New Orleans Hurricane Forgotten In History

The year was 1812; America was fighting an immense conflict. While the winds of war were brewing, so were the winds of one of the largest hurricanes to ever hit New Orleans. But somehow, perhaps because the war took precedence, history has seemed to absorb the event and it has became forgotten; until now. A geographer from the University of South Carolina, Dr. Cary Mock, has recreated the event and mapped it out by using old maritime records and historical documents. The area, just being purchased from France, had very little records kept, so this became a very daunting task. Though due to the war going on, British naval ships kept excellent logs while blockading America, and became the number one source of information during Mock’s 18 month reassembly. 

The mapped out Hurricane of 1812, which would actually be more tragic that Hurricane Katrine if it were to strike today.

The hurricane would have ranked actually weaker than Hurricane Katrina, but it would have hit the city head on. If it were to occur today, which is possible, it would be the worst case scenario. The article points out that geographic makeup of the area is completely different now than it was in 1812. The sea level was lower, and the city was higher; both of which have reversed.  There were also wetlands that surrounded the city than have since become populated. These changes would have acted as a buffer in 1812, but today would welcome devastation with open arms.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110205143630.htm

Los Angeles Expected To Be Shaken Not Stirred

The Bulletin of Seismological Society of America's February issue backed up the long standing idea that southern California is extremely overdue for a major earthquake. The earthquake, expected to shake in at a 7.0 - 8.0 on the Richter scale, comes as no surprise for most seismologists. However, the article that this article is discussing points out and becomes the first published documentation that predicts the earthquake could possibly strike just north of the Salton Sea. This area is quickly becoming a popular area, and is rapidly growing in population; which means the projected earthquake could cause substantial life threatening damage.

The area has undergone a very long time period without having an earthquake. In fact, the last known earthquake occurred in 1690! The article points out that the odds of making it from 1690 to 2010 without a quake has odds of less than 20%.  Several prehistoric events were researched and help form a time line of events in the area, and thus lead to point of saying the location is over due.The article goes on to explain how the “sea” (actually it just a really really big lake) was formed, and that practically any form of man-made architecture or redesign of the geographical region could easily send the area into an earthquake. The U.S. Geographical Survey supported the research conducted.

The seven earthquake events, including the two possible temblors, were placed between 905-961 AD, 959-1015 (possible), 1090-1152, 1275-1347, 1320-1489 (possible), 1588-1662 and 1657-1713, based on analyses of seismic structures preserved in the sediment in the three trenches and 82 radiocarbon dates drawn from 61 samples of organic material.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110210122941.htm

Brace for Impact!.... Maybe...

Just a warning to all of us Earthlings to be prepared on April 13, 2029 for an asteroid that is due to smash into earth. Yes, warnings like this happen all the time, and even movies have been created to depict this situation, but this time it is for real; I am not a chicken saying the sky is falling, it really is! 

So go build fall out shelters, stock pile on food, and brace for impact; this is gonna be big. If the asteroid manages to miss Earth (which NASA predicts it will) Russian scientists have predicted it will go through what is called "gravitational keyhole" and be relined up to impact Earth again on April 13th, 2036. So this really is a good news / bad news situation, bad news we are currently predicted to have an asteroid strike us. Good news there is still plenty of time to get Bruce Willis and his crew from "Armageddon" lined up to start drilling on the football field wide asteroid.

If Russian scientists are correct about 99942 Apophis, this could be our only real hope of survival.

Actually, NASA addressed the problem of this asteroid (officially named 99942 Apophis) and said it will pass by Earth in 2012 or 2013. When it does it will closely observe it and decide its exact trajectory. At that point NASA will either deem the asteroid no problem or it will use a mechanical means to adjust its trajectory. According to the article, NASA claims that unlike the Russian predictions, there is actually a 1 in 250,000 chance that the asteroid can enter Earth's atmosphere.

This white line shows what all the hype is about; the path of the asteroid is still not fully known.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20110207/sc_space/willapophishitearthin2036nasarejectsrussianreport

Hubble Brings Home Another Brilliant Find

Picture this: A light wave leaves its source 13.2 billion light-years ago, it travels that distance to manage to reflect into the Hubble space craft's lens just in time for it to snap a picture. Seems kind of amazing just thinking of a light wave traveling that distance alone. Now add in the fact that light source was a galaxy. NASA scientists believe the new-found galaxy is one of the oldest in the universe and is one of the farthest away from ours. 

As seen in the image below, the new galaxy appears as a red dot. This suggests that the galaxy is far away. Distant objects appear red because their light waves are stretched and become longer and in the red spectrum of light waves. This is due to the universe constantly expanding.

Look close, the red dot is a new galaxy discovery of the Hubble space craft.

The article points out that the Hubble space craft is now 3X more powerful than it was before, and took 111 orbits or 8 days of observation to snap the infrared image that contained the new galaxy.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/ancient-object-gallery.html

Toad's Predict Earthquakes

It is a well known fact that when miners are mining, if rodents begin to flee the area it is time to follow. The rats have natural instincts and serve as a warning signal that something bad is about to happen. This apparently is true for toads as well. Five days prior to an earthquake that struck L'Aquila, Italy 96 percent of male toads in a breeding area fled the scene. Due to the fact Maury running around with paternity tests was not witnessed, a different explanation would have to be found. It is believed that the toad's activity acted parallel to disruptions in the ionosphere and thus is what triggered the toad's reaction. The article points out that the toads respond to other natural changes, such as a full moon or a release of radon gas. However, none of these events were going on prior to the earthquake, and therefore could not account for the panic.

The common toad (Bufo bufo) may actually prove to be a warning system for earthquakes.

http://www.zsl.org/science/news/toads-earthquake-exodus,696,NS.html