It’s a strange thing to say, but they could hear Japan’s 9.0 magnitude earthquake in Alaska. At least Oregon State University scientists could, using the U.S. Navy’s SOund SUrveillance System (SOSUS) Monitoring System, previously intended for tracking submarines in the Cold War. The recording is now online and it is an awe-inspiring sound. Scientists at Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Laughing Squid Discovery Date : 15/04/2011 23:22 Number of articles : 3
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Carnival procession will celebrate restoration of Regency mill now poised to grind home-grown barley once more Halfway up Brixton Hill, in a small park hidden away behind terraces of tall Victorian houses, one of the most startling historic buildings in London has sprouted gleaming white sails. Brixton Windmill , now restored, is ready to start grinding flour again, as soon as the wheat and barley being planted around it by local volunteers is ready for harvest. “It’s a joy to see it, it’s just so beautiful,” Annick Alet said, straightening up for a moment from the back-breaking work of picking stones from the new field. On 2 May there will be singing and dancing as a carnival procession from the centre of Brixton heads towards the mill. It will be the first time many people learn of the mill’s existence. Built in 1816, and run until 1934 by generations of the Ashby family, the south London mill was a sad wreck when Florence Nosegby, a local councillor who was brought up on an estate nearby, first saw it. Many of the hundreds of residents who joined the campaign to save it, raising thousands of pounds and donating years of work, lived a few streets away but had never heard about the building. “It was so sad when I first saw it 13 years ago,” said Richard Santhini, an actor, vice-chair of the Friends of Windmill Gardens, and now a trained miller. The park had been a no-go area after dusk, the mill vandalised and littered with drug users’ needles. “I thought, we have to bring this wonderful treasure back to life,” he said. The structure is the last survivor of a small regiment of mills that once stood in open countryside on the hills of Lambeth, producing food for London. Even by the 1860s the city had crept so far up the hill there was no longer enough wind to turn the sails; the Ashbys installed first steam and then gas power to keep the mill grinding until 1934. Its importance was recognised as early as 1951 with a Grade II* listing, but its inexorable decline continued. It passed into the ownership of London county council and then Lambeth council. In the 1960s, Carmela Zucconi, who owns the flower stall outside the station, climbed the mill’s narrow winding staircase with her excited twin sons; she recalls, too, the little buildings and shops that surrounded it. By the 1970s the miller’s cottage and outbuildings were flattened, and the building was judged too dangerous for the public, though one local man remembered hiding out there from the police. By the 1990s the mill had taken up what looked like a permanent place on the Buildings at Risk register, until the Friends of Windmill Gardens were founded and took up the cause. Despite ominous cracks in the walls, and the fact that the building turned out to have no foundations, being built straight on to the London clay, the mill proved surprisingly sound structurally. Most of the machinery and millstones, much of the woodwork, and the timber cap that rotates to bring the sails into the wind, are the restored originals. The small provender mill the Ashbys added is ready to run, now powered by electricity, but Santhini is determined to continue until the wind-powered 1.5-tonne millstones are also working again. The restoration cost just under £600,000, including help of £400,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £55,000 from the council. “It’s a living part of our history,” Santhini said. “If we lose buildings like this, we lose something of ourselves as human beings.” Heritage London Communities Maev Kennedy guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Carnival procession will celebrate restoration of Regency mill now poised to grind home-grown barley once more Halfway up Brixton Hill, in a small park hidden away behind terraces of tall Victorian houses, one of the most startling historic buildings in London has sprouted gleaming white sails. Brixton Windmill , now restored, is ready to start grinding flour again, as soon as the wheat and barley being planted around it by local volunteers is ready for harvest. “It’s a joy to see it, it’s just so beautiful,” Annick Alet said, straightening up for a moment from the back-breaking work of picking stones from the new field. On 2 May there will be singing and dancing as a carnival procession from the centre of Brixton heads towards the mill. It will be the first time many people learn of the mill’s existence. Built in 1816, and run until 1934 by generations of the Ashby family, the south London mill was a sad wreck when Florence Nosegby, a local councillor who was brought up on an estate nearby, first saw it. Many of the hundreds of residents who joined the campaign to save it, raising thousands of pounds and donating years of work, lived a few streets away but had never heard about the building. “It was so sad when I first saw it 13 years ago,” said Richard Santhini, an actor, vice-chair of the Friends of Windmill Gardens, and now a trained miller. The park had been a no-go area after dusk, the mill vandalised and littered with drug users’ needles. “I thought, we have to bring this wonderful treasure