Topic 1 of 99: All things planet Earth
Sat, Jul 10, 1999 (15:33) |
Marcia (MarciaH)
All things terrestrial - Volcanoes, mineralogy, precious stones, plate techtonics, fossils, collecting, how does it happen, where does it happen and where can I go to see it.
1404 responses total.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 1 of 1404: Wolf (wolf) * Sat, Jul 10, 1999 (17:53) * 1 lines
woohoo!!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 2 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Sat, Jul 10, 1999 (18:31) * 1 lines
Sheesh! I have been hunting through my advice material (given to me by a man braver than I) to set up topics for this conference. I know what they will be - just working on their names. You have done this - any advice from you would be most welcome! And, don't we have the most amazing assortment of buttons!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 3 of 1404: wer (KitchenManager) * Sat, Jul 10, 1999 (19:54) * 1 lines
yippeee!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 4 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Sat, Jul 10, 1999 (19:57) * 1 lines
I've been busy!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 5 of 1404: wer (KitchenManager) * Sat, Jul 10, 1999 (21:04) * 1 lines
I see...bravo!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 6 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Sat, Jul 10, 1999 (21:19) * 1 lines
Thank you! (Bowing deeply in acknowledgment to the man who is fixing my errors as I go...)
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 7 of 1404: Wolf (wolf) * Sat, Jul 10, 1999 (21:48) * 1 lines
looks great so far!!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 8 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Sat, Jul 10, 1999 (21:56) * 1 lines
Thanks for saying so. It has been such fun and I am learning incredible things. Now, to get time to post goodies in these topics. Feel free to wander around!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 9 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Jul 13, 1999 (03:03) * 1 lines
Is anyone from anywhere other than the US able to give us information on what is happening to the rest of the world...I would appreciate any input from Europe and Asia and Africa. We have a few from Australia and would appreciate anything anyone else would like to share. From anywhere, really!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 10 of 1404: wer (KitchenManager) * Tue, Jul 13, 1999 (03:20) * 1 lines
(earth-based, preferably...)
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 11 of 1404: Wolf (wolf) * Tue, Jul 13, 1999 (10:23) * 3 lines
no, we want to know what's going on on Mars but they should direct their findings to paraspring!
alex, ree-head? any inputs???
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 12 of 1404: Stephanie Bergstrom (StefanieB) * Tue, Jul 13, 1999 (11:07) * 1 lines
Great job, honey. It's nice to see you've been keeping busy.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 13 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Jul 13, 1999 (11:21) * 1 lines
Thank you, Dear! - I was delighted to see you here this morning (just past 5am). Visit often - or lurk. It is nice to have you around!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 14 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Jul 13, 1999 (17:02) * 1 lines
Wolf, what do we have to do to get the others here - or is it just a wait till they find it deal? You cannot know how much I appreciate another Gemini here a lot of the time. I really appreciate you postings!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 15 of 1404: Wolf (wolf) * Tue, Jul 13, 1999 (20:09) * 3 lines
aw shucks, marcia *blush*
i've been wondering how to get people over to poetry, paraspring, and collecting. shoot, i even tried a sales pitch for collecting but they were a no show. *frown*
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 16 of 1404: wer (KitchenManager) * Tue, Jul 13, 1999 (20:14) * 2 lines
and I sure haven't figured any of this out, either...
just how to make the conferences look pretty!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 17 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Jul 13, 1999 (20:24) * 1 lines
wer, Dear, when you excel at something as you do at making conferences pretty, you do not need to figure anything else out. That is our job. Get out the ropes and chains...
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 18 of 1404: lidya maccarthy (livamago) * Tue, Jul 13, 1999 (23:02) * 1 lines
It looks wonderful, my dear. You have outdone yourself! Very interesting topics, too, but then, coming from you, that is to be expected... ;~D
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 19 of 1404: Riette Walton (riette) * Wed, Jul 14, 1999 (14:20) * 1 lines
Too cool, Marcia!!! Way to go!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 20 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, Jul 14, 1999 (14:36) * 1 lines
Thanks Dear! They are keeping me out of trouble by making my brain think of things other than the ones which usually intrude (lust comes to mind first)...!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 21 of 1404: Heide (heide) * Mon, Jul 19, 1999 (21:36) * 3 lines
What's happening in my part of the world? How about heat, heat and more heat and no rain! What's going on? Pennsylvania is starting to look like the desert. Brown grass and blazing white sun. I'm quite distressed. So, Marcia, oh great cosmic guru, what's going on?
Site looks terrific!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 22 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, Jul 19, 1999 (21:49) * 1 lines
Thanks Heide. I will post notice of severe drought in the NE on Topic 14, Weather updates. (I had been putting them under Atmospheric Disturbances but caught some flack for it.) Thanks for posting. I really appreciate it - especially from you!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 23 of 1404: wer (KitchenManager) * Tue, Jul 20, 1999 (00:32) * 2 lines
Hiya, Heide!
(pretending you live in Texas are you?)
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 24 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Sat, Jul 24, 1999 (22:46) * 1 lines
Let's see, if we shift Texas to Pennsylvania, then Hawaii will be in Texas. Is that correct?
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 25 of 1404: wer (KitchenManager) * Mon, Jul 26, 1999 (00:48) * 1 lines
close, I think...
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 26 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, Jul 26, 1999 (01:08) * 1 lines
What a concept... I like it!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 27 of 1404: Karen (KarenR) * Mon, Jul 26, 1999 (01:21) * 1 lines
I'm not too crazy about where that lands me :-(
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 28 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, Jul 26, 1999 (23:10) * 1 lines
You do not like the Rockies? Most beautiful! The way we are rearranging the Earth, you can pick where you want to put Chicago!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 29 of 1404: Gi (patas) * Tue, Jul 27, 1999 (08:59) * 4 lines
Hey, I just got here (at last) and was immediately struck by the most daring concept possible: to rearrange the earth!
Can I move Lisbon somewhere else too? May I choose where or is that predefined because of your previous movements? Better still, can I make it a wanderer?
Oh well, this one is not so new, a portuguese writer by the name of Saramago (last year's Nobel Prize ;-))wrote a book where Portugal split away from Spain and started drifting southwest...
I haven't read the book yet, but love the idea!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 30 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Jul 27, 1999 (13:06) * 1 lines
Since this has become a freeform globe, please do move around. A wanderer would be good - it would tie in with the Hot Spot theory of how Hawaii was formed. Your Earthquake in 1755 proved you are in a zone of subduction, so go to it. Let us know where in the world is Gi whilst you are wandering. (Btw, what joy it is to have you posting here!)
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 31 of 1404: Karen (KarenR) * Wed, Jul 28, 1999 (01:04) * 1 lines
ah, so you're movement of Hawaii has no relationship to where I would go (N&E). Was picturing Chicago somewhere up around Iceland by my calculations. :-0
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 32 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, Jul 28, 1999 (11:40) * 1 lines
Oh no, this is a plastic Earth in the truest sense of the word. Look what happened with the breakup of Pangea (see plate tectonics) into Laurasia and Gondwanaland then to the eventual place we find today. It just might take a while, but sure as part of California is moving northward in relation to the rest of the state, you will be moving, too. Do not change your wardrobe yet, however. It's gonna take a while.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 33 of 1404: Alexander Schuth (aschuth) * Tue, Aug 10, 1999 (12:41) * 38 lines
Guess who's stupid beyond belief? No, not that person! M E !
I didn't get eye protection to look at it, nor did I get filters for my cameras... Guess who won't take pictures of the eclipse... AND I WANTED TO FILM IT! With my Bauer Super 8-camera, where you can set the interval for it to shoot a single frame after the other (trick filming!).
Boooohoooo! I am soo dumb!
****************************************************************
Discovery Network plans live eclipse coverage
August 6, 1999
Web posted at: 12:13 p.m. EDT (1613 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Discovery Network plans three hours of live television coverage next Wednesday of something mom warned you never to look at directly -- a solar eclipse.
The cable channel's cameras will follow the 60-mile wide path where the sun is totally obscured by the moon, from its start in southern England, through France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania to the Middle East and its conclusion in India.
It's the most extensive live coverage of any event in Discovery's 15-year history and, the network believes, the first time TV has followed an eclipse in such detail.
Eclipse coverage runs from 6 to 9 a.m. EDT, with an hour-long wrapup that night at 10 p.m.
"Human beings have always been totally enthralled by eclipses," said Discovery general manager Mike Quattrone, "but if you wanted to see an eclipse, you had to be geographically lucky."
People shouldn't stare at the sun because there's a risk of eye damage, but cameras can safely capture an eclipse. Not just show, but science
Discovery will do more than beam three hours of the sun. It will explain the science behind the eclipse and show how people in each country react to it. The network hopes to climax its coverage with an arresting image of the eclipse over the Taj Mahal.
Discovery will pull its coverage together with the help of Discovery Europe and a dozen European TV affiliates. British broadcaster Mary Nightingale will be the host.
The last total solar eclipse in the mainland United States took place in 1979. Discovery has time to make plans for the next one -- it comes on August 21, 2017.
Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.
***********************************************************
I didn't know where to post this, so I did here. Hope it fits somehow, Marcia.
Gosh, I'm such an idiot!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 34 of 1404: wer (KitchenManager) * Tue, Aug 10, 1999 (13:16) * 1 lines
It would have fit in tv, too...but this was a good choice of topics as well...
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 35 of 1404: Alexander Schuth (aschuth) * Tue, Aug 10, 1999 (13:35) * 3 lines
Not tv - this is FILMING, not video... But it's not the Filming stuff topic in COllecting, nor the Dead Media in Cultures (or Media?). Pity me a bit, though, perhaps then I feel less unfortunate...
