Entries Tagged as 'Natural Disaster'
Francis W. Landfair R.I.P.
My Dad died last night about 4:00am from lung cancer that spread, they said, from his lungs to bone and brain. Saturday morning he was bright and cheerful, no real pain, but later that day he crashed and needed morphine regularly. He said he was dying. He was 90. We hoped we could celebrate one more birthday party on December 4th.
Pat, his regular barber on 42nd and Sandy, offered to come by the house and give him a haircut. I picked Pat up in my car. After Pat’s work, we joked that he had the looks of George Clooney and he would need a stick to keep the girls away. Dad bragged that his only son came over and read the 23rd Psalm to him just like he did to me when I was little.
1: The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2: He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3: He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5: Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
I’ll miss you, Pop!
Tales From The Yellowbus
I had a great time yesterday. I picked up the Pearson Air Museum director Laureano Mier and about 15 kids as old as 17 and took them to the Fern Prairie Modelers Club in Washougal, Washington. The kids were a part of the Pearson Airpark Summer Aviation Camp. They are learning to fly and one place to start is with remote controlled model airplanes. These babies range in size up to six foot wing spans and are powered by gasoline engines to small jet engines that are electric. Here’s a video from one plane that made a series of level left turns affording the kids a birds-eye view.
My biggest thrill was to take control of the stick of one of these planes for about six minutes. I practiced making a left hand turn by pushing the stick left. When you do that, the nose sinks so you needs to pull down on the stick. Then when the plane comes out of the turn, you give a push of the stick to the right to level the wings. I tended to over react with the stick, but there was no danger to the plane, because the instructor would take back control.
I have never flown any plane and I found this intoxicating. I want more!
They run some fine programs at Pearson, located across the river in Vancouver from PDX. In fact August 27th is Open Cockpit Day, the second of the season on Saturday. Visitors will have the opportunity to sit inside a T-28 Trojan and Ryan PT-21, as well experience the museum’s state-of-the-art flight simulator lab.
Every Tuesday evening from 5 PM until dusk throughout the summer, the Fern Prairie Modelers Club gives you a chance to fly with an instructor by your side.
River Missing In Upala, Costa Rica
On July 12th, 2011 Costa Rica had a 5.3 magnitude earthquake followed by aftershocks of 4.8, 4.8 and 4.1 within an hour later. As you can see from the map below, seismicity since 1990 has made this a very active area.
In the area of Guacalito de Upala, more than 90 aftershocks (all under 1 on the Richter scale) have been felt, some 25 houses suffering damages, as well as 3 bridges and several roads.
In one point, the earth literally opened up, instilling fear and panic in the residents of the area.
The peculiar thing about this quake is that a river went missing.
Apparently in the moments following the earthquake, a community stood watch as their river disappeared in to the Earth. As of this writing it is still unknown exactly which community this occurred…. The affected citizens were interviewed and expressed concern for the loss of this substantial water supply to the area. Not only will this affect humans but also the livestock raised in the area.
Arlene Forms In Caribbean
The first named storm of the season, tropical storm Arlene, has formed in the Caribbean off shore of Campeche on the Yucatan peninsula. Winds are currently at a sustained <39 miles per hour and landfall is expected around the 22N parallel.
Forest Fires Dominate Southern U.S.
CBS News reports:
A vicious wildfire spread through the mountains above a northern New Mexico town on Tuesday, driving thousands of people from their homes as officials at a government nuclear laboratory tried to dispel concerns about the safety of sensitive materials.
The wildfire — which has swelled to about 93 square miles — sparked a spot fire at the Los Alamos National Laboratory on Monday. The fire was quickly contained, and lab officials said no contamination was released and radioactive materials stored at spots on the sprawling lab were safe.
OPPD Denies Problem In Nebraska Nuke Facility
Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) denies rumor “… going around the Internet about a possible nuclear meltdown.”
“I can assure you a Fukushima event will not occur at Fort Calhoun.”
Drudge reports The Missouri River rose to within 18 inches of forcing the shutdown of the Cooper Nuclear Plant.
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Army Corps Blows Up Missouri Levee
The NYT reports
The Army Corps of Engineers set off explosives late Monday that would destroy several sections of a Mississippi River levee in a desperate attempt to protect the Illinois town of Cairo from rising floodwaters.
George Ure at Urban Survival estimates “…somewhere north of 1-trillion pounds of additional water weight (will flow) exactly (to) …the north side of the New Madrid seismic zone.”
Will that additional weight trigger any New Madrid quakes?
Earthquake Prediction
This is the week that Jim Berkland is worried about!
