On Monday, NASA will begin transmitting commands to its Mars exploration rover Spirit as part of an escape plan to free the venerable robot from its Martian sand trap.
"This is going to be a lengthy process, and there's a high probability attempts to free Spirit will not be successful," cautions Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Spirit has been lodged at a site scientists call "Troy" since April 23, 2009. Spirit was driving backward and dragging its inoperable right front wheel when the rover's other wheels broke through a crust on the surface that was covering a slippery sand underneath. After a few drive attempts to get Spirit out, the rover began sinking deeper in the sand trap. Driving was suspended to allow time for tests and reviews of possible escape strategies.
Data show Spirit is straddling the edge of a 26-foot-wide crater that had been filled long ago with sulfate-bearing sands produced in a hot water or steam environment: map. The deposits in the crater formed distinct layers with different compositions and tints, and they are capped by a crusty soil that Spirit's wheels broke through. Engineers have now plotted an escape route from Troy that heads up a mild slope away from the crater.
"Our preparations to resume driving have been extensive and thorough," said John Callas, project manager for Spirit and Opportunity at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "We've used two different test rovers here on Earth in conditions designed to simulate as best as possible Spirit's predicament. However, Earth-based tests cannot exactly replicate the conditions at Troy."
Researchers expect the extraction process to be long and the outcome uncertain based on tests they've done here on Earth. "After the first few weeks of attempts, we're not likely to know whether Spirit will be able to free itself," notes McCuistion.
Spirit has six wheels for roving the Red Planet. The first commands will tell the rover to rotate its five working wheels forward approximately six turns. Engineers anticipate severe wheel slippage, with barely perceptible forward progress in this initial attempt.
Spirit will return data the next day from its first drive attempt. The results will be assessed before engineers develop and send commands for a second attempt. Using results from previous commands, engineers plan to continue escape efforts until early 2010.
"Mobility on Mars is challenging, and whatever the outcome, lessons from the work to free Spirit will enhance our knowledge about how to analyze Martian terrain and drive future Mars rovers," McCuisition said.
Even if Spirit remains in place, it could continue making important discoveries about Mars. The "sand trap" turns out to be a region of great scientific interest.
"The soft materials churned up by Spirit's wheels have the highest sulfur content measured on Mars," says Ray Arvidson, a scientist at Washington University in St. Louis and deputy principal investigator for the science payloads on Spirit and Opportunity. "We're taking advantage of its fixed location to conduct detailed measurements of these interesting materials." The rover's work at Troy augments earlier discoveries it made indicating ancient Mars had hot springs or steam vents, possible habitats for life.
Spirit and its twin rover landed on Mars in January 2004. They have explored Mars for five years, far surpassing their original 90-day mission. Opportunity currently is driving toward a large crater called Endeavor.
source....
Friday, November 27, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
ISS Tonight
26 Nov -1.7 17:37:20 WNW 34
- Quads, hailing from Grand Marsh Observatory atop Elk Castle Hill
- Quads, hailing from Grand Marsh Observatory atop Elk Castle Hill
2012’s Doomsday Predecessors: An Apocalyptic Primer
The sky is falling, again, as three upcoming movies explore the end of days, the apocalypse or whatever you want to call the dead-end ash heap that strikes fear in the hearts of true believers — and conjures visions of box office gold in the minds of Hollywood executives.
The Road, which opens Nov. 20, hurls Viggo Mortenson into a brutal landscape of cannibal-infested devastation as envisioned by novelist Cormac McCarthy. In The Book of Eli (January 2010), Denzel Washington takes it on the chin as a road warrior making his way through a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Most pressing: Disaster auteur Roland Emmerich’s 2012 (pictured), which opens Friday, dramatizes a world-ending perfect storm of comets, floods and fires, supposedly predicted by the ancient Mayans’ ingenious calendar.