back to life,” he said. The structure is the last survivor of a small regiment of mills that once stood in open countryside on the hills of Lambeth, producing food for London. Even by the 1860s the city had crept so far up the hill there was no longer enough wind to turn the sails; the Ashbys installed first steam and then gas power to keep the mill grinding until 1934. Its importance was recognised as early as 1951 with a Grade II* listing, but its inexorable decline continued. It passed into the ownership of London county council and then Lambeth council. In the 1960s, Carmela Zucconi, who owns the flower stall outside the station, climbed the mill’s narrow winding staircase with her excited twin sons; she recalls, too, the little buildings and shops that surrounded it. By the 1970s the miller’s cottage and outbuildings were flattened, and the building was judged too dangerous for the public, though one local man remembered hiding out there from the police. By the 1990s the mill had taken up what looked like a permanent place on the Buildings at Risk register, until the Friends of Windmill Gardens were founded and took up the cause. Despite ominous cracks in the walls, and the fact that the building turned out to have no foundations, being built straight on to the London clay, the mill proved surprisingly sound structurally. Most of the machinery and millstones, much of the woodwork, and the timber cap that rotates to bring the sails into the wind, are the restored originals. The small provender mill the Ashbys added is ready to run, now powered by electricity, but Santhini is determined to continue until the wind-powered 1.5-tonne millstones are also working again. The restoration cost just under £600,000, including help of £400,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £55,000 from the council. “It’s a living part of our history,” Santhini said. “If we lose buildings like this, we lose something of ourselves as human beings.” Heritage London Communities Maev Kennedy guardian.co.uk
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A disused, contaminated stretch in north Kent is an ecological wonder that charity Buglife is fighting to have recognised It looks like one of Britain’s least attractive places, a blighted stretch of abandoned industrial land littered with plastic, broken concrete, crash barriers and building rubble. Contaminated with asbestos, oil and industrial chemicals, this 189-hectare (467-acre) former BP oil refinery brownfield site on the Isle of Grain in the Thames estuary is a messy, dangerous place. But the site near Rochester in north Kent is also potentially one of Britain’s two or three most important wildlife sites – the equivalent of a national park for bees, butterflies, beetles and other invertebrates. Left alone by humans for nearly 25 years, fenced off and allowed to degenerate by its present owner, National Grid, this remote corner of the Thames Gateway is being compared to a miniature lost world by conservationists who are fighting to avoid its planned destruction to make way for a giant lorry park. No one knows exactly what nature has squatted here, says Sarah Hensall, a conservation officer with the charity Buglife . In the past 40 years, she says, one person has been allowed in to study its wildlife. In a few hours in August 2009, that researcher found 258 species of invertebrates, birds and reptiles. Of these, 13 were classified as threatened with extinction on the conservation red list, many were priority species that Britain has to protect in law, 23 were nationally scarce and 11 were considered rare. They included the white eye-stripe hoverfly ( Paragus albifrons ) – until recently believed to be extinct – and Mellet’s downy-back beetle ( Ophonus melletii ) , which is so rare that it has been seen only five times in the UK in the past 20 years. The site is also home to most of Britain’s rarest native bees, including the brown-banded carder bee ( Bombus humilis ) and the shrill carder bee ( Bombus sylvarum ). Not surprisingly Hensall, an ecologist, is eager to get on to the site. To find a habitat of this size and quality, she says, is extraordinary. “It looks messy and polluted but sites like this are few and far between. It’s perfect ‘open mosaic’ habitat for bugs, spiders, flies and insects. They need this mix of bare land, pools, ditches. It’s got everything. They can burrow in it, bask, shelter and feed there, breed and hibernate. It’s just heaven for them.” She wants to take a team of researchers through the fence to study the wildlife. She is confident that if four people could go in for a few days several times over a year, as recommended by government ecologists, they could record 1,000, perhaps even 1,300 species. This would put the old refinery site on a par with West Thurrock marshes , an old power station site in Essex and now better protected after a long struggle. But it is unlikely she will get permission, because Buglife and National Grid are locked in a court dispute over the future of the site. The company wants to turn it into a giant lorry park and warehousing for Thamesport, Britain’s third largest container port, and its plan would sweep away the bug and bee paradise before it had even been properly recorded. Buglife claims the owners failed to properly assess the impact on the wildlife of the site. “We say that they did not follow the environmental impact survey properly and the council should have insisted on a better inspection. But we don’t want to stop development. We want the company and the local Medway council to rethink the plan to save the most valuable parts