Oh. I see what you mean - THEY do the tv thing. How silly of me. I'm still wound up on my stupidity not to get some filters IN TIME. Bye bye, my chance!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 36 of 1404: wer (KitchenManager) * Tue, Aug 10, 1999 (13:37) * 1 lines
Take it!!!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 37 of 1404: Alexander Schuth (aschuth) * Tue, Aug 10, 1999 (13:39) * 1 lines
What?
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 38 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Aug 10, 1999 (13:50) * 1 lines
Oh, Alexander, I am so very sorry...but, how is your vision? You did not do a Gallileo, did you? I am not ever going to see a total eclipse...the year it was to happen over this Island, everyone had filters, and I had planned to chase it in case of bad wx. My resident driver said it would clear up by the time of the event - so I missed it under the worst cloud cover in Hilo for years. I hate him for that.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 39 of 1404: Alexander Schuth (aschuth) * Tue, Aug 10, 1999 (15:29) * 6 lines
Might happen here, too.
Gotta improvise on filters for the camera - how? Any ideas?
Aluminium-coated helium ballons - translucent enough? Or too thick?
Darn! Where's McGyver when I need him?
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 40 of 1404: Gi (patas) * Tue, Aug 10, 1999 (15:35) * 2 lines
Alexander, I too left it too late and have no glasses or filters for it.
I believe there's something on makeshift filters for cameras in the paper, though, so I'll look it up and post here for you.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 41 of 1404: wer (KitchenManager) * Tue, Aug 10, 1999 (15:35) * 1 lines
cancelled and in syndication methinks...
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 42 of 1404: wer (KitchenManager) * Tue, Aug 10, 1999 (15:36) * 1 lines
MacGyver, that is...
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 43 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Aug 10, 1999 (15:38) * 1 lines
Aluminun coated mylar baloons are ok as is fully exposed and developed BLACK & WHITE photographic film (not color!) use several thicknesses and use your eye as a judge of what is visible - use many thicknesses to begin and work down to what is acceptable. It is also excellent for filming sun spots.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 44 of 1404: Alexander Schuth (aschuth) * Tue, Aug 10, 1999 (15:45) * 7 lines
You think so?
Why not colour films? And that's just to look through, right? No matter, all I can get easily is the balloons...
Super 8 Film is not very sensitive (60 Asa?). I'll try, and might also snap a few shots on 35 mm
Gi, thank you! Any help appreciated! Where do you sit? I'm in Middle Europe.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 45 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Aug 10, 1999 (15:50) * 1 lines
Alexander you need the metallic particles to absorb some of the light rays. All dark color film does is make your iris open larger thus incurring even more damage to your retina. I am absolutely sure of this!!!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 46 of 1404: Gi (patas) * Tue, Aug 10, 1999 (16:47) * 3 lines
Sorry, went to the paper but they only say: neutral glass coated with chromium and nickel... They also say you can use colour film of around 100ASA.
I live in Lisbon, Portugal, so the eclipse won't be half as spectacular as in Germany...
Anyway, I've seen one before with a telescope. We projected the image on a screen and followed it there. It was fun, but I would love one where the light falls and birds stop singing...Like in books and movies, you know... I doubt I'll have that tomorrow... And there may be clouds!:-(
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 47 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Aug 10, 1999 (17:07) * 1 lines
Use a pinhole projector. Gi, I am sure the color film is incorrect. We really got the entire world here for that total eclipse and they kept telling us color film is NOT acceptable due to its being non-metallic...(I am not trying to be right, here - I am trying to save retinas!)
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 48 of 1404: Wolf (wolf) * Tue, Aug 10, 1999 (22:06) * 3 lines
well there goes my bubble gum foil wrapper and a wad of that freshly chewed up gum theory! *grin* i know nothing about the proper film techniques required to record an eclipse.
but i do know that meteor showers will be seen over our area this week with a good show on thursday (2 meteors a minute). wonder if my minolta 35mm will take a good pic of that? (if not, it's a good way to use up the rest of the film so i can show you the space shuttle pics!!)
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 49 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Aug 10, 1999 (22:33) * 1 lines
Get a tripod or wall for a steady base then set your lens wide open. Do so for 30 seconds, then a minute then 1 1/2 minutes etc and note your results for the next one. (Should have done some homework...but...) Best way to do the eclipse by projecting it onto a piece of paper on the ground through a pinhole in a paper cup or another piece of paper. If it is windy you might like to use cardboard or stake it to the ground.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 50 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Aug 10, 1999 (22:38) * 2 lines
Oh yes, and remember to look around. If your eclipse is partial, look at the leaf shadows. They should also project the pinhole image of the partially eclipsed sun. You can even make an aperture using your thumb and forefinger.
Enjoy and report back...Please!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 51 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, Aug 11, 1999 (00:30) * 5 lines
For the eclipse in your city (eastern coast of the us only for partial)
and for Europe and Africa in totality http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/TSE1999/T99lookNA.html
Home page of Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center - this site has it all
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/TSE1999/TSE1999.html#GenMaps
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 52 of 1404: Alexander Schuth (aschuth) * Wed, Aug 11, 1999 (03:36) * 11 lines
Cloudy and overcast now (9:08 am CET). We're supposed to get 95% eclipse - I'm just right North of the main event.
I'll try the balloons... No exposed developed b/w here for looking.
If I feel like it, I'll shoot 400 ASA colour film for slides and 400 ASA b/w, but then - everybody does that. But I'm gonna trick-film it, if things work out...
Wolf, use two cameras loaded with sensitive film (an astronomer recommneded to me the Fuji 800 ASA colour film for prints, approx. USD 7 per film? 400 ASA should work ok, too), both on tripods.
One, open the shutter for a minute or more at a time, so you get the streaks. Meanwhile, with the other one and widest aperture, work your way up from 10 sec, doubling at each step. (perhaps make two pictures at each step to be sure). WRITE DOWN ("1. pic - 10 sec, 2nd - 10 sec, 3rd - 20 sec..."), also what objective (50mm to 135mm) and aperture.
Looking at the results, you'll be able to see later what was the best setting, and work around that next time.
When packing up, point one camera at the North Star (?), and leave shutter open while packing. You'll get the circles showing how the stars wander around the North Pole... The kids will love it!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 53 of 1404: Gi (patas) * Wed, Aug 11, 1999 (08:35) * 2 lines
Alexander, I hope you saw the eclipse...
I only had the partial view (went out and someone lent me her glasses for a moment)and did that projection gimmick, but what I saw on television was incredible, even moving. Next time I want to be there (as long as it is a reasonable viewing site, like this was).
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 54 of 1404: Wolf (wolf) * Wed, Aug 11, 1999 (11:32) * 5 lines
uh, alex, i have a camera that doesn't allow me to open shutters and stuff, but thanks for the tip!! maybe i'll get it one of these days.
i believe the next eclipse is next year?
have a silly question though, alex, can you take a picture through those things that work like submarine scopes (please tell me you know what i'm talking about because my brain has lost the word i'm looking for)!!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 55 of 1404: Gi (patas) * Wed, Aug 11, 1999 (14:31) * 2 lines
Next year, but visible only at the Poles, and I'm not going *there*.
There'll be another closer to home in 2005, I think.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 56 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, Aug 11, 1999 (19:27) * 2 lines
Now that this eclipse is over, I will tell you that the gods who control these things do not want me to see it. Anywhere! The year after the totality on this Island, and annular eclipse was visible over Southern California, and I was there. An Annular eclipse is one in which the Moon is smaller in diameter visually in comparison with the Sun's and it appears as though the Sun has a big hole through it. In hot, dry, parched Southern California, for just that day, it was dark and so overcast there was no
even a visible darkening of the sky - just as it had been in Hilo the year before. Nothing. Either time. If you want to see an eclipse, be sure I am nowhere in the vicinity!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 57 of 1404: Karen (KarenR) * Wed, Aug 11, 1999 (19:40) * 1 lines
See, Gi, if you had gone to Turkey as I suggested, they had optimal viewing conditions!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 58 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, Aug 11, 1999 (19:53) * 1 lines
*lol* Karen, and the most amazing accommodations, too!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 59 of 1404: John Burnett (mrchips) * Sat, Aug 14, 1999 (21:54) * 7 lines
I was incredibly lucky with the Big Island eclipse of nearly a decade back. Strangely enough, my assignment was to broadcast it on the radio in Hilo (where clouds unfortunately obscured the view in most of town). We set up camp the night before at the 8300 foot level of Mauna Loa next to KGMB-TV's (Honolulu) Big Island repeater. We chose that site because the state's university would not allow us up on the more glamorous Mauna Kea and went the previous night because the road up was to be closed the fol
owing morning. It turned out serendipitous despite a bone-chillling night. I used welder's goggles (not the full helmet) and saw a 100 percent eclipse with my own two eyes. KGMB's Big Island engineer, who was also up there, has his ham radio shack on the site. Using a one-watt (that's right, one-watt) microwave remote unit, I broadcast to Hilo not only the eclipse, but traffic reports, weather and cloud conditions and other pertinent information from around the island that was supplied to me via the h
m shack. I used my radio sports play-by-play experience to attempt to create a "theatre of the mind" visual for listeners, and the vast majority of the feedback I got was positive, especially since the idea of a radio
broadcast of an eclipse is rather absurd, when one thinks about it.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 60 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Sat, Aug 14, 1999 (22:23) * 2 lines
No, John, it was not absurd, it was wonderful for heartbroken in Hilo - Me! You saved my sanity, and as I listened to you and your gift with spoken English, it came alive for me. I could 'see' it through your eyes, and I am eternally grateful for it. I had tears of disappointment streaming down my face, but without your live commentary, I would not have 'seen' it at all! That one little Watt of power did what it had to do just fine for your purposes, and your coverage is the one I will always remembe
. A belated Thank You to your boss for allowing this incredible experience to be shared. There is something very special about being up there on the mountains and I am sure you felt more in tune with what was happening than Bob Jones from KGMB did on the Kona side with the circus atmosphere. Mahalo Nui Loa, and thanks for posting in Geo!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 61 of 1404: wer (KitchenManager) * Sun, Aug 15, 1999 (00:51) * 2 lines
oops, looks like I spoke too soon in poetry...I see you've
found your way out and about, John!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 62 of 1404: John Burnett (mrchips) * Sun, Aug 15, 1999 (02:06) * 2 lines
Ver, I can thank Marcia for that. By the way, Marcia, and I know you will see this--because you are all-knowing and all-seeingyou did a wonderful job designing this conference site and I am impressed with your use of the national weather service hurricane tracking map. I did have a spiritual experience on the mountain with the eclipse that it would have been impossible for Bob Jones to have. If he had just gone to his own repeater site--but that wouldn't have been television friendly. No palm trees, n
beach, not a lot of people to interview. BUT WE DID HAVE THE ECLIPSE and he only had a partial view at best.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 63 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Sun, Aug 15, 1999 (13:33) * 2 lines
I am delighted you said that about the Kona-side view of things. Hilo gets the short end of every stick the state has, but, as you pointed out, WE DID HAVE THE ECLIPSE and Bob Jones only had a partial view...I recall seeing his video tape that evening; I was so proud of the the job you did.
