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'Mystery' illness kills 'half' of Radipole Lake swans in UK


bbc.co.uk
Mon, 04 Nov 2013 13:14 UTC
Image

Two sick swans are being treated at West Hatch Animal Centre in Taunton
Fourteen mute swans have died of a "mystery" illness at a wetland reserve in Dorset, the RSPB has said.

The charity said "half the herd" at Radipole Lake in Weymouth had been affected since September.

Two sick swans are being treated at West Hatch Animal Centre in Somerset. No other bird species have been affected.

The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency is investigating the illness.

Tony Whitehead, from the RSPB, said: "The birds were showing signs of lethargy, so they were being unusually slow, and clearly seemed to be struggling in the water."

He described the deaths as "significant" and of "real concern".

Peter Venn, the manager at RSPCA West Hatch in Taunton, said inflammation of the intestine can "cause problems" for swans, but said this had not yet been proven to be the case at Radipole Lake.

The RSPB said the Environment Agency (EA) had tested the water for pollutants but the results are not yet known.
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Sun

More evidence of comet dust loading in the atmosphere? 'Triple suns' appear in Mongolia


CBS News
Sat, 02 Nov 2013 13:54 UTC
Chinese residents rushed out of doors to marvel a rare astronomical illusion of "triple suns" in the sky over Chifeng, in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Friday morning.

The sun accompanied by two smaller twins suddenly popped up in the sky at around 09:00, and the triple appeared surrounded by an arched rainbow-like halos.

The astronomical illusion hang across over Chifeng for around two hours, and many residents took pictures or videos to record the magical moment out on the streets.

Some could even see five suns shining in some area of the city.

"I've got a lot of phone calls coming in from home and my friends when working in that building. They told me to go out and see the triple suns. So I rushed out to have a glimpse of them," said Zhou Lu, who was taking pictures of the suns along the roadside.

Comment: We at SOTT think that this "triple suns" is a 'mirage' effect of some sort whereby the sun is being refracted by the changed atmosphere. That is, a combination of possible comet dust loading and changes in the layers of the atmosphere is producing all sorts of anomalous phenomena. See the following articles for additional examples:

Spectacular Russian rocket launch - more evidence of comet dust loading our atmosphere
Strange Phenomenon: Sun rises two days early in Greenland, sparks fear
Two Suns in Russia?

      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.0. - 199km SSW of Palimbang, Philippines


US Geological Survey
Sun, 03 Nov 2013 11:31 UTC
Palimbang Quake_031113
© USGS
Event Time
2013-11-03 11:03:39 UTC
2013-11-03 19:03:39 UTC+08:00 at epicenter

Location
4.614°N 123.358°E depth=546.3km (339.5mi)

Nearby Cities
199km (124mi) SSW of Palimbang, Philippines
207km (129mi) SW of Kiamba, Philippines
227km (141mi) SSW of Kalamansig, Philippines
231km (144mi) SW of Sebu, Philippines
933km (580mi) E of Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

Technical Details
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Bizarro Earth

Suits claim Love Canal neighborhood, Niagara Falls still oozing toxic waste 35 years later


Komo News
Sat, 02 Nov 2013 18:00 UTC
Love Canal
© KomoNews
In this Oct. 29, 2013 photo, barrels block a road next to the fence that surrounds a buried chemical dump in the uninhabitable area of the Niagara Falls, N.Y.
New York - Thirty-five years after Love Canal's oozing toxic waste scared away a neighborhood and became a symbol of environmental catastrophe, history could be repeating itself.

New residents, attracted by promises of cleaned-up land and affordable homes, say in lawsuits that they are being sickened by the same buried chemicals from the disaster in the Niagara Falls neighborhood in the 1970s.

"We're stuck here. We want to get out," said 34-year-old Dan Reynolds, adding that he's been plagued by mysterious rashes and other ailments since he moved into the four-bedroom home purchased a decade ago for $39,900.

His wife, Teresa, said she's had two miscarriages and numerous unexplained cysts.

"We knew it was Love Canal, that chemicals were here," she said. But when she bought the house, she said she was swayed by assurances that the waste was contained and the area was safe.

Six families have sued over the past several months. Lawyers familiar with the case say notice has been given that an additional 1,100 claims could be coming.