These disaster flicks represent the latest in a long and flaky line of doomsday scenarios from scientists and charlatans alike. Centuries before the Y2K scare prompted people to stock up on canned goods and a first-aid kit — just in case — earthlings worried that the worst was yet to come.
Here’s a journey back in time that looks at 14 of the apocalypse’s greatest hits.
1988: Rocket scientist gets Rapturous
NASA staffer Edgar Whisenaut publishes 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988. The book sells more than 4 million copies, but nobody disappears.
1983: Guru says ruin will reign
On behalf of Indian mystic Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, his secretary Sheela Silverman predicts floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions topped off with nuclear devastation in Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Bombay.
1974: Bunker mentality
Children of God cult leader David Berg pegs the Comet Kohoutek to destroy Earth in 1974. (Berg also predicted that California would soon fall into the sea and that Jesus would arrive in 1993.)
1960 and 1953: Pyramid schemes
Books by Scottish astronomer C. Piazzi Smyth (Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid) and David Davidson (The Great Pyramid, Its Divine Message) declare that symbols embedded in Egypt’s mysterious landmarks spell the end of life as we know it in 1960 and 1953 respectively.
1953: Atomic clock-watchers
The Doomsday Clock, dreamed up by scientists in 1947, tick-tocks to within two minutes of the dreaded midnight hour six years later after the United States and Russia detonate thermonuclear devices. Thankfully, it never goes straight-up 12 (although the Doomsday Clock does leave its mark on classic comic book series Watchmen).
1936: The Second Coming
America’s heartland is literally covered in dust as Hitler begins exterminating Europe’s Jewish population amid a worldwide depression. Not surprisingly, evangelist Herbert W. Armstrong finds a ready audience for his message that Jesus will start the world over from scratch in 1936. (When that doesn’t happen, Armstrong revises his apocalypse deadline to 1975.)
1919: Catastrophic convergence
Meteorologist Albert Porta reports that six planets will align to generate a magnetic current that will blow up the sun to explode and destroy Earth.
1914: World War I: We’ve only just begun
Jehovah’s Witnesses compute that World War I hostilities mark the start of Armageddon, pointing to biblical prophecies in the Book of Daniel.
1891: Consensus — it’s all over now
Sixteenth-century mystic Mother Shipton and Mormon leader Joseph Smith Jr. agree that the world will implode in 1891 year. (It doesn’t.)
1844: The Great Disappointment
In 1843, Baptist preacher William Miller convinces followers to sell their worldly possessions in advance of mass destruction fated to occur in 1844. A few months later, the planet’s anticlimactic resilience is dubbed “The Great Disappointment.”
1850: An angel speaks
Seventh-day Adventists founder Ellen G. White writes that an angel told her an upcoming batch of plagues signal the end of the world: “‘Get ready, get ready, get ready…. Now time is almost finished.”
1555: Rats, fleas and Nostradamus
As the bubonic plague kills a third of Europe’s population, a French physician named Nostradamus publishes The Prophecies and becomes the world’s foremost seer. (By some interpretations, his colorfully ambiguous rhyming quatrains predict a doomsday date of 2012. Coincidence?)
500 A.D.: Hippolytus’ false alarm
Anticipating similarly inspired prophecies that would transpire in 1000, 1500 and 2000, the round-numbers at the half-millennium milestone prompts philosopher Hippolytus to warn that the world is due to expire.
source....
The Road, which opens Nov. 20, hurls Viggo Mortenson into a brutal landscape of cannibal-infested devastation as envisioned by novelist Cormac McCarthy. In The Book of Eli (January 2010), Denzel Washington takes it on the chin as a road warrior making his way through a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Most pressing: Disaster auteur Roland Emmerich’s 2012 (pictured), which opens Friday, dramatizes a world-ending perfect storm of comets, floods and fires, supposedly predicted by the ancient Mayans’ ingenious calendar.
