racing exhaust pipes. He also had to remove Postman Pat and his black-and-white-cat Jess from the inside.
The vehicle is fully legal and is taxed as a quad bike so Mr Watkins can drive it on public roads. But at 6ft tall, he might be better sticking to his company Jaguar.

I'd like to see this guy convert my Barbie Doll mobile home/camper thing from the 70's into a roadworthy vehicle...then I'll be impressed!

Qatar Creature

Newest strange creature to surface on the internet from Qatar. Primate? Rodent? If you've seen one, let me know!

Are you a believer?

Recently, an Apollo astronaut came forward and said he believed in UFOs. He's not the only fruitcake out there. Look at this list:
Jimmy Carter, US President from 1976 to 1980, promised while on the campaign trail that he would make public all documents on UFOs if elected. He said: "I don't laugh at people any more when they say they've seen UFOs. I've seen one myself."
General Douglas MacArthur, the Korean and Second World War soldier, said in 1955 that "the next war will be an interplanetary war. The nations of the earth must someday make a common front against attack by people from other planets. The politics of the future will be cosmic, or interplanetary".
J Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI from its inception in 1935 to 1972, said of a famous incident when flying saucers were allegedly fired at over Los Angeles in 1942: "We must insist upon full access to disks recovered. For instance, in the LA case the Army grabbed it and would not let us have it for cursory examination."
Monsignor Corrado Balducci, a Vatican theologian, said: "Extraterrestrial contact is a real phenomenon. The Vatican is receiving much information about extraterrestrials and their contacts with humans from its embassies in various countries, such as Mexico, Chile and Venezuela."
Professor Stephen Hawking: "Of course it is possible that UFO's really do contain aliens as many people believe, and the Government is hushing it up."
Dr. Herman Oberth, a Nazi rocket engineer who was taken to the US after the war and became one of the fathers of modern spaceflight, said: "It is my thesis that flying saucers are real and that they are spaceships from another solar system.There is no doubt in my mind that these objects are interplanetary craft of some sort. I and my colleagues are confident that they do not originate in our solar system."
Dr J Allen Hynek, director of the US Air Force's Project Blue Book investigation into UFOs, said: "When the long-awaited solution to the UFO problem comes, I believe that it will prove to be not merely the next small step in the march of science, but a mighty and totally unexpected quantum leap... we had a job to do, whether right or wrong, to keep the public from getting excited."
Air Chief Marshal Lord Dowding, commander of RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain: "I am convinced that these objects do exist and that they are not manufactured by any nations on earth."
Ronald Reagan, US President from 1980 to 1988, "I looked out the window and saw this white light.It was zigzagging around. I went up to the pilot and said, 'Have you ever seen anything like that?' He was shocked and he said, 'nope.' And I said to him: 'Let's follow it!' We followed it for several minutes. It was a bright white light.We followed it to Bakersfield, and all of a sudden to our utter amazement it went straight up into the heavens. When I got off the plane I told Nancy all about it."
Mikhail Gorbachev, the USSR's last head of state: "The phenomenon of UFOs does exist, and it must be treated seriously."
Richard Nixon, US President from 1969 to 1974: "I'm not at liberty to discuss the government's knowledge of extraterrestrial UFO's at this time. I am still personally being briefed on the subject."
Dr. Walther Riedel, research director at the Nazi rocket research establishement at Peenemunde: "I am completely convinced that UFOs have an out-of-world basis."

Best Earth Day posters

"It isn't easy being green"

Earth Day 2009

It certainly isn't easy being green! A year or so ago when I started separating my trash into glass, numbered plastics, paper, cardboard, tin, etc, I doubled my work load!! and I sing Kermit's "being green" song as I do it.

Also known as
Kermie (by Miss Piggy), Froggy Baby (by Grover), Uncle Kermit (by Robin the Frog), Kermit The Angry Frog (from 3 different News Flash episodes)

Le Whif-chocolate inhaler

The revolutionary gadget means chocolate lovers can indulge their guilty pleasure without putting on weight.
The gadget lets users breathe in chocolate to curb cravings and satisfy their sweet tooth.

Invented by Harvard professor David Edwards, Le Whif comes in four different flavours: raspberry, mint, mango and plain.
He worked with his students at Harvard University to develop the product and said he was inspired by thinking beyond normal ways of eating food and into the future.

and in forty years when half the world's population is addicted to it, they will find it causes cancer...I'd stick to Le Hersey.

