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24 February 2018

our Dad and our mother would kill us, and dance about on our graves singing 'Hallelujah!'

Palin, Chapman, Jones and Idle were/are the BBC comedy troup Monty Python's Flying Circus. They are portraying 4 old men from the English region of Yorkshire.

*************************
 

 (Four well-dressed men sitting together at a vacation resort. 'Farewell to Thee' being played in the background on Hawaiian ukulele.)

Michael Palin: Ahh ... Very passable, this, very passable.

Graham Chapman: Nothing like a good glass of Chateau de Chassilier wine, aye Gessiah?

Terry Jones: You're right there, Obediah.

Eric Idle: Who'd a thought thirty years ago we'd all be sittin' here drinking Chateau de Chassilier wine?

MP: Aye. In them days, we'd a' been glad to have the price of a cup o' tea.

GC: A cup ' COLD tea.

EI: Without milk or sugar.

TJ: OR tea!

MP: In a filthy, cracked cup.

EI: We never used to have a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled up newspaper.

GC: The best WE could manage was to suck on a piece of damp cloth.

TJ: But you know, we were happy in those days, though we were poor.

MP: Aye. BECAUSE we were poor. My old Dad used to say to me, 'Money doesn't buy you happiness.'

EI: 'E was right. I was happier then and I had NOTHIN'. We used to live in this tiiiiny old house, with greaaaaat big holes in the roof.

GC: House? You were lucky to have a HOUSE! We used to live in one room, all hundred and twenty-six of us, no furniture. Half the floor was missing; we were all huddled together in one corner for fear of FALLING!

TJ: You were lucky to have a ROOM! *We* used to have to live in a corridor!

MP: Ohhhh we used to DREAM of livin' in a corridor! Woulda' been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woken up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House!? Hmph.

EI: Well when I say 'house' it was only a hole in the ground covered by a piece of tarpaulin, but it was a house to US.

GC: We were evicted from *our* hole in the ground; we had to go and live in a lake!


TJ: You were lucky to have a LAKE! There were a hundred and sixty of us living in a small shoebox in the middle of the road.

MP: Cardboard box?

TJ: Aye.

MP: You were lucky. We lived for three months in a brown paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six o'clock in the morning, clean the bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down mill for fourteen hours a day week in-week out. When we got home, our Dad would thrash us to sleep with his belt!
 

GC: Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at three o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of hot gravel, go to work at the mill every day for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would beat us around the head and neck with a broken bottle, if we were LUCKY!

TJ: Well we had it tough. We used to have to get up out of the shoebox at twelve o'clock at night, and LICK the road clean with our tongues. We had half a handful of freezing cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at the mill for fourpence every six years, and when we got home, our Dad would slice us in two with a bread knife.

EI: Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, (pause for laughter), drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us, and dance about on our graves singing 'Hallelujah!'

MP: But you try and tell the young people today that ... and they won't believe ya'.

ALL: Nope, nope ...

21 January 2018

CRUMMY OLD WINE DEP'T: USA federal shutdown couldn't close the Atlantic Ocean, but they did close the restrooms

06 October 2013

Tea Party's toxic tantrum shuts down US federal government / screw the American people, we're doing this for principle!

Click photo to enlarge.

Cape Cod has been a wildly popular summer ocean resort forever. In season, rents are huge; everyone wants to vacation in this gorgeous Atlantic region. The pressure to develop Cape Cod commercially is huge and relentless.

But since the administration of President Lyndon Johnson, a huge swath of seashore was set aside as The Cape Cod National Seashore. It's protected from development, and anyone can spend the day walking the magnificent beach, seeing the wildlife (sea lions bask on rocks just offshore, the beaches are sea turtle egg nests), swimming, picnicking.

In 1970, I had the pleasure of enjoying another great, huge National Seashore, Padre Island, a wild public treasure that stretches from Corpus Christi, Texas south to the Mexican border on the Gulf of Mexico.

As the above photo shows, the National Seashores (and National Parks and National Forests) have been closed since a bunch of Tea Party Republican assholes, led by US Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, managed to shut down nearly every activity of the federal government.

They claim they've done it to force the repeal or de-funding of the Affordable Care Act -- its enemies call it Obamacare.

Which they can't achieve because the U.S. Senate is controlled by Democrats. The ACA is the Law of the Land, passed by both houses of Congress, signed by the President, and the US Supreme Court upheld its constitutionality when it was challenged by several "red states" -- states under Republican/Tea Party control.

So the Tea Party/Republican assholes are throwing a hissy-fit tantrum and holding their breath until they turn blue. The tantrum has taken the form of forcing the federal government to cease most of its functions and send its civilian employees home on unpaid furlough.

