2009 June

650 to dissent at U.N. climate change conference


June 2, 2009

[link to www.fourwinds10.com]

WASHINGTON – A United Nations climate change conference in Poland is about to get a surprise from 650 leading scientists who scoff at doomsday reports of man-made global warming – labeling them variously a lie, a hoax and part of a new religion.

Later today, their voices will be heard in a U.S. Senate minority report quoting the scientists, many of whom are current and former members of the U.N.'s own Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

About 250 of the scientists quoted in the report have joined the dissenting scientists in the last year alone.

In fact, the total number of scientists represented in the report is 12 times the number of U.N. scientists who authored the official IPCC 2007 report.

Here are some choice excerpts from the report:

* "I am a skeptic ... . Global warming has become a new religion." -- Nobel Prize Winner for Physics, Ivar Giaever.

* "Since I am no longer affiliated with any organization nor receiving any funding, I can speak quite frankly ... . As a scientist I remain skeptical." -- Atmospheric Scientist Dr. Joanne Simpson, the first woman in the world to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology and formerly of NASA who has authored more than 190 studies and has been called "among the most pre-eminent scientists of the last 100 years."

* Warming fears are the "worst scientific scandal in the history ... . When people come to know what the truth is, they will feel deceived by science and scientists." -- U.N. IPCC Japanese Scientist Dr. Kiminori Itoh, an award-winning Ph.D. environmental physical chemist.

* "The IPCC has actually become a closed circuit; it doesn't listen to others. It doesn't have open minds ... . I am really amazed that the Nobel Peace Prize has been given on scientifically incorrect conclusions by people who are not geologists." -- Indian geologist Dr. Arun D. Ahluwalia at Punjab University and a board member of the U.N.-supported International Year of the Planet.

* "The models and forecasts of the U.N. IPCC "are incorrect because they only are based on mathematical models and presented results at scenarios that do not include, for example, solar activity." -- Victor Manuel Velasco Herrera, a researcher at the Institute of Geophysics of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

* "It is a blatant lie put forth in the media that makes it seem there is only a fringe of scientists who don't buy into anthropogenic global warming." -- U.S. Government Atmospheric Scientist Stanley B. Goldenberg of the Hurricane Research Division of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

* "Even doubling or tripling the amount of carbon dioxide will virtually have little impact, as water vapor and water condensed on particles as clouds dominate the worldwide scene and always will." -- Geoffrey G. Duffy, a professor in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering of the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

* "After reading [U.N. IPCC chairman] Pachauri's asinine comment [comparing skeptics to] Flat Earthers, it's hard to remain quiet." -- Climate statistician Dr. William M. Briggs, who specializes in the statistics of forecast evaluation, serves on the American Meteorological Society's Probability and Statistics Committee and is an associate editor of Monthly Weather Review.

* "For how many years must the planet cool before we begin to understand that the planet is not warming? For how many years must cooling go on?" -- Geologist Dr. David Gee, the chairman of the science committee of the 2008 International Geological Congress who has authored 130 plus peer-reviewed papers, and is currently at Uppsala University in Sweden.

* "Gore prompted me to start delving into the science again and I quickly found myself solidly in the skeptic camp ... . Climate models can at best be useful for explaining climate changes after the fact." -- Meteorologist Hajo Smit of Holland, who reversed his belief in man-made warming to become a skeptic, is a former member of the Dutch U.N. IPCC committee.

* "Many [scientists] are now searching for a way to back out quietly (from promoting warming fears), without having their professional careers ruined." -- Atmospheric physicist James A. Peden, formerly of the Space Research and Coordination Center in Pittsburgh, Pa.

* "Creating an ideology pegged to carbon dioxide is a dangerous nonsense ... . The present alarm on climate change is an instrument of social control, a pretext for major businesses and political battle. It became an ideology, which is concerning." -- Environmental Scientist Professor Delgado Domingos of Portugal, the founder of the Numerical Weather Forecast group, has more than 150 published articles.

* "CO2 emissions make absolutely no difference one way or another ... . Every scientist knows this, but it doesn't pay to say so ... . Global warming, as a political vehicle, keeps Europeans in the driver's seat and developing nations walking barefoot." -- Dr. Takeda Kunihiko, vice-chancellor of the Institute of Science and Technology Research at Chubu University in Japan.

* "The [global warming] scaremongering has its justification in the fact that it is something that generates funds." -- Award-winning Paleontologist Dr. Eduardo Tonni, of the Committee for Scientific Research in Buenos Aires and head of the Paleontology Department at the University of La Plata.

The report also includes new peer-reviewed scientific studies and analyses refuting man-made warming fears and a climate developments that contradict the theory.

It is 4 degrees Celsius (39 Fahrenheit) today in Poznan, Poland, where the U.N. conference is being held.



Weakest Sunspot Cycle in 80 Years

Jun 2, 2009

Will the sun save us? Many 2012 prognosticators have been predicting a massive solar cycle in 2012, but the sun has been extremely quiet lately, and now NASA is predicting the weakest solar maximum since 1928, with a peak in 2013, not 2012. That's GOOD NEWS for global warming. But the bad news is: another thing that may help stave off global warming is POLLUTION.

An international panel of experts led by NOAA and sponsored by NASA has released a new prediction for the next solar cycle. Solar Cycle 24 will peak, they say, in May 2013 with a below-average number of sunspots.

NOAA space weather researcher Doug Biesecker says,"If our prediction is correct, Solar Cycle 24 will have a peak sunspot number of 90, the lowest of any cycle since 1928 when Solar Cycle 16 peaked at 78." However, Biesecker also says that "even a below-average cycle is capable of producing severe space weather. The great geomagnetic storm of 1859, for instance, occurred during a solar cycle of about the same size we?re predicting for 2013."

In recent months, however, the sun has begun to show timorous signs of life. Small sunspots are popping up with increasing frequency, so this forecast may be revised in the future. Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center says, "Go ahead and mark your calendar for May, but use a pencil."

Air pollution may actually help prevent global warming by giving plants the ability to absorb more CO2.

For the last 50 years, higher pollution levels in the atmosphere have meant that plants absorb 25% more carbon dioxide. And pollution, which causes hazy weather, is actually better for plants than a sunny day, because the atmospheric particles scatter the sunlight so that it reaches more leaves.