Biodegradable chewing gum

The new gum becomes non-adhesive when dry and decomposes to dust within six weeks, a spokesman for Mexico's Chicza Mayan Rainforest Chewing Gum told CNN.
The makers of Chicza say it is the first biodegradable chewing gum ever sold. Environmental and waste management groups told CNN that they, too, believe it is a first.

and why is this important? read on...
A spokesman for campaign group Keep Britain Tidy told CNN they welcome any product that can help eradicate the staining on pavements caused by dropped chewing gum.
Removing chewing gum litter costs local authorities $222 million a year, a spokesman for the Local Government Association told CNN.
"It's an incredibly expensive and time-consuming task, so anything that could reduce the problem is very welcome indeed." he said. I use acid to clean my sidewalks.
British parliamentarians have called on the government to introduce a tax on chewing gum, with the money raised going toward the cost of gum removal.
In Britain, offenders can be fined up to $119 for discarding used chewing gum on a street.

yikes! Hope Obama doesn't spit out his Nicoret...

Yellow Snowfall in Russia

Scholars of an environmental research center are studying the yellow snow that covered a city in the Russian Urals region in mid March.
“The chemical analysis shows high concentration of manganese, nickel and iron, and occasional concentration of chrome, zinc, copper, lead, and cadmium,” the report issued by the Center for Ecological Monitoring and Control, and quoted by Interfax Tuesday says.
Such pollution is typical of metal industries' waste, the report adds.
At the same time, the yellow snow was brought to the Urals by a warm atmosphere front from over the Caspian Sea, which allows to accept a more cheerful explanation. The yellow color could appear after particles of soil from the Caspian Lowlands, not covered in snow at the time, were raised by an air current and got mixed with the snow.
However, it is also very likely that on its way from the Caspian Sea to the Urals, the snow took in toxic waste from industries located in Chelyabinsk and Bashkortostan.

I think if you read the ingredients label on Russian Vodka, you will find the the same concentration of elements...thus Russian Urine...my theory.

There she blows

A snowmachine trail glows like a white ribbon through the ash-covered snow in Skwentna (Alaska) Monday. The area received as much as a quarter of an inch of ash March 23, 2009, from the eruption of Mount Redoubt.

Only a few days ago, the Iditarod teams went through here...the trail would be easier to follow today if it all looked like this but am afraid that the ash would have been very dangerous on the dogs' respiratory systems. Thank God she waited to blow. If this eruption is like the last (1989), it will be rumbling for months.

Finger Tech

Jerry Jalava has built a special prosthetic finger which contains computer storage for photos, movies and other useful files.
While the prosthetic looks like a normal finger Jerry can peel it back from the 'nail' and plug it into the USB slot on his computer using it as an additional hard drive.
The software developer from Helsinki lost his finger last summer after crashing his one week old Ducati Monster 696 motorbike.

Another CIA operative...

Pretty in Pink-dolphin style

Charter boat captain Erik Rue, 42, photographed the animal, which is actually an albino, when he began studying it after the mammal first surfaced in Lake Calcasieu, an inland saltwater estuary, north of the Gulf of Mexico in southwestern USA.
Capt Rue originally saw the dolphin, which also has reddish eyes, swimming with a pod of four other dolphins, with one appearing to be its mother which never left its side.
He said: "I just happened to see a little pod of dolphins, and I noticed one that was a little lighter.
"It was absolutely stunningly pink.
"I had never seen anything like it. It's the same color throughout the whole body and it looks like it just came out of a paint booth.
"The dolphin appears to be healthy and normal other than its coloration, which is quite beautiful and stunningly pink.
"The mammal is entirely pink from tip to tail and has reddish eyes indicating it's albinism. The skin appears smooth, glossy pink and without flaws.

"north of the Gulf of Mexico in southwestern USA" - geographically challenged Britons writing this

Suddenly, my eyelids feel heavy

A Chinese man pulled a car by a rope attached only to his eyelids for more than five metres.

Yang Guanghe, 35, of Guizhou was cheered and applauded at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Guangzhou as he towed the VW car.
Yang, who weighs only seven stone, said he had been practicing the stunt for more than 10 years.
"At the beginning it was a bit painful, but gradually I got used to it," he told the Guangzhou Daily newspaper.
"I just want to know what the limit is of the weakest link in the human body."