For S.W.M.B.O.and me, our encounter with The Federal Government Shutdown was a minor inconvenience. The seashore beach wasn't closed or the road chained shut; but the shutdown left the National Seashore with no employees who protect the National Seashore and its wilderness flora and land and marine fauna. The employees who clean up after visitors -- well, the Cape Cod National Seashore is going to get dirtier and uglier and more degraded the longer the shutdown lasts.

Fuck our public national wilderness treasure. Obamacare -- the USA's first attempt to put in some kind of national health care scheme to provide medical care to all regardless of economic status -- must be stopped no matter what, say Cruz and Rand Paul and all the Tea Party whack jobs, who seem to be scaring the crap out of the useless Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner.

Well, Boehner can be replaced by more aggressive Tea Party whack jobs, and he doesn't want to lose the prestigious Speakership. (Regardless of party, the Speaker of the House is third in line of succession to the presidency.)

I could list hundreds of other federal programs and workers who have been furloughed -- ordered not to work -- for the last week. 


The one that most concerns the fragile recovering economy is the Internal Revenue Service. The housing market -- whose collapse sunk the economy under George W. Bush -- is recovering, but the first step to obtain a mortgage is to have the IRS evaluate the mortgage applicant to see that the applicant has paid all his/her federal taxes. 

Now no one answers the phone at the IRS, no mortgage applications can be approved, no mortgages can be issued, no houses can be sold. This is the most likely way the lingering shutdown will flip the recovering economy back into the Bush Toilet of the last 7 years.

Agricultural inspectors. The safety and purity of food which you take for granted every time you grocery shop -- as the shutdown goes on, the food becomes less well inspected, the food becomes less safe.

Head Start
-- also since LBJ's presidency, a hugely successful pre-school education program -- has been suspended. Screw poor kids, screw a successful program that boosts their success in all their subsequent education.

WIC --

[Wikipedia:]


The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children is a federal assistance program of the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for healthcare and nutrition of low-income pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and infants and children under the age of five.

... has been suspended. Screw the health of infants and their access to milk and healthy food.

In case no one remembers, the Republican candidate Mitt Romney was soundly rejected by American voters in 2012, and Barack Obama was re-elected for his second 4-year term.

Mitt believed most Americans are entitlement bums who just want free stuff from the government. He said he likes to fire people. 


Don't get me started. But his whack elitist gazillionaire ideas, espoused by his party, continue to strangle the recovering prosperity and safety of the USA.

All this is pissing me off and making me sick. There's no "principle" here, as the Tea Party whacks and Boehner claim. With Obama in the White House, Democratic control of the U.S. Senate, and re the Affordable Care Act, even a sympathetic U.S. Supreme Court, all the whack Tea Party Republicans can do is poison and paralyze the federal government and sicken and stall the economic recovery.

So, in lieu of governing or legislating good things for the American people, that's what they're doing. They're making America sick.


There's one up side to this toxic tantrum. By the time the next presidential election cycle begins, the American people will be so angry with the Republicans and the whack Tea Party assholes that it's unlikely any Republican candidate can defeat the Democratic nominee. In its current makeup, the Republican party is incapable of re-capturing the White House. It's about to vanish from the American political landscape.
 

1 comment:

PatFromCH said...
In October 2011 yours truly had a hernia ops (left side, classic, no internal organs were affected). I knew what was up, packed my bags, went to hospital, showed them my medicaid card. No questions asked, filled out ONE form. I was diagonsed and informed that an operation would take place and 2 hours later I was put to sleep. 3 days later I was out of hospital again. Cute nurses, good food and a doctor who spoke tacheles. No questions asked. Because it was not work-related I had to pay a small percentage of the operation costs, otherwise I would have gone free. Since I was out for 2 weeks my employer was forced to pay 80 % of my wages because I was on medical leave and it was impossible for them to fire me in that time. I have fully recovered, there is only a small scar I wear with pride. No worries, no problems, no hassle.

This is mandatory Health Care Euro-Style. Of course it is not perfect and it is not exactly cheap. But it works. Otherwise I could have hanged myself then and there. No expensive medical costs falling back on you, no sleazy lawyers lurking in the hallways of the hospital asking you if you want to sue someone for damage so you can cover the costs, no effing insurance telling me they are not going to pay for treatment that might be considered “experimental”, no employer being able to fire you while on leave or refusing to pay your wages.

Half of the world is looking in sheer astonishment at the USA right now, we simply fail to grok that something like this is possible while some ultra-idiot hardcore conservative bible-thumpers are driving your country against the wall – just because of something that I consider normal. Sometimes it is just really difficult to understand these funny Americans....
 

06 January 2018

Vleeptron is BACK!!! Leave Comments! e-Hug Vleeptron Dude!



click an image and maybe it gets bigger. No promises.