Thank you for the kind words on this Conference. It would not have been possible with out WER's patient help to make it pretty, David's help in feeding me up-to-date information on volcanoes world-wide, and a bunch of credit to Penn State for teaching me well. I really intend Geo to be informational and timely as well as a Q&A and experiences site. So far, so good. Feel free to add to any of the topics. (Oh, yeah, I also do my homework...ever on the search for current information.)
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 64 of 1404: Wolf (wolf) * Wed, Aug 18, 1999 (11:34) * 3 lines
speaking of david, we ever gonna see him over here?
and i would like to piggy bag on john's compliments, this place looks great!!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 65 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, Aug 18, 1999 (14:01) * 1 lines
I am working on him. He sends me information all the time to put in here, including the earthquake in California just after it happened. (His father informed me by email of the one in Turkey!) He says he does not have the time to login. How long does it take to get a username and password? He wastes more time than that wondering what to have for lunch! We should start an email campaign to recruit him, but he just may never forgive me for that. *grin*
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 66 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, Aug 18, 1999 (14:04) * 1 lines
Oh, and thank you for your kind thoughts, Wolf. We know why it looks this great...*smile*
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 67 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Sat, Aug 28, 1999 (20:14) * 3 lines
Since I put this on other people's conferences, the least I can do is to enter it on my own:
PENN STATE 41 ARIZONA 7
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 68 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, Aug 30, 1999 (17:03) * 208 lines
Back to Geology. This, contributed by Alexander (thank you! and Note the
Hawaiian connection):
Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/082499sci-ocean-cables.html
August 24, 1999
Old Phone Cables Open Sea Bed to Science
By MALCOLM W. BROWNE
"Making use of thousands of miles of discarded telephone
cables, scientists have begun to wire remote regions of deep
ocean floor to create an undersea network of geological
observatories.
"The old cables will serve as deep-sea extension cords
running thousands of miles from land-based power stations to
sensors, some of which are already sending back continuous
flows of data from the ocean floor.
"Geologists and other scientists using abandoned cables have
set out to collect a bonanza of information about
earthquakes, underground nuclear explosions, changes in the
earth's internal structure and its magnetic field,
fluctuations in the high-altitude ionosphere and even whale
migration patterns.
"Although seismometers and other geological sensors have long
been operating in most land areas, conspicuous gaps in
global seismic coverage exist under the world's deep
oceans, and oceans cover most of the planet's surface.
"But this has begun to change, thanks in part to rapid
progress in technology that has made old telephone cables
obsolete.
"Dozens of such cables are still serviceable, said Dr. Rhett
Butler, director of a data-collecting network in Washington
called Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology
(IRIS). 'These cables were built to last,' he said in an
interview, 'and at least some of them, which went into use
in the mid-1960's, still function perfectly.'
"One such line is a coaxial cable (similar to the cable that
carries television programs into private homes) that was
laid across the deep Pacific Ocean floor by AT&T in 1964
from San Luis Obispo, Calif., to Makaha, Hawaii -- a
distance of nearly 3,000 miles. At the time, it was among
the most advanced phone lines in the world, equipped with
powered vacuum-tube repeaters every 20 miles to refresh the
telephone signals as they traveled along it. The cable,
called Hawaii-2, could simultaneously carry as many as 138
conversations.
"But in 1989 a fishing trawler working in shallow water near
the California coast accidentally cut the $30 million cable.
"The telephone company could probably have repaired the
break, but decided instead to abandon the cable; by then,
optical-fiber cables had come into use, and the new cables
could carry up to a half million conversations with greatly
improved sound quality. AT&T announced that it would make
the abandoned coaxial cable available to scientists who
could find a use for it.
"'It took several years for scientists to consider the
possibilities,' said Dr. Alan Chave, a senior scientist of
the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.
'But last year it all came together and we showed that
continuous deep-sea seismic sensing was possible, using
these old cables.'
"The world's first deep undersea seismic observatory capable
of continuous long-term functioning began operating last
September. Its seismometer failed two months later because
of a short circuit, but Dr. Chave and his colleagues plan to
retrieve and repair the instrument in September. With
several upgrades now completed, the observatory (called
'H2O,' standing for 'Hawaii-2 Observatory') will then resume
operation, midway between California and Hawaii, at a depth
of 16,400 feet.
"A feature of the unmanned sea-floor observatory is a
junction box equipped with eight power outlets and signal
connectors allowing scientists to plug more ocean-bottom
sensors into the line. Among the supplementary instruments
scientists plan to install is a hydrophone capable of
listening to whale calls and tracking their migrations.
"The cost of H2O, financed by the National Science
Foundation, was about $2.5 million. If the project had had
to start from scratch by laying its own cable, it would have
cost up to about $120 million, scientists estimate.
"The idea that led to the project dates from a decade ago. In
1988 a scientist at Tokyo University suggested that
abandoned telephone cables might be reused for research, and
that suggestion started American scientists thinking.
Eventually, a consortium that included Woods Hole, the
University of Hawaii and IRIS came up with a plan. A
shore-based power station could pump direct current at 5,000
volts into one end of AT&T's broken cable, creating a
thousand-mile-long extension cord to power scientific
instruments three miles deep. Electricity flowing into the
cable would move along it, powering sensors and repeaters,
and finally grounding the current into the ocean at the
severed end, thereby completing a circuit.
"But making H2O a reality was a hair-raising challenge, as
Dr. Chave described it.
"The tools included the 270-foot research ship Thomas
Thompson; the Jason, a deep-sea remotely operated vehicle;
and the Media, a remotely operated camera platform to watch
the Jason from above, helping Jason's pilot aboard the
Thompson to avoid entangling obstacles three miles below
him.
"The scientists focused their efforts on the part of the
cable reaching from dry land in Hawaii to a spot 1,000 miles
to the east -- a smooth region of sea floor where they
expected seismic signals to be especially useful to
geophysicists. Searching the ocean bottom for the cable last
summer, the team found it nearly one mile from where they
had expected.
"In the next step, the team sent Jason down. Using a joystick
and a television monitor aboard the Thompson, the craft's
pilot, Will Sellers, slowly steered Jason into position,
clamped the jaws of its maneuvering arm on the 1 1/4-inch
cable, and cut it.
"Next came the hardest part: snagging the severed cable with
an 800-pound grapnel and hauling the cut end up to the ship.
Mr. Sellers had to make sure that the grapnel grabbed the
cable at least 16,400 feet away from the cut to create a
counterbalance as the cable was hauled up.
"'It was like positioning a slippery strand of cut spaghetti
on the tine of a fork, making sure that there was enough
weight of spaghetti on the loose end to keep the strand from
sliding off in the other direction,' Dr. Chave said.
"The ship's crew then had to haul up six miles of cable
weighing nearly 24,000 pounds -- the maximum weight the ship
was capable of handling. The risky operation took an entire
day.
"Once the crew had wrestled the cable aboard the ship they
powered electricity into it and used it to make a telephone
call to the National Science Foundation in Washington. The
cable worked perfectly, even though it had lain unused for
nine years on the ocean floor.
"But time and again unexpected problems arose. When the crew
began lowering the cable and a 'termination frame' that
served as a connection between the cable and an outlet, a
chain broke and both cable and frame fell to the ocean
bottom. Fortunately the frame fell in a favorable position,
so that when the junction box was lowered, Jason's arm was
able to complete the setup by connecting the frame with the
junction box. Finally, a seismometer built by the University
of Hawaii was lowered into position nearby and plugged into
the junction box.
"Almost immediately, seismic signals began flowing to Hawaii,
joining the global torrent of signals from more than 100
other sensors contributing to the IRIS network. After the
Woods Hole team returns the repaired seismometer to the sea
floor next month, the scientists hope the cable will
continue to work for up to 30 years.
"Anyone can use the data produced by the network, Dr. Chave
said. Other groups, including one in Japan, are also
exploiting old telephone cables, although IRIS network is
the most extensive.