In BBC News, Matt McGrath quotes researcher Lina Mercado as saying that global dimming "resulted in a net 10% increase in the amount of carbon stored by the land once other effects were taken into account." And the more CO2 that is stored in the ground, the less than gets into the atmosphere.

It's never too hot or too polluted to have fun in beautiful Nashville, and it has a central location, so it's easy to get to from anywhere, which is why we're holding our Dreamland Festival there again on June 26-28. Come see all your favorite Dreamland hosts there and learn some secrets!



Earth Losing Atmosphere Faster than Venus, Mars

Jun 3, 2009

Discovery Channel

Researchers were stunned to discover recently that Earth is losing more of its atmosphere than Venus and Mars, which have negligible magnetic fields.

This may mean our planet's magnetic shield may not be as solid a protective screen as once believed when it comes to guarding the atmosphere from an assault from the sun.

"We often tell ourselves that we are very fortunate living on this planet because we have this strong magnetic shield that protects us from all sorts of things that the cosmos throws at us -- cosmic rays, solar flares and the pesky solar wind," said Christopher Russell, a professor of geophysics and space physics at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"It certainly does help in some of those areas but ... in the case of the atmosphere, this may not be true," he said.

Russel and others came to this realization while meeting at a comparative planetology conference last month.

"Three of us who work on Earth, Venus and Mars got together and compared notes," Russell told Discovery News. "We said, 'Oh my goodness -- what we've been telling people about the magnetic shield is not correct.'"

The perpetrators are streams of charged particles blasting off the sun in what is known as the solar wind.

"The interaction of solar wind with Venus and Mars is pretty simple," Russell said. "The wind comes in, carries a magnetic field, which wraps around the ionosphere of the planet. The ionosphere is basically dragged away."

Earth's magnetic field interacts with the solar wind, drawing out energy that gets funneled into the planet's atmosphere along its magnetic field lines.

"The wind has to flow around this large magnetic obstacle in its path," Russell said. "The two are not friction-free."

In addition to triggering aurorae, the process causes Earth's atmosphere to heat up to the point where atmospheric gases can escape along the field lines, where they are then picked up by the solar wind.

"The visible manifestation of geomagnetic activity is the aurora -- the sun interacts with magnetosphere and causes it to glow -- but there are other things that go on when the particles interact with the atmosphere," said Scott Bailey, with the Center for Space Science and Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

Despite the rather mind-boggling rate at which Earth is losing atmosphere -- 5×10tothe25 molecules per second -- scientists say there is no cause for alarm. If the loss rate stays the same, the planet's atmosphere will last for several more billion years. "Ultimately we're trying to understand why Venus, Mars and Earth atmospheres behave so different when initially the planets were pretty much the same," Russell said.

Russell presented his research at the American Geophysical Union conference in Toronto last week. He and his colleagues are working on paper that details the comparative atmospheric losses of Earth, Venus and Mars.



Why are the Planet's Coral Reefs Dying?

Jun 6, 2009

Daily Galaxy

After being a highly successful life form for 250 million years, disruptions in the biological and communication systems of coral reefs have been found to be the underlying cause of the coral bleaching and collapse of reef ecosystems around the world.

Coral reefs form the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms, Australia's Great Barrier Reef, which is visible from outer space (image). The reef is composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 3,000 kilometers over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometers.

An explosion of knowledge is helping to explain why coral reefs around the world are collapsing and what it will take for them to survive. The problems facing coral reefs are still huge, and increasing. They are being pressured by changes in ocean temperature, pollution, overfishing, sedimentation, acidification, oxidative stress and disease, and the synergistic effect of some of these problems may destroy reefs even when one cause by itself would not. Some estimates have suggested 20 percent of the world's coral reefs are already dead and an additional 24 percent are gravely threatened.

Corals, it appears, have a genetic complexity that rivals that of humans, according to research funded in part by the National Science Foundation. Their sophisticated systems of biological communication are being stressed by global change, and are only able to survive based on proper function of an intricate symbiotic relationship with algae that live within their bodies.

Pink_coral "We've known for some time the general functioning of corals and the problems they are facing from climate change," said Virginia Weis, a professor of zoology at Oregon State University. "But until just recently, much less has been known about their fundamental biology, genome structure and internal communication. Only when we really understand how their physiology works will we know if they can adapt to climate changes, or ways that we might help."

Corals are tiny animals, polyps that exist as genetically identical individuals, and can eat, defend themselves and kill plankton for food. In the process they also secrete calcium carbonate that becomes the basis for an external skeleton on which they sit. These calcified deposits can grow to enormous sizes over long periods of time and form coral reefs – one of the world's most productive ecosystems, which can harbor more than 4,000 species of fish and many other marine life forms.

But corals are not really self sufficient. Within their bodies they harbor highly productive algae – a form of marine plant life – that can "fix" carbon, use the energy of the sun to conduct photosynthesis and produce sugars.

"Some of these algae that live within corals are amazingly productive, and in some cases give 95 percent of the sugars they produce to the coral to use for energy," Weis said. "In return the algae gain nitrogen, a limiting nutrient in the ocean, by feeding off the waste from the coral. It's a finely developed symbiotic relationship."

What scientists are learning, however, is that this relationship is also based on a delicate communication process from the algae to the coral, telling it that the algae belong there, and that everything is fine. Otherwise the corals would treat the algae as a parasite or invader and attempt to kill it.

"Even though the coral depends on the algae for much of its food, it may be largely unaware of its presence," Weis said. "We now believe that this is what's happening when the water warms or something else stresses the coral – the communication from the algae to the coral breaks down, the all-is-well message doesn't get through, the algae essentially comes out of hiding and faces an immune response from the coral."

This internal communication process, Weis said, is not unlike some of the biological processes found in humans and other animals. One of the revelations in recent research, she said, is the enormous complexity of coral biology, and even its similarity to other life forms. A gene that controls skeletal development in humans, for instance, is the identical gene in corals that helps it develop its external skeleton – conserved in the different species over hundreds of millions of years since they parted from a common ancestor on their separate evolutionary paths.