of the site,” Hensall says. “People and bugs should be able to live side by side. We were not consulted, but somebody has got to stick up for the bugs, give them a voice, too.” National Grid is adamant that it has followed the law. In a statement, a spokesman said: “We did consult with the community and with bodies including Natural England, and we do believe our development will provide a number of benefits for the local area.” Wildlife Endangered habitats Conservation Endangered species Animals National Grid John Vidal guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …A disused, contaminated stretch in north Kent is an ecological wonder that charity Buglife is fighting to have recognised It looks like one of Britain’s least attractive places, a blighted stretch of abandoned industrial land littered with plastic, broken concrete, crash barriers and building rubble. Contaminated with asbestos, oil and industrial chemicals, this 189-hectare (467-acre) former BP oil refinery brownfield site on the Isle of Grain in the Thames estuary is a messy, dangerous place. But the site near Rochester in north Kent is also potentially one of Britain’s two or three most important wildlife sites – the equivalent of a national park for bees, butterflies, beetles and other invertebrates. Left alone by humans for nearly 25 years, fenced off and allowed to degenerate by its present owner, National Grid, this remote corner of the Thames Gateway is being compared to a miniature lost world by conservationists who are fighting to avoid its planned destruction to make way for a giant lorry park. No one knows exactly what nature has squatted here, says Sarah Hensall, a conservation officer with the charity Buglife . In the past 40 years, she says, one person has been allowed in to study its wildlife. In a few hours in August 2009, that researcher found 258 species of invertebrates, birds and reptiles. Of these, 13 were classified as threatened with extinction on the conservation red list, many were priority species that Britain has to protect in law, 23 were nationally scarce and 11 were considered rare. They included the white eye-stripe hoverfly ( Paragus albifrons ) – until recently believed to be extinct – and Mellet’s downy-back beetle ( Ophonus melletii ) , which is so rare that it has been seen only five times in the UK in the past 20 years. The site is also home to most of Britain’s rarest native bees, including the brown-banded carder bee ( Bombus humilis ) and the shrill carder bee ( Bombus sylvarum ). Not surprisingly Hensall, an ecologist, is eager to get on to the site. To find a habitat of this size and quality, she says, is extraordinary. “It looks messy and polluted but sites like this are few and far between. It’s perfect ‘open mosaic’ habitat for bugs, spiders, flies and insects. They need this mix of bare land, pools, ditches. It’s got everything. They can burrow in it, bask, shelter and feed there, breed and hibernate. It’s just heaven for them.” She wants to take a team of researchers through the fence to study the wildlife. She is confident that if four people could go in for a few days several times over a year, as recommended by government ecologists, they could record 1,000, perhaps even 1,300 species. This would put the old refinery site on a par with West Thurrock marshes , an old power station site in Essex and now better protected after a long struggle. But it is unlikely she will get permission, because Buglife and National Grid are locked in a court dispute over the future of the site. The company wants to turn it into a giant lorry park and warehousing for Thamesport, Britain’s third largest container port, and its plan would sweep away the bug and bee paradise before it had even been properly recorded. Buglife claims the owners failed to properly assess the impact on the wildlife of the site. “We say that they did not follow the environmental impact survey properly and the council should have insisted on a better inspection. But we don’t want to stop development. We want the company and the local Medway council to rethink the plan to save the most valuable parts of the site,” Hensall says. “People and bugs should be able to live side by side. We were not consulted, but somebody has got to stick up for the bugs, give them a voice, too.” National Grid is adamant that it has followed the law. In a statement, a spokesman said: “We did consult with the community and with bodies including Natural England, and we do believe our development will provide a number of benefits for the local area.” Wildlife Endangered habitats Conservation Endangered species Animals National Grid John Vidal guardian.co.uk
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Christians around the world are celebrating Palm Sunday. In the Christian faith, Palm Sunday marks Jesus Christ’s arrival in Jerusalem. It’s also the start of Holy Week, which commemorates Christ’s crucifixion, burial and resurrection. (April 17)
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Christians around the world are celebrating Palm Sunday. In the Christian faith, Palm Sunday marks Jesus Christ’s arrival in Jerusalem. It’s also the start of Holy Week, which commemorates Christ’s crucifixion, burial and resurrection. (April 17)
Continue reading …Report: Millions of Gallons of Toxic Chemicals Injected Into Gas And Oil Wells