Vleeptron Dude sincerely apologizes for being e-comatose. My amazing supercomputer imploded and I have been off-line for the better part of a month while I bought a nifty new Dell ordinateur with an AMD chip and Windows 10 (because Microfuck decided it would no longer support Windows Vista Ultimate).

Doesn't "Ultimate" mean "Microsoft Swears This Is The Last Operating System You'll Ever Have to Have"? 

Anyway this mess is my first attempt to post to VleeptronZ. The illustration above is my first attempt to use their new gimmicky Paint3D thing. The Happy New Year Einstein-Minkowski Light Cone is self-explanatory but I haven't been able to alter it to the New Year, which I think is 2018. We stayed up until Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians played Auld Lang Syne at our local Midnight, which is usually 5 hours earlier than Zulu Time = GMT.



Anyway if I owe anybody email, I'll try to get to it as soon as I can. 


Oh! My Logitech trackball is wireless! And my new Logitech keyboard is wireless! Mirabile visu!


Leave Comments, please. That is the e-version of asking for a hug. I've been really esolated and elonely.


10 December 2017

OMG we're grounded for hours on a sandbar


Click photo to enlarge.

Passengers aboard the P&O ferry Pride of Kent watch rescue operations after the vessel ran aground during bad weather in the port of Calais in northern France, 10 December 2017. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

I love ferries. If all my traveling had been via ferry, that would have been Totally Swell with Vleeptron Dude. (But hell, I've helium blimped, I've ridden a camel, I've whirly-birded, I've STOLed, I've driven an ATV thru polar-bear-infested tundra ...)

I guess I've taken 3 or 4 ferries back and forth across la Manche -- UKers call it Something Else -- and I strongly suspect most were owned and operated by P&O.

First off, look at the photo of the stranded ferry passengers. They were stuck on Pride of Kent for many hours. (They had to wait for High Tide to refloat the stuck ferry. Time and Tide wait for No Man, Woman or Non-Binary.)

Look how uncomfortable they seem. Look how wrought with panic and anxiety. Look at them yawning.

Ever been in a big airport where weather or a volcanic eruption or labor troubles have canceled all the flights for a few days? Welcome to Hell. Angry, Crying-Jag Hell. With a chorus of Melted-Down little children, filthy clogged toilets. Drug and bomb-sniffing dogs (speak to them in German, they only understand German commands).

But you're not in an airport.
 

Relax. That's how the damn ferry was designed in the first place -- so a few hundred people could relax and be pleasured in a variety of comfortable ways for hours -- about 3 hours across la Manche, or ... hmmm ... about 8 hours from North Sydney, Nova Scotia to Newfoundland. 

(Take the midnight ferry, the noon ferry is the one they fill with explosives and flammables. Just sayin' ...)

Whoops! Is there some kind of delay?

Is the ferry sinking? Have they ordered you to lifeboat stations over the Tannoy®?

If not ... well, just relax. Find a comfy stuffed couch. Lie down. Have a drink. Have 9 drinks. (Hey, YOU'RE not driving the boat ...) Sometimes the ferry will serve Delay Drinks on the house.

So far I've never had a Scary Moment on a ferry. (Okay, I've sea-sick barfed for a few hours, but on that voyage -- Yarmouth Nova Scotia to Portland Maine -- the ferry crew was puking, too. (Horatio Nelson was seasick his whole Royal Navy career, so what?) But no Vrai or even Faux Scaries.

Look: Travel means Delays. Surprises. Screwups.

To avoid these entirely, Don't Travel. Stay Home. Play Crimson Skies on your XBox One.

In the photo above, you're looking at a bunch of mildly annoyed but comfortable, relaxed passengers. They're on a machine designed to relax for hours. Some ferries have little casinos, so you can relieve the tedium with one-armed bandits (worst sucker game in the casino, math equivalent to throwing money into a toilet in hope of the toilet spitting money back) or blackjack. They're not even seasick, because the Pride of Kent was stuck on a sandbar. Buy a fresh tasty snack.

If you hate ferries, or lost your life on a ferry (I rode the identical twin ferry of the one that sank departing Zeebrugge, everybody drowned), whatever your ferry gripe is, Leave A Comment. Won't change my feelings about ferries, not in the slightest.


====================

Reuters (UK newswire)
Sunday 10 December 2017

 

Grounded ferry in Calais refloated, passengers disembarked
 

LILLE, France (Reuters) -- A P&O ferry with more than 300 people on board which had run aground in Calais harbour in northern France has been refloated and all passengers have disembarked, a P&O Ferries spokesman said on Sunday.

The Dover-bound Pride of Kent had run aground on a sand bank around midday as she tried to leave the Calais harbour in stormy weather. Nobody was injured.

