"Speak My Will, Make Yourself a Prophet!"

At any given point in time there seems to be at least one charlatan running around predicting the imminent end of the world. In 2011, radio evangelist Harold Camping predicted the world's faithful would be 'Raptured' on 21 May 2011. Of course, the date turned out to be a total dud, prompting Camping to 'revise' his prediction to October 21. Needless to say, at the time of writing we weren't holding our breath, and with good reason. We might have passed out and missed another apocalyptic non-event!

But is there such a thing as valid prophecy or prediction of future events? The results of the Cassiopaean Experiment suggest that there is indeed such a thing, and more (e.g., remote access to unconventional knowledge, whether obscure or just previously unheard of). But the Cs have presented a very unique take on the subject of prediction. It is intimately tied with their cosmology and their view on 'time'. According to the Cs, our universe is a 'free will' universe and time is not a strictly linear 'one-off' phenomenon. That means the future is open. More on that below.

Most predictions are based on a pretty simplistic, and probably completely false, view of reality. According to this mechanistic idea, the universe was originally set in motion at some imaginary 'beginning' point in time by some equally imaginary 'first cause'. Religions have called this first cause 'God' while scientists have deemed it the 'Big Bang'. Once the machine has been set in motion, it obeys physical laws and plays itself out like clockwork. Theoretically, with enough data, every event in this mechanistic chain of cause and effect can be predicted. So when some prophet gives a prediction of a future event, he or she is basically operating on the assumption that because 'God' or some other divine being is omniscient and can see how everything will play itself out (and assuming this being actually exists, and that it is not simply pulling a cosmic practical joke on its subject), it's gotta be right. But things aren't that simple.

In the past 10 days, California has felt earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 and greater. While the quakes haven't caused any significant damage, they are an unnerving reminder that the state is due for the Big One.

Could a warning system help -- even if it only offered mere seconds to prepare? The state is banking on it.

California is setting up a network of seismic monitors that would detect the first vibrations from a quake, and transmit a warning to affected areas before the shaking gets violent. This could offer citizen precious seconds to brace for the shaking.

"It's matured to the point where it's sort of duct tape and bailing wire," said Doug Given, a USGS Geophysicist and coordinator for the earthquake early warning project. "It's not ready for public use yet ... But we want to move that into a more fully functional and robust system."

This isn't earthquake prediction -- that's not possible yet. While scientists can say where they think stronger quakes will happen, there is no way to forecast them the way meteorologists do the rain. But earthquakes aren't instantaneous, and that's where an early warning system can help.

The key is the different types of waves that make up a typical earthquake. Initially there is the P-wave (primary wave), which is a pressure wave like the sound waves in air. It is often felt as a sudden vertical motion (though not always). That arrives ahead of the S-waves and surface waves. Those are more like the waves in the ocean.

A day after 136 students collapsed at a Kompong Cham high school while standing at attention as punishment for not showing deference to the national flag, the local police chief offered a unique explanation for the mass fainting - trees.

"According to the hospital's analysis, the reason why the students fainted is [because of] the huge tree in the school compound and the farmland surrounding the school, which absorbed the oxygen," said Heng Meng, police chief of Chamkar Leu district, adding that the punishment could not be blamed as one of the teachers "also [had difficulty breathing] and felt dizzy".

Heng Phal Rith, school director of Bosknor high school in Chamkar Leu district, also cited the hospital's report in blaming the incident on a lack of oxygen, adding that he "did not punish the students. It is just a rumour".

Date-Time
Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 00:15:25 UTC

Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 12:15:25 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location
17.914°S, 179.424°W

Depth
611.9 km (380.2 miles)

Region
FIJI REGION

Distances
208 km (129 miles) SE of Lambasa, Vanua Levu, Fiji

230 km (142 miles) E of SUVA, Viti Levu, Fiji

312 km (193 miles) NNW of Ndoi Island, Fiji

2177 km (1352 miles) NNE of Auckland, New Zealand

Global data on Fukushima challenge Japanese estimates.

The disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March released far more radiation than the Japanese government has claimed. So concludes a study(1) that combines radioactivity data from across the globe to estimate the scale and fate of emissions from the shattered plant.

