Electile Dysfunction

If your election lasts longer than six months, call... someone.

It just dawned on me a moment ago that the Minnesota senatorial election between Norm Coleman and Al Franken is well into its fifth month. And according to Firedoglake, there's yet another month's worth of paper chasing before it might end. On the positive side, a recent tally of votes put Franken up by an additional 87 votes, and a number of conservative commentators have recommended that Coleman give it up.

Because, face it, a prolonged election like this is not only painful, it can lead to serious long-term consequences, including permanent impertinence. Or impudence. Or something like that.

Typo or Intentional?

News Item:

PROVO, Utah -- About 18,500 issues of the Daily Universe student newspaper at Brigham Young University were pulled from newsstands because a photo caption on the front page misidentified leaders of the Mormon church as apostates instead of apostles.

From Oregon Live. My guess, given the way things work these days, is that this started as a typo, and the spell checker suggested "apostate." The illiterate student "journalist" assumed that was the word he/she was after, and the illiterate "editor" didn't know any better. The frosting on this cake is that it was BYU.

Followup: Well, I should really finish reading an article before I post and speculate on it... even if posting it before I stop chuckling feels so good. The article states that my speculations about the cause were correct.

Doubtful Decision-Making at Redoubt

The Big Picture has a great gallery of photos from Alaska's Redoubt Volcano.

Though the above does not mention it, I've been meaning to post on the Drift River Oil Terminal for a while... briefly, it was badly damaged when Redoubt erupted 20 years ago. In their infinite wisdom, they decided to rebuild it...wait for it... in exactly the same place, ignoring the fact that Redoubt is a frequently active and violent volcano. The oil terminal is on the broad plain of the major drainage off the volcano. It's far enough from the vent that it's probably not directly at risk from an eruption, but volcanic mudflows, or "lahars," put the terminal at great risk. It was these lahars that caused the damage in 1989.

The news articles I've seen claim that the dikes protecting the tank farm have held and done the job they were intended to do. That may be true, but I find it hard to reconcile such statements with photos like this from the Alaska Volcano Observatory:Picture Date: March 23, 2009 Image Creator: Read, Cyrus;
Image courtesy of AVO/USGS.Please cite the photographer and the Alaska Volcano Observatory / U.S. Geological Survey when using this image.

...and this:Picture Date: March 23, 2009 Image Creator: McGimsey, Game;
Image courtesy of AVO/USGS.Please cite the photographer and the Alaska Volcano Observatory / U.S. Geological Survey when using this image.

The above picture is much reduced, but if you look carefully, that dark splotch in the middle of the dike that runs from the upper left to lower right, is a place where the lahar has ramped up against it and overtopped it. There's also some overflowing on the back dike, but it's hard to make out in this picture. All that dark watery looking stuff outside the dike is debris flow deposits. I can't figure out how to link to the full-sized pictures, but this search should allow you to find them. Fair warning: they're much scarier in full detail. This was a barely-dodged bullet, and the bullets are still flying.

Now the infuriating aspect of this is that Redoubt has been grumbling for about two months now... plenty of time to prepare. I wouldn't be the first to point out the odd correlation between Bobby Jindal's "something called volcano monitoring" comment and the first hints of restlessness at Redoubt. It's only been over the last couple of weeks that it's been venting major blasts. So how did they do with emptying the tanks? Well, they talked and talked and talked. Finally it was announced Thursday (9 days after the date on the above photos) that a tanker was on its way to empty the tanks on Saturday. Oh, and because of the way the tanks are designed, it's not safe to empty them more than half-way. They might float away if swamped.

Saturday, it was announced that due to a major volcanic explosion, it was unsafe for the tanker to approach the area, and it had been turned around.

There's six million gallons of crude sitting in the path of lahars from a dangerous, active volcano. Looks like the oil's stuck there for the forseeable future. Sounds like a really, really stupid disaster movie, doesn't it?

Stupid? You Betcha!
Disaster? This could make the Exxon Valdez look like patty-cakes.
Movie? Sorry. This is the real world.

Oops, forgot to stick in a link to the article that preciptated this rant...

What Happened?

Last night, I skimmed over the news about the quake in Italy... one headline described it as a "disasterously powerful 6.7." Now 6.7 is not trivial, but neither, in most cases, is it going to be "disasterous." So I didn't read in detail, nor have I yet... I'm just startled that it's as big a mess as it is.
Photo reduced from Speigel; see the full gallery here.