These disaster flicks represent the latest in a long and flaky line of doomsday scenarios from scientists and charlatans alike. Centuries before the Y2K scare prompted people to stock up on canned goods and a first-aid kit — just in case — earthlings worried that the worst was yet to come.
Here’s a journey back in time that looks at 14 of the apocalypse’s greatest hits.
1988: Rocket scientist gets Rapturous
NASA staffer Edgar Whisenaut publishes 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988. The book sells more than 4 million copies, but nobody disappears.
1983: Guru says ruin will reign
On behalf of Indian mystic Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, his secretary Sheela Silverman predicts floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions topped off with nuclear devastation in Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Bombay.
1974: Bunker mentality
Children of God cult leader David Berg pegs the Comet Kohoutek to destroy Earth in 1974. (Berg also predicted that California would soon fall into the sea and that Jesus would arrive in 1993.)
1960 and 1953: Pyramid schemes
Books by Scottish astronomer C. Piazzi Smyth (Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid) and David Davidson (The Great Pyramid, Its Divine Message) declare that symbols embedded in Egypt’s mysterious landmarks spell the end of life as we know it in 1960 and 1953 respectively.
1953: Atomic clock-watchers
The Doomsday Clock, dreamed up by scientists in 1947, tick-tocks to within two minutes of the dreaded midnight hour six years later after the United States and Russia detonate thermonuclear devices. Thankfully, it never goes straight-up 12 (although the Doomsday Clock does leave its mark on classic comic book series Watchmen).
1936: The Second Coming
America’s heartland is literally covered in dust as Hitler begins exterminating Europe’s Jewish population amid a worldwide depression. Not surprisingly, evangelist Herbert W. Armstrong finds a ready audience for his message that Jesus will start the world over from scratch in 1936. (When that doesn’t happen, Armstrong revises his apocalypse deadline to 1975.)
1919: Catastrophic convergence
Meteorologist Albert Porta reports that six planets will align to generate a magnetic current that will blow up the sun to explode and destroy Earth.
1914: World War I: We’ve only just begun
Jehovah’s Witnesses compute that World War I hostilities mark the start of Armageddon, pointing to biblical prophecies in the Book of Daniel.
1891: Consensus — it’s all over now
Sixteenth-century mystic Mother Shipton and Mormon leader Joseph Smith Jr. agree that the world will implode in 1891 year. (It doesn’t.)
1844: The Great Disappointment
In 1843, Baptist preacher William Miller convinces followers to sell their worldly possessions in advance of mass destruction fated to occur in 1844. A few months later, the planet’s anticlimactic resilience is dubbed “The Great Disappointment.”
1850: An angel speaks
Seventh-day Adventists founder Ellen G. White writes that an angel told her an upcoming batch of plagues signal the end of the world: “‘Get ready, get ready, get ready…. Now time is almost finished.”
1555: Rats, fleas and Nostradamus
As the bubonic plague kills a third of Europe’s population, a French physician named Nostradamus publishes The Prophecies and becomes the world’s foremost seer. (By some interpretations, his colorfully ambiguous rhyming quatrains predict a doomsday date of 2012. Coincidence?)
500 A.D.: Hippolytus’ false alarm
Anticipating similarly inspired prophecies that would transpire in 1000, 1500 and 2000, the round-numbers at the half-millennium milestone prompts philosopher Hippolytus to warn that the world is due to expire.
source....
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Photo of 55ft snake shocks China
A photograph purporting to show a 55ft snake found in a forest in China has become an internet sensation.
It was originally posted in a thread on the website of the People's Daily, the official Communist Party newspaper in China.
The thread claimed the snake was one of two enormous boas found by workers clearing forest for a new road outside Guping city, Jiangxi province.
They apparently woke up the sleeping snakes during attempts to bulldoze a huge mound of earth.
"On the third dig, the operator found there was blood amongst the soil, and with a further dig, a dying snake appeared," said the post.