There's still much to learn about this process, researchers said, and tremendous variation in it. For one thing, there are 1,000 species of coral and perhaps thousands of species of algae all mixing and matching in this symbiotic dance. And that variation, experts say, provides at least some hope that combinations will be found which can better adapt to changing conditions of ocean temperature, acidity or other threats. The predicted acidification of the oceans in the next century is expected to decrease coral calcification rates by 50 percent and promote the dissolving of coral skeletons, the researchers noted in their report.

"With some of the new findings about coral symbiosis and calcification, and how it works, coral biologists are now starting to think more outside the box," Weis said. "Maybe there's something we could do to help identify and protect coral species that can survive in different conditions. Perhaps we won't have to just stand by as the coral reefs of the world die and disappear."



This June is the loveliest OCTOBER we've ever had here in NYC

June 11, 2009

It's true.

It's a chilly 63 degrees and people are in fucking COATS today.

How is it where you are?

need to stress that I meant COATS

Not Jackets.

COATS.

And it's that very special bone-chilling type of cold.

And when I mention it to co-workers, they act like it's normal.

Rain....rain.....rain....and more rain. Chilly today.... out in PA



No Summer?

Jun 12, 2009

The almost total lack of solar activity means that things are getting cooler here on earth, and weather expert Joe Bastardi is predicting "a year without a summer" for the Northern Plains and the US Northeast.

This is because the jet stream has remained unusually far south this spring, something that was predicted by the Master of the Key. This is causing lower temperatures and fewer thunderstorms north of the stream, and means, that if it does not move north, areas now north of the stream will have fewer thunderstorms and also a very mild summer.

If it's too cool to go to the beach, catch up on your Dreamland listening! Regular unknowncountry.com. listeners only have access to a limited number of shows, but subscribers can listen (and re-listen) for an entire year, as well as download shows to an MP3 disc so you can listen in your car and in other places away from your computer. You get all this for less than $4 per month. So what are you waiting for? Subscribe today! And if the beach is no fun, come see us this summer instead. And get a really great tee shirt so you won't get too cold!



Удома дешевше

11-18 червня 2009

Це літо для більшості українців буде біднішим на розваги та враження, аніж попередні. Зменшен¬ня заробітків найбільше вдарило по "відпускній" статті сімейного бюджету.

Так, 13% українців узагалі відмо¬вилися від літньої відпустки через кризу або ж вирішили перебути її вдома, свідчать дані соціоло¬гічного опитування, проведеного консорціумом "Менеджмент кон¬салтинг груп".

"Ще понад 16,5% наших спів¬вітчизників суттєво змінили плани: переглянули вид транспорту, яким добиратимуться до курорту, або ж місце відпочинку, — розповідає Дмитро Підтуркін, керівник однієї з груп консорціуму. — А з тих, хто не передумав їхати у відпустку, понад 10% змінили свій маршрут".

За прогнозами, які соціологи грунтують на опитуванні, цього літа відпочинуть за кордоном на ЗО — 40% туристів менше, аніж 2008-го, натомість у Криму, Одесі та на Азовському морі їх буде значно більше.



Прибутки падають і падають

11 — 18 ЧЕРВНЯ 2009 РОКУ

Криза найбільше вплинула на обсяги продажу і показники прибутковості фірм.

Такі підсумки третього до¬слідження "Вплив еко¬номічної кризи на укра¬їнські компанії", яке провела компанія "Ернст енд Янг" ра¬зом з Європейською бізнес-асоціацією.

"В опитуванні взяли участь 117 провідних вітчизняних і за¬кордонних компаній, що пра¬цюють в Україні. 73 відсотки із них відзначили, шо (порівняно з докризовим періодом) най¬більше погіршилися обсяги їх продажів, — каже "Експре¬сові" Наталія Партач, стар¬ший фахівець зі зв'язків із гро¬мадськістю "Ернст енд Янг" — 70 відсотків респондентів за¬явили про погіршення прибут¬ковості їхнього бізнесу, а 64 відсотки — касової позиції.

Усі компанії, які брали участь у дослідженні, зауважили, що вони планують вжити або вже вжили заходів зі зменшення витрат. 78 відсотків сказали, що скорочують (або вже це зроби¬ли) адмінвитрати. 62 відсотки зменшують видатки на марке¬тинг і збут, а більше як поло¬вина планують підвищити опе¬раційну ефективність. Цікаво, що за останні три

місяці майже на 20 відсотків зросла кількість компаній, які відзначили важливість розроб¬ки й виведення на ринок нових продуктів і послуг (до 52 від¬сотків)...

Але, попри складність обста¬вин, результати дослідження показують, що оптимізм зали¬шається: 62 відсотки компаній, які діють в Україні, очікують припинення спаду нашої еко¬номіки 2010 року, і того ж року 72 відсотки респондентів про¬гнозують її перехід у фазу від¬новлення", — зазначає На¬талія Партач.

"Такі оптимістичні прогно¬зи робити наразі рано, — ствер¬джує, натомість, Святослав Денисенко, економіст Центру соціальних досліджень "Со¬фія". — Чи буде відновлення української економіки 2010 року, можна буде сказати вже цьогорічного жовтня. Коли стане зрозуміло, чи наші бан¬ки розрахувалися з кредитора¬ми, чи змогли вони реструкту-ризувати борги. А також — як реагують світові ринки мета¬лургійної продукції, хімії, АПК. Зрештою, побачимо, який уро¬жай збере Україна.

Треба подивитись й на ди¬наміку ВВП за два-три кварта¬ли, оцінити, якими темпами зростають чи зменшуються до¬ходи населення".



Воно активізувалось!

11—18 ЧЕРВНЯ 2009 РОКУ

На Сонці знову з'явились плями. Що б це означало?

Ще місяць тому вчені з Лабораторії рентге¬нівської астрономії Сонця (Росія) попере¬джали, що сонячна активність перебуває в одному з най¬глибших мінімумів за всю історію спос¬тережень.

А треба зауважити, шо пля-ми на світилі — інди¬катор його активності — люди почали рахувати ще з се¬редини XVIII століття.

