EARTHQUAKE UPDATEThe Ring of Fire is alive and shaking!!
Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- A magnitude-8.0 earthquake roiled a swath of the South Pacific today, triggering tsunami warnings for 20 island nations and prompting Samoans to flee coastal villages for higher ground.
A 5-foot (1.5-meter) tsunami was reported at Pago Pago, American Samoa, the U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. Homes in some villages on the southern coast of the Samoan island of Upolu were washed away, Radio New Zealand reported. Some people on that coast may have been swept to sea, Television New Zealand reported, citing its Apia-based film crew.
The quake struck shortly before 7 a.m. local time about 122 miles (196 kilometers) southwest of Apia, the capital of the independent island of Samoa, at a depth of about 22 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said warnings for tsunami activity were posted for Fiji, New Zealand, Tonga, the Cook Islands and 16 other nations.
“Our house has already been taken by the tsunami,” Theresa Falele Dussey told Radio New Zealand from hills above Apia, where people took shelter. “Some of the houses and cars next to our village have already been taken by tsunami as well.”
New Zealand civil defense officials warned local authorities in coastal areas to prepare for a tsunami. A wave may be about 1 meter high if it reaches here, Civil Defense Minister John Carter said on a television broadcast.
‘Crying and Screaming’
The tsunami was projected to reach Tonga and Fiji about 9 a.m. local time, according to the Pacific warning center. It is expected to reach the eastern coast of New Zealand’s North Island about 9:45 a.m. local time.
Residents of Samoa, shocked by the strength of the jolt, heeded warnings of local police and moved inland, Radio New Zealand’s Samoa correspondent, Tipi Autagavaia, said on a broadcast.
“My kids were preparing to go to school and were all crying and screaming,” he said in the broadcast. “It was a big, big shock to most people, because it is the first time they have experienced such a very strong earthquake.”
The magnitude of the quake was revised higher from an initial reading of 7.9, the USGS said. The quake was followed by two 5.6 temblors, one in the Samoa Islands region and one near the Cook Islands, the USGS said.
Tonga is also the location where the following took place in March of this year:Guardian.co.uk | Underwater volcano creates new island off Tonga
Ash rising into the air from an undersea volcanic eruption, part of the uninbabited islet of Hunga Ha'apai, 63 kilometres northwest of the Tongan capital Nuku'alofa Photograph: Telusa Fotu/AFP/Getty Images
The powerful underwater volcano that erupted in the south Pacific this week has created a new island off the coast of Tonga. The eruption, about 39 miles north-west of the Tongan capital, Nuku'alofa, began on Monday, shooting rocks, steam and ash thousands of feet into the air. Full Story
MORE EARTHQUAKE NEWS CLOSER TO HOME
| Magnitude | 4.1 |
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| Date-Time | |
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| Location | 36.825°N, 104.720°W |
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| Depth | 5 km (3.1 miles) set by location program |
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| Region | NEW MEXICO |
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| Distances | - 26 km (16 miles) WSW (252°) from Raton, NM
- 36 km (22 miles) NNW (334°) from Maxwell, NM
- 37 km (23 miles) SSW (194°) from Cokedale, CO
- 161 km (100 miles) S (183°) from Pueblo, CO
- 323 km (201 miles) S (176°) from Denver, CO
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NEWS ABOUT CHINA ... SINCE THEY OWN US (THANK YOU BANKSTERS)Not only did we fly their flag on the White House grounds this month now:
Village Voice - 23 minutes ago
The Empire State Building's publicists inform us -- like they're proud of it! -- that tomorrow night ESB will glow red and yellow to honor the 60th ...
Re: We Honor Our New Chinese Overlords
- The institute's report said the Dong Feng missile was thought to have a range of about 2000 kilometres and a speed of Mach 10: "The size of the missile enables it to carry a warhead big enough to inflict significant damage on a large vessel, providing the Chinese the capability of destroying a US supercarrier in one strike."
The US Navy, the peacekeeper and guarantor of strategic stability in the Pacific since World War II, will lose its ability to operate anywhere near the Chinese mainland. It is a development of historic significance with which China can celebrate its 60 years under communist rule. FULL STORY
POLICE STATE USAThere is a lot of guns in Montana - not good news
Raw Story - 1 hour ago
According to a local media report, APF representatives were recently seen in the tiny town of Hardin, Montana, driving black SUV's with a peculiar logo and, ...