"At the same time, another gold coloured giant boa appeared with its mouth wide open. The driver was paralysed with fear, while the other workers ran for their lives.
"By the time the workers came back, the wounded boa had died, while the other snake had disappeared. The bulldozer operator was so sick that he couldn't even stand up."
The post claimed that the digger driver was so traumatised that he suffered a heart attack on his way to hospital and later died.
The dead snake was 55ft (16.7m) long, weighed 300kg and was estimated to be 140 years old, according to the post.
However, local government officials in Guiping say the story and photograph are almost certainly a hoax as giant boas are not native to the area.
source....
ISS Tonight
25 Nov -3.5 17:15:05 WNW 80
- Quads, hailing from Grand Marsh Observatory atop Elk Castle Hill
- Quads, hailing from Grand Marsh Observatory atop Elk Castle Hill
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Hunters register 100,330 deer opening weekend of 2009 season
Warm temperatures and heavy fog in many areas greeted hunters on the opening weekend of Wisconsin’s 158th gun deer hunt. Hunters participating in the traditional November 9-day gun deer hunt registered a preliminary tally of 100,330 deer over the first two days of the hunt.
The 2009 preliminary count compares to a similar opening weekend count of 133,828 from 2008. Buck harvest statewide in 2009 was 49,583 (52,477 in 2008) and antlerless harvest was 50,478 (81,351 in 2008)
“We want to remind folks that these preliminary numbers come from a staff call-around to deer registrations stations this morning,” said Tom Hauge DNR’s wildlife management director. “The final opening weekend tally will likely be somewhat larger, when all the registration stubs are entered into the data base over the next couple of months.”
This fall, wildlife staff indicated that they expected lower total harvest numbers - especially antlerless deer harvest numbers - due to several factors including lower deer numbers in many areas of the state, fewer herd control units and no earn-a-buck units outside of the chronic wasting disease management zone.
“There was pretty dense fog until 10-11:00 a.m. opening morning,” reported Kris Belling DNR West Central Region wildlife expert. “The fog coupled with wet conditions, made it hard to hear anything coming and definitely impacted the morning hunt. Hunters I talked to (in West Central Region) enjoyed the mild temperatures and it was comfortable enough for them to stay out hunting, and that seems to have offset the original difficulties due to the fog. Overall, it was just a nice week-end to be out. Lots of interest in getting the deer butchered quickly.”
However, the weather improved later in the day.
“Many folks take this week off leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday and given the slower start to the season, there should continue to be good opportunity out there in many areas. There is still a lot of hunting left,” said Keith Warnke, DNR big game ecologist.
As of early Monday afternoon, 571 “opening weekend” hunting trip reports have been recorded on the department’s new online reporting database. Hunters reported seeing 796 total deer on those trips which translates to an average of 1.39 deer per trip. These numbers will also likely change as trip reports were still coming in at a rapid pace. Hunters wish to report their hunting experiences can do so from the DNR website.
Enthusiasm for hunting remains high
DNR Secretary Matt Frank visited several registration stations along the I-39, Saturday morning.
“At the stations I visited it was really gratifying seeing our next generation of hunters taking their place,” said Frank. “I especially enjoyed the chance to visit with the youngsters who brought in their first deer. Congratulations to all hunters for keeping our heritage strong. I wish them all success and an enjoyable and safe hunting experience during the remainder of the seasons.”
The department’s license sales office reported 626,404 hunters hit the woods with a license to participate in the 2009 nine-day gun deer season. The number of gun hunting licenses included a new category this year, 9,592 10- and 11-year-old hunters who for the first time were able to participate as mentored hunters under Wisconsin’s new Mentored Hunting Law.
Deer license and tag sales will continue through the hunting seasons.
The long custom of buying a license on the way to deer camp is also intact. Over 43 percent – nearly half - of all deer hunters purchased a license in the eight days preceding the gun deer opener; 82,463 licenses were sold on Friday. At peak, which occurred at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, the DNR’s online licensing system – known as ALIS – was processing 212 transactions per minute.