Але днями науковців здиву¬вали різкі "зміни настрою" Сонця: спочатку на його по¬верхні з'явились дві плями, на¬ступного дня додалися ше три, а черед добу їх було вже 13!

Із чим пов'язана така ак¬тивність Сонця, чим це загро¬жує нашій планеті?

Про це запитуємо Романа Костика, доктора фізико-мате-матичних наук, члена-корес-пондента НАНУ, головного наукового співробітника Го¬ловної астрономічної обсерваторії НАНУ.

— Така різка активність є ано¬мальною для Сонця?

— Власне аномальною та не¬звичною була доволі довга три¬валість мінімуму сонячної ак¬тивності.

Розумієте, плями на світилі з'являються у середньому за період, який триває 11 років. Після цього настає невелика перерва. Зазвичай мінімуми со¬нячної активності тривають всього кілька місяців. Цього ж разу мінімум затягнувся — він мав закінчитись ше торік, а сталося це лише тепер.

Тож нових плям ми чекали вже давно. їх появу швидше можна назвати очікуваною нормою, аніж аномалією.

— На думку деяких учених, три¬вале зменшення активності за¬грожувало порушенням кліма¬тичного балансу Землі. Таке вже було в середині XVII століття,

коли через катастрофічне похо¬лодания замерзали південні моря. Невже таке могло повторитись?

— Цикл сонячної активності має певну тривалість, і відпо¬відно до цього змінюється по¬тужність сонячного випро¬мінювання і залежить кількість тепла, яке дістає Земля.

Але максимуми сонячної ак¬тивності далеко не завжди од¬накові. У 1956 році величина максимуму була найпотуж¬нішою і дорівнювала 200 умов-

ним одиницям (ця цифра про¬порційна кількості плям, їх ве¬личині та розташуванню). Ос¬танній період, який завершив¬ся понад рік тому і пік якого припав на 2000 рік, мав величи¬ну максимуму, шо дорівнював 130одиницям.

Зрозуміло, що під час макси¬муму сонячної активності Зем¬ля отримує більше тепла, ніж у періоди мінімуму. Але на клі¬мат це впливає з невеликим запізненням — лише через 5-7 років. За такий час океани й ат¬мосфера віддають тепло.

Тепер нам важливо знати, яким буде наступний максимум. Якшо збільшуватиметься його потужність, збільшуватиметься і глобальне потепління, спри¬чинене людською діяльністю. Тобто Сонце може посилити цю проблему. Але якщо потужність зменшуватиметься, Сонце в та¬кий спосіб протидіятиме глоба-

льному потеплінню.

— То шо нам "обіцяє" новий період сонячної активності?

— Наразі передбачається, шо потужність сонячного макси¬муму спадатиме. Якщо попе¬редній цикл мав 130 одиниць, то наступні три будуть менш по¬тужними. Зважаючи на це, вчені схильні думати, шо через 50 років глобальна температура на Землі знизиться на кілька гра¬дусів. Відповідно, збільшу¬ватимуться льодовики, зміню¬ватиметься клімат у бік похо¬лодання. Але точно розрахову¬вати такі прояви "поведінки" світила ми ще не навчились.

Тому вчені й не можуть дійти згоди щодо прогнозів нового циклу сонячної активності. Одні кажуть, що він дорів¬нюватиме 50 одиницям, інші прогнозують, що близько 150-ти.

Але в будь-якому разі треба пам'ятати, що від кількості плям залежить кількість спа¬лахів на Сонці. А вони мають безпосередній вплив на здоро-в'ялюдини...



Summer Snowfall in New Jersey

Jun 16, 2009

Wacky weather left parts of northern New Jersey looking like a Winter Wonderland yesterday.

A strong band of afternoon thunderstorms dumped penny-sized hail all over the region and covered many Garden State streets with a white dusting of snow.

Communities in eastern Bergen County reported as much as seven inches of accumulation from the storms.

Other areas saw high winds and heavy rainfall, which flooded homes and a freeway with waist-deep water.

Forecasters say the mid-June chill was nothing more than a freak incident and that the weather should to warm up today.



Для фур — нічний режим

18 — 25 ЧЕРВНЯ 2009 РОКУ

Великовантажний транспорт відтепер
зможе пересуватися тільки вночі

У спеку українські дороги "пливуть" під колесами вантажівок. Щоби врятувати дорожнє покриття, Укравтодор та ДАІ запровадили літнє обмеження руху вели¬ковантажного транс¬порту.

Той, вага якого перевищує 24 тонни, тепер зможе пере¬суватися тільки вночі.

"Причиною обмежень ста¬ло підвищення температури до понад 28 градусів, — роз¬повіла "Експре¬су" Ніна Хмеле-вська, керівник прес-служби Де¬партаменту ДАІ МВС України. — Дорожнє по¬лотно не витри¬мує в таких тем¬пературних умовах велико¬го навантаження. Асфальт плавиться, подушка дороги просідає. Через це утворю¬ється так званий "шифер" — хвилі та колії на дорозі. Вирівняти таку трасу потім досить дорого. Тож на авто¬мобільних дорогах загально¬го користування обмежено рух великовантажного транс¬порту загальною вагою понад 24 тонни і навантаженням на вісь більш ніж сім тон".

Ці вантажівки зможуть ру-

хатися тільки вночі, коли до¬рога вистигає. На ділянках,
де діють обмеження, вста¬новлено відповідні знаки та
інформаційні щити. Украв¬тодор разом з ДАІ здійснює контроль руху. Порушників штрафуватимуть.

Перевізники кажуть, що до обмежень руху звикли. Але в цивілізованих країнах водії перечікують спеку на обладнаних паркінгах з усі¬ма умовами, а в Україні — на запилених узбіччях під па¬лючим сонцем.

"Такі обмеження руху не новина, — розповів "Експресу" В'ячеслав Клименко з Асоціації міжна¬родних автомобіль¬них перевізників Ук¬раїни. — Це звичай¬на практика в бага¬тьох державах. Однак "від¬стійників" для вантажівок в Україні майже немає. Водії не мають елементарних умов для відпочинку. Про необ¬хідність стоянок говоримо постійно, але віз і нині там, їх нема і ніхто не будує. Тим більше тепер, коли криза. А ми ж приєдналися до євро¬пейської програми, яка ре¬гулює час роботи і відпо¬чинку перевізників..."