The ship, supported by two tug boats, was refloated as the tide came in early evening and all passengers have disembarked.

The spokesman said most passengers would continue their journey to the UK on other P&O ferries tonight, while some would stay overnight in Calais on P&O’s expense.
 

UK-based P&O operates 20 ferries which carry 9,000,000 passengers per year between France, Belgium, The Netherlands and across the Irish Sea.

Reporting by Geert De Clercq and Pierre Savary; 

Editing by Peter Graff 

- 30 -

e-letter to young & younger kin & kith

Click image to enlarge / Salam everyone

Mattel's new Hijab Barbie, 
modeled on an Olympic fencing medalist.



Dearest Grand-Nieces and Nephew and Niece-in-Law,



Hmmmm okay I will buy Hijab Barbie for MYSELF and GAC, for reasons both Highly Spiritual and Investment Potential. (But I guess we can check eBay for the current worth of Unwrapped Blaine, Barbie's discontinued Australian surfer Boy Toy.)


I went to a party at McDonald's once, a bunch of single mothers and their daughters, and they were giving the girls all sorts of Barbies. I asked why no one was gifting a single Ken, and a unison chorus of the single mothers replied:


Who needs Ken?


Lord knows what you're getting from Heaven today, but I'm sure the Ski Resorts are delighted with it. It's our First Snow of the season, we got a roaring fire (a Big Treat for all the cats). Only our big polydactyl (lots of extra toes) Stewie (Stewart Wallace Darnley, named for GAC's Uncle Wally -- much of her family is of Scottish descent, and those names are the most famous names in Scottish history. Two of them are Beloved Great Heroes, but Darnley was perhaps the Biggest No-Good Bum and Cad in all history.) Oh, well, Stewie and his Many Toes and Big Feet is the best Snow Hunter in the house, in most kinds of snow he doesn't sink or slide. He listens acutely for vermin wriggling beneath the snow, and slays them very effectively. That's why polydactyl cats succeeded so well and became popular Good Luck cats in New England.

In the naughty screwy movie "Addams Family Values," Debbie the newly hired children's Nanny  is in
reality a Monstrous Serial Killer, and as she prepares to execute the Addams Family, explains that her troubles began when, as a little girl, she wanted Ballerina Barbie for Christmas, but her terrible parents gave her MALIBU BARBIE, so she had to ... well, try to guess. Evil Debbie is played by the superfunny Joan Cusack. I think it's rated P for Perverse, but I would say it's Family Friendly. (Remembering that my Family is largely 4-footed, and they like to slay and eat small cute living things.)

I hope this letter pleases all, but I quote from a letter I sent to a Real Duke:

P.S. Please excuse my machine printing, a poor match to your handwritten note. I was apprenticed to a typewriter when I was about 12, and my handwriting just degenerated to illegible from there.

More later,

Unkie Munkie

01 December 2017

Macrobius and the Slaughter of the Innocents






Click icon to enlarge.


most beautiful most horrible Christmas Carol of all / the Slaughter of the Innocents (disambiguation)

Choose Full Screen mode.

This is, I think, the oldest continuously sung English Christmas Carol. It was written and performed by a Guild in the Coventry Cycle of religious plays, on the church/cathedral steps. They (Alison Moyet here) sing of the monstrous calamity Christians call The Slaughter of the Innocents. Herod the King ordered all boys younger than two in Judea slain. A prophesy foretold that if allowed to live and grow up, a boy of that age would become King of the Jews. (Herod thought Herod was King of the Jews, permanently, for life).

However, among NASA scientists, The Slaughter of the Innocents was a massive government budget cutback on funds for robot space probe exploration. The scientists thought it was morally equivalent to slaying defenseless babies. 

(I tend to agree when the government does stuff like that.)

Spoiler Alert: Send all kids out of the room before playing this Christmas Carol.


12 November 2017

Veterans/Remembrance/Armistice Day / Wars Without End Amen Memorial






Click images to enlarge.


Yesterday was the eleventh day of the eleventh month. In the USA we call this Veterans Day. In the UK and Commonwealth nations it's now called Remembrance Day. Originally it was called Armistice Day. Along the Western Front -- France and Belgium -- the Allied and German generals agreed -- arbitrarily -- that the guns would finally fall silent on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

The most famous poem of World War I, "In Flanders Field," fixed the poppy flower as the symbol of the dead Allied combatants of the war. BBC and the British Premier League of football/soccer have been wearing poppies for the past month.

At top, a newer version of the Endless Wars Memorial which eventually will be built in my hometown, Washington DC. The Afghanistan War has long since broken the USA record for longest overseas war, it's still going on, there exists no evidence that the USA and its allies will withdraw, and there is certainly no evidence that the USA-led coalition will win this war. 