Nearly 270,000 licenses were issued in the eight days preceding the season opener.
Of the hunters hitting the woods on Saturday:
* 592,287 (95 percent) were residents and 34,117 were nonresidents;
* More than 79,000 youth hunters under 18 years old participated in this year’s hunt, representing 13 percent of the total number of deer hunters;
* More than 54,000 hunters were age 65 or older, and over 191,000 (31 percent) are under 30-years-old;
* Females represent 8.5 percent of the total hunters, and 20 percent of new 10- and 11-year-old hunters;
* Hunters throughout the U.S. and several foreign countries purchased a Wisconsin gun deer license. The highest number of nonresident hunters came from Minnesota (16,413), Illinois (8,568), Michigan (1,078), and Florida (898);
* The most deer licenses were sold in Dane County (29,024), with Brown, Washington, Marathon and Waukesha counties following;
* More than 170,000 antlerless deer tags have been sold this year.
Wisconsin Conservation Congress delegates also shared their experiences over the weekend.
Scott McCauley, Conservation Congress delegate from Wood County was hunting in Waupaca County and noted that for his party opening day was off to a promising start.
“Last year we had our best season ever taking nine deer. This year is looking even better with five people taking three deer and the season is just starting,” said McCauley.
Mike Riggle, Conservation Congress delegate from Taylor County called in, “Seven in camp now, including 11-year-old Austin Riggle hunting for his first time as a mentored hunter. Austin didn’t see anything but enjoyed being in camp and will be out again having a good time.”
Injury report
There were no confirmed fatal shooting incidents recorded during the first two days of the hunt but there were five non-fatal firearms-related incidents, reports DNR Hunter Education Administrator Tim Lawhern.
“We are grateful these five incidents were not fatal and wish a speedy recovery to the victims, but the fact remains that all five could have been prevented if strict firearm safety rules had been observed by the shooters and by the victims who wounded themselves.”
Three woundings occurred on Saturday. In Grant County a hunters was struck in the back of the leg by shrapnel when a hunting companion’s gun discharged into the door of a vehicle as he attempted to unload the gun.
In Price County, a hunter suffered a self-inflicted wound in the left hand from a handgun, and in Green County a hunter sustained a gunshot wound to his leg when he slipped crossing a stream on a log and his shotgun discharged
On Sunday a Barron County hunter was wounded in the thigh by a bullet, and in St Croix County a hunter sustained a self-inflicted gunshot would to the right hand from a .30-30 caliber rifle.
Hunter Safety Administrator Tim Lawhern noted that historically about half of Wisconsin’s shooting incidents happen during deer drives, usually because someone wasn’t where they were supposed to be or someone shot at a deer when they did not have a safe backstop or in a direction they should not have been shooting. “It is really important that hunting parties wanting to drive deer have a plan and that they follow that plan to the letter. Knowing where your hunting mates are and where safe shooting lanes are is critical,” he said.
Statistically, about half the hunting incidents happen during opening weekend. “I am hoping we buck that statistic and can avoid further incidents this year,” Lawhern said. “Compared to the ‘good ole’ days,’ hunting is safe and getting safer. In 1915, of the state’s 155,000 hunters then, 24 were killed and 26 were injured. That meant 1 in about 3,100 hunters could expect to be killed or injured. Today it’s 1 in 100,000 or better. Still any shooting incident is one too many. Hunters need to remember the shooting TAB-K safety rules and be careful with deer drives later this week,” he said.
source....
The 2009 preliminary count compares to a similar opening weekend count of 133,828 from 2008. Buck harvest statewide in 2009 was 49,583 (52,477 in 2008) and antlerless harvest was 50,478 (81,351 in 2008)
“We want to remind folks that these preliminary numbers come from a staff call-around to deer registrations stations this morning,” said Tom Hauge DNR’s wildlife management director. “The final opening weekend tally will likely be somewhat larger, when all the registration stubs are entered into the data base over the next couple of months.”
