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© Brian Feulner | BDN
SOTT
SIGNS
OF THE
TIMES
OF THE
TIMES
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The World for People who Think
Earth ChangesS
© APVanishing: A giant sinkhole under the Tampa home where Jeff Bush was swallowed by the Earth.
In recent weeks, a spate of those bad-dreams-come-true have drawn national attention when the earth seemingly swallowed a man in his Florida bedroom and a golfer in Illinois.
After the widespread coverage of those sinkholes and others, some experts say the phenomena may be scarier in thought than reality.
Only about 20 percent of the country has underground geology that favors the formation of natural sinkholes, the U.S. Geological Survey says. But in developed areas, any pipeline or sewer can collapse in the right circumstances.
"I'd guess there is this primal fear of being swallowed up by the earth and taken to hell,'' said Paul Greene, an associate professor of psychology at Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y., who works with disaster victims.
"I recall scenes from the movie Ghost when the evil characters die and their souls are taken down in the ground by demons.''
© Tamaryn PeddieDriveway cracks after the earthquake in Unsworth Heights North Shore.
The tremor, which struck at 4.05pm, was five kilometres deep and was centred near Motatapu Island, 15 kms north-east of the city.
GeoNet described its intensity as "moderate".
"It's quite rare to get any felt events in Auckland, but occasionally we do have some like this," said duty officer Nico Fournier.
He said the earthquake did not indicate an increase in volcanic activity under New Zealand's biggest city, which is dotted with volcanoes.
"Because we have volcanoes in Auckland and then we had this earthquake it doesn't mean the two are related. There is no indication of that."
Further earthquakes were possible, he said.
"Usually when you get earthquakes there are aftershocks, so certainly in the next hours or days there is a possibility of further small earthquakes, but right now it's looking pretty calm.
"There's no indication that it will be the case, but we can't exclude it."
Fire Service spokesman Jaron Phillips said the northern communications centre fielded calls about the quake from across Auckland.
© Unknown
Bats are not normally considered essential parts of the ecosystem, but they are an integral part in balancing the natural infrastructure of the world, particularly in insect population control. Areas where the bats have been hit by WNS have noted a measurable increase in insects, including those that are damaging to crops.
Here's what we know. A white fungus grows on the face and wings of bats as they hibernate in lower temperatures. This stirs the bats and makes them active prematurely. As a result of increased activity during times of limited food supply, they die. Estimates are conservative placing the deaths of bats in North America at around 6 million since it was first noted in 2006.
The spread is continuing. It starts in caves and spreads throughout them where tens of thousands of bats may be hibernating. It then spreads bat to bat, infecting other caves as a result. From Canada to Alabama and from the east coast to the Mississippi river, more bat caves are being infected every month.
© Luke Macgregor/ReutersAn abandoned caravan on the South Downs near Brighton.
Major roads were blocked in southern England, northern France and Belgium, and Eurostar trains were halted by bad weather on the European mainland.
A man was taken in a critically ill condition to St George's hospital in Tooting, south London, after being hit by a telegraph pole that fell in high winds. The 27-year-old suffered head injuries and a cardiac arrest.
Two other people were freed with minor injuries from the debris of fallen trees, and a 19-year-old woman was treated for head injuries after a three-car pile-up on the M23 in Sussex. There were 771 road accidents, but no fatal injuries, in the county, which took the brunt of blizzards with neighbouring Kent on Monday night.
"The CO2 story is over. It has been pointing the world in the wrong direction for too long."
"MIA (Mini Ice Age ) fingerprint now overwhelming," says astrophysicist Piers Corbyn of WeatherAction.com.
"March 10th 1947 was the day of the thaw ending the late snowy cold winter of 1947 in Britain & Europe and there was a giant sunspot group at the centre of the solar disc," says Corbyn.
"This year, three magnetic (22yr) solar cycles later, solar activity has been generally very low and this day marked deep cold " - heralding more snow, on 12th, when snow blizzards hit S/E England (Pic Folkstone) as WeatherAction forecasted in detail 25 days ahead.
"This is further evidence of the inevitable plunge from now into the new Mini-Ice Age we warned of some years ago", said Corbyn just last week (March 10th).
"The CO2 story is over. It has been pointing the world in the wrong direction for too long. The serious implications of the developing MIA to agriculture and the world economy through the next 25 to 35 years must be addressed. "
"Warmists have been fiddling ("selecting") data for years. But whatever they do, even with "new" data, the world is cooling while CO2 continues to rise.