My assumptions, as I skipped the details, were these: Italy is a relatively modernized country, with (I presumed) fairly decent and enforced building codes. I assumed that Italy has a long history of earthquakes, which on one hand gives experience in building resistant structures, and on the other, over time weeds out less resistant structures. Finally I assumed that culturally, the Italians were probably better prepared to cope, due to their experience with the shaking earth over the last two or three millenia.

As I'm trying to make clear, I really haven't read much in the way of details yet; I'm just reacting to the shock I'm feeling for so misunderestimating the situation as I tried to get my butt out of here last night. My reassment of my assumptions is more or less this: most of the collapsed buildings look to be masonary, with little reinforcement (I'm not seeing a lot twisted rebar sticking out of the rubble). They look to be older buildings, not modern. So building standards are clearly not what I was guessing. Perhaps there are fewer and less frequent earthquakes than I had assumed, at least in this region of the country.

I guess the point is, even a moderate earthquake can cause devastating results if a region isn't prepared. It's a good lesson for those of us in the Pacific Northwest, and one we should take to heart.

Followup, 5:50 PM: USGS is saying this was actually a 6.3; the Italian geological service is saying 5.8. Either way, it was less powerful than I first heard. Apparently, suspicions are that corruption, looking the other way for a bribe, played a role. And while it was less powerful than I first read, it was still more powerful than most earthquakes in the region. The most devastated areas were those with older (centuries older), unretrofitted buildings. I'm still a little stunned by the destruction from what to my mind is a fairly moderate event.

Sunday Funnies

Pull youself up, grab a cup of coffee and prepare to laugh...
...you catapultist pig. (From Night Deposits, a recent find)
Forget all your woes. (From Criggo)
Yesterday, Connor (who has moved back to Portland, and only occasionally visits the coffee shop now) recommended The Perry Bible Fellowship. It's apparently inactive now, but very funny, and there are lots of archived comics. Dark, grim humor... the artist has a great takeoff on Edward Gorey (here's one example), and mimics his style beautifully, but the style of humor overall is reminiscent of Gorey. It's copyrighted, so I may be violating all sorts of homeland security laws, but I really liked this one:
Click here for full size.

Another find this week was "This is Why You're Fat (Where Dreams Become Heart Attacks)." Insanely decadent food...

"Bacon Wrapped Twinkie Stonehenge-" I don't think I could eat this, and I don't want to know what the foundation is. And below is the "Elvis Donut: Peanut butter glazed donut topped with bananas and bacon." I would try this, and I might even like it. I just noticed, as I was chasing links around, that they further describe the subject matter as "deliciously gross food." Perfect.I posted this picture back in (I think, but don't feel like tracking down the post) October, but I like the caption...

see more Political Pictures

Gotta get a Lolcat or two in the mix...

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

see more Lolcats and funny pictures
This one may be obscure to younger readers... it refers to a classic Twilight Zone episode where a very young William Shatner is apparently hallucinating a goblin on the wing of the airplane he's traveling on. This episode was recreated for the Twilight Zone Movie. And while we're on the topic of "spooky," this clip can be taken as amusing or creepy, depending on your preferences...

Followup: I realized that there's no description... that's a racoon reaching through a knothole and taking catfood that has been laid down, presumably to attract racoons.

The resemblance is uncanny...

see more dog and puppy pictures

So that wraps it up for this edition. Hope your work week goes well...

From My [confined] Space, in this post.

Lawyers Guns and Money (For Driftglass)

One of my favorite bloggers, Driftglass, posted a great piece called "Indictable Boy." Another song from that album immediately came to mind... (Thanks, Driftglass)

I called my favorite patsy
The way I always do
How was I to know
His phone was wire tapped too
I was extorting down in Springfield
I took a little risk
Send lawyers, guns and money
Man, get me out of this
I'm the innocent bystander
But somehow I got stuck
Between my hair and a hard place
And I'm down on my luck
But I do not give a fuck
Yeah, you can take a flying fuck
Now I'm hiding in Chicago
I'm a desperate man
Send lawyers, guns and money
The shit has hit the fan
Send lawyers, guns and money

Gobstopper

The fact that the movie's own website has this trailer hosted at funny or die makes me suspicious. I'm not a fan of the teen-slasher genre, and never have been. But this is so marvelously tongue-in-cheek, so dark, such a perfect send up of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory... and the choice of Christopher Lloyd as a psychotic Willy Wonka is so perfect... that I'm really, really hoping this is for real, and not an eloborate April Fool's hoax. Anyone know for sure? Very little shows up in a Google search, though I haven't yet done a thorough look-around.