This fall, wildlife staff indicated that they expected lower total harvest numbers - especially antlerless deer harvest numbers - due to several factors including lower deer numbers in many areas of the state, fewer herd control units and no earn-a-buck units outside of the chronic wasting disease management zone.
“There was pretty dense fog until 10-11:00 a.m. opening morning,” reported Kris Belling DNR West Central Region wildlife expert. “The fog coupled with wet conditions, made it hard to hear anything coming and definitely impacted the morning hunt. Hunters I talked to (in West Central Region) enjoyed the mild temperatures and it was comfortable enough for them to stay out hunting, and that seems to have offset the original difficulties due to the fog. Overall, it was just a nice week-end to be out. Lots of interest in getting the deer butchered quickly.”
However, the weather improved later in the day.
“Many folks take this week off leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday and given the slower start to the season, there should continue to be good opportunity out there in many areas. There is still a lot of hunting left,” said Keith Warnke, DNR big game ecologist.
As of early Monday afternoon, 571 “opening weekend” hunting trip reports have been recorded on the department’s new online reporting database. Hunters reported seeing 796 total deer on those trips which translates to an average of 1.39 deer per trip. These numbers will also likely change as trip reports were still coming in at a rapid pace. Hunters wish to report their hunting experiences can do so from the DNR website.
Enthusiasm for hunting remains high
DNR Secretary Matt Frank visited several registration stations along the I-39, Saturday morning.
“At the stations I visited it was really gratifying seeing our next generation of hunters taking their place,” said Frank. “I especially enjoyed the chance to visit with the youngsters who brought in their first deer. Congratulations to all hunters for keeping our heritage strong. I wish them all success and an enjoyable and safe hunting experience during the remainder of the seasons.”
The department’s license sales office reported 626,404 hunters hit the woods with a license to participate in the 2009 nine-day gun deer season. The number of gun hunting licenses included a new category this year, 9,592 10- and 11-year-old hunters who for the first time were able to participate as mentored hunters under Wisconsin’s new Mentored Hunting Law.
Deer license and tag sales will continue through the hunting seasons.
The long custom of buying a license on the way to deer camp is also intact. Over 43 percent – nearly half - of all deer hunters purchased a license in the eight days preceding the gun deer opener; 82,463 licenses were sold on Friday. At peak, which occurred at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, the DNR’s online licensing system – known as ALIS – was processing 212 transactions per minute.
Nearly 270,000 licenses were issued in the eight days preceding the season opener.
Of the hunters hitting the woods on Saturday:
* 592,287 (95 percent) were residents and 34,117 were nonresidents;
* More than 79,000 youth hunters under 18 years old participated in this year’s hunt, representing 13 percent of the total number of deer hunters;
* More than 54,000 hunters were age 65 or older, and over 191,000 (31 percent) are under 30-years-old;
* Females represent 8.5 percent of the total hunters, and 20 percent of new 10- and 11-year-old hunters;
* Hunters throughout the U.S. and several foreign countries purchased a Wisconsin gun deer license. The highest number of nonresident hunters came from Minnesota (16,413), Illinois (8,568), Michigan (1,078), and Florida (898);
* The most deer licenses were sold in Dane County (29,024), with Brown, Washington, Marathon and Waukesha counties following;
* More than 170,000 antlerless deer tags have been sold this year.
Wisconsin Conservation Congress delegates also shared their experiences over the weekend.
Scott McCauley, Conservation Congress delegate from Wood County was hunting in Waupaca County and noted that for his party opening day was off to a promising start.
“Last year we had our best season ever taking nine deer. This year is looking even better with five people taking three deer and the season is just starting,” said McCauley.
