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Over 100F (38C) for 38 consecutive days and counting: US heatwave August 2011, excessive heat warnings for 12 states
[Aug 5, 2011] A heat wave affected southern US states from California to North Carolina, and temperatures topped 100F (38C) in parts of Texas for the 38th consecutive day.
Texans have endured over a month of extreme heat and drought.
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Record breaking temperatures scorched the South today, with Dallas baking under more that 100F heat for the 38th day in a row. After enduring a high of 108F today, forecasts suggest there will be no let up in the area, with temperatures continuing to rage until well into next week. If, as meteorologists predict, the mercury keeps hitting above 100F every day until Sunday, the state will break a 31 year record for the longest running heatwave. read more »
Photo: US narrowly avoids default.. $14.3 trillion debt.. 7-year-old girl holds sign in Washington DC - "Why Do I Owe $46,000?"
*Update* March 19, 2012 - http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/ - "The Outstanding Public Debt as of 19 Mar 2012 is: $15,580,446,972,442
The estimated population of US is 312,429,020
Each citizen's share of this debt is $49,868.76.
The National Debt has continued to increase an average of $4.02 billion per day since September 28, 2007!"
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[Aug. 2, 2011] Holly Matthews, 7, of Kansas City, Mo., holds a sign supporting a balanced budget amendment just before the House voted Monday to pass debt legislation on Capitol Hill in Washington.
11/23/2011 CNN Report: 1 in 5 U.S. children at risk of hungerThe number of families that struggle to get enough food has increased in recent years. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that in 2010, 14.5% of households in US -- about 17.2 million -- lacked the resources to provide enough food for everybody. read more »
The space shuttle, icon of US high technology, leading mankind into space age; after 30 years, turns into victim of recession
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Atlantis landing ends 30 years of space shuttle flights
CAPE CANAVERAL - Space shuttle Atlantis touched down before dawn Thursday on Kennedy Space Center's Runway 15, ending 30 years of space shuttle flights.
"Atlantis is home," said NASA's Mission Control moments after its arrival at 5:56 a.m. ET. "Its journey complete. A moment to be savored." In its final act before beginning the long journey home, Atlantis sent a small payload into orbit.
As an era comes to a close, nearly 200 satellites, probes and spacecraft have emerged from the cargo bays of NASA's five space shuttles since the Columbia launched from Florida's Kennedy Space Center on April 12, 1981. "We really wish we could share with everybody this really cool glow," commander Chris Ferguson radioed as he and his crew entered the Earth's atmosphere in a plasma of heated air before touching down. "We're doing fantastic." read more »
Makers of golf history: Ms. Yani Tseng is the youngest to win 4 major championships at 22; Mr. Tiger Woods, at 24
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Once she made the turn with a 10-stroke lead Sunday, the best female player in the world set her sights on making a little more history. "I was like, what's a new goal for me?" Tseng said. "And that's why I told myself I wanted to set a record, to make 20 under."
Tiger Woods won his fourth when he was 24. And Tseng's idol, Annika Sorenstam, was 24 when she won the first of her 10 majors - the 1995 U.S. Women's Open. "It's very special," Tseng said. "Now I'm thinking about a grand slam."
It's one step at a time for the top-ranked Tseng, who won her second LPGA Championship and has won three of the tour's last six majors. The only major she's missing is the U.S. Women's Open title, which she'll have an opportunity to complete her career slam in two weeks at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo. read more »
To Nature: Lunar eclipse today, June 15, 2011 11:20am PDT, visible in skies of S America, Africa, Asia, Australia & Europe
A simulation of what today's lunar eclipse should look. Credit: Google
Lunar eclipse: Google, YouTube broadcast the astronomical event live.
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June 15, 2011: The lunar event will last about 100 minutes YouTube will be broadcasting on the Web a red-glowing lunar eclipse today at 11:20 a.m. PDT that otherwise will only be visible in the skies of South America, Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe. Sorry, North America.
The lunar event will last about 100 minutes and be live-streamed in video to Google's official YouTube channel.
"We're always fascinated by the unique wonders of space and the world -- what can we say, it's the geek in us," wrote Noel Gorelick, Google's chief extraterrestrial observer, in a company blog post.
"Naturally, when we learned that part of the world will be treated to a rare 100-minute-long total lunar eclipse starting at 11:20 am PDT today, we were both excited and disappointed that this rare occasion wouldn't be visible from our Mountain View campus like last year's eclipse."
Suspecting they weren't alone in wanting to see the eclipse, a team of Googlers contacted the folks at Web-broadcasting Slooh SpaceCamera to get a real-time video feed of the eclipse onto YouTube.
Slooh is hosting a mission interface Web app, built using Google's App Engine technology, that will also broadcast the video feed and will be "equipped with audio narrations from real-life astronomers so you can hear a firsthand, expert account of the event," Gorelick said. read more »
Earthquake, Nature's temper; nuclear disaster, repeated human error. 1979: Three Mile Island, 1986: Chernobyl, 2011: Fukushima
Video from Japanese journalist entering the Fukushima radiation zone - see original, full video here.
Fukushima nuclear fallout map
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Chernobyl Anniversary - Greenpeace USA: It has been 25 years since the name Chernobyl became the infamous nuclear accident that devastated the lives of millions of people in Western Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine. 25 years on, and the nightmare for thousands of people is still frightening.
The Chernobyl catastrophe released 100 times more radiation than the atom bombs dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Yet many seem to just dismiss the accident as a part of history and forget what large doses of radiation actually do to human lives. Sadly, focussing solely on the disputed statistics of Chernobyl has dehumanized what happened. The effects of Chernobyl touched millions of people and thousands still endure very visible and painful effects. read more »
Oxygen grows on green trees - UN: Int'l Year of Forests 2011; Oxygen comes fr blue seas - dedicate another yr, 2012, to Oceans?
UN: "Year of Forests 2011 - forests provide shelter to people and habitat to biodiversity; are a source of food, medicine and clean water; and play a vital role in maintaining a stable global climate and environment. All of these elements taken together reinforce the message that forests are vital to the survival and well being of people everywhere, all 7 billion of us."
Publisher’s note: To save our oceans is to save civilization. Shall we dedicate another year to our blue seas – International Year of Ocean 2012? "Every second breath we take comes from the ocean. Every drop of water we drink connects us to Nature, especially the ocean. The ocean is not just water, it’s alive, and it’s our life support system. Oceans provide more than half of the oxygen we breathe."
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