The study also suggests that, contrary to government claims, pools used to store spent nuclear fuel played a significant part in the release of the long-lived environmental contaminant caesium-137, which could have been prevented by prompt action. The analysis has been posted online for open peer review by the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

Andreas Stohl, an atmospheric scientist with the Norwegian Institute for Air Research in Kjeller, who led the research, believes that the analysis is the most comprehensive effort yet to understand how much radiation was released from Fukushima Daiichi. "It's a very valuable contribution," says Lars-Erik De Geer, an atmospheric modeller with the Swedish Defense Research Agency in Stockholm, who was not involved with the study.

Chile - The National Service of Geology and Mining (SERNAGEOMIN) - Volcano Observatory of the Southern Andes (OVDAS), announced that from the early hours of last night there has been increased seismic activity related to the Hudson volcano. At 19:08 local time, an earthquake Volcano-tectonic (VT), magnitude (ML) equal to 4.6 located 7 km to the NW edge of the caldera, at a depth of 19 km, which was followed by the occurrence of a seismic swarm starting at 21:49 hrs, includes more than 100 seismic events recorded until the time of this report, whose depths range from 15 to 25 km.

It notes that 15 events recorded magnitudes (ML) greater than 3.0 and three (3) of these magnitudes (ML) greater than 4.0, all characterized by having more to do with broken rock (VT) at 00: local 20 hours today, Wednesday, October 26, an earthquake associated with fluid movement and characterized by very low frequency (long period - VLP), located in the same area at a depth of 15 km, with a magnitude (ML) equal to 4.3. The seismic swarm continues at the time of issuance of this report with less intensity. The preceding activity indicates that the volcanic system has experienced changes in their dynamics, possibly associated magmatic activity at depth, which in the future the system can lead to imbalance. (Source: Sernageomin -translated)

Tourists are cutting their holidays short in Cancun, Mexico, as Hurricane Rina bears down on the Yucatan Peninsula.

The storm was a Category Two on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale measuring hurricane intensity on Wednesday afternoon, with winds of 110mph.

It could become a Category Three major hurricane with winds of up to 115mph by Wednesday night, the US National Hurricane Centre said.

"Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion," the centre warned. The storm is due to strike the peninsula late by Thursday.

On Wednesday morning temperatures in Cancun were falling ahead of the storm as rain showered the popular resort area.

Most schools were closed as residents rushed to make preparations for the hurricane.

Dublin - A policeman drowned and a woman's body was located in a flooded residential apartment block, as a shopping mall and businesses in the Irish capital were hit early Tuesday by the heaviest rainfall in over 40 years.

Ireland's national weather service - Met Eireann - said rainfall of up to 85mm (3.3 inches), equivalent to an average month's rain, fell across the Dublin region in a period of three hours Monday night.

A policeman was washed away by flood water while directing traffic on a bridge on the River Liffey in County Wicklow. His body was located nearby. Irish police also said they found a body of a woman in a flooded apartment complex in Dublin.

The unusual arrival of a leopard seal at an upmarket Auckland suburb has prompted the Department of Conservation to issue a safety warning.

The two-metre long seal, a native of Antarctica, was spotted on a sea wall at a Herne Bay beach.

A local woman came across the seal yesterday while walking her dog at Home Bay.

A spokesman for DOC said it is rare for a leopard seal to make it as far north as Auckland, as they are usually found along the edge of the Antarctic.

He said he thought it may be the same seal that was sighted at Kawakawa Bay last month.

Leopard seals are larger, and more aggressive, than their New Zealand counterparts and DOC is urging the public to keep away from the visitor.

At least nine people have been killed and five others are missing after flash floods hit the Italian Riviera turning roads into rivers and washing cars out to sea.

The initial death toll was raised as the body of a missing rescue worker was recovered from the town of Monterosso.

Officials said Sandro Usai, 40, had drowned after being engulfed by flood waters as he tried to unblock drains in the town.

The huge downpour had triggered off landslides along some of Italy's most picturesque coastline, including the Cinque Terre which is a popular destination for British holidaymakers.

Fire crews and civil protection teams worked their way through the flood-ravaged towns of Vernazza and Monterosso where cars were washed into the sea and roads turned into rivers.

Distraught mayor Angelo Betta said: ''Monterosso does not exist any more.