Буревій: жах, що іще повернеться

18-25 червня 2009

■ За останні сім років Україною пройшло більше смерчів та шквалів, ніж за всі попередні роки спостережень

Минулого тижня стихія прокотилася десятьма областями України. Вирвані з корінням величезні дерева, перекинуті й потрощені автомо¬білі...

Смерч зривав дахи з бу¬динків, піднімав у повіт¬ря залізобетонні опори ліній електропередач, трощив цегляні стіни, валив дерева...

Останніми роками негода стала приходити до нас частіше, а буревії все більше нагадують телекадри з епіцентру тропіч¬них циклонів: шалені зливи й. пориви вітру неймовірної си¬ли... Звідки вони беруться на нашу голову? Чому виникають? Чи можна їх уникнути?

Із цими запитаннями корес¬пондент "Експресу" звернувся до дослідника смерчів, старшо¬го наукового співробітника НДІ гідрометеорології, канди¬дата географічних наук Бориса Лескова.

— Чи правда, шо буревії та смерчі тепер почастішали?

— Так, це правда. Приміром, лише у Криму раніше спо¬стерігали один смерч на десять років. Тепер же тільки з 2002 по 2008 рік там пройшло вже де¬сять смерчів.

Скажімо, 22 липня 2002 року поблизу сіл Випасного та Ло-бакового ми стали свідками відразу п'ятьох смерчів, які зго¬дом злилися в один! Тоді вони розвалили понад 40 будинків майже до основи. Ці будівлі вже неможливо відремонтувати, таким сильним був вітер. Жах¬ливі речі коїлися! Літали дере¬ва, одного чоловіка забрало просто з хати і кинуло на сусідський город за і 50 метрів. Бідо¬лашний упав на землю з такою силою, що ребра повідділялися від хребта. Проте життя йому врятували. Навіть важко уяви¬ти, що пережив цей чоловік! Летіти в хмарі пилюки та шмат¬тя, піднятого смерчем...

Тиск усередині лійки смерчу такий низький, шо, коли вона "накриває" будинок, той прос¬то "вибухає" зсередини. Вири¬ває назовні вікна, а надлишко¬вий тиск витягує все з помеш¬кання, наче пилососом.

Іншого разу смерч, що вже втрачав свою силу, підняв із го¬сподарської будівлі кілька залі-зобетонних шестиметрових плит перекриття і волік їх за собою кілька десятків метрів. Отакі траплялися буревії, свід¬ком яких я сам був...

Іншу природу мають шквали: це "удари" вітру внаслідок інтенсивної циркуляції холод¬них фронтів. Швидкість вітру може сягати від 15 до 30 метрів за секунду і навіть більше. Це майже колова швидкість смер¬чу. Загалом, смерчі в нас що¬раз більше схожі на амери¬канські торнадо. І частота по¬яви, і сила буревіїв щороку зро¬стають.

— У чому ж причина?

— Фахівці-кліматологи ка¬жуть, ще тепер, у зв'язку із гло¬бальним потеплінням, у нас клімат усе більше стає подіб¬ним до субтропічного. Відпо¬відно, в атмосфері іншим чи¬ном циркулюють повітряні маси, ймовірність появи смерчів та шквалів збільшується.

Смерчі можуть з'явитися не лише наприкінці літа, а й на¬весні, пізньої осені. Напри¬клад, у Дніпропетровській об¬ласті зареєстрували смерч на¬прикінці листопада. Проте зви¬чайно найбільша інтенсив¬ність цих природних явиш при¬падає на літні місяці, особливо на липень.

До речі, в Україні є лише одна радіолокаційна станція, здатна "засікти" смерчі та вивчати їх структуру, вимірювати швид¬кість вітру. Власне, ми й займа¬ємося цим постійно.

— Чи можна запобігти руй¬нівним наслідкам смерчу?

— Якщо в Україні встанови¬ти мережу із двох-трьох де¬сятків радіолокаційних стан¬цій, подібних до кримської, можна за годину-дві виявляти небезпеку і повідомляти про неї населення.

Крім того, якщо діяти на гро¬зовий фронт, що утворюється, спеціальними речовинами, то можна уникнути, приміром, граду та інших наслідків бу¬ревіїв. Колись цим займалася в Україні Служба впливу на ат¬мосферні процеси, але її уже давно розформували...

Смерч у профіль та анфас

Смерчі можуть рухатися зі швидкістю від 20 — ЗО до 100 і більше кілометрів за годину. Швидкість вітру тоді сягає 50 метрів за секунду й більше.

Діаметр лійки смерчу становить від десятків метрів до кілометра. Інколи смерч має "братів" та "сестер": спостерігають одночасно кілька смерчів, які рухаються паралельно.

Як правило, "живе" смерч від однієї до десяти й більше хвилин. Та в Україні реєстрували смерчі, що лютували годинами! За цей час лійка проходить землею чи водою, засмоктуючи все на своєму шляху, від сотень метрів до кільканадцяти кілометрів.

Де може бути лихо?

"Поки що метеорологи не навчилися до¬стовірно передбачати появу смерчів, — каже "Експресу" Маргарита Барабаш, старший науковий співробітник відділу кліматичних досліджень та довготривалих прогнозів Інститут гідрометеорології. — Вони можуть лише перед¬бачити ймовірність появи таких руйнівних явищ. Однак ми знаємо регіони України, де смерчі бувають найчастіше: це Львівщина, Волинь, Крим, південь Київшини. Дніпропетоовська, Запорізька, Донецька, Херсонська і Черкаська області.

Вважали донедавна, що смерчів не буває на Закарпатті, в Івано-Франківській, Тер¬нопільській, Хмельницькій, Полтавській, Кіровоградській областях. Однак у цих регіонах можливі буревії, коли швидкість вітру сягає до ЗО метрів за секунду. Вони теж дуже небез¬печні".



Italy; 27 Killed

[link to www.foxnews.com]

ROME — A strong earthquake rocked central Italy early Monday, killing at least 16 people, causing buildings to collapse and sending panicked residents into the streets, officials and news reports said.