The last foreign power to militarily conquer and rule Afghanistan was the forces of Alexander the Great.

Not long ago, after invading Afghanistan to shore up its Soviet-friendly government, the Army of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics just gave up and just marched out. The Taliban, then an anti-Soviet guerrilla force, inherited the government. Their interregnum ended when the USA, under the command of President George W. Bush, invaded Afghanistan.

I'm a veteran of the Vietnam War era. Though DC is my hometown -- I was drafted in DC -- I've never visited Maya Lin's Vietnam War Memorial. There are about 58,000 US military names carved on it. I don't want to see any names of guys I knew.

John Singer Sargent
was a Boston painter of beautiful aristocratic women, but was invited to France by the British to paint the war. "Gassed," maybe the most famous of all war paintings, now hangs in London's Imperial War Museum. Blinded by mustard or chlorine gas, the string of blind soldiers guides itself toward the aid station (tent ropes at right).

Stanley Spencer's "Travoys" is a scene of wounded British soldiers being taken on mule-drawn stretchers to the medical station in Macedonia. It's also at the IWM in London.

The Veterans of Stupid Wars is the veterans society I founded around 1980. It was a lot funnier, more mirthful when it referred to my Vietnam War, which eventually ended. (We lost.)

Our current President Trump, the Draft-Dodger-in-Chief (he got medical deferments for bone spurs, but can no longer recall which foot), has added a flavor to American War Stew we haven't tasted for decades -- he has pretty clearly suggested that he may settle matters with North Korea with nuclear weapons.

The generation of veterans who were always selling (actually seeking donations) poppies at stores and markets have largely disappeared, so today I'll drive to Northampton, to the American Legion Hall, where there's a big jar of poppies on the bar. I don't belong to the American Legion or the Veterans of Foreign Wars. But they seem to have mellowed since my day; the WW2 and Korea vets have faded away to make room for the much mellower young guys from Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Veterans of Stupid Wars, and Vleeptron, would like to thank US Army Colonel Jeffery Nance of Fort Bragg, North Caroloina (where I took Basic Training) for sentencing Bowe Berghdal to no time in prison -- and then saying not one word more about the reasons for this wholly unexpected and wildly controversial sentence. (Bergdahl had pleaded guilty to charges that carried a prison life sentence.)

But these are our wars which, apparently, will never end. It's not funny anymore. It's not even absurd anymore. We are killing and maiming our children by the thousands and will never have the political wisdom to stop.

08 November 2017

les seurs McGarrigle: Petites Boites

The song wasn't written by Pete Seeger but he made a hit of it. This is the first French version I ever heard. The lyrics/paroles are by Graeme Allwright.

Tonight: The first Snow of Winter. Just a little, to get used to the Coming Dread.

Petites boîtes très étroites
Petites boîtes faites en ticky-tacky
Petites boîtes, petites boîtes
Petites boîtes toutes pareilles.

Y a des rouges, des violettes
Et des vertes très coquettes
Elles sont toutes faites en ticky-tacky
Elles sont toutes toutes pareilles.

Et ces gens-là dans leurs boîtes
Vont tous à l'université
On les met tous dans des boîtes
Petites boîtes toutes pareilles.

Y a des médecins, des dentistes
Des hommes d'affaires et des avocats
Ils sont tous tous faits de ticky-tacky
Ils sont tous tous tous pareils.

Et ils boivent sec des martinis
Jouent au golf toute l'après-midi
Puis ils font des jolis enfants
Qui vont tous tous à l'école.

Ces enfants partent en vacances
Puis s'en vont à l'université
On les met tous dans des boîtes
Et ils sortent tous pareils.

Les garçons font du commerce
Et deviennent pères de famille
Ils bâtissent des nouvelles boîtes
Petites boîtes toutes pareilles.

Puis ils règlent toutes leurs affaires
Et s'en vont dans des cimetières
Dans des boîtes faites en ticky-tacky
Qui sont toutes toutes pareilles.


28 October 2017

PizzaQ! / greatest Adventurers in Wild Eating / commemorative vrai stamps from Union des Comores

Click stamps to enlarge.

PizzaQ: Where on surface of Earth are the Comores? (No PizzaQ Honor System, phone Klaas van Rotterdam, Google your ass off, ask mom, first correct answer wins 1 large circular with garlic, spring onions, sausage & assorted wild mushrooms.)

Are these guys from different eras, or does eating these shrooms make them dress like that and their face hair grow that way? Please Leave A Comment with your hypothesis.

A few days after you eat the Amanitas, suddenly you feel great, never felt better. Then your liver collapses and you die.