Billings Gazette - KULR-TV
SINKHOLE INSIGHT IN FLORIDA
APPLE NEWSTelegraph.co.uk | Million to one apple is half red, half greenhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6229243/Million-to-one-apple-is-half-red-half-green.htmlFruit grower Ken Morrish was left stunned when he found a golden delicious apple on his tree split exactly half green, half red down the middle.
Ken Morrish, 72, of Colaton Raleigh, Devon, did a double take when he grew a Golden Delicious apple split down the middle - one half was green and the other red Photo: ARCHANT
The fruit's striking colouring is thought to be caused by a random genetic mutation at odds of more than a million to one.
FULL STORY
Active Regions
Sunspot 1027 expanded in area throughout the day on Monday and consists of at least 4 sunspots. There will be a chance for B-Class flares. Sunspot 1026 was trying to make a comeback today as well, but is currently spotless.
**Our earth's magnetosphere is what is to help protect us from such incomings - and our protective shield is looking pretty strange!
RADIOACTIVE DUST NEWSEnvironmentalists have raised concerns that another giant dust storm blowing its way across eastern Australia may contain radioactive particles.
It is argued that sediment whipped up from Australia's centre may be laced with material from a uranium mine.
Last Wednesday Sydney and Brisbane bore witness to their biggest dust storm in 70 years. Both were shrouded in red dust blown in from the desert outback.
The massive clouds of dust that choked heavily populated parts of Australia have caused problems for people with asthma, as well as those with heart and lung conditions. FULL STORY
CRAP DUMPING NEWS
LIQUID FERTILIZER TANKER SPLITS IN HALF IN OMAHA ... (Environmental Protection Agency EPA says there is no human threat - maybe because Americans are exposed to so many chemicals ... what is a little bit more?)
Fertilizer Spill Closes Portion Of I-680 
Monday, September 28, 2009 -
Omaha police say the driver of the truck was headed to Columbus from Red Oak when he experienced problems west of 48th Street in Omaha just after 1:00. Officer Adam Rokes says the tanker broke open as the truck traveled over the 48th Street bridge. The driver was able to get the truck to the side of the road. Several hundred gallons of fertilizer spilled from the tanker, but police say it poses no public safety threat. It is a concern for the Environmental Protection Agency. A number of agencies are building dirt dams to prevent the fertlizer from getting into a nearby creek. The driver was not hurt.Tamiflu metabolite showing up in Japanese sewer water -- In a study published September 24th ahead of print in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP), researchers measured oseltamivir carboxylate (OC), the active metabolite of the popular anti-influenza drug Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate), in samples of sewage discharge and river water collected near Kyoto City during Japan's 2008-2009 flu season.
Don't let Utah be a nuclear dumping groundStandardNet
This decision has paved the way for over 14000 drums of concentrated depleted uranium to begin coming to Utah next month. Depleted uranium (DU) gets hotter ...
Flood victims wait in the street for relief goods after flood water subsides big trucks to enter the area Monday, Sept. 28, 2009 in suburban Cainta, east of Manila, Philippines. Weary victims of a tropical storm that unleashed worst flooding in more than a decades begun cleaning up their damaged homes as rescue workers plucked more dead bodies from muddy floodwaters. (AP Photo/ Pat Roque)
Residents place the remains of their belongings outside their house as they return to their homes after a storm in suburban Marikina city, east of Manila, Philippines, Monday, Sept. 28, 2009. Many Filipinos tried to rebuild their lives Monday after saving little more than the clothes they wore in a tropical storm that prompted the capital's worst flooding in more than four decades. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
FULL STORY
AccuWeather.com | Ohio River Lock Breaks Following Heavy Rain, Flow Surge
Following more than 5 inches of rain in the past week, the lock failed at the Markland Dam along the Indiana/Kentucky border, northeast of Louisville.
Doppler radar estimates show that more than 5 inches of rain fell in the past seven days across southern Ohio and along the Ohio River. Louisville, Ky., has reported 5.91 inches of rain so far this month, well above-normal rainfall for the entire month of September.
Heavy rainfall also occurred earlier this summer. Rainfall at Louisville, Ky., and Cincinnati, Ohio, was 150 to 190 percent of normal spanning June and July.
