Honest, it was among the first results for an image search titled 'natural disaster'...
So first there's an earthquake, then the tsunami (which looked like this several thousand miles away), then the nuclear reactors started to feel a little queasy, and now there's a volcano erupting. You wouldn't have believed this if it had been the plot of a disaster movie, at least, not one where the whole world wasn't going kaput, but it's happening to Japan. And this doesn't even consider the clean-up, the rebuilding, and the loss of life. Thankfully, their nation was a lot better prepared than most, with amazingly well-engineered buildings, evacuation plans, and other preparations. Even with these, the devastation has been jaw-droppingly catastrophic. Relief efforts are already underway, with many of the organizations involved taking donations. By the way, keep in mind that unless I go to a 'post constantly during the day' kind of bloggin', this isn't an up-to-the-minute news site; a lot of those news items could develop in new ways quite soon after I put up the links.
Japan sits alongside what's known, geologically speaking, as the Ring of Fire, an area of high seismic and volcanic activity. In addition to Japan's current lava-related events, there are a few other places that are also showing signs of activity:
- Mount Redoubt in Alaska. It was home to the second costliest eruption in U.S. history (at about $160 million) in 1989, mostly due to shutting down nearby oil production. Mount Cleveland is on the US Geological Survey's watch list as well.
- Mount Kilauea in Hawaii. This is a very active volcano, so its recent activity isn't anything particularly new, though the gasses it emits are a large concern for anyone in the area.
- Mount Bromo in Indonesia. Bromo is just one among hundreds of volcanoes in Indonesia, but one of them, Mount Tambora (along with help from other global lava-lobbing sources) is believed to have helped bring about what's called The Year Without A Summer in 1816.
Those are just a few, and NASA has a series of satellite images of recent volcanoes and earthquakes on its website. This isn't meant to frighten or call for some kind of war on volcanoes, it's just something I started researching and thought I'd share the dread pass on what I found. I'm also trying to prime myself for when our kid has to have help with research papers beyond showing him the fun of mixing vinegar and baking soda. The last time I was aware of volcanic activity was the Iceland eruption last year that caused problems with European air travel. Before that, I remember being told as a kid to look at the sky and notice the effects of the ash cloud from Mount Saint Helens in 1980. One kid in my class had a vial of ashes from the slopes. She was a goddess for a day, before we all moved on to whatever the next big thing was ("Snorks," I think). But if you do want to frighten yourself, there's always the concept of supervolcanoes to keep you awake at night. :)
This might also keep some up late: There's going to be a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show on Nickelodeon, and a little teaser of the characters via a few milliseconds each of animation can be seen at EW's website. If you remember the 80's cartoon and the films, one of the things we had to suspend disbelief over was something I'd call the "Wolverine under the Comics Authority" effect. That is, even though two of the turtles carried slicey or stabby weapons (katanas and sais), there would never be an on-screen death or injury attributed to said weapons. Generally, they'd be used to stop a fall by using them against a wall, cut ropes, or deflect incoming projectiles. I bring this up because in the teaser, the formerly simple bo staff now has a switchblade in the end, and the nunchuks are now basically two commas linked by a chain. Unless they're planning on doing something way out of the Y7 ratings category, they've just given the writers two more pointy bits to ignore during combat. And no, I'm not suggesting that TMNT go 'Quentin Tarantino' on Nickelodeon, but if it was done to make the turtles seem 'edgier,' it's just going to wind up making them more cluttered with stuff that can't really be used. It could be the next generation's version of the "why can't G.I. Joe or COBRA manage to shoot anybody" meme.
While I seem to be on a roll filling everyone's heads with stuff to worry about, here's one more for those with the latest automotive technology: While difficult, researchers found they could hack into a car's computer systems via a specially coded MP3 played on the vehicle's stereo, as well as via less interesting methods using Bluetooth or diagnostic machines. Every car I've ever owned (all have been used) has made a quick jaunt to the nearest big box store that does stereo installations to replace the el-cheapo brick-with-knobs in the car's dashboard with something that at least gets FM or can play some kind of music format that doesn't involve tape. The caliber of vehicles I tend to own, ones that come with a feature called 'power nothing,' are about as hackable as lawn furniture. I don't say this out of some kind of misplaced luddite superiority, I say this as someone whose first car was a '74 Dodge Colt station wagon purchased for $200. That is, everything else is a step up, even if there's a tree growing out of where the engine block should be. Anyway, expect this latest way for script kiddies to make your life annoying to be a major CSI plot point soon.
Which brings us to...
- You know how infuriating TV's portrayal of computers and video games are? It might be the case that the writers are doing it on purpose as an exercise in one-upsmanship and trolling of the audience.
- Some footage from PAX East shows off new footage from Portal 2. It really doesn't start into the game until around the 2:00 mark, and while it's 'spoiler' stuff, it's only the opening sequence that familiarizes you with the controls and introduces you to the voice of Aperture Laboratories' head honcho (other than GLaDOS, of course).
- Speaking of computers, here's a short film that's going to be an extra on the 'TRON: Legacy' Blu-Ray, TRON: The Next Day.
- The UK's Royal Mail is getting wizard-themed stamps, including two Pratchett characters.
- 'My Little Pony' and 'Starcraft.' What hath science wrought?
- Yes, Zombie Physics is yet another zombie game, but I like the puzzle aspect. Apply "force timers" to various objects to push them around the playfield so something sets off the bombs present that do in the local undead.
- Even if you don't play video games, you'll need this factoid for a future game of trivial pursuit: Call of Duty: Black Ops has become the best-selling video game of all time, beating out Wii Play.
- No matter what his owner tries to do, the owl finds you fascinating.
- Continuing from the magma-themed links above, here's a series of amazing photos from Nyiragongo Crater and its 'lava lake.'
- Something a little more frenetic: Another Cave Runner is one of those 'dodge/destroy everything ahead of you as you constantly run to the right' sort of games, but this one is dungeon-themed with a power-up system that increases your abilities.
- From the 'what could have been' files, here's an animated pilot/sampler for the film 'Siegfried.' After it was dropped, it was made into a comic book.
- Maybe Two-Face will return in 'The Dark Knight Rises.'
- From the 'huh, those existed, eh?' files come knitted beer sweaters. Given that a lot of those brands are now considered 'legacy' or 'hipster' beers, I wouldn't be surprised if they made a comeback.
- And we close with iStunt 2. It's a snowboarding game with pretty simple controls, and the best part is you don't have to restart the whole level every time you crash.