When the European family was found dead with their faces in their soup bowls, only Grandma survived. She doesn't like mushroom soup.

20 October 2017

Bring mir den Kopf von Alfredo Garcia

 
☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼½ -- Cahiers du Vleeptron

15 October 2017

Kiss everybody's ass goodbye / Yellowstone Supervolcano making troubling belches again

Questions About Supervolcanoes

What is a supervolcano?

Comparison of eruption sizes using the volume of magma erupted from several volcanoes.
 (Click image to view full size.)
Comparison of eruption sizes using the volume of magma erupted from several volcanoes.
The term "supervolcano" implies a volcanic center that has had an eruption of magnitude 8 on the Volcano Explosivity Index (VEI), meaning the measured deposits for that eruption is greater than 1,000 cubic kilometers (240 cubic miles). The VEI scale was created as a general measurement of the explosivity of an eruption. There are multiple characteristics used to give an eruption its VEI allowing for the classification of current and historic eruptions. The most common criteria are volume of ejecta (ash, pumice, lava) and column height. All VEI 8 eruptions occurred tens of thousands to millions of years ago making the volume of ejecta or deposits the best method for classification. An eruption is classified as a VEI 8 if the measured volume of deposits is greater than 1,000 cubic kilometers (240 cubic miles). Therefore a supervolcano is a volcano that at one point in time erupted more than 1,000 cubic kilometers of deposits. Yellowstone, like many other supervolcanoes, has also had much smaller eruptions. The cartoon shows a comparison of eruption sizes, including the three largest from Yellowstone. Click on the image for a more detailed description and larger view.

What are some other examples of supervolcanoes?

Volcanoes that produced exceedingly voluminous pyroclastic eruptions and formed large calderas in the past 2 million years would include Yellowstone, Long Valley in eastern California, Toba in Indonesia, and Taupo in New Zealand. Other "supervolcanoes" would likely include the large caldera volcanoes of Japan, Indonesia, and South America. The most recent supervolcanic eruption on Earth occurred 27,000 years ago at Taupo located at the center of New Zealand's north island.

I read that scientists couldn't find the Yellowstone caldera until they looked at a photo of Yellowstone from space. Is this true?

Not according to Bob Christiansen. Bob is the USGS scientist who delineated the three Yellowstone calderas and told the world about the great eruptions that formed them. Bob reports that he traced out the caldera boundaries through old fashioned field work... walking around with a hammer and hand lens and looking carefully at the rocks and their distributions. Most of the key observations were made in the 1960s and 1970s. Several authors have written that these large calderas were discovered from space and we suspect that the rumor probably got started because initial field work that delineated them was partly funded by NASA. The idea was to compare well-constrained geologic maps with images taken from space. So Bob's geologic map was used to verify the NASA images, not the other way around.

In 2005, BBC and the Discovery Channel produced a docudrama and documentary about Yellowstone called Supervolcano. Below, Yellowstone Volcano Observatory scientists answer questions that arose after this program aired that relate to supervolcanoes, volcanic hazards, and Yellowstone.

The docudrama Supervolcano dramatically explores the impact of a large caldera-forming eruption at Yellowstone. The scale of the portrayed eruption is similar to the eruption of the Huckleberry Ridge Tuff at Yellowstone 2.1 million years ago. The movie is realistic insofar as depicting what could happen if an eruption of this magnitude were to occur again. Although the drama is set in the future, it does an acceptable job of addressing some of the issues scientists would grapple with if Yellowstone showed signs of an impending eruption. The questions and answers below shed light on issues related to volcanism at Yellowstone. A much more detailed discussion, including full-color illustrations, can be found in the U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet about Yellowstone's activity.

QUESTION: What is the chance of another catastrophic volcanic eruption at Yellowstone? ANSWER: Although it is possible, scientists are not convinced that there will ever be another catastrophic eruption at Yellowstone. Given Yellowstone's past history, the yearly probability of another caldera-forming eruption can be approximated as 1 in 730,000 or 0.00014%. However, this number is based simply on averaging the two intervals between the three major past eruptions at Yellowstone — this is hardly enough to make a critical judgment. This probability is roughly similar to that of a large (1 kilometer) asteroid hitting the Earth. Moreover, catastrophic geologic events are neither regular nor predictable.

QUESTION: What would happen if a "supervolcano" eruption occurred again at Yellowstone? ANSWER: Such a giant eruption would have regional effects such as falling ash and short- term (years to decades) changes to global climate. The surrounding states of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming would be affected, as well as other places in the United States and the world. Such eruptions usually form calderas, broad volcanic depressions created as the ground surface collapses as a result of withdrawal of partially molten rock (magma) below. Fortunately, the chances of this sort of eruption at Yellowstone are exceedingly small in the next few thousands of years.