Source: Astrophysicist Piers Corbyn of WeatherAction.com (PDF)
"MIA (Mini Ice Age ) fingerprint now overwhelming," says astrophysicist Piers Corbyn of WeatherAction.com.
"March 10th 1947 was the day of the thaw ending the late snowy cold winter of 1947 in Britain & Europe and there was a giant sunspot group at the centre of the solar disc," says Corbyn.
"This year, three magnetic (22yr) solar cycles later, solar activity has been generally very low and this day marked deep cold " - heralding more snow, on 12th, when snow blizzards hit S/E England (Pic Folkstone) as WeatherAction forecasted in detail 25 days ahead.
"This is further evidence of the inevitable plunge from now into the new Mini-Ice Age we warned of some years ago", said Corbyn just last week (March 10th).
"The CO2 story is over. It has been pointing the world in the wrong direction for too long. The serious implications of the developing MIA to agriculture and the world economy through the next 25 to 35 years must be addressed. "
"Warmists have been fiddling ("selecting") data for years. But whatever they do, even with "new" data, the world is cooling while CO2 continues to rise.
Source: Astrophysicist Piers Corbyn of WeatherAction.com (PDF)
Our weekend brush with snow wasn't much to write home about, but it did break a record for March 3 - but that record previously stood at zero snowfall.
Around here, we got a dusting, but some parts of northern Georgia got an inch of snow, maybe more in the mountains. It all melted pretty quickly.
Tuesday will be warmer, with the high expected to reach about 63, according to the National Weather Service forecast. Rain is expected to return, with showers and thunderstorms before 4 p.m., then showers likely. But the rain should move out by Wednesday, when the day's high will approach the low 50s, with the nighttime low dipping to about 31.
The daytime temps are set to make a return to the 60s headed into the weekend.
© SEBASTIEN EVRARD/AFP/Getty ImagesIt's cold in Florida this March
Temperatures averaging 10 to 20 degrees below normal have taken a southward dip into the southeastern portion of the U.S., with temperature highs sitting unseasonably low in the 50 and 60 degree range.
"Bathers may need a wet suit instead of a bathing suit for a couple of days," senior AccuWeather Meteorologist Dan Kottlowski joked in his report.
CapitalClimate reports that record low temperatures were set in Florida on Wednesday: Naples hit 36 degrees, Tallahassee hit 18 degrees and pockets of Florida saw it get even colder with the Gainesville area dropping to 10.7 degrees in northern Florida and the Lake Okeechobee area in southern Florida dipping down to 15.3 degrees.
© AAP Hundreds of flights have been cancelled as a late-winter snowstorm batters northwestern Europe.
The snowstorm on Monday and Tuesday, a few days before the official start of spring on March 20, caused widespread travel chaos with the cancellation of hundreds of flights and the suspension of train services including cross-Channel Eurostar trains.
The Eurostar link between London and Paris, the Thalys line between Paris and Brussels and other high-speed connections in northern France resumed running early on Wednesday, though there were delays.
After being forced to close briefly, Frankfurt Airport, Europe's third-busiest, said it expected services to progressively return to normal after 812 flights were cancelled on Tuesday.
France was the worst affected by the snowstorm but Belgium, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands also reported major disruptions.
Tanks have been deployed to reach snowbound motorists in Hungary as cold weather causes transport chaos across central Europe.
T-72 battle tanks trundled along icy roads, while thousands of people waited in cars on the M1 motorway from Budapest to Vienna.
Many had been stuck on the road since Thursday evening.
T-72 battle tanks trundled along icy roads, while thousands of people waited in cars on the M1 motorway from Budapest to Vienna.
Many had been stuck on the road since Thursday evening.
Comment: Scripps Howard News left out countless other incidents last year where people were killed by sinkholes, especially in China:
Sinkhole swallows girl in China
Another sink hole opens up in China killing two - Baby girl's miracle rescue from 33ft-deep crater as busy road collapses
Giant 30m Chinese sinkhole opens up on road and swallows car
Interesting that they should pick out a fundie Christian news aggregator rather than the original alt.news website that has been on top of this since the beginning. In addition, SOTT.net has rationally pointed out that sinkholes are clearly an unexplained natural phenomenon. Although we have not yet determined how they happen or why they suddenly increased in number in 2007, we think at this point that they are probably one result of an infinitesimal but statistically significant slow-down in the rotation of the planet, brought on by solar system-wide 'climate change'. Combined with giant fissures opening up the world over; an increase in the number of strong earthquakes - especially in the last two decades; a weakened planetary magnetic field; and a lower, cooler upper atmosphere... it's clear that sinkholes are yet another Sign of the Times.