Several people were also reported missing in the area of the quake, which was felt in much of central Italy, including Rome.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude was 6.3, though Italy's National Institute of Geophysics put the magnitude at 5.8.

"The situation is very serious because the quake affected buildings," including a student dormitory that collapsed, said Luca Spoletini, spokesman for the national Civil Protection Department.

He declined to give a death toll, saying rescue operations were under way.

The quake struck about 70 miles northeast of Rome at about 3:32 a.m. local time (0132 GMT, 9:32 p.m. EDT), officials said. The Civil Protection Department said the epicenter was near the city of L'Aquila, in the mountainous Abruzzo region.

Television footage from the scene showed residents and rescue workers already hauling away debris from collapsed buildings.

Four children died in L'Aquila after their houses collapsed, the ANSA news agency said.

Massimo Cialente, mayor of L'Aquila, told Sky TG24 that two other people were reported dead in the nearby small town of Fossa. He confirmed reports that another eight were missing in another small town.

The ANSA news agency said the dome of a church in l'Aquila collapsed, while the city's cathedral also suffered damages.

Cialente said some 100,000 people had left their homes and that many buildings in the city's historic center were damaged.

The quake was the latest in a series of jolts that struck the area over the past two days.



UN: World hunger reaches 1 billion mark

Jun 20, 2009

Yahoo News

ROME – The global financial meltdown has pushed the ranks of the world's hungry to a record 1 billion, a grim milestone that poses a threat to peace and security, U.N. food officials said Friday.

Because of war, drought, political instability, high food prices and poverty, hunger now affects one in six people, by the United Nations' estimate.

The financial meltdown has compounded the crisis in what the head of the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization called a "devastating combination for the world's most vulnerable."

Compared with last year, there are 100 million more people who are hungry, meaning they consume fewer than 1,800 calories a day, the agency said.

"No part of the world is immune," FAO's Director-General Jacques Diouf said. "All world regions have been affected by the rise of food insecurity."

The crisis is a humanitarian one, but also a political issue.

Officials presenting the new estimates in Rome sought to stress the link between hunger and instability, noting that soaring prices for staples, such as rice, triggered riots in the developing world last year.

Josette Sheeran of the World Food Program, another U.N. food agency based in Rome, said hungry people rioted in at least 30 countries last year. Most notably, soaring food prices led to deadly riots in Haiti and the overthrow of the prime minister.

"A hungry world is a dangerous world," Sheeran said. "Without food, people have only three options: They riot, they emigrate or they die. None of these are acceptable options."

Even though prices have retreated from their mid-2008 highs, they are still "stubbornly high" in some domestic markets, according to FAO. On average, food prices were 24 percent higher in real terms at the end of 2008 compared to 2006, it said.

"Malnutrition kills through the fact that it weakens the immune system of a child," said Andrei Engstrand-Neacsu, a Nairobi, Kenya-based spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in East Africa. Some 22 million of the 1 billion hungry people counted by the United Nations are in the drought-stricken Horn of Africa, he said.

Engstrand-Neacsu said he had just returned from a corner of southern Ethiopia on the Kenyan border where the food situation is dire, and had been speaking to a family who lost a child to malaria in February. The parents said they were told he couldn't be saved because he was malnourished.

Engstrand-Neacsu called on donors to act before "skeletal African children are shown on the television screen at dinnertime" in the West.

The number of hungry people is estimated to have reached 1.02 billion — up 11 percent from last year's 915 million, FAO said. The agency said it based its estimate on analysis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

FAO said that the hunger rate is rising, too — that is, the number of hungry people is growing more quickly than the world population. Officials did not provide a rate but said the trend began two years ago.

Almost all the world's undernourished live in developing countries. But all regions of the world have registered two-digit increases in hunger from last year.

The world's most populous region, Asia and the Pacific, has the largest number of hungry people — 642 million, up 10.5 percent from last year. Sub-Saharan Africa registers 265 million undernourished, an 11.8 percent increase. Even in the developed world, undernourishment is a growing concern, with 15 million in all and a 15.4 percent increase, the sharpest rise around the world, FAO said.

The dire figures make it highly unlikely that a goal set by the wealthiest nations to cut hunger in the world in half by 2015 will be met, though officials vow to press world leaders at the Group of Eight summit gathering in Italy next month.

FAO said the calorie-limit it employs to declare a person hungry is on average 1,800, though it changes slightly from country to country.

Alice Lichtenstein, a professor of nutrition science and policy at Tufts University, said FAO's hunger definition was reasonable, if a little conservative. She said the 1,800-calorie threshold represented the number of calories most adults need to maintain their body weight, but that the figure would vary depending on a person's size and level of physical activity.

The number of calories for children varies even more. They need fewer calories because they are smaller, but also need increasing amounts as they get older to ensure they are growing.

World cereal production in 2009 was strong, but the global economic downturn resulted in lower incomes and higher unemployment rates — and therefore reduced access to food.

The crisis also affects the quality of nutrition, as families tend to buy cheaper, calorie-rich but nutrient-poor foods such as grains, at the expense of meat, dairy products and other expensive and high-protein foods.



По Хорватии пронесся смерч, а Италию затопили дожди (видео)

22 июня 2009

Непогода на юге Европы: на Хорватию обрушился смерч, а на Апеннины - ливни и грозы. Местные жители оказались не готовы к капризам погоды, есть раненые и пропавшие без вести.

Поваленные деревья, перевернутые машины и домики - это все, что осталось от кемпинга на западе Хорватии. Кадры, на которых запечатлено стихийное бедствие, удалось снять одному из очевидцев. Смерч высотой около 350 метров и шириной около 10 метров налетел внезапно. Люди даже не успели спрятаться в укрытие. В результате пятеро пострадавших. Одного из них - пожилого австрийца - придавило упавшее дерево. Со сломанными ребрами он доставлен в госпиталь. Территорию кемпинга теперь расчищают пожарные команды.

"Вчера температура была около 35-36 градусов и внезапно упала до 15 градусов. Возможно, смерч стал побочным эффектом этого феномена", - предполагает Ренато Калач, сотрудник службы спасения полуострова Истрия.