QUESTION: Is Yellowstone monitored for volcanic activity? ANSWER: Yes. The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO), a partnership between the United States Geological Survey (USGS), Yellowstone National Park, and the University of Utah, closely monitors volcanic activity at Yellowstone. The YVO websitefeatures real- time data for earthquakes, ground deformation, stream flow, and selected stream temperatures. In addition, YVO scientists collaborate with scientists from around the world to study the Yellowstone volcano.

QUESTION: Do scientists know if a catastrophic eruption is currently imminent at Yellowstone? ANSWER: There is no evidence that a catastrophic eruption at Yellowstone is imminent, and such events are unlikely to occur in the next few centuries. Scientists have also found no indication of an imminent smaller eruption of lava.

QUESTION: How far in advance could scientists predict an eruption of the Yellowstone volcano? ANSWER: The science of forecasting a volcanic eruption has significantly advanced over the past 25 years. Most scientists think that the buildup preceding a catastrophic eruption would be detectable for weeks and perhaps months to years. Precursors to volcanic eruptions include strong earthquake swarms and rapid ground deformation and typically take place days to weeks before an actual eruption. Scientists at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) closely monitor the Yellowstone region for such precursors. They expect that the buildup to larger eruptions would include intense precursory activity (far exceeding background levels) at multiple spots within the Yellowstone volcano. As at many caldera systems around the world, small earthquakes, ground uplift and subsidence, and gas releases at Yellowstone are commonplace events and do not reflect impending eruptions.

QUESTION: Can you release some of the pressure at Yellowstone by drilling into the volcano? ANSWER: No. Scientists agree that drilling into a volcano would be of questionable usefulness. Notwithstanding the enormous expense and technological difficulties in drilling through hot, mushy rock, drilling is unlikely to have much effect. At near magmatic temperatures and pressures, any hole would rapidly become sealed by minerals crystallizing from the natural fluids that are present at those depths.

QUESTION: Could the Yellowstone volcano have an eruption that is not catastrophic? ANSWER: Yes. Over the past 640,000 years since the last giant eruption at Yellowstone, approximately 80 relatively nonexplosive eruptions have occurred and produced primarily lava flows. This would be the most likely kind of future eruption. If such an event were to occur today, there would be much disruption of activities in Yellowstone National Park, but in all likelihood few lives would be threatened. The most recent volcanic eruption at Yellowstone, a lava flow on the Pitchstone Plateau, occurred 70,000 years ago.

QUESTION: Because Yellowstone is so geologically active, are there other potential geologic hazards in Yellowstone? ANSWER: The heat and geologic forces fueling the massive Yellowstone volcano affect the park in many ways. Yellowstone's many geysers, hotsprings, steam vents, and mudpots are evidence of the heat and geologic forces. These hydrothermal (hot water) features are mostly benign, but can rarely be the sites of violent steam explosions and pose a hydrothermal hazard. Earthquakes, another example of active geologic forces, are quite common in Yellowstone, with 1,000 to 3,000 occurring annually. Most of these are quite small, although significant earthquakes have shaken Yellowstone, such as the 1959 magnitude 7.5 Hebgen Lake quake, the largest historical earthquake in the intermountain region, and the 1975 magnitude 6.1 quake near Norris Geyser Basin. The many earthquakes and steam explosions in the past 10,000 years at Yellowstone have not led to volcanic eruptions.


12 October 2017

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08 October 2017

stock up on bottled water / kiss your ass goodbye / also buy AA & AAA batteries


END OF DAYS

Is the end of the world on October 15 and what is David Meade’s new Planet X conspiracy theory?

A seven-year series of catastrophic events including earthquakes, hurricanes, nuclear attacks and volcanic eruptions is set to begin NEXT WEEK, according to a Christian conspiracy theorist

A DOOMSDAY theorist fears that "seven years of catastrophic events" will begin next week - and says recent natural disasters are proof a supposed Biblical prophecy is coming to pass.
David Meade predicts nuclear attacks and hurricanes will destroy the planet - triggered by a mysterious Planet X. Here's everything we know about his latest theory.
 A huge planet is allegedly going to either smash into the Earth or pull us off our axis
Getty - Contributor
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A huge planet is allegedly going to either smash into the Earth or pull us off our axis

Is the end of the world on October 15?

The Christian conspiracy theorist has repeatedly warned about a mysterious planet named Planet X or Nibiru on the far edge of our solar system.

Conspiracies suggested it was hurtling towards earth and set to destroy it on September 23.
Now Meade claims people have misunderstood his Planet X prophecy.