The lawsuits, which don't specify damages sought, contend Love Canal was never properly remediated and dangerous toxins continue to leach onto residents' properties.
      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Huge electrical fireball in Montreal after wind knocks out power lines


Gawker
Sat, 02 Nov 2013 17:07 UTC
Last night, a huge wind storm knocked out power lines in Lachine, a suburb of Montreal. This amazing video captures an electrical fireball traveling down power lines outside of some very lucky (to survive) person's home. (Warning: some off-color utterances ahead):


Source: Reddit
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Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.4 - 152km ESE of Neiafu, Tonga


US Geological Survey
Sat, 02 Nov 2013 14:43 UTC
Neiafu Quake_021113
© USGS
Event Time
2013-11-02 18:53:47 UTC
2013-11-02 06:53:47 UTC-12:00 at epicenter

Location
19.157°S 172.642°W depth=10.0km (6.2mi)

Nearby Cities
152km (94mi) ESE of Neiafu, Tonga
345km (214mi) NE of Nuku'alofa, Tonga
571km (355mi) SSW of Tafuna, American Samoa
578km (359mi) SSW of Pago Pago, American Samoa
596km (370mi) S of Apia, Samoa

Technical Details
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Bizarro Earth

Gold rush's poisonous legacy: Mercury lingering for 10,000 years

Douglas Main
NBC News
Tue, 29 Oct 2013 14:25 UTC
Mercury Contamination
© Michael Singer
Sediments like these along the Yuba River in northern California can be eroded by large floods, unleashing mercury pollution into the water.
Even though the California Gold Rush took place more than a century ago, it left a toxic legacy of mercury pollution that will continue to be a problem for some time, scientists say.

New research shows that gold mining in the Sierra Nevada mountains between 1848 and 1884 left tons and tons of mercury-contaminated sediments in river valleys downstream, such as the Yuba River valley. About once a decade, large floods lose enough of this sediment to create a spike in mercury concentrations downriver and in the San Francisco Bay, said Michael Singer, a geologist and hydrologist with joint appointments at Scotland's University of St. Andrews and the University of California, Santa Barbara.

"This is a big deal because at the moment, there's quite a bit of mercury contamination that's in the ecosystems of the (San Francisco) Bay and Sacramento Delta," Singer told LiveScience.
      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

100 sinkholes found in Philippines Bohol province after quake

Carmel Loise Matus
Inquirer Visayas
Fri, 01 Nov 2013 22:18 UTC
Sinkhole
© Paula Cacho
A family of four died in this sinkhole in Antiquera, Bohol.
Tagbilaran City - Close to 100 sinkholes have been discovered in nine towns and one city in Bohol after the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that shook the province on Oct. 15.

Environment officials said not all of the sinkholes posed dangers to the public as long as no houses were built over them.

In Poblacion Uno village in the capital Tagbilaran City, however, 200 families were asked to leave their homes, as the structures were built on the roof of a sinkhole.

A sinkhole is a vacuum or cavern beneath the ground or topsoil waiting for an occurrence (earthquake or heavy rain) to rupture.

Bohol Gov. Edgar Chatto said a team from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) was assessing the sinkholes to determine which ones posed a threat to the public.

The eight-member team is using a ground-penetrating radar to map the island for sinkholes.

Chatto said the mapping would be completed by the first quarter of 2014 and then the team would decide whether there was need for engineering intervention.

"Don't worry. Bohol is a very safe place to stay," Chatto told reporters on Friday.
      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Magnitude 6.6 quake strikes North-Central Chile


Associated Press
Fri, 01 Nov 2013 09:49 UTC
Image
© USGS
Oct. 31, 2013
A 6.6-magnitude earthquake rocked north-central Chile on Thursday, causing buildings to sway in the capital and nervous people to run out into the streets.But Chile's emergency services office said no damages to infrastructure were reported and Chile's Navy discarded the possibility of a tsunami.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake's epicenter was located about 54 kilometers (33 miles) southwest of the city of Coquimbo or about 400 kilometers (250 miles) from Santiago. Its depth was 10 kilometers (6 miles).
      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Twin 5.5 and 5.0 magnitude earthquakes hit Northeast China - "We heard sudden sounds similar to firecrackers"

Liu Ranran
CRIEnglish.com
Fri, 01 Nov 2013 09:16 UTC
Image
© Xinhua/Zhang Nan
A damaged house in Yaoyingtu Village of Chaganhua Township, northeast China's Jilin Province.
There have so far been 12 reports of injuries after two earthquakes shook Songyuan City in northeast China's Jilin Province on Thursday morning, local authorities said. A 5.5-magnitude quake hit the city at 11:03 a.m. Its depth was eight km, and its epicenter was located at 44.6 degrees north latitude and 124.2 degrees east longitude, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.

A second 5.0-magnitude quake at a depth of six km hit the same area at 11:10 a.m, and at least three aftershocks of 3 magnitude or above hit the area during the afternoon. As of 5:30 p.m., nearly 5,000 homes had been damaged in Qian Gorlos Mongol Autonomous County and Qian'an county. Local governments are still verifying economic losses.

"I felt three quakes, and my house was shaking badly," said Ju Shufen, a villager in Chaganhua Town, the worst quake-stricken area. "We heard sudden sounds similar to firecrackers and felt the house shaking," said villager Li Jinlong, adding that he found cracks on house walls after he ran out of his home.
      Read More...
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