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Tue, 26 Oct 2021
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Giant squid caught alive in Japan

Giant Squid
© Courtesy of Tottori Prefectural Museum
A giant squid tied to a boat off Shinonsen, Hyogo Prefecture, on Tuesday.
Kobe - A giant squid was captured alive in the Sea of Japan off Shinonsen, Hyogo Prefecture, but died shortly after being landed. Giant squids are normally a deep-sea dweller and one of the largest invertebrate species.

It is rare for a giant squid to be captured alive, according to an expert.

The squid measured 4.13 meters in length, but would have been eight to nine meters in length if its two longer tentacles had not been severed. It weighed between 150 and 200 kilograms.

Fisherman Tetsuo Okamoto, 63, first caught sight of the squid as he was diving for turban shells about five kilometers from the town's Moroyose fishing port at about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. The giant squid swam over his head when he was about eight meters below the surface.

Okamoto managed to snare it with a rope, which he tied to his boat. He then transported the squid back to the port, but about 10 people were needed to haul it ashore. "I didn't think I'd ever get to see a giant squid swimming in the sea," he said.

Source: The Yomiuri Shimbun

Cloud Lightning

Ancient Ice Age pine trees revealed by storms off Isle of Man coast, UK

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The uncovered tree stumps have been preserved in a rich "chocolate brown coloured" layer of peat
The remains of 10,000-year-old trees have been uncovered on a beach in the north of the Isle of Man after recent storms battered the Manx coastline.

Experts said a "chaotic" collection of trunks, branches and pine cones had been discovered in the cliffs at Cranstal, just north of Bride Village.

The pine woodland had been covered by about 16ft (5m) of sand and clay.

Andrew Johnson, Manx National Heritage archaeologist, says the find "opens a window on an ancient landscape".

"The epic weather has meant the sea washed away a considerable part of the cliff and knocked it back about 5m," he said.

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The tree stumps were found alongside other organic plant material including pine cones
"This has exposed an extensive area of pine woodland, including pine cones, which is part of a landscape that existed about 10,000 years ago.

Question

Beached Blue Whale found on Failaka Island, Kuwait

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Blue whale at Failaka Island
Kuwait Environment Protection Society (KEPS) urged authorities to make use of the recently beached blue whale at Failaka Island as an educational tool for students and the public alike, a statement by the Society said on Saturday.

KEPS's director Wijdan Al-Eqab indicated in a press statement that the bone or skeleton structure of the dead whale should be preserved and made ready for display to the public at one of the museums in the country, preferably at the Science Musuem.

This beached whale at Failaka Island has been found to be between 15 to 20 meters long. Blue whales are known to be the largest mammals on earth whose size could exceed 30 meters long.


Al-Eqab said that word has reached KEPS through the social media that two more beached whales have been found, one at the Abul-Hasania Beach and another at the Jelaia'a Beach, both being of a much smaller size than the blue whale at Failaka Island. In fact the size of the small ones ranged between one and one-and-a-half meters, said the director.

She added that blue whales roam many areas in the world including the Indian Ocean from which the beached one at Failaka Island most probably came. She also guessed that the whale had likely lost its way and was carried off by swift currents to the Arabian Gulf. No reason for its death has been determined as of yet, she said.

Attention

Warning signs that Yellowstone may erupt

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© Unknown
Some worrying developments are taking place at the Super Volcano located beneath Yellowstone National Park; the kind of developments that were seen shortly before other volcanoes erupted. Not only was there a sudden rise in the elevation of the ground, and development of new cracks, but a gas called Helium-4, a very rare type of Helium, has begun coming out of the surface. It is the presence of this gas that has scientists quite concerned. If the Yellowstone Super Volcano were to erupt, it would be 2,000 times bigger than the eruption of Mount St. Helens in the 1980′s. Everything within 500 miles would be dead or destroyed within minutes, 2/3rds of the entire United States would be covered in volcanic ash and the climate of the entire planet would cool within a month. On top of that, just this past week, the largest earthquake in the US took place just a few miles from Yellowstone proving hot magma is on the move. Here's what has scientists concerned:

2 + 2 = 4

Record-low temperatures set in Michigan; schools close

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© Ryan Garza/Detroit Free Press
Anne Cucchiara of Washington Township shields her face from the freezing temperatures and high winds while walking on Washington Blvd. in downtown Detroit on Friday, January 24, 2014.
Some Michigan schools are closed as record-breaking subzero temperatures plunge much of the state into a deeper freeze.

Detroit reached zero degrees, a smidge from the record of -1 degrees set Feb. 28, 1994. Flint, Saginaw and White Lake all broke records also set that year, according to the National Weather Service. White Lake got coldest overnight, at -18 degrees.

It's the most frigid winter in recent memory, and it isn't going anywhere yet.