"Ужасно! Я никогда не видел ничего подобного, хотя бываю тут каждый год. Невероятно!" – рассказывает очевидец событий Фулвио Поропар.

А на западе страны сильные проливные дожди блокировали движение на автодорогах. Местным жителям и туристам пришлось провести выходные в многокилометровых пробках.

Похожая ситуация сложилась и в соседней Италии. На большую часть страны, включая Рим и пригороды Венеции, обрушились ливневые дожди и грозы. Штормовое предупреждение было объявлено по всему полуострову. Уже известно о 28 пострадавших, есть жертвы и пропавшие без вести. Проехать по улицам на легковых автомобилях практически невозможно. Большинство пляжей затоплены, поэтому отдых многих туристов оказался испорченным.

А гостям и жителям Неаполя пришлось стать свидетелями настоящей природной аномалии - улицы засыпало градом. Прямо в летней обуви людям пришлось по щиколотку шагать в ледяной каше.



Банки масово банкрутують

25 червня 2009

Від початку року в США закрили сорок банків.

Попри оптимістичні прогнози світових експертів, Америка і далі пожинає гіркі плоди світової економічної кризи. Най¬більших збитків зазнає банківська сфе¬ра. Так, лише минулого тижня у країні закрились три банки. Загалом же від по¬чатку року збанкрутувало вже сорок фінустанов. Це значно перевищує показ¬ники 2008-го. Тоді було ліквідовано 25 банків.

Останніми жертвами стали три порів¬няно великі фінансові установи, сумарні

активи яких 1,5 мільярда доларів.

Закриття обійдеться Федеральній кор¬порації страхування депозитів (FDIC) у 363 мільйони доларів. До слова, через усі ті нові банкрутства в корпорації вже май¬же не лишилось коштів. Так, наприклад, до початку кризи фонд мав у своєму роз¬порядженні 52,4 мільярда доларів, тепер же запаси ледь сягають 13 мільярдів. Притому на початку року FDIC попере¬джала про те, що на межі банкрутства до кінця року опиняться 315 фінустанов.

Нині FDIC застрахувала депозити в більше як 8000 компаніях із загальним обсягом активів 13,5 трильйона доларів



Батьківщині Далай-лами не щастить

25 червня 2009

У Тибеті найбільша за останні тридцять років посуха.

Нещадна спека випалила тисячі гектарів землі та вбила понад 14 тисяч голів худоби.

Китайська державна інформагенція Сіньхуа повідомила, що вперше за останні десятиліття регіон зіткнувся із такими масштабними про¬блемами. Притому й прогнози для Гімалаїв не втішні. Синоптики попереджають, що це лише початок негараздів. Через глобальне потепління території загрожують подальші посухи та по¬вені, спричинені таненням льодовиків. До сло¬ва, світові експерти вже давно попереджали про наслідки глобального потепління для гір

Тибету, звідки виходить чимало найбільших річок Азії.

Поки що посуха вразила п'ять із шести ти¬бетських районів. Та ще з минулого року заче¬пила 15,3 відсотка всього плато, повідомив місцевий центр боротьби з наслідками сти¬хійних лих. На деяких територіях дощу не було вже більш як 200 днів. Ситуацію значно погіршило підвищення середньої температури. Цього року вона зросла на 0,4 — 2,3 градуса.

"Якщо потепління буде й далі, мільйони лю¬дей на заході країни страждатимуть від па-водків уже незабаром та від сильних посух у майбутньому", — повідомив голова китайсь¬кого метеорологічного бюро Ценг Гуоганг.



Legless frogs mystery solved

Jun 26, 2009

BBC

Scientists think they have resolved one of the most controversial environmental issues of the past decade: the curious case of the missing frogs' legs.

Around the world, frogs are found with missing or misshaped limbs, a striking deformity that many researchers believe is caused by chemical pollution.

However, tests on frogs and toads have revealed a more natural, benign cause.

The deformed frogs are actually victims of the predatory habits of dragonfly nymphs, which eat the legs of tadpoles.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, researchers started getting reports of numerous wild frogs or toads being found with extra legs or arms, or with limbs that were partly formed or missing completely.

The cause of these deformities soon became a hotly contested issue.

Some researchers believed they might be caused naturally, by predators or parasites.

Others thought that was highly unlikely, fearing that chemical pollution, or UV-B radiation caused by the thinning of the ozone layer, was triggering the deformations.

Once they grab the tadpole, they use their front legs to turn it around, searching for the tender bits, in this case the hind limb buds, which they then snip off with their mandibles

Biologist Stanley Sessions describes the dining habits of dragonfly nymphs

"Deformed frogs became one of the most contentious environmental issues of all time, with the parasite researchers on one side, and the 'chemical company' as I call them, on the other," says Stanley Sessions, an amphibian specialist and professor of biology at Hartwick College, in Oneonta, New York.

"There was a veritable media firestorm, with millions of dollars of grant money at stake."

After a long period of research, Sessions and other researchers established that many amphibians with extra limbs were actually infected by small parasitic flatworms called Riberoria trematodes.

These creatures burrow into the hindquarters of tadpoles where they physically rearrange the limb bud cells and thereby interfere with limb development.

"But that was not end of the story," says Sessions.

"Frogs with extra limbs may have been the most dramatic-looking deformities, but they are by far the least common deformities found," he explains.

"The most commonly found deformities are frogs or toads found with missing or truncated limbs, and although parasites occasionally cause limblessness in a frog, these deformities are almost never associated with the trematode species known to cause extra limbs."

Missing legs

The mystery of what causes frogs to have missing or deformed limbs remained unsolved until Sessions teamed up with colleague Brandon Ballengee of the University of Plymouth, UK. They report their findings in the Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution.

For a decade, Ballengee and Sessions have collaborated on a series of art and science projects that image amphibians' bodies to show the detail within, the most recent of which is funded by the Arts Catalyst organisation, based in London.

A dragonfly nymph eats the leg of a tadpole

As part of this work, Ballengee and Richard Sunter, the official Recorder of Reptiles and Amphibians in Yorkshire, spent time during the summers of 2006 to 2008 surveying the occurrence of deformities in wild amphibians at three ponds in the county.

