Earth ChangesS


Red Flag

Scientists: BPA has Widely Contaminated the Oceans

Tom Laskawy
Grist
Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:37 UTC
Image
BPA leached from plastic: not just a problem for landlubbers.
It's looking more and more like the chemical industry's idea to make the endocrine-disrupting chemical bisphenol A ubiquitous in the environment was a terrible, and terribly dangerous, idea. Having successfully tainted the food supply with its presence, BPA has now has put the world's oceans at risk (via Science Daily):
Scientists have reported widespread global contamination of sea sand and sea water with the endocrine disruptor bisphenol A (BPA) and said that the BPA probably originated from a surprising source: Hard plastic trash discarded in the oceans and the epoxy plastic paint used to seal the hulls of ships. The team analyzed sand and seawater from more than 200 sites in 20 countries, mainly in Southeast Asia and North America. All contained what Saido described as a "significant" amount of BPA, ranging from 0.01 parts per million (ppm) to 50 ppm. They concluded that polycarbonates and epoxy resin coatings and paints were the main source.
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Bizarro Earth

Vanuatu: Earthquake Magnitude 7.2


US Geological Survey
Thu, 27 May 2010 14:07 UTC
Image
© USGS
Date-Time:
Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 17:14:48 UTC

Friday, May 28, 2010 at 04:14:48 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
13.710°S, 166.507°E

Depth:
36.1 km (22.4 miles)

Region:
VANUATU

Distances:
215 km (135 miles) NNW of Luganville, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu

340 km (210 miles) SSE of Lata, Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Isl.

485 km (300 miles) NNW of PORT-VILA, Efate, Vanuatu

2070 km (1290 miles) NE of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia
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Cloud Lightning

UK: Four Walkers Struck by Lightning Within 35 Minutes in Lake District


The Daily Mail
Thu, 27 May 2010 06:42 UTC
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© Paul LewisLightning zone: An aerial view of the area where the helicopter was called to
A spate of lighting strikes across the Lake District sparked a dramatic series of mountain rescues by the crew of a Royal Navy helicopter, it emerged today.

Four hill walkers, in three different locations, were airlifted to hospital following an electric storm in the national park yesterday afternoon.

The helicopter, from HMS Gannet at Prestwick, Scotland, had initially been called to a separate incident involving a man with a suspected shoulder injury at Langdale, Cumbria.

But at around 3pm, as reports of lightning emerged, the crew were instead deployed to help a hiker who had been struck at Grasmoor.

Within 35 minutes they had been called out to two other hillside locations - Crag Hill and Whiteless Pike - and rescued three more victims of lightning.
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Bizarro Earth

Volcano in Ecuador Spews Ash Plume


Xinhua
Thu, 27 May 2010 01:30 UTC
A volcano spewed a 7-km-long ash plume, spreading the ash cloud in some towns near the volcano, the Ecuadorian Geophysics Institute (IG) said on Wednesday.

The eruption occurred at 6:12 a.m. local time (1112 GMT), and "the sound of the eruption was heard in the towns near the volcano, even in Banos and Guadalupe, 14 km from the volcano," the IG said.

The 5,016-meter-high Tungurahua Volcano is located 135 km south of the capital Quito. It began its eruption process in 1999.

The ash cloud traveled in south-west direction and thick ash fell at 06:31 a.m. local time (1131 GMT) in towns of Mapayacu and Manzano.
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Frog

'Millions' of frogs shut down major Greek highway


Associated Press
Wed, 26 May 2010 23:23 UTC
Image
© AP Photo/Aggelioforos, Pavlos Makridis
Greek officials say a horde of frogs has forced the closure of a key northern highway for two hours.

Thessaloniki traffic police chief Giorgos Thanoglou says "millions" of the amphibians covered the tarmac Wednesday near the town of Langadas, some 12 miles east of Thessaloniki.

"There was a carpet of frogs," he said.

Authorities closed the highway after three car drivers skidded off the road trying to dodge the frogs. No human injuries were reported.
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Bizarro Earth

Watch the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in real time

Catherine Brahic
New Scientist
Wed, 26 May 2010 22:32 UTC
Image
© New Scientist
Can't believe that the wretched Deepwater Horizon oil pipe is still leaking? Now there's a way to check for yourself.

BP has set up a live video feed of the biggest leak, which is available online 24/7.