Gobstopper Trailer from Gobstopper Movie

Followup, a few minutes later: Ok, looking around a little more, it looks like the "trailer" is the movie, but I found a "making of" clip too.

Behind the Scenes of "Gobstopper" from Gobstopper Movie

Such Class, Such Pluck

Golly, I guess Caribou Barbie's extended family is really down on their luck, now that American voters took away her Gawd-given right to be coronated queen... I mean VP. Todd Palin's half sister, Diana Palin, has been busted for burglary after returning to a house from which she had already taken $2200. The homeowner saw her coming and hid in the bathroom with a gun, then confronted her and called police after she entered and walked straight to the cabinet where the previously stolen money had been.

Before police arrived, Palin's four-year-old daughter entered. She had been waiting in the car. "Wait here, honey. Mommy has to run in to the ATM." Waitaminit... she has a daughter? And her last name's still Palin? Isn't she married? I thought... oh, never mind.

From The Anchorage Daily News. "He [Todd Palin] referred questions to a spokeswoman for the governor, who said the family would have no comment." No kidding. Is comment needed? As a follow-up, I'll note that this story pretty much snarks itself; I've left out a number of details that are equally appalling. You really need to read the whole thing.

The Heart of the Planet and Heart Disease

Science people are often hard-pressed to explain or give examples of how "basic" or "theoretical" science is justified, when there are so many "application" or "practical" science problems waiting to be solved. We all know that basic science pays off in the long run, but it's often difficult to explain to a non-science person how this is so. I know in my case, my background is geology, but I haven't earned an advanced degree in science, and I consider myself a generalist overall. Following the geoblogs, I often find myself fascinated by how geology has changed over the 20-some years since I got my BS. So frequently, the examples of payoffs from basic science are understandable when I carefuly read through them, but they're far enough outside my knowledge comfort zone that I readily forget them... I remember reading about them when prompted, but I can't recall details, and I certainly can't explain them in such a way that a non-science person would understand.

But I think I may remember this one: it's clear, simple and easy to understand and explain. Theoretical computer modeling of the birth of terrestrial planets has already saved a life!

Geologists studying how molten metal coagulates at the centre of planets while they are forming have discovered that their research can also be used to investigate blood flow in the human heart. Their work has already helped surgeons find the location of a potentially life-threatening blood clot in a patient's heart. Using sophisticated computer modelling developed to explore the flow of liquid metal through rocks, the scientists were able to show doctors where the patient's blood was gathering in a pool in their heart due to a blood clot.

From The Telegraph: How astrophysics could save heart patients. Amazing!

As the Shepherds Tormented Their Flocks By Night

If you've never had the opportunity to see Border Collies do what they were bred to do, it's an amazing experience. But I never realized it could be such an amusing experience.

More funny videos from the "Burly Sports Show" channel at Heavy.com

Glacier on the Move

I've just finished going through my geoblogs, and no one seems to have picked this up, so here you go. National Geographic has posted an awesome video composed of 436 individual photos taken between May and September, 2007, of the Columbia Glacier near Valdez Ak. They are pushing this, predictably, as evidence of global warming. While I find the video a wonderous thing to watch (I've viewed it now 5 or 6 times), I do not think that showing a glacier receding during the summer is very useful evidence of climate change. It's good evidence of summer. The article implies that this is a multi-year project, which is good... as long as they focus on the same glacier(s) over a period of years to decadal time scales. Which the article does not clarify.

I feel that tossing out such shoddy "evidence" merely encourages the climate deniers, and does not help the case at all. While I applaud the video, I dislike the spin.

Hat Tip to Swans on Tea.

Excitement!