Instead, he's now claiming we could be in for SEVEN years of nuclear war and natural disasters starting on October 15.
Meade says that its "the most important date of this century or millennium".
October 2017 may signal "the end of the world as we now know it".

APOCALYPSE WHEN? Five times the world was supposed to end (but didn’t)


The earthquake in Mexico and hurricanes in the Caribbean are all related to the Planet X theory, Meade claimed.
"It’s the beginning," he said. "Ever since the Great American Solar Eclipse of August 21st we have been hit by a continued series of judgements."
The date of September 23 relates to a verse in the Bible which apparently matches the August 21 date when Hurricane Harvey battered Texas.
Luke’s passage 21: 25 to 26 reads: “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars.
“On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.
"People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.”
 Christian conspiracy theorist David Meade
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Christian conspiracy theorist David Meade

What was David Meade's Planet X conspiracy theory?

David believed that a "spiritual sign" would appear in the sky on September 23 where the moon will appear under the constellation of Virgo.
Then on October 5, Planet X will fully eclipse the sun and cover the earth in shadow.
This will signal the start of the "seven-year-tribulation" on October 21, he believes.
He claims an asteroid named Wormwood, measuring at least three kilometers in diameters, which is attached to the "debris field of the Planet X star system" will hit earth at some point during the seven years.
The "tribulation" will also involve "nuclear exchanges between the US, Britain and our enemies – Russia, China, Iran and North Korea."

END OF DAYS Six terrifying and totally realistic ways the world could end


"It will involve cataclysmic climate events related to Planet X or Wormwood – those are the trumpet judgements of Revelation," he explained.
Huge solar flares would "bring down the electrical grid," according to Meade.
"Rioting and looting will be unrestrained.... society will be in chaos," he warned.
An unusual celestial arrangement set for September 23 triggered the doomsday fears.
But astronomer Christopher Graney says it's happened four times before in 1827, 1483, 1293 and 1056.
 A prophecy, which said Planet X would cause the end of the world this weekend, spread globally
Getty - Contributor
4
A prophecy, which said Planet X would cause the end of the world this weekend, spread globally

What is Planet X?

Meade expects Nibiru will pass the Earth – bringing with it volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and earthquakes.
The mysterious planet was first mentioned in 1976 by author Zecharia Sitchin in his book The 12th Planet.
He wrote it is home to ancient aliens called the Annunaki who he claimed created the human race.
 Meade believes an asteroid named Wormwood will hit the earth
Getty Images
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Meade believes an asteroid named Wormwood will hit the earth

What does Nasa say?

This theory gained momentum earlier this year when NASA discovered what could be a new planet deep in the solar system, which they named Planet Nine.
It could have a mass 10 times that of earth.
Jim Green, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division, said: "It's too early to say with certainty there's a so-called Planet X."
The space agency has however firmly, and repeatedly, dismissed the theories about Nibiru as an "internet hoax".
“The planet in question, Nibiru, doesn't exist, so there will be no collision," said Nasa.
"The story of Nibiru has been around for years (as has the 'days of darkness' tale) and is periodically recycled into new apocalyptic fables.
"There is no factual basis for these claims.
"If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth … astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye. "Obviously, it does not exist."
Nick Pope, who headed up the Ministry of Defence’s UFO desk, agrees with the space agency.
He said: "The bottom line is that if a mysterious 12th planet was really going to hit the Earth on Saturday, we’d all be able to see it right now.”
David Meade explains his theory on Planet X and the end of the world on September 23

Comments


Avatar for Joe Blo
Earth is Flat. It has always been flat.there is no space. Planets are wondering stars. We are the center of everything. God exists. Aliens don’t exists. But heaven and hell do.
5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.
2 Peter 3:5-6
Repent and ask Jesus to save you. He is the only way to heaven.
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Romans 10:8-13
The rapture is coming soon. Are you ready?
Avatar for Steven Spencer
Maybe the moon is planet x. Maybe something will cause it to crash into earth or push it real close to earth
The moon does effect earth's gravity
Avatar for Sher Man
David Meade is a quack he's feeding off people's fears and gullibility in order to profit for his own well-being. It's just too much hype. He should be ashamed. But like most con artists I'm sure he isn't he just makes himself more popular.
Avatar for baba masters
spare us the sanctimony. the whole goddamned world is filled with con artists who wouldn’t hesitate a second to capitalize on the next gimmick, not least of which is this news tabloid you fancy to read and comment!
Avatar for Magister Sampson
First 2012, then Comet Elenin, soothsayers of doom will always alter the date when it fails to emerge on the basis that sooner or later the date will occur.
Avatar for Richard Mills
Just as loony as the flat earth society. What morons believe such bilge. The end of the world gets predicted every month now.
Avatar for 2203312
That's because the journalist has no other story to report on or create.