"We're kind of locked and loaded in this pattern where we get these storms coming through, at least for the next week," weather-service meteorologist Deb Elliott said. "None of the data I'm looking at shows us warming up to normal, average temperatures this time of year."

The average temperature in Detroit this time of year is about 35 degrees, she said.

Wind chill advisories are in effect, and Detroit Public Schools are among those affected by closings. The high in Detroit today is expected to be in the teens.

Igloo

Kansas to Massachusetts: Up to a foot of snow to fall across 1,300 miles

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March may not come in like a lion everywhere across the nation, but winter will roar during the first several days of the month and impact more than 100 million people.

Snow will expand from the northern Rockies and central Plains to portions of the Midwest this weekend, reaching the Northeast early next week.

The adverse winter conditions will develop Friday into Saturday over the Plains and is forecast to shift slowly eastward Sunday and Monday.

People traveling by road or airways should expect major long-lasting delays as this area of snow expands eastward and crawls along.

Cloud Precipitation

Big storm, heavy rains brings new worries to California

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© SGVTribune/Watchara Phomicinda
Homeowners Lizette and Tom Verti stack sandbags behind their home in 1100 block of Englewild Drive in Glendora on Tuesday. The couple are preparing for two major rainstorms that will hit the region this week that could potentially cause mudslides in the area devastated by the Colby Fire.
Homes were evacuated as a swift storm with expected heavy rain moved toward drought plagued Southern California, bringing worries of mudslides where recent wildfires left mountainsides exposed.

The storm's full force was expected to be felt Friday morning, with possible thunderstorms and rains up to an inch per hour, the National Weather Service said.

A 10-mile stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway was closed overnight in Ventura County because of a high likelihood of rock slides in an area made bare by last year's Springs Fire in Camarillo, the California Highway Patrol said.

On Thursday, mandatory evacuation orders were issued for about 1,000 homes in Glendora and Azusa, eastern foothill suburbs of Los Angeles that sit beneath nearly 2,000 acres of steep mountain slopes stripped by another fire in January.

"We have an hour to get evacuated," said Dana Waldusky as she hurried to evacuate the family home next to the burn area in Glendora. "We're just boarding up all our doors."

Arrow Down

Huge cracks appear in Jurassic Coast a third of a mile inland after landslide in UK

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In peril: Massive cracks have appeared along the Undercliff between Seaton and Lyme Regis putting this £1million property in danger
* Seven miles of paths along the Dorset coast have been shut as huge cracks have appeared because of landslide

* Experts say problems have been caused by the months of torrential rain and storms that hit Britain


A million-pound holiday home could be under threat after huge cracks and steps appeared up to a quarter of a mile inland on the Jurassic Coast after months of appalling weather.

The expensive bungalow west of Lyme Regis in Dorset is surrounded by hundreds of acres of unstable land slumping slowly seawards because billions of tons of rock and mud are on the move.

A three-foot step has been cleaved across the road from the property - even though it is some distance from the sea - as seven miles of the beautiful South West Coast Path has been closed around it.

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Dangerous: The fossil rich Jurassic cliffs at Monmouth Beach in Lyme Regis Dorset has been slipping into the sea for two weeks causing massive land movements for miles around them

Arrow Down

Saving Private Ryan: Grave of First World War soldier lost to sinkhole in Pembroke Dock, UK

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Sinkhole: The remains of Private Francis Ryan have been swallowed up by a giant sinkhole that opened up beneath his war grave in Pembroke Dock Military Cemetery
* The remains of Private Francis Ryan have been swallowed by the sinkhole

* His headstone remains teetering on the edge of the 20ft deep hole

* The soldier served in the 3rd Batallion, King's Liverpool Regiment, and died in England in July 1915. He was born in Longford, Ireland

* Military have so far failed in efforts to trace his relatives

* Sinkhole in Pembroke Dock will be filled with grout to stop the grave sinking

Military chiefs are fighting to save the grave of a First World War soldier called Private Ryan after a giant sinkhole opened up in a cemetery.

The body of the serviceman who died aged 40 has been lost after the 20ft deep hole appeared in the spot where his body was laid to rest.

Private Francis Ryan, who served in the 3rd Battalion, King's Liverpool Regiment, died in England in July 1915.

Phoenix

Lynchburg, Virginia facing 'near critical' wildfire conditions despite sub-zero temperatures‏

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© Unknown
Wildfire conditions are "near critical" in Lynchburg and counties to the east this afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

In a hazardous weather outlook, meteorologists blamed a combination of windy weather and low humidity. Weekend precipitation is expected to lower the risk.

Meanwhile, Bedford and Amherst counties have been placed under a wind advisory through 6 p.m. Forecasters warn gusts may reach up to 50 mph.