April 17, 2011 No CommentIt’s fascinating to me that our elected officials have decided that the national deficit is an urgent crisis, and yet destroying our water supplies is one of those “liberal” things no one else cares abou t. What do they suppose they think they’re going to drink when it all runs out? WASHINGTON — Oil and gas companies injected hundreds of millions of gallons of hazardous or carcinogenic chemicals into wells in more than 13 states from 2005 to 2009 , according to an investigation by Congressional Democrats. The chemicals were used by companies during a drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, which involves the high-pressure injection of a mixture of water, sand and chemical additives into rock formations deep underground. The process, which is being used to tap into large reserves of natural gas around the country, opens fissures in the rock to stimulate the release of oil and gas. Hydrofracking has attracted increased scrutiny from lawmakers and environmentalists in part because of fears that the chemicals used during the process can contaminate underground sources of drinking water. “Questions about the safety of hydraulic fracturing persist, which are compounded by the secrecy surrounding the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing fluids, ” said the report, which was written by Representatives Henry A. Waxman of California, Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts and Diana DeGette of Colorado. The report, which is to be released on Monday, also faulted companies for at times “injecting fluids containing chemicals that they themselves cannot identify.” The inquiry over hydrofracking, which was initiated by the House Energy and Commerce Committee when Mr. Waxman led it last year, also found that 14 of the nation’s most active hydraulic fracturing companies used 866 million gallons of hydraulic fracturing products — not including water. More than 650 of these products contained chemicals that are known or possible human carcinogens, regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, or are listed as hazardous air pollutants, the report said.
Continue reading …Report: Millions of Gallons of Toxic Chemicals Injected Into Gas And Oil Wells
April 17, 2011 No CommentIt’s fascinating to me that our elected officials have decided that the national deficit is an urgent crisis, and yet destroying our water supplies is one of those “liberal” things no one else cares abou t. What do they suppose they think they’re going to drink when it all runs out? WASHINGTON — Oil and gas companies injected hundreds of millions of gallons of hazardous or carcinogenic chemicals into wells in more than 13 states from 2005 to 2009 , according to an investigation by Congressional Democrats. The chemicals were used by companies during a drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, which involves the high-pressure injection of a mixture of water, sand and chemical additives into rock formations deep underground. The process, which is being used to tap into large reserves of natural gas around the country, opens fissures in the rock to stimulate the release of oil and gas. Hydrofracking has attracted increased scrutiny from lawmakers and environmentalists in part because of fears that the chemicals used during the process can contaminate underground sources of drinking water. “Questions about the safety of hydraulic fracturing persist, which are compounded by the secrecy surrounding the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing fluids, ” said the report, which was written by Representatives Henry A. Waxman of California, Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts and Diana DeGette of Colorado. The report, which is to be released on Monday, also faulted companies for at times “injecting fluids containing chemicals that they themselves cannot identify.” The inquiry over hydrofracking, which was initiated by the House Energy and Commerce Committee when Mr. Waxman led it last year, also found that 14 of the nation’s most active hydraulic fracturing companies used 866 million gallons of hydraulic fracturing products — not including water. More than 650 of these products contained chemicals that are known or possible human carcinogens, regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, or are listed as hazardous air pollutants, the report said.
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F1 2011 – China GP – Start Replay – Hamilton & Button Overtake Vettel F1 – Formula 1 GP China Shanghai (Xangai) 2011 Hamilton FinalLap Hamilton Beach 48464 Brewstation Summit 12-Cup Programmable Coffeemaker autosport.com – F1 News: Hamilton 'overwhelmed' by victory Lewis Hamilton said he was “absolutely overwhelmed” after taking his first win of the year in China. The McLaren driver put on a superb performance to end Sebastian Vettel’s run of victories in Shanghai, the Briton grabbing his first … autosport.com – F1 News: Whitmarsh hails 'calm' Hamilton win McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh paid tribute to the calm approach of his drivers after Lewis Hamilton took a frantic Chinese Grand Prix victory, despite the 2008 world champion coming close to missing the grid formation after a … autosport.com – F1 News: Hamilton wins thrilling Chinese GP Vettel’s run of wins with an incredible charge to victory in the Chinese Grand Prix. FORMULA ONE – F1: Hamilton Rallies To Win In China Lewis Hamilton passed Sebastian Vettel late to score the victory in Shanghai… Grand Prix Redux: Hamilton wins close Chinese GP, Webber charges … Formula 1 Blog. The Journal of F1 Opinion. The aristarchus of F1. Grand Prix. polytronireland says: Race – Hamilton takes sensational Shanghai win: *Hot from F1.com* Lewis Hamilton scored a fab… http://bit.ly/gxcHHV www.polytron.ie
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