Mike Riggle, Conservation Congress delegate from Taylor County called in, “Seven in camp now, including 11-year-old Austin Riggle hunting for his first time as a mentored hunter. Austin didn’t see anything but enjoyed being in camp and will be out again having a good time.”
Injury report
There were no confirmed fatal shooting incidents recorded during the first two days of the hunt but there were five non-fatal firearms-related incidents, reports DNR Hunter Education Administrator Tim Lawhern.
“We are grateful these five incidents were not fatal and wish a speedy recovery to the victims, but the fact remains that all five could have been prevented if strict firearm safety rules had been observed by the shooters and by the victims who wounded themselves.”
Three woundings occurred on Saturday. In Grant County a hunters was struck in the back of the leg by shrapnel when a hunting companion’s gun discharged into the door of a vehicle as he attempted to unload the gun.
In Price County, a hunter suffered a self-inflicted wound in the left hand from a handgun, and in Green County a hunter sustained a gunshot wound to his leg when he slipped crossing a stream on a log and his shotgun discharged
On Sunday a Barron County hunter was wounded in the thigh by a bullet, and in St Croix County a hunter sustained a self-inflicted gunshot would to the right hand from a .30-30 caliber rifle.
Hunter Safety Administrator Tim Lawhern noted that historically about half of Wisconsin’s shooting incidents happen during deer drives, usually because someone wasn’t where they were supposed to be or someone shot at a deer when they did not have a safe backstop or in a direction they should not have been shooting. “It is really important that hunting parties wanting to drive deer have a plan and that they follow that plan to the letter. Knowing where your hunting mates are and where safe shooting lanes are is critical,” he said.
Statistically, about half the hunting incidents happen during opening weekend. “I am hoping we buck that statistic and can avoid further incidents this year,” Lawhern said. “Compared to the ‘good ole’ days,’ hunting is safe and getting safer. In 1915, of the state’s 155,000 hunters then, 24 were killed and 26 were injured. That meant 1 in about 3,100 hunters could expect to be killed or injured. Today it’s 1 in 100,000 or better. Still any shooting incident is one too many. Hunters need to remember the shooting TAB-K safety rules and be careful with deer drives later this week,” he said.
source....
ISS Tonight
24 Nov -2.5 16:52:54 NW 33
and
24 Nov -1.6 18:27:59 WNW 31
- Quads, hailing from Grand Marsh Observatory atop Elk Castle Hill
and
24 Nov -1.6 18:27:59 WNW 31
- Quads, hailing from Grand Marsh Observatory atop Elk Castle Hill
Mini ice age took hold of Europe in months
JUST months - that's how long it took for Europe to be engulfed by an ice age. The scenario, which comes straight out of Hollywood blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow, was revealed by the most precise record of the climate from palaeohistory ever generated.
Around 12,800 years ago the northern hemisphere was hit by the Younger Dryas mini ice age, or "Big Freeze". It was triggered by the slowdown of the Gulf Stream, led to the decline of the Clovis culture in North America, and lasted around 1300 years.
Until now, it was thought that the mini ice age took a decade or so to take hold, on the evidence provided by Greenland ice cores. Not so, say William Patterson of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada, and his colleagues.
The group studied a mud core from an ancient lake, Lough Monreagh, in western Ireland. Using a scalpel they sliced off layers 0.5 to 1 millimetre thick, each representing up to three months of time. No other measurements from the period have approached this level of detail.
Carbon isotopes in each slice revealed how productive the lake was and oxygen isotopes gave a picture of temperature and rainfall. They show that at the start of the Big Freeze, temperatures plummeted and lake productivity stopped within months, or a year at most. "It would be like taking Ireland today and moving it up to Svalbard" in the Arctic, says Patterson, who presented the findings at the BOREAS conference in Rovaniemi, Finland, on 31 October.