The video shows oil spewing from the end of the riser pipe, the larger of two leak points on the seafloor. This pipe initially ran vertically from the blowout preventer on the sea bed right up to the surface but collapsed when the surface fire was put out. The graphic below (available as a pdf) illustrates the setup.

The riser insertion tube, which has been jammed into the riser pipe and is currently capturing roughly 2000 barrels of oil a day, is hidden by the spewing oil in the video.

The live stream should make interesting viewing tomorrow, 27 May, as BP attempts a "top kill" by pumping heavy mud into the blowout preventer to try to stop the flow entirely.
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Ambulance

Canada: Man Attacked by Bear

Brendan Kennedy
TheSpec
Tue, 25 May 2010 10:00 UTC
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© David Cooper/Torstar News ServiceBear attack victim Gerald Marois, 47, of Waubaushene, Ont., described the terror he endured as a giant black bear repeatedly tried to drag him out of a tree.
Mauled man tells of bear attack

Gerald Marois heard the bear before he saw it.

"I turned around and he was about 50 feet away - one of the biggest bears I had ever seen in my life. He looked at me and moved sideways a bit, I start backing up and he just charged me. He came full blast, man."

Marois, 47, a retired steelworker and experienced hunter from Waubaushene, was mauled by a large black bear Tuesday evening in a remote wooded area about 30 kilometres northwest of Orillia.

He was airlifted to Sunnybrook hospital, where he gave a reporter a terrifying account of his near-death encounter.

Marois was planting a food plot in a small clearing about 45 metres (150 feet) inside the bush line, where he planned to hunt deer in the fall - "My dad taught me that's where you get the big buck" - when the bear came up from behind him.
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Bizarro Earth

Magnitude 6.4 - Southeast of The Ryukyu Islands


USGS
Wed, 26 May 2010 13:43 UTC
Japan Earthquake_260510
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 08:53:08 UTC

Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 05:53:08 PM at epicenter

Location:
25.796°N, 129.956°E

Depth:
10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program

Distances:
235 km (145 miles) E of Naha, Okinawa, Japan

600 km (375 miles) ENE of Ishigaki-jima, Ryukyu Islands, Japan

645 km (400 miles) S of Kagoshima, Kyushu, Japan

1440 km (890 miles) SW of TOKYO, Japan
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MIB

Gulf Oil Spill Could Have Been Sealed in 8 Hours Anytime

Ralph Charles Whitley, Sr.
The Flu Case
Tue, 25 May 2010 13:06 UTC
gulf oil spill

Ladies and Gentlemen:

The Deepwater Horizon sinking caused twisted 21 inch riser piping to start leaking in three places at 5,000 feet in the Gulf Seabed. Sadly the proven methods to stop the leak still have not been used since 042010 until today at 052010 for reasons unknown. BP, Governor of Florida and Governor of LA were all given, along with the President, the Counter Pressure Plug information from a UK inventor Branko R. Babic as he invented same in 1991 for Kuwait Oil Fires above the ground and they will work underwater with ROV welding special thick steel tubes with washers to be welded to the interior while the tubes allow full flow of gas, oil, water through tubes into the gulf.

ROV's can be used to weld underwater the 5 inch thick washers compressed with thick rubber washers against the inside pipe sealing off all leaking oil, gas and water while the straight through pipe could take the contents flowing through to the top of the sea into barges. Keep in mind the CPP with flow pipe has a ball valve wheel operated to shut down the flow and BP could then try to seal the BOP stopping the leak entirely.

BP and Horizon personnel reviewing the messages since 041610 first started denying the idea had merit and they put a straw type pipe six inches inside with rubber flaps then started drawing off oil and gas from one leaking area but BP refused to consider the CPP Invention of Branko R. Babic or suggestion to use a "Jet Swet' type invention to seal the big pipe and allow the small pipe to function until welded in place then the ball valve would shut down the well so they could try to use the BOP to seal.
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Fish

Gulf Oil Spill Could Foul Cuban Waters

Gary Ariosto
CNN
Wed, 26 May 2010 11:59 UTC
Havana, Cuba - At a nesting area for green sea turtles on a beach in western Cuba, scientists dig for baby sea turtles.

Faced with a host of predators at the water's edge, only a few lucky ones will survive under the best of circumstances.

But yet, Cuba's sea turtles may face another danger -- the massive and growing BP oil spill some 500 miles to the north.

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