A magnitude-6.6 earthquake struck south of Tokyo at 7:49 a.m. local time today, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, the third temblor to rock the Japanese capital since Aug. 9.
The earthquake hit 312 kilometers (186 miles) south of Tokyo at a depth of 57 kilometers, shaking buildings in the capital, the weather agency said on its Web site. There were no reports of injuries or damage.
A magnitude-6.5 earthquake to the southwest of Tokyo two days ago left one person dead, 123 people injured and damaged 5,192 houses, according to Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency. A magnitude-6.9 quake struck to the west of today's quake on Aug. 9.
Earth Changes
Summary for Policy Makers
Senator John Kerry's statement in early August 2009 about "global warming" before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which he chairs, was false in every particular, says SPPI, leading him to draw the incorrect conclusion that "global warming" was a threat to national security. The Senator got every fact wrong -
Wilkins Ice Shelf: Senator Kerry said the recent cracking of the thin "ice-bridge" linking the Wilkins Ice Shelf to the Antarctic Ice Shelf was caused by "global warming". It was not: there has been no statistically-significant "global warming" for almost 15 years.
Senator John Kerry's statement in early August 2009 about "global warming" before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which he chairs, was false in every particular, says SPPI, leading him to draw the incorrect conclusion that "global warming" was a threat to national security. The Senator got every fact wrong -
Wilkins Ice Shelf: Senator Kerry said the recent cracking of the thin "ice-bridge" linking the Wilkins Ice Shelf to the Antarctic Ice Shelf was caused by "global warming". It was not: there has been no statistically-significant "global warming" for almost 15 years.
A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 struck central Japan early Tuesday morning, injuring more than 100 people, setting off a tsunami warning and swaying buildings 90 miles away in Tokyo. The quake struck at 5:07 a.m. Tuesday off the coast of Shizuoka prefecture, 90 miles southwest of Tokyo, and was centered about 14 miles underground, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The agency immediately issued a tsunami warning for parts of Japan's Pacific coast. Small waves of around 16 inches reached Omaezaki and other coastal towns in Shizuoka before the warning was lifted about two hours later.
The agency immediately issued a tsunami warning for parts of Japan's Pacific coast. Small waves of around 16 inches reached Omaezaki and other coastal towns in Shizuoka before the warning was lifted about two hours later.
© Scott Thong
The Goracle
The Goracle
The power of mass manias is reinforced by severe disapproval of any questioning of their certain truth. Any doubt is seen not just as error needing correction but as conscious deliberate evil deserving expulsion or extermination. With adherents permitted only to support the established dogma, these movements tend to gather followers rapidly. But they also soon become afflicted with a growing disconnect from reality which they can neither acknowledge nor adjust for.
As no believer dares express anything other than certainty, social manias tend to persist for some time after their disconnect with reality has become obvious to all. In the face of such recalcitrant reality, leaders are forced to become ever more extreme in their proclamations. This then often leads to a zenith of zealotry and disconnect just before increasingly obvious reality finally forces them to make some small admission of error. The spell is then broken and the faith collapses.
Michigan just experienced its coldest July on record; global temperatures haven't risen in more than a decade; Great Lakes water levels have resumed their 30-year cyclical rise (contrary to a decade of media scare stories that they were drying up due to global warming), and polls show that climate change doesn't even make a list of Michigan voters' top-ten concerns.
Yet in an interview with the Detroit News Monday, Senator Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.) - recently appointed to the Senate Energy Committee - made clear that fighting the climate crisis is her top priority.
Yet in an interview with the Detroit News Monday, Senator Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.) - recently appointed to the Senate Energy Committee - made clear that fighting the climate crisis is her top priority.
© NCDC/NESDIS/NOAA
From NOAA/NCDC
The July 2009 temperature for the contiguous United States was below the long-term average, based on records going back to 1895, according to a preliminary analysis by NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.
The average July temperature of 73.5 degrees F was 0.8 degrees F below the 20th century average. Precipitation across the contiguous United States in July averaged 2.90 inches, which is 0.14 inches above the 1901-2000 average.