There's apparently some major excitement going on in my cozy little burg this morning... some guy is barracaded in an apartment building... just saw a swat vehicle drive by, maybe it's over... and a full swat team is outside. The incident is at 25th and Harrison, about 3 blocks north and 8 blocks west of my current coffee-rific location. Not clear whether there's a hostage involved... there goes a police car. News articles here, here and here. Our local rag, the Gazette-Times, is up to its usual standards with nuttin as of this post.

Funny how this webified world works... JD (who sent me the conflicker finder I just posted) sent me a chat message from his work in Salem, about 30 miles away. I got on Google and immediately found the three articles above. Just a few years ago, I wouldn't have heard of this until tomorrow.

Followup: Whatever happened, it's over: "At 10:33 a.m., Oregon State University use its emergency alert system to tell students they should avoid the area until further notice. They lifted the red alert at 12:18 p.m., when the man was taken into custody."

Followup 2, 4:20 PM: The GT finally has the story. At least one of the links in the above story no longer functions. No injuries, no damage. Sounds like mental illness and/or drug use, to several of us coffee drinkers.

Conflicker

I have seen more warnings about the "conflicker" virus than I can shake a stick at, and I have wondered, if it's such a threat, why hasn't anyone released a free antiviral to get at it? My friend JD , who's a sysadmin, sent me one yesterday... you can download/run it here. He says there are countless variations of this virus, but this application gets the common ones. Now the funny thing is, this message came in right as I was reading about a similar bit of freeware at Bad Astronomy. I have run both, and both say I don't have this particular flu.

This virus is set to scan thousands of random sites tonight at midnight, for updates and further instructions, so no one knows exactly what it will do. But millions of computers are thought to be silently infected... like AIDS, it remains below the radar until a certain point, then blows up. Blowup time is midnight, folks. I was worried this would be a nuisance, but both routines run fairly quickly and painlessly.

Science Works!

The National Science Foundation's "Work" section is having some difficulty getting off the ground. Created as part of the economic stimulus package, Work Section's task is to apply the latest science and technology findings to job creation, and to identify areas in research where manpower is needed. The response to Call For Proposals announcements has been very weak though. Recently the foundation announced that they may have found an explanation: polls suggest that most users assume that their website, "NSFW.gov," is a sting operation.

Geologic Wonders

Oddee has compiled a list of "10 Geological Wonders You Didn't Know." I was pretty excited when I saw the first was indeed one I had never heard of: The Wave (between Arizona and Utah - USA)... Gorgeous!
However, as it turns out, there were only two others that were new to me, Hell Gate in Uzbekistan, and Wave Rock in Australia. Engaging pictures, but in my judgement, I wouldn't trust the accuracy of the descriptions there.

Toga Party!

From BuzzFeed.

Lucky or Unlucky?

Japanese businssman Tsutomu Yamaguchi was on a trip to Hiroshima in early August of 1945, when the atomic blast leveled the city. He received burns over half his body. He spent the night in the city, then flew home the next day.

To Nagasaki.

Yamaguchi, now an apparently healthy 93, has become the first person officially recognized as having survived both of the nuclear weapons that have been used against human beings. Read the full story here.

My hope and fear is that he will be the last: hope in that we must never allow such weapons to be used again. Fear in that, if they are, there will be no more "official" recognition of anything.

Problems

I'm having some computer problems- maybe malware, spybots, viruses, whatever goodies modern vandals have created. Lots of people around that can give me advice, but I get online and my computer slowly freezes up. Light to no posting until I figure out what's going on... later, folks.

Shocking News

In a bit of shocking news, OPEC and the oil companies, in an effort to waste save energy and drive up profits normalize prices in order to stabilize their global hegemony the economy, have announced that today, March 21, is the first day of fall.

Time to winterize your houses folks... I hear it's expected to be a long, cold one.

J'Accuse!

Sonnygirl at RUFKM has an oddly compelling argument that Nancy Grace killed Caylee Anthony. I think Sonnygirl (if that's his real name) does an excellent job of pointing out the competing weaknesses and strengths of her conjecture; anyone who makes the effort to critically examine their own arguments objectively deserves to be (at least) listened to. Which 1) is why I won't listen to Nancy Grace, and 2) is why I think we should lock up Nancy Grace right now. Better safe than sorry. Because the more I think it through, Sonnygirl's argument could almost be extended to suspecting that Nancy Grace had committed every murder in the US over the last 4 or 5 years... at least those involving young, attractive, white victims.