"'The more evenly you can collect seismic signals from
sensors all over the world,' he said, 'the better you can
tomographically image the structure deep inside the earth.
It's a little like taking a clinical CAT scan using an
inward-looking telescope. For one thing, the seismic data
can tell you about the differential rotation of liquid metal
in the earth's core -- a key factor causing variations in
the earth's magnetic field.'
"In collaboration with a scientist at Bell Laboratories Dr.
Chave is also using 10 abandoned cables, all with one end
reaching land somewhere, as passive sensors to measure deep
ocean currents and changes in the ionosphere. As a current
of sea water flows through the earth's magnetic field, an
electric current is generated in the water, and a resulting
voltage shows up in a cable with one end grounded in sea
water. Current is also induced in an ocean cable by the flow
of electricity through the ionosphere -- a layer of the
atmosphere 50 miles above the earth's surface.
"Three years ago the Navy announced that it was abandoning
some of the hydrophone sensors it had used to track
potentially hostile ships and submarines. Some of these
sensors and their associated cables and electronics have
been made available for civilian research.
"'All this activity is really expanding the reach of
geophysical science,' Dr. Chave said. 'We have to thank
technological obsolescence for giving us some wonderful
tools.'"
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 69 of 1404: Alexander Schuth (aschuth) * Tue, Aug 31, 1999 (13:43) * 1 lines
It's been a note of the Dead Media project.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 70 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Aug 31, 1999 (15:44) * 2 lines
Yes! Thank you for pointing that out. I inadvertently lopped that fact off of
your email when I posted it.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 71 of 1404: Alexander Schuth (aschuth) * Thu, Sep 9, 1999 (13:19) * 1 lines
No sweat! It's really great to see with what kind of other areas technology can connect, apart from original purpose... Often stuff never intended or though of originally!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 72 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, Sep 9, 1999 (15:12) * 2 lines
I am the sort of person who, before I throw anything away, checks to see what else can be done with the item. Sometimes I store these "widgets" for years before the light bulb goes on and I find an even better use than the original.
Human ingenuity! Where would we be without it?!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 73 of 1404: Wolf (wolf) * Sun, Sep 12, 1999 (15:28) * 1 lines
a lot neater perhaps? i save a lot of stuff too, like cool whip and butter containers. you can imagine the state of my kitchen cabinets! and then scrap fabric that i can't bear to part with because if i ever learn to make a quilt, they'd be good to use on a square.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 74 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, Oct 25, 1999 (22:07) * 1 lines
There are so many things happening right now that I though it best to put it in All Things Planet Earth. New Zealand experienced a 6.5 earthquake (thank you, AnneH) and Mt Etna is erupting so furiously it has just about decommissioned its VolcanoCam. I will try to put up relevant information and images in the proper topics when they become available. (Thank you KarenR and AnneH)
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 75 of 1404: Maggie (sociolingo) * Thu, Oct 28, 1999 (14:43) * 1 lines
In case you're interested we had a little quake in Wales yesterday. It measured 3.5. By the way marcia, sneding me this URL was a sneaky way to get me involved in this conference (SMILE!) Well, I had to have a look didn't I!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 76 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, Oct 28, 1999 (15:21) * 1 lines
Oh! Thanks for that!!! Thank you for taking the bait. There are lots of goodies to interest you in here including atuo-updating weather maps in Geo 14 which a few folks check almost daily. (Scroll through the entire topic and bookmark your particular favorite - I have UK and the Continent in there!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 77 of 1404: Maggie (sociolingo) * Thu, Oct 28, 1999 (15:32) * 3 lines
Fun! Now I need to try and find ££s for my growing internet bill (we're billed by the second/minute in the UK)!
Is this a special interest area of yours -or just one of many?
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 78 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, Oct 28, 1999 (15:52) * 1 lines
As you will discover, it is one of many - eventually I might just be crazy enough to have one for Archaeology and one for Astronomy. am also into lots of Topics on other conferences such as Books/41 Arthurian themes...and Malachology and just about anything else, actually. I need several more lifetimes to become a professional in each of these categories. I did want to become a Geologist but I did not get along with the math, so I studied to be a techinical writer.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 79 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, Oct 28, 1999 (15:54) * 1 lines
Maggie, Gi lives in Portugal and was finally able to find an ISP who would give her unlimited time on the internet. I know you pay by the minute (how terrible that must be!!!) - mine is $20.78/month and it is unlimited - as are just about all of the ISP's in the US. My sympathies.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 80 of 1404: Gi (patas) * Thu, Oct 28, 1999 (15:59) * 1 lines
Unfortunately, the free ISPs are so slow that what you save in Internet bills you spend on telephone bills... I'm still looking for the perfect one!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 81 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, Oct 28, 1999 (16:27) * 1 lines
Auwe!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 82 of 1404: Maggie (sociolingo) * Fri, Oct 29, 1999 (13:41) * 3 lines
A lot of this is a new area for me (goody!) I only did a bit of geology when I taught my kids Geography (apart from what I did at school of course, MANY years ago).
BTW: my ISP is free (I'm on my third one so far)and seems reasonably fast but it's the phone bills that cripple us here.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 83 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, Oct 29, 1999 (17:49) * 3 lines
Alas, that seems to be the lament of most of the countries in the world
outside of the North American continent...and perhaps not all of that, either
Feel free to wander and post wherever you'd like!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 84 of 1404: Wolf (wolf) * Mon, Nov 8, 1999 (21:23) * 1 lines
we should get astonomy and archeology conferences, what a great idea! and then, marcia, think of all the inter-conference links we could have!!!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 85 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, Nov 8, 1999 (21:57) * 3 lines
Oh Yes! I even know which midnight blue marble wallpaper I want for it and which Horizontal bars...and who I want to cfadm for me...
Archaeology is excellent as well. Need another life time to come back as one of each of those professions!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 86 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, Nov 8, 1999 (21:58) * 1 lines
Would Angels fit into the Astronomy and ufo's and the like?! They are in the sky, are they not!!! Links galore! Happy thought, indeed! (I like it...can you tell?! *grin*)
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 87 of 1404: Wolf (wolf) * Mon, Nov 8, 1999 (22:01) * 1 lines
nah, couldn't tell one bit, in fact was gonna ask! *GRIN*
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 88 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, Nov 8, 1999 (22:21) * 1 lines
Just like any hyper kid, the more !!'s I use the more I am virtually jumping up and down with excitement over the very idea!!!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 89 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Sat, Jan 1, 2000 (20:47) * 3 lines
Such great ideas and we did not act on them. Must check and see what we can do about that
with the new year and all. But, no fun doing it be telnet! I know Alexander would be
interested in the Archaeology one - for sure!!!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 90 of 1404: Ann (Ann) * Tue, Jan 4, 2000 (21:31) * 13 lines
This probably belongs on an astronomy topic, but I didn't see one when I looked at the list of conferences, so here it is.
My question is about the age of the universe/earth.
The universe is currently estimated to be about 13 billion years old.
In that time, stars and galaxies have formed, gone through their life cycles, died, gathered back together as nebulae, then created second and maybe third generation systems.
Assuming the earth is only a second generation conglomeration of matter, then all of the heavier elements on the earth came from the first generation.
Now the earth is estimated to be already about 4 billion years old. That leaves only 9 billion years--or only twice the time the earth has been around--for that first generation to have lived and died and given rise to the second generation.
That doesn't seem like enough time to me! Am I missing something? Were life cycles nebulae and galaxies faster in the early universe? If not, how does the creation of the heavier elements work into the current assumptions on the age of the universe?
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 91 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Jan 4, 2000 (21:44) * 2 lines
Ann, welcome! May I suggest Topic 24 Beyond Planet Earth?! I think our estimation of the age of the universe will continue to be revised upward as we get bigger and better eyes into the past. For just about forever the age of the Universe was thought not to exceed 5 billion years and wa more likely 4 billion.
Theories are just that...always subject to revision and correction, fortunately!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 92 of 1404: Annette Mercer (laughingsky) * Mon, Jan 17, 2000 (20:13) * 2 lines
I had read a while back where scientists and archaeologists are beginning to suspect that the earth is actually older than they'd previously thought...so
much for revision of theories, eh? Seems as if we come to those somewhat "definite" conclusions, then, we have to step back and say, "wait a minute - what if...?" That's the fun of discoveries - rediscovering!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 93 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Jan 18, 2000 (01:01) * 1 lines
Indeed! When I took Geology in college they were one year away from teaching Plate tectonics! Don't check how long ago that was, but it gives you some idea of how things change!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 94 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Jan 18, 2000 (01:03) * 1 lines
One of my favorite things to discover is old knowledge which is rediscovered. I know we have forgotten more than we have learned from the time of the Pyramids and Stonehenge. They had the same brain as we are using. Why should they not have had as much success?!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 95 of 1404: MarkG (MarkG) * Wed, Jan 19, 2000 (11:40) * 1 lines
Having few means to pass down detailed science across generations, did the ancients really do more than make constructions to celebrate observed extremes of the sun's path? Please convince me.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 96 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, Jan 19, 2000 (12:46) * 2 lines
Not as far as I know, Mark. They did not come from Lemuria with exotic knowledge or from outer space. If anyone thinks they did, convince Mark and me.
(I've read the books out there and they are more unbelivable than the idea that the ancients used magic to do things!)
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 97 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, Jan 19, 2000 (12:48) * 1 lines
...just because we cannot replicate the ancient constructions now does not mean it was done by 'other beings' It just means we have not figured it out yet...