In his recent column in the Calgary Herald, Prof. David Mayne Reid marched out a squad of seven straw men to explain why "so many" people do not "accept climate change data." Among the reasons the professor suggested were fear of unpleasant truths; a genetic incompetence at managing slow-motion disasters; short-term economic thinking; selfishness; ignorance; excessive humility about the ability of humanity to affect the climate; and misinformation campaigns that buy people off.
Reid offers no evidence in imputing such base motivations to those who disagree with him, dismissing the need to back up his claims with hauteur worthy of Marie Antoinette when he says "I am not going to bother refuting such silliness." Naturally, with the profound egotism of the ivory-tower academician, he does not allow for any possibility that people might disagree with him for perfectly valid reasons, and that they could be both honest and sincere in holding a different interpretation of climate data.
With all due respect for the professor, I'd like to offer up five reasons that people might not accept the catastrophic modelling exercises and horror stories that he seems to have confused with actual climate change data.
Reid offers no evidence in imputing such base motivations to those who disagree with him, dismissing the need to back up his claims with hauteur worthy of Marie Antoinette when he says "I am not going to bother refuting such silliness." Naturally, with the profound egotism of the ivory-tower academician, he does not allow for any possibility that people might disagree with him for perfectly valid reasons, and that they could be both honest and sincere in holding a different interpretation of climate data.
With all due respect for the professor, I'd like to offer up five reasons that people might not accept the catastrophic modelling exercises and horror stories that he seems to have confused with actual climate change data.
Reference
McKay, J.L., de Vernal, A., Hillaire-Marcel, C., Not, C., Polyak, L. and Darby, D. 2008. Holocene fluctuations in Arctic sea-ice cover: dinocyst-based reconstructions for the eastern Chuckchi Sea. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 45: 1377-1397.
Background
Writing about the Arctic Ocean, the authors say that over the past thirty years "there has been a rapid decline in the extent and thickness of sea-ice in summer and more recently in winter as well," but they state there is "debate on the relative influence of natural versus anthropogenic forcing on these recent changes." Hence, they decided "to investigate the natural variability of sea-ice cover in the western Arctic during the Holocene and thus provide a baseline to which recent changes can be compared," in order to help resolve the issue.
McKay, J.L., de Vernal, A., Hillaire-Marcel, C., Not, C., Polyak, L. and Darby, D. 2008. Holocene fluctuations in Arctic sea-ice cover: dinocyst-based reconstructions for the eastern Chuckchi Sea. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 45: 1377-1397.
Background
Writing about the Arctic Ocean, the authors say that over the past thirty years "there has been a rapid decline in the extent and thickness of sea-ice in summer and more recently in winter as well," but they state there is "debate on the relative influence of natural versus anthropogenic forcing on these recent changes." Hence, they decided "to investigate the natural variability of sea-ice cover in the western Arctic during the Holocene and thus provide a baseline to which recent changes can be compared," in order to help resolve the issue.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon
If we fail to act, climate change will intensify droughts, floods and other natural disasters.
Water shortages will affect hundreds of millions of people. Malnutrition will engulf large parts of the developing world. Tensions will worsen. Social unrest - even violence - could follow.
The damage to national economies will be enormous. The human suffering will be incalculable.
The tails of the Perseids point back to a "radiant" in the constellation Perseus
They can appear anywhere in the sky
Composed of dusty debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle
The Perseid shower occurs when the Earth passes through a stream of dusty debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle.
As this cometary "grit" strikes our atmosphere, it burns up, often creating streaks of light across the sky.
This impressive spectacle appears to originate from a point called a "radiant" in the constellation of Perseus - hence the name Perseid.
Comment: Quoting Senator Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.): Scientists mull quiet '09 hurricane season
NOAA Lowers Hurricane Season Outlook
Dr. Gray's updated hurricane forecast 2009: Good news
Still No Tropical Storms? Must Be Global Warming
US: Mild season in Tornado Alley frustrates scientists
Note to NCDC climate report authors: try using the telephone next time
The mental aberrations being displayed in the global warming camp are showing more and more what our leaders are made of - or at least who and what they are.