OCTOBER MAY COME IN DUMPING SOME WATER ON NEMAYBE SHOULD GET YOUR RAINCOATS READY FOR THURSDAY, October 1st
Storms will first erupt across southeastern
Wyoming, northeastern Colorado,
western Nebraska and
western Kansas late on Wednesday afternoon.
Akron, Colo., and Goodland, Kan., could both get hit by nasty storms.
Storms will then spread across central and eastern portions of Nebraska and Kansas perhaps over communities as far east as central Iowa and northwestern Missouri.
Threats will include
damaging winds over 60 mph, hail the size of golf balls and heavy downpours that could result in
flash flooding. A few tornadoes could also touch down and cause serious damage.
It appears that storms on Thursday will be more widespread and volatile. Storms could impact areas from
eastern South Dakota through northeastern Texas and eastward into the mid- to lower
Mississippi Valley during the afternoon and the evening.
TENT CITIES NEWS 
Tulare County, California Fire Department Capt. Carlos Dias, left, talks with a Visalia Fire Department firefighter in the aftermath of a candle-ignited tent fire Sunday just east of what is known as a tent city homeless encampment on the north bank of the St. Johns River near Ben Maddox Way. There were no injuries, and one tent was destroyed. (Gerald Carroll) FULL STORY
01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, September 29, 2009
By Paul Davis - Providence Journal Staff Writer
Mike MacEwen, takes down the American flag that flies at Camp Runamuck Monday after lawyers representing the group lost a last-minute appeal to stay in a Providence park.
PROVIDENCE — After sleeping in a city park for a month, the homeless men and women at Camp Runamuck Monday packed for a new home: a strip of land next to the Social Security Administration building in Pawtucket.
Late in the afternoon, the group began piling tents and boxes into a U-Haul trailer rented by the advocacy group People to End Homelessness.
The homeless chose the Pawtucket building, at 55 Broad St., because it’s on a federal list of properties “that can be used to help the homeless,” said Meagan Smith, a spokeswoman for the camp.
The group plans to also seek help from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, Smith said.
The homeless had hoped to stay longer in the wooded area behind the Roger Williams Medical Center.
But on Monday morning, Rhode Island Supreme Court Justice William P. Robinson III denied a last-minute appeal by two lawyers for the homeless, forcing the group to move by 5 p.m.
Providence officials say sleeping and cooking in the city’s more than 100 parks is illegal.
“It’s moving day –– again,” said Barbara Kalil, a 50-year-old former nurse who has slept in hotels, emergency shelters and under a bridge in the last few years.
Half-hidden by trees and shade, Kalil stacked her stuff in two tubs: a Bible, talcum powder, a vanity mirror, an Agatha Christie novel and folded clothes. She used masking tape to repair the cracks in one tub. “It really does get old,” said Kalil, who is trying to get a job with the Providence Performing Arts Center.
Kalil blamed Mayor David N. Cicilline for not finding rooms and homes for the city’s growing homeless population.
“He has buried his head in the sand,” said Kalil. “He thinks this homeless thing is going away, but it’s not going away. We’re in an economic depression. The emergency shelters are full. There’s nowhere to go.”
The move is the third for the group. Six months ago, Kalil and others pitched their tents on state land near South Water Street in Providence. Under pressure from officials, the group moved to East Providence and slept beneath a Route 195 bridge. Threatened again with eviction, the group left and moved back to Providence on Labor Day weekend.
Since then, supporters and church groups have dropped off food and water at the park, Kalil said. Over the weekend, the nine campers erected a large blue tarp between trees to create a community room dubbed “the patio.”
“We could play cards and cover our meals in the rain,” Kalil said.
Catherine Rhodes, a spokeswoman for the People to End Homelessness, made three signs with a black marker and cardboard, and placed them on the edge of the park, facing the street.
“Mr. Mayor, This Could Be You!” read one.
“Is this the final solution!” read another.
“Homeless people are always on the move,” Rhodes said. “Once they’re spotted, they move on. The tent cities are just bigger and easier to spot. They’ll keep moving until they find housing. The problem is … there is no housing,” she said.
“The governor needs to declare a national emergency and apply for federal help. I equate this with the Great Depression, when people lost jobs and homes and moved around the country.”
Alot more news out there ... but this is enough for now!
*Update time: Sunday 10-4-09 12:30am (Sometimes I can't sleep)