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 98 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Feb 1, 2000 (17:49) * 2 lines
Ok, why am I not seeing Response 99? It was posted today and is not showing up.
In fact, nothing but what I am posting is showing up right now...test!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 99 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Feb 1, 2000 (17:52) * 1 lines
Maggie, what did you say? I am curious to the max...on confifty using the ip posts show up but not using the URL. Hmmm... (Wish I understood half of what I know about this stuff!)
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 100 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, Feb 2, 2000 (21:55) * 13 lines
Maggie's missing post:
Resp 99 of 99: Maggie (sociolingo) Tue, Feb 1, 2000 (16:13) 4 lines
We've had a couple of TV series where ancient feats were recreated
(?it may be the same as you PBS program). The latest ones were
Caesars bridge across a huge river span that he built in a few days,
and a kind of crane thing that was built to hoist enemy ships out of
the water by one of the greek greats.
(Sorry it's late and my brains going kind of dead, so I can't remember details)
On a different tack - did anyone see reports about snow in the desert
near Jerusalem and 15 inches of snow in Jerusalem itself. I think it
was a 50 year record.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 101 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, Feb 2, 2000 (21:57) * 2 lines
Thanks for that and thanks for telnet saving both the URL and the IP posts!
We did mention the Jerusalem snow on Geo 14... Thanks, Maggie!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 102 of 1404: Maggie (sociolingo) * Sat, Feb 5, 2000 (08:15) * 4 lines
Slightly off topic:
We've also got a super TV program just now called 'meet the ancestors'. Using forensic science they link an archeological dig with a recreation from the bones dug up, and reconstruct what the person looked like, their life etc. It's been facsinating. I've always been curious about how people lived, and its great to see the forensic skills put to use in this way. They rebuild the face from the skull, by building up the layers of muscles etc on a skull model. Its a mxture of artistry and science. Recently they did a ten year old girl, and to do that they had to take skin depth measurements from a large number of young girls as they only had adult measurements on computer file. This child (from a millenium ago) had had repeated infections as shown by forensics on the bones, and they determined the sex by DNA testing. She was found in an abondoned grave site a short distnace away from a church which is known to have been there 1000 years ago and which had 'relics'.. It was thought that the child would h
ve been taken to the relics (in the surviving crypt) of the church for healing. Pilgrims went through a small wall slit in the church down into the crypt, round the relics, and the out by another slit. An archeological artist drew the scene.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 103 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Sat, Feb 5, 2000 (12:20) * 1 lines
That sounds fascinating (and as DO have an Archaeology topic in here!). I hope Discovery or one of those channels picks it up for us to see. Thanks, Maggie!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 104 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Mar 21, 2000 (14:59) * 22 lines
Geo factoids
HOW MANY ISLANDS ARE THERE IN HONG KONG?
235 islands.
WHERE WAS THE FIRST TUNNEL IN RECORDED HISTORY?
In Babylon. Built by the Assyrians in about 2100 B.C., the
secret 3,000-foot-long passageway linked the royal palace
on one side of the Euphrates River with the Temple of Jupiter
on the other side.
WHAT IS THE DIAMETER OF THE EARTH AT THE EQUATOR?
7,926 miles. (The circumference is 24, 902 miles.)
WHAT RIVER IS THE ONLY RIVER TO FLOW
NORTH AND SOUTH OF THE EQUATOR?
The Congo River, which crosses the equator twice.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 105 of 1404: _cosmo_ (aa9il) * Mon, May 1, 2000 (23:33) * 12 lines
Greetings all
Well, time to move from the rf field to the geo-magnetic field.
But first, any interest in ley lines (no, thats not you use
for pickups in single's bars...) There are quite a few in
Europe and the UK and there has even been research on the
earth mounds in Wisconsin. Interesting connective stuff.
BTW, there is quite a lot of power around Stonehenge. Same
kind of neat energy around Enchanted Rock in Tx.
mike aka cosmo
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 106 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, May 1, 2000 (23:48) * 1 lines
Aloha Mike! Geo 27 is perfect for you. That started out with Ley Lines discussions. Maps and photos abound. Roam around and make yourself comfortable!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 107 of 1404: Mike Kana (aa9il) * Tue, May 2, 2000 (23:26) * 4 lines
Ok, off to 27!
(I see you are posting to classic radio just a minute ago...)
Mike
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 108 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, May 2, 2000 (23:29) * 1 lines
yup! I was following you so you did not get lost. Note that Spring had a problem which caused (or sumthin did) my rc file to delete and took all my wallpaper and horizontal bars and buttons with it. Have reinstated the bars and font colors but...no buttons or wallpaper...*sigh* See ya on 27!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 109 of 1404: geospring (sprin5) * Wed, May 3, 2000 (05:00) * 1 lines
The problem was the /tmp file.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 110 of 1404: geospring (sprin5) * Wed, May 3, 2000 (05:13) * 8 lines
When things are ok it should look like this:
$ df
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Avail Capacity Mounted on
/dev/sd0a 99135 14975 79203 16% /
/dev/sd0h 16873439 9891364 6138403 62% /usr
mfs:19 15855 434 14628 3% /tmp
thor:/extra/tools 2991146 1362014 1479574 48% /tools
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 111 of 1404: geospring (sprin5) * Wed, May 3, 2000 (05:22) * 1 lines
But when the /tmp file says Capacity 0% no one can write to the file system. It's a little kink in the armor of an otherwise bulletproof operating system.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 112 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, May 3, 2000 (13:24) * 1 lines
Ah so! I suspected as much, but wondered if it would not just leave the file untouched rather than deleting all of it. Well, I had "a learning experience" and managed to get most of it back on by checking how other rc files were configured. Cfadm pulled me through again! I am gratefulness personified this morning. Now, I have a slightly slow-loading but incredibly beautiful wallpaper to install, if I dare...
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 113 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, May 3, 2000 (17:42) * 6 lines
HOW FAST DOES LIGHTNING TRAVEL?
It travels 90,000 miles a second - almost half the speed of
light. (186,000 miles a second).
EXACTLY HOW LONG IS ONE YEAR?
365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 114 of 1404: MarkG (MarkG) * Thu, May 4, 2000 (04:23) * 1 lines
Excellent statistics, Marcia - can you remind me how fast sound is?
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 115 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, May 4, 2000 (13:58) * 2 lines
For rule of thumb reckoning, it travels about 5 miles / second (so you can see how close the lightning is hitting by counting by 5's at one second intervals).
More precise measurement will have to wait till I get into the other room to get the appropraite book. (Did you just get married? )
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 116 of 1404: MarkG (MarkG) * Fri, May 5, 2000 (07:11) * 1 lines
Married? No, not unless 6 years ago is "just". Did you infer I got married from my question about the speed of sound?
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 117 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, May 5, 2000 (13:44) * 27 lines
No, but you came up missing for a while and it was mentioned on Drool that Mark was getting married... But, I should have remembered that it would have been bigamy - you told me you were married in our email about cricket. You are the only Mark around here; I assumed, and you know what that means...!
http://arts.ucsc.edu/EMS/Music/tech_background/TE-01/soundSpeed.html
Speed of Sound
You can measure the speed of sound the same way you measure the speed of a runner, with a stopwatch on a closed
track.
Find a place where you can hear a good echo, and stand a known distance from whatever the sound is reflecting
off of.
Fire a starter's pistol and start the stopwatch. Stop the watch when you hear the echo.
Divide 2 times the distance (it's a round trip) by the time to get the speed.
At 21 degrees C (70°F), you should get 344 meters per second, or 1129 ft per second. At freezing, the numbers are 331
m/s or 1087 ft/s. The proper formula for the change in speed due to temperature is:
Where T is degrees Celsius. The works out to about a 0.1% change per degree Fahrenheit.
The Speed of sound in water is 1480 m/s or 4856 ft/s. More than 3000 miles per hour.
There is a project under way to take the earth's temperature by measuring the speed of sound between the USA and
Australia.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 118 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, May 5, 2000 (17:14) * 5 lines
WHAT LAKE, ONCE PART OF A SEA, HAS THE ONLY FRESHWATER SHARKS IN THE WORLD?
Lake Nicaragua, in Nicaragua.
WHEN IT COMES TO WAVES IN THE OCEAN, WHAT IS A WAVELENGTH?
The linear distance between the crests of two successive waves.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 119 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, May 5, 2000 (17:16) * 5 lines
Here is an easy and excellent Speed of Sound Calculator for those using Metric
http://www.measure.demon.co.uk/Acoustics_Software/speed.html
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 120 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, May 5, 2000 (17:42) * 3 lines
The above calculator has problems - try this one:
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/sound/souspe.html
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 121 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Sun, May 7, 2000 (16:58) * 74 lines
http://www.discovery.com
Earth Loses Weight
Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery.com News
If the latest measurement of the force of gravity, called the
big G, is correct, it will end 200 years of confusion and
mean Earth weighs 5.972 sextillion metric tons. That's a tad
less than the 5.98 sextillion metric tons listed in some
textbooks. A sextillion is a one followed by 21 zeros.
The constant G tells how much gravitational force there is
between two masses — such as the Earth and moon —
that are separated by a known distance. It's a fundamental
aspect of the universe that doesn't change, similar to the
speed of light.
Scientists were able to calculate Earth's mass based on G
by applying Isaac Newton's famous equation F=ma. In the
equation, "F" stands for the force of gravity (Big G); while
"m" stands for mass (in this case, of the Earth); and "a"
represents the local gravitational effects of Earth, which
scientists already knew. By rearranging the equation, they
were able to solve for "m" and thus calculate Earth's mass.