"This is significantly shorter than what has been suggested before, but it is plausible," says Derek Vance of the University of Bristol, UK. Hans Renssen, a climate researcher at Vrije University in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, says recent findings from Greenland ice cores indicate the Younger Dryas event may have happened in one to three years. Patterson's results confirm this was a very sudden change, he says.
The mud slices from the end of the Big Freeze show that it took around two centuries for the lake and climate to recover.
Patterson says that sudden climate switches like the Big Freeze are far from unusual in the geological record. The Younger Dryas was brought about when a glacial lake covering most of north-west Canada burst its banks and poured into the North Atlantic and Arctic OceansMovie Camera. The huge flood diluted the salinity-driven North Atlantic Ocean mega-currents, including the Gulf Stream, and stalled it. Two studies published in 2006 show that the same thing happened again 8200 years ago, when the Northern hemisphere went through another cold spell.
Some climate scientists have suggested that the Greenland ice sheet could have the same effect if it suddenly melts through climate change, but the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded this was unlikely to happen this century.
Patterson's team have now set their sights on even more precise records of historical climate. They have built a robot able to shave 0.05 micrometre slivers along the growth lines of fossilised clam shells, giving a resolution of less than a day. "We can get you mid-July temperatures from 400 million years ago," he says.
source....
Around 12,800 years ago the northern hemisphere was hit by the Younger Dryas mini ice age, or "Big Freeze". It was triggered by the slowdown of the Gulf Stream, led to the decline of the Clovis culture in North America, and lasted around 1300 years.
Until now, it was thought that the mini ice age took a decade or so to take hold, on the evidence provided by Greenland ice cores. Not so, say William Patterson of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada, and his colleagues.
The group studied a mud core from an ancient lake, Lough Monreagh, in western Ireland. Using a scalpel they sliced off layers 0.5 to 1 millimetre thick, each representing up to three months of time. No other measurements from the period have approached this level of detail.
Carbon isotopes in each slice revealed how productive the lake was and oxygen isotopes gave a picture of temperature and rainfall. They show that at the start of the Big Freeze, temperatures plummeted and lake productivity stopped within months, or a year at most. "It would be like taking Ireland today and moving it up to Svalbard" in the Arctic, says Patterson, who presented the findings at the BOREAS conference in Rovaniemi, Finland, on 31 October.
"This is significantly shorter than what has been suggested before, but it is plausible," says Derek Vance of the University of Bristol, UK. Hans Renssen, a climate researcher at Vrije University in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, says recent findings from Greenland ice cores indicate the Younger Dryas event may have happened in one to three years. Patterson's results confirm this was a very sudden change, he says.
The mud slices from the end of the Big Freeze show that it took around two centuries for the lake and climate to recover.
Patterson says that sudden climate switches like the Big Freeze are far from unusual in the geological record. The Younger Dryas was brought about when a glacial lake covering most of north-west Canada burst its banks and poured into the North Atlantic and Arctic OceansMovie Camera. The huge flood diluted the salinity-driven North Atlantic Ocean mega-currents, including the Gulf Stream, and stalled it. Two studies published in 2006 show that the same thing happened again 8200 years ago, when the Northern hemisphere went through another cold spell.
Some climate scientists have suggested that the Greenland ice sheet could have the same effect if it suddenly melts through climate change, but the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded this was unlikely to happen this century.
Patterson's team have now set their sights on even more precise records of historical climate. They have built a robot able to shave 0.05 micrometre slivers along the growth lines of fossilised clam shells, giving a resolution of less than a day. "We can get you mid-July temperatures from 400 million years ago," he says.
source....
Monday, November 23, 2009
Opening Weekend of the Traditional Gun Deer Season
- Quads, hailing from Grand Marsh Observatory atop Elk Castle Hill
ISS Tonight
23 Nov -3.5 18:05:19 WNW 83
- Quads, hailing from Grand Marsh Observatory atop Elk Castle Hill
- Quads, hailing from Grand Marsh Observatory atop Elk Castle Hill
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