University of Washington physicists Jens Gundlach and
Stephen Merkowitz their results today at the American
Physical Society meeting in Long Beach, California.
To arrive at the new constant, the physicists refined an
experiment first developed in the 18th century. They used
an extremely delicate device called a torsion balance that
records the effects of the gravity of four stainless steel
balls on a gold-coated plate.
The device is similar to one used 200 years ago to make the
first big G measurement. But it is computer controlled and
contains numerous mechanical refinements that make the
more precise measurement possible.
If the new value is accepted, it would reduce the
uncertainty of G by a factor of 100.
"The experimental situation was just hilarious," said
Gundlach of physicists’ inability to find and agree on G. "Our
experiment was designed to clean that up."
Because gravity is such a weak force, it is extremely
difficult to measure without all sorts of errors creeping in.
Physicists have been working hard to narrow down G, but
different experiments have actually been coming up with
numbers that are spreading farther apart.
This has been especially embarrassing to physicists, since
the other two most basic of all natural constants — speed
of light and Planck’s Constant — are known with great
accuracy. Planck’s Constant is a number that helps
scientists determine the energy behind electromagnetic
radiation.
"It’s the least well known of all the fundamental constants,"
said University of California at Irvine physicist Riley
Newman. Newman's team is working on a National Science
Foundation grant to measure G. They have also built an
instrument, but have a lot of work to do before they find G,
he said.
Gundlach said he will be watching Newman’s work closely
in hopes that the G’s agree.
"If they don’t agree," said Newman, "the confusion will go
on."
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 122 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, May 8, 2000 (14:47) * 2 lines
WHAT FOUR STATES HAVE ACTIVE VOLCANOES?
Alaska, California, Hawaii, and Washington.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 123 of 1404: lidya maccarthy (livamago) * Mon, May 8, 2000 (18:08) * 2 lines
And what are the names of the volcanoes, dear? Btw, the site looks wonderful.
Congratulations!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 124 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, May 8, 2000 (18:44) * 10 lines
Do you like my new marble wallpaper, too? (It is so good to see you here again - happy me!) I installed it with an artist in mind for the Aesthetics of Earth topic...*hope*
Hawaii's active volcanoes: Kilauea, Mauna Loa, Hualalai, and on Maui, Haleakala
(with the faint possibility of Mauna Kea added)
California's: Lassen and Shasta
Washington: St Helens, and any of the other Cascade mountains in the state since they are in the most active part of the subduction of Juan de Fuca plate under the North American Plate (see plate tectonics topic for good maps on the subject)
Alaska has too many for me to remember off the top of my head...(there is a map for those, too in Geo 2.)
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 125 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, May 9, 2000 (14:32) * 16 lines
Sparky Lifesavers
If you chew a wintergreen-flavored Lifesavers candy in a
dark room and watch in the mirror, you will see electrical
sparks in your mouth. Why? The sugar in the candy is in
crystal form. When you start shearing the crystal apart
with your teeth, you end up with an excess of electrons on
one side of the fissure. Just like a lightning arc, they
jump across the gap to an area that has a positive charge,
and in the process give off light. Interestingly, this
works better with wintergreen than other flavors, because
much of the light that is emitted is ultraviolet, outside
of the visible spectrum. The methyl salicylate in the
wintergreen oil is able to absorb ultraviolet light and
re-emit it at a wavelength you can see.
-- Michael Natkin
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 126 of 1404: lidya maccarthy (livamago) * Tue, May 9, 2000 (19:51) * 9 lines
I love the wallpaper! I think it's very elegant, like everything in this site, and it's very appropriate too. I meant to mention it specifically. You read my mind.
Kilauea I wonder why this one is my favorite!
Didn't it erupt in 1983?
Interesting fact about the lifesaver. I shall check the mirror the next time I eat one.
I watched a show on PBS that was so interesting. It was a Nature special about body changers, and it showed how the salmon (the males ones, I think) slowly lose their shape to become really ugly-looking. This happens as their death approaches. It was amazing! Do we have a topic for animal?
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 127 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, May 9, 2000 (21:21) * 9 lines
You remembered! Kilauea did indeed begin the current eruptive cycle in 1983 and it is still going strong. Thanks for the kind comments on the wallpaper, too.
The lifesaver thing or any wintergreen candy you can snap with your fingers my dad showed me in a dark closet. Never tried it by looking in my mouth with a mirror. My son is unaware of this phenomenon because of the high humidity here.
Wintergreen tends to be mushy...
Please check SpringArk conference of which Wolf and I are cohosts
http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/restricted/browse/SpringArk/all/new
Thanks for asking!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 128 of 1404: Curious Wolfie (wolf) * Tue, May 9, 2000 (21:23) * 1 lines
ok, back to the lightening thing, when we see it, we're supposed to count by 5's, one 5 each second? so it's 5, 10, 15? (or, each second counted total multiplied by 5?) i've always used the seconds to judge the distance. interesting!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 129 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, May 9, 2000 (22:11) * 1 lines
I count "one thousand and one...two...three" and multiply by 5. It's easier for me. The thousand part makes sure you are counting in seconds and not rushing too fast. Mississippi works, too.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 130 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, May 12, 2000 (13:41) * 9 lines
IF YOU HEAR THUNDER 10 SECONDS AFTER YOU SEE LIGHTNING, HOW FAR AWAY WAS THE LIGHTNING?
2 miles away. Sound travels about a mile in 5 seconds.
IN GEOLOGY, WHAT IS A CALVING?
The breaking off or detachment of an iceberg from a glacier
that has reached the sea, or the separation of a portion of
a floating iceberg.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 131 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, May 17, 2000 (21:28) * 6 lines
HOW MANY ICEBERGS ARE THERE IN THE WORLD?
Approximately 320,000.
HOW MANY AVERAGE-SIZE HOUSES CAN YOU MAKE FROM ONE GIANT SEQUOIA - THE BIGGEST LIVING THING ON EARTH TODAY?
Fifty. The sequoia often extends 300 feet in height and 25 feet in diameter.
Its seed weighs only 1/6000 ounce.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 132 of 1404: anne hale (ommin) * Wed, May 17, 2000 (21:45) * 1 lines
Umm I accept the Giant Sequioia is the widest tree - but is it the tallest - our giants here in Oz are very tall - I am not sure if the Gloucester tree in the South West of Western Australia wasn't taller. Also I believe there is a very tall tree and large to boot in N.Z. can anyone confirm. Can't remember for the moment the name of our largest tree - thus I mentioned the Gloucester tree. They are in an area called the Valley of the Giants.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 133 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, May 17, 2000 (22:31) * 1 lines
Sequoia semprevirons is the larges thing ever to live on land. I will do citations for you in the next post. What kind of tree is the tallest Oz tree? The Sequoia is a Redwood (evergreen)
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 134 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, May 17, 2000 (22:36) * 19 lines
Check here for the hugest trees in the USA
http://www.americanforests.org/whatnew/BTFacts.html
Botanical record-breakers are at this amazing uRL
http://daphne.palomar.edu/wayne/ww0601.htm
The world's record for the tallest tree goes to another cone-bearing tree native to California,
the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens). In fact, the tallest living redwood on record
stands 367 feet, 62 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty. The California redwoods are rivaled
in size by the amazing flowering Australian tree (Eucalyptus regnans). The record for the
tallest tree of all time has been debated by botanists for centuries. Some amazing claims for
towering Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and E. regnans exceeding 400 feet have
never been substantiated by a qualified surveyor. In 1872, a fallen E. regnans 18 feet in
diameter and 435 feet tall was reported by William Ferguson, making it the tallest (or perhaps
longest) dead tree. According to the monograph on Eucalyptus by Stan Kelly (Volume 1 of
Eucalypts, 1977), trees of E. regnans well over 300 feet tall have been measured, but the
tallest tree known to be standing at present is 322 feet.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 135 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, May 18, 2000 (02:06) * 15 lines
Diatomaceous Earth
Diatomaceous earth is a crumbly rock formed from the
fossilized remains of microscopic one-celled plants that
contain a lot of silica in their cell walls. It takes about
24,000,000 of these shells to make one cubic centimeter of
rock. When the rock is powdered, it can be used as an
environmentally friendly insecticide. The powder has a very
rough texture at a microscopic level. The roughness can
lacerate and dehydrate the shells of many insects, killing
them over the course of a few hours. Diatomaceous earth has
many other industrial uses: as an insulator, a filter, and
an abrasive, for example.
...and my father, a chemist, made us our toothpowder using the stuff in purified form along with oil of peppermint and another chalky powder. I was my job to do the stirring so we all got equal amounts of peppermint, grit and chalk. It worked very well!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 136 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, May 18, 2000 (13:16) * 17 lines
ON WHAT PLANET IS THE LARGEST KNOWN
MOUNTAIN IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM?
On Mars. Called Olympus Mons, it's a volcano more than three
times the height of Mt. Everest.
HOW MUCH SYRUP DOES THE AVERAGE SUGAR MAPLE TREE YIELD EACH SEASON?
One to one and a quarter quarts.
WHICH BIRD STRAYS AS FAR AS 2,500 MILES FROM ITS NEST TO FIND FOOD FOR ITS YOUNG?
The albatross, which has the largest wingspan of any living
bird - over 11 feet.
HOW MANY MUSCLES DOES A CATERPILLAR HAVE?
Four thousand - more than five times as many as a human.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 137 of 1404: Cheryl (CherylB) * Thu, May 18, 2000 (18:46) * 1 lines
Are the giant trees of Australia and New Zealand evergreens, as well? I find that there are many interesting facts about evergreen trees. The ginko tree, which looses it's leaves in the fall, is related to the conifers, it may even be classed with them. (Marcia probably knows.) About the ginko, it is one of the oldest species of trees in the world. A ginko tree was the only type of tree to survive the blast at Hiroshima. The Sequoia, an evergreen, is currently the largest tree. Lastly, the bristlecone pine tree of the American southwest is the longest lived tree in the world. All that, and they give us oxygen, too.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 138 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, May 18, 2000 (19:17) * 3 lines
Apparently they are eucalyptus is a (getting out my book) member of the Myrtle family (which also includes Ohia - Hawaii's hallmark tree) with 70 genera and 2800 species.
The Ginko (or Ginkgo) is a living fossil (Marcia cannot remember, so she is looking it up). It is a gymnosperm in a class all by itself. It is the lone survivor dating to the Jurassic some 150 million years ago.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 139 of 1404: Cheryl (CherylB) * Thu, May 18, 2000 (19:24) * 1 lines
Thank you for clearing up what the noble ginkgo tree is classed as. The ginkgo has many admirable traits, and is highly regarded in herbal lore, used in Chinese medicine, but...When the ginkgo nuts fall off the trees in the fall, they lay there and start smelling like sewage. The ginkgo isn't quite so noble then.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 140 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, May 18, 2000 (21:18) * 1 lines
When my eldest sister was at Penn State her dorm had a huge ginkgo tree in the front lawn. (It has since been felled by lightning and antiquity) I recall the "fragrance" well. Unreal!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 141 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, May 18, 2000 (21:21) * 1 lines
In the scheme of the book, the author arranged it so the most primitive were at the beginning. Out of amost 1000 pages, The gingko was on page 19 right after the cycads!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 142 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, May 19, 2000 (19:34) * 2 lines
Pi Day is celebrated each March 14 at 1:59pm at the San Francisco's
Exploratorium. (Reported in the Smithsonian Magazine)
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 143 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, May 19, 2000 (20:14) * 11 lines
WHAT CREATURE PRODUCES SPERM THAT ARE 2/3 INCH LONG - THE LONGEST IN THE WORLD?
Some fruit flies of the genus Drosophilia. Their sperm, more than 300 times longer than human sperm, are six times longer than the fly itself - but hair thin and are balled up.
HOW MANY TIMES PER SECOND DOES A MOSQUITO BEAT ITS WINGS?
Up to 600.
HOW MANY CONSTELLATIONS ARE THERE?
100,000.
HOW MUCH HORSEPOWER DOES THE TYPICAL HORSE PROVIDE?
About 24. Horsepower is the power needed to lift 33,000 pounds 1 foot in a minute. Scientists came up with the 24 horsepower figure based on a horse weighing about 1,320 pounds.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 144 of 1404: anne hale (ommin) * Sat, May 20, 2000 (04:50) * 2 lines
Going back to trees. I have wandered through the Valley of the
giants Oz's tallest trees. They are indeed Eucalyptus, the panoply overhead is something to behold. Wonderful smelling and beautifully shaped trees. You can drive a car through. Immense and majestic - you can almost imagine them fully alive and talking. (shades of Narnia). One of the joys of my life and I get very angry when they are chopped down for chipwood for export to Japan.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 145 of 1404: Cheryl (CherylB) * Mon, May 22, 2000 (18:51) * 1 lines
Are eucalyptus trees evergreens?
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 146 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, May 22, 2000 (19:03) * 1 lines
...in a way...but not in the way we think of Evergreen. They are (getting out the book again) in the myrtle family and are NOT considered evergreen. However, there are many trees which keep some leaves on them all year round...including many of the Myrtle family.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 147 of 1404: geospring (sprin5) * Mon, May 22, 2000 (19:07) * 2 lines
What's the best plant for a privacy hedge?
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 148 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, May 22, 2000 (19:25) * 0 lines
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 149 of 1404: anne hale (ommin) * Tue, May 23, 2000 (07:25) * 1 lines
Tried to post a couple of days ago. The tall trees in Australia are called Karri and Tingle. Magnificent trees but very different. Valley of the Giants in South Western Australia has both and is the most wonderful sight you can imagine. It is virtually unpopulated and seems to go on forever. Our population in this state of Australia is large than India and yet has under 2,000,000 people. We have just discovered a vast underground sea. which covers a quarter of a the state and is in some parts some 2,000meters deep. Bodes well for us in the future.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 150 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, May 23, 2000 (14:48) * 14 lines
Is your underground sea fresh water? That truly would be a boon!
Dry Thunderstorms
In desert areas, it is possible to have a thunderstorm
where the rain never reaches the ground. The air near the
Earth's surface can be so hot that the raindrops simply
evaporate on their way down. These storms can be especially
dangerous, because the lightning can still strike the
ground, causing fires without even the help of the rain to
put them out before they grow out of control. This
evaporating rain phenomenon is known as virga, and is one
of the reasons that you might see precipitation on weather
radar even when none seems to be falling.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 151 of 1404: anne hale (ommin) * Tue, May 23, 2000 (23:56) * 1 lines
The underground sea is brackish but treatable. It will make the desert bloom. We have thunderstorms and showers like the ones you have just quoted - you can see the rain coming down in the sky but it never reaches us - often happens in summer.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 152 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, May 24, 2000 (20:12) * 1 lines
That happens in the deserts of Arizona and California with the dry showers which never hit the ground!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 153 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, May 24, 2000 (23:41) * 1 lines
Since it has not elicited any comments, I guess not many are reading what I post in Paleo (topic 7). There has been some really interesting stuff lately - check it out! Also, I posted two pictures I took last evening of Hilo Bay at sunset and one was taken of me (unbeknownst to me) and that is also posted. Find it and take a look at the Mistress of Geo - if anyone is interested. I was asked if it was recent. yup! Last evening.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 154 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, May 25, 2000 (13:38) * 7 lines
IN WHAT DIRECTION DOES THE JET-STREAM FLOW?
From west to east.
WHY ARE MERCURY AND VENUS KNOWN AS INFERIOR PLANETS?
Their orbits are closer to the sun than Earth's orbit.
Planets orbiting the sun beyond Earth are referred to as
superior planets.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 155 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, May 25, 2000 (17:07) * 20 lines
The most abundant metal in the Earth's crust is aluminium.
The largest wave ever recorded was near the Japanese Island of
Ishigaki in 1971 at 85 meters high.
Fulgurite is formed when lightning strikes sand.
At the nearest point, Russia and America are less than 4 km
apart.
The Channel between England and France grows about 300
millimeters each year.
Mars has a volcano, Olympus Mons, which is 310-370 miles in
diameter and 16 miles high.
The Earth experiences about 50,000 earthquakes each year.
The lowest temperature ever recorded was 129 degrees below 0 at
Vostok, Antarctica, on July 21, 1983.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 156 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, May 26, 2000 (20:56) * 17 lines
Invader ants win by losing diversity
The Argentine ants that are trouncing U.S. species derive much
of their takeover power, oddly enough, from losing genetic
diversity.
References & Sources
Dolphins bray when chasing down a fish
The first high-resolution analysis of which dolphin is making
which sound suggests that hunters blurt out a low-frequency,
donkeylike sound that may startle prey into freezing for an instant
or attract other dolphins.
References & Sources
Spider real estate wars: Wake up early
Big spiders in a colony get prime real estate day after day by
spinning webs early.
References & Sources
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 157 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Sat, May 27, 2000 (00:31) * 1 lines
Donn, please login and join us. You said you liked learning new things...*smile*
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 158 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Sun, May 28, 2000 (20:07) * 6 lines
Until he does, he sent me this url which should be on everyone's bookmarks for such cases as those we pray don't happen:
EYE ON THE WORLD
http://web.beol.net/tabonga/violent.html
It has links to every sort of disaster web page, every agency which might be of help or source of information, plus the weird and offbeat at the bottom. I'm gonna check the catastrophism pages, myself...
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 159 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Sun, May 28, 2000 (20:14) * 1 lines
Actually, you're gonna need permission slips from me to be allowed into some of those catastrophism sites. Taken with a huge grain of salt and a firm grounding in astronomy and geology, it appears ludicrous until you remember those who died because of a comet... Please accept my caveat and if you get upset with what you read there, come here first before you try any Koolaid...
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 160 of 1404: anne hale (ommin) * Mon, May 29, 2000 (03:41) * 1 lines
Tried to get in wouldn't let me. Said time out - whatever that means. But I have put it onto favourites to read some time.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 161 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, May 29, 2000 (12:13) * 1 lines
That one takes a while to load. All the time out means is that it took longer for the URL to respond to the request to download than your browser allowed. If you poke around inside of the parameters under which your browser runs, you can change that. But, perhaps it was busy. It is very good and worth trying again!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 162 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, May 29, 2000 (12:14) * 1 lines
Aha - you are using IE rather than Netscape. That might make a difference, too.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 163 of 1404: anne hale (ommin) * Tue, May 30, 2000 (00:27) * 1 lines
Got it up on my husbands new computer - amazing programme.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 164 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, May 30, 2000 (00:56) * 2 lines
You will love having it online. Just watch it when all other things get boring.
Love the little icons, too!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 165 of 1404: anne hale (ommin) * Thu, Jun 1, 2000 (05:42) * 1 lines
yep did all that but messed up his sound card with the sounds of the umiverse!! Wonderful though all the same.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 166 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, Jun 1, 2000 (13:53) * 1 lines
Hope it is not irreversible.......they were amazing sounds!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 167 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, Jun 2, 2000 (14:18) * 14 lines
Sun Dog
A "sun dog" is a bright spot in the sky that is always at
the same height above the horizon as the sun, but 22
degrees to its left or right. The effect is caused by
refraction of the sun's rays by ice crystals in the
atmosphere, resulting in a second image of the sun reaching
your eyes. (Just as if you hold up a glass of water and
look at an object in the room both directly and through the
water, you will see two images of it.)
Click here to find a nice photograph of this "mock sun" (or parhelion) phenomenon.
http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/lb_images/historic/nws/wea00148.htm
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 168 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Sun, Jun 4, 2000 (16:38) * 5 lines
Q: How many cubic meters of dirt are in a hole 6 meters
long, 2 meters wide, and one meter deep?
A: None... it's a hole!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 169 of 1404: anne hale (ommin) * Mon, Jun 5, 2000 (07:02) * 1 lines
Really Marcia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 170 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, Jun 5, 2000 (14:18) * 12 lines
WHAT CELESTIAL BODY GOT ITS NAME FROM A GREEK WORD MEANING "LONG-HAIRED"?
Comet. The name comes from the Greek kom(t(s, an adjective
formed from the verb koman, "to wear long hair."
(There is also a constellation, Coma Bernices)
WHY DOES THE BRONX ZOO GET BLOOD DAILY FROM A LOCAL SLAUGHTERHOUSE?
To feed its vampire bats, part of its captive breeding
collection of bats - the largest in the world.
(Yuck!)
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 171 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, Jun 5, 2000 (15:00) * 17 lines
Flea Facts
Summer time is coming fast and that means flea season. Now
is the time to "know thy enemy" and prepare for battle.
Here are some flea facts to prepare you for the skirmish.
There are 2,400 varieties of fleas, including dog fleas
(Ctenocephalides Canis).
A flea can jump 150 times its own length. This is
equivalent to an adult human leaping over the Statue of Liberty.
A jumping flea accelerates 50 times faster than the space shuttle!
Want to live without fleas? Consider moving to the mountains. Fleas do not live above 500 feet. Fleas thrive in a warm humid environment--about 65 to 80 degrees
Fahrenheit and about 70% humidity.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 172 of 1404: Maggie (sociolingo) * Mon, Jun 5, 2000 (16:54) * 1 lines
I really need to know that *grin*
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 173 of 1404: Cheryl (CherylB) * Mon, Jun 5, 2000 (17:24) * 1 lines
Fun Fact: The Earth has a midriff bulge. Due to rotation the Earth is slightly flattened on each of its poles. As a result the circumfrence of the Earth is approximately 26 miles more than the measurement longatudinally around the poles.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 174 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, Jun 5, 2000 (18:27) * 3 lines
Yup! We are thus an Oblate Spheroid as astronomers like to call it.
Maggie - it made me itch just posting that data on the fleas.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 175 of 1404: Cheryl (CherylB) * Mon, Jun 5, 2000 (18:57) * 1 lines
I hope the self-imposed small tigress (red tabby) is holding up well against flea infestation.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 176 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, Jun 5, 2000 (19:22) * 1 lines
She got a pretty white collar to wear and she is still giving us a wide berth and staring daggers at us. But, I am tired of killing of her fleas on me! Maybe I should get a tastful one for my own...~
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 177 of 1404: Cheryl (CherylB) * Mon, Jun 5, 2000 (19:43) * 1 lines
Perhaps one with pearls and alexandrites?
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 178 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, Jun 5, 2000 (20:00) * 1 lines
There you go! Make that Moonstones and alexandrites and you have a deal! Pearls are too fragile for every day flea collars but lovely for formal occasions. You laugh, but the hippie children - some old enough to get social security - buy the most fles soap and "uku combs" Sheesh! Their personal grooming and hygene leaves a great deal to be desired...
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 179 of 1404: (sprin5) * Wed, Jun 7, 2000 (11:13) * 1 lines
I need help from a Web/Frontpage wizard in fixing the geo links on our main page at http://www.spring.net (reason, lack of time!). My plea has been issued forth!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 180 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, Jun 7, 2000 (15:27) * 1 lines
I hear you but not sure how to do it... Perhaps cfadm will see your plea in here. I;ll try to track down Ann if all else fails. Other than hiding at the bottom of the page in the wrong table (did you want it in the center?) it is lovely and the links work. I am all smiles to have it there, especially now that there are some people now on board who Really know what they are talking about!
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 181 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, Jun 7, 2000 (19:18) * 18 lines
This is important.....Please read!
How To Build A Fire Pit
The wilderness is no place to build a fire pit, but if you
want to build one at home here's how.
-First, dig a hole in the ground where you want the fire
pit. Size the hole depending on the size of the fire pit
you want. For most fire pits, a hole one foot deep and
three feet in diameter will suffice.
-Next, line the bottom and sides of the hole with flat
rocks. The rock-lined pit provides an excellent surface for
shoveling out ashes, will support the logs better, and
helps the fire burn hotter.
-Finally, place larger rocks in a ring around the top of the hole.
One final note: Never use rocks from rivers and lakes. They
have absorbed water and can explode when heated.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 182 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Wed, Jun 7, 2000 (19:26) * 17 lines
IN THE LATE 1920'S, WHO ARRANGED 200 GOLF BALLS IN NEAT ROWS IN THE HOLLOW OF A FALLEN TREE AT A PUBLIC GOLF COURSE IN WINNIPEG, CANADA?
A gopher, in the mistaken belief that they were eggs and
would make appetizing wintertime eating.
WHY DID LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL OFFICIALS SPRAY-PAINT
108 PINK PLASTIC FLAMINGOS WHITE AND PLACE THEM IN GROUPS AROUND MARSHES IN THE EVERGLADES?
To attract snowy egrets, white ibis and wood storks. The
plastic flamingos were much cheaper than the white egret decoys.
WHAT PERCENTAGE OF MEN ARE LEFT-HANDED? HOW ABOUT WOMEN?
10 percent of men; 8 percent of women.
in parting...
Wouldn't it be nice if the wattage of a car stereo could
not exceed the IQ of the driver?
--unknown
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 183 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, Jun 8, 2000 (15:01) * 21 lines
We have them in Hawaii and they are called Tarantula Hawks though the name is usually reserved for the much larger cousins in the Southwest of North America.
They sting and incapacitate a "cane" (wolf) spider here and drag it somewhere safe to raise her baby. I have watched this industry many times and I am most impressed. She always rises in the air and does a circle for polarization location then off she goes to where her prey is then drags it all the way back to the hole she has dug. Absolutley amazing!
Sphex Wasp
The Sphex wasp has an egg laying ritual that has become a
famous example of how absolutely rigid, instinctive
behavior can appear quite intelligent. The female Sphex
digs a burrow, stuns a caterpillar, drags it to the edge of
her burrow, goes in a for a final check, drags the
caterpillar in, then lays her eggs next to it. On the face
of it, this looks like quite a well-thought out,
intelligent sequence. But if you move the caterpillar a few
inches away, when she comes back out from the inspection,
she will drag it close again, and repeat the whole process
You can move the caterpillar 40 times, and it will never
occur to her to just drag it straight in and skip the
re-inspection. This is a useful reminder that you can't
always attribute human-style motivations to seemingly
intelligent behavior.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 184 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, Jun 8, 2000 (18:17) * 10 lines
This has nothing to do with Geo and everything to do with me. Play bagpipes and I will follow you anywhere :
HOW MANY PIPES ARE THERE IN A TYPICAL SET OF SCOTTISH BAGPIPES?
Five: the intake pipe, a valved tube connecting the bag to
the player's mouth; the chanter, a pipe fitted with a
double reed and pierced with eight sounding holes, used to
play the melody; and three drones, pipes fitted with single
reeds that provide the background.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 185 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Thu, Jun 8, 2000 (18:18) * 5 lines
HOW MANY POINTERS WERE THERE ON THE FIRST CLOCKS WITH HANDS - MADE IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY?
Only one - to tell the hour. Minute and second hands were
added in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 186 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Sat, Jun 10, 2000 (21:31) * 7 lines
WHAT IS VOG?
A Hawaiian cousin of smog - it's a fog caused when sulfuric
volcanic fumes mix with oxygen.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 187 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Mon, Jun 12, 2000 (21:01) * 16 lines
HOW DID MASSACHUSETTS SEA CAPTAIN JOSHUA SLOCUM - THE FIRST MAN TO SAIL SOLO AROUND THE WORLD - FIGHT OFF PIRATES ATTACKING HIS SLOOP?
He turned away the barefoot pirates by spreading carpet
tacks on the deck of his boat. Slocum completed his historic
46,000-mile, 38 month voyage in 1898.
WHAT WAS USED TO ERASE LEAD PENCIL MARKS BEFORE RUBBER CAME INTO USE?
Pieces of bread.
WHAT WAS THE FIRST LIVING CREATURE EVER EJECTED FROM A SUPERSONIC AIRCRAFT?
A bear, in 1962. It was parachuted from 35,000 feet to a
safe landing on earth.
WHAT REASON DID YALE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE STUDENT EDMUND D. LOONEY GIVE WHEN HE SOUGHT PERMISSION IN 1956 TO CHANGE HIS NAME?
He claimed the name Looney would interfere with the practice
of his chosen profession - psychiatry.
Topic 1 of 99 [Geo]: All things planet Earth
Response 188 of 1404: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Jun 13, 2000 (17:29) * 12 lines
WHAT PIECE OF CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT IS NAMED AFTER AN EARLY SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY BRITISH HANGMAN?
The derrick, which is named for Thomas Derrick - who carried
out more than 3,000 executions during his career at Tybur