In all, they found that between 1.2% and 9.8% of tadpoles or metamorphosed toads at each location had hind limb deformities. Three had missing eyes.

"We were very surprised when we found so many metamorphic toads with abnormal limbs, as it was thought to be a North American phenomenon," says Ballengee.

While surveying, Ballengee also discovered a range of natural predators he suspected could be to blame, including stickleback fish, newts, diving beetles, water scorpions and predatory dragonfly nymphs.

So Ballengee and Sessions decide to test how each predator preyed upon the tadpoles, by placing them together in fish tanks in the lab.

None did, except three species of dragonfly nymph.

Crucially though, the nymphs rarely ate the tadpoles whole. More often than not, they would grab the tadpole and chew at a hind limb, often removing it altogether.

"Once they grab the tadpole, they use their front legs to turn it around, searching for the tender bits, in this case the hind limb buds, which they then snip off with their mandibles," says Sessions.

Stunted growth

Remarkably, many tadpoles survive this ordeal.

"Often the tadpole is released and is able to swim away to live for another day," says Sessions. "If it survives it metamorphoses into a toad with missing or deformed hind limbs, depending on the developmental stage of the tadpole."

If tadpoles are attacked when they are very young, they can often regenerate their leg completely, but this ability diminishes as they grow older.

The researchers confirmed this by surgically removing the hind limbs of some tadpoles and watching them grow. These tadpoles developed in an identical way to those whose limbs had been removed by dragonflies, confirming that losing a limb at a certain stage of a tadpole's development can lead to missing or deformed limbs in adulthood.

Adult amphibians with one one hind limb appear able to live for quite a long time, Sessions says, explaining why so many deformed frogs and toads are discovered.

Why do the dragonflies like to eat the hind legs only?

Stained toads, one with a four limbs, one with a leg missing.

A normal and a legless toad stained to reveal details of the skeletal deformities (bones purple, cartilage blue, soft tissues transparent).

As toad tadpoles mature, they develop poison glands in their skin much earlier than those in their hind legs, which could make the hind legs a far more palatable meal.

The front legs of tadpoles also develop within the gill chamber, where they are protected.

Sessions is careful to say that he doesn't completely rule out chemicals as the cause of some missing limbs. But 'selective predation' by dragonfly nymphs is now by far the leading explanation, he says.

"Are parasites sufficient to cause extra limbs?," he asks. "Yes. Is selective predation by dragonfly nymphs sufficient to cause loss or reduction of limbs. Yes. Are chemical pollutants necessary to understand either of these phenomena? No."



Crack in the Earth

Another new development is a crevasse in Saudi Arabia, in a location not far from the Red Sea. Where the article attributes the crevasse to undetermined volcanic activity, per the Zetas, the Red Sea is in the stretch zone and will be pulling apart as the Earth changes proceed.

ZetaTalk on Arabia: Our advice to Saudi residents wanting to survive is to move into Africa, before the shift else they will have a long boat trip across the gulf that will open as Saudi land separates further from Africa.



Earthquakes Continue in Western Saudi Arabia

June 1, 2009

http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2009/06/earthquakes_continue_in_wester.php

Earthquakes in the M2.5-3.5 range occurred on Saturday - both of which the SGS are attributing to "subterranean volcanic activity."

On yet another continent, in Mexico, yet another crevasse opened up. Per the Zetas, Mexico is being pulled at a diagonal, as is all North America, accounting for the incidence of crevasses there.

ZetaTalk on Mexico: This creates a diagonal stress on the N American continent where New England is pulled to the east while Mexico is pulled to the West, so the New Madrid is put under slip-slide stress where one half, east of the Mississippi, will move toward the NE while the other, west of the Mississippi, moves toward the SW.

The Earth in Chalco is abre, Edomex

June 2, 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i9zynlVKyI&feature=player_embedded

A crack of 300 meters in length by a meter of width was abrió in the Earth in the municipality of Chalco. The geological fault affected the structure of several houses of the residential unit Towns of San Martin, in the community of Cuatlalpan.



Michelle's Harvest

The White House garden had a photo op, a harvest day to parallel the planting session with school children in April. Just two months into the Summer, the harvest is plentiful. I, Nancy, was concerned that they would miss the opportunity to talk about saving seed. Without seed, there is no garden. It won't be possible to simply trot to the store and buy seed, or pull up a website on a nonexistent Internet. I was pleased to see that the opportunity was not lost. Seed saving got a mention.





Michelle Obama Garden Harvesting Outfit: Comin' Up Roses!

June 6, 2009

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/16/michelle-obama-garden-har_n_216467.html

Children from the Bancroft elementary school who had helped First Lady Michelle Obama plant a vegetable garden in April were invited back today to harvest vegetables. White House associate chef Sam Kass said the garden has produced lettuce, snap peas, beans, kale, collards and chard. The children were accompanied by their principal and teachers. The children concentrated on harvesting lettuce and peas. No chemicals - fertilizer or herbicide - had been used on the garden, but that the underlying White House soil had been "amended" with crab meal from the Chesapeake Bay, green sand compost and lime powder. The only problem he had noticed is that "something is nibbling a little bit on the kale." The garden "is not "certified organic." There has been one big weeding once a week. 90 pounds of produce has been harvested from the garden, including broccoli and green beans and "one beautiful eggplant." The garden has produced only one cucumber, saved for the children to harvest today. It is supposed to be a white cucumber, but it had turned yellow. The children were told that the Thomas Jefferson lettuce has already gone to seed and the children were told about farmers passing seed down through the generations.

Now the Queen of England is following suit, having a royal garden this year. A related trend is the increased incidence of college students seeking summer internships on farms. Where this might be related to the struggling economy, there is a distinct enthusiasm among these students for the calluses and aching muscles that come with the job.

Many Summer Internships Are Going Organic

May 23, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/dining/24interns.html?_r=1&ref=dining

Erin Axelrod, who graduated from Barnard College last week with an urban studies degree, will not be fighting over the bathroom with her five roommates on the Upper West Side this summer. Instead she will be living in a tent, using an outdoor composting toilet and harvesting vegetables on an organic farm near Petaluma, California. Whatever the reason, the interest in summer farm work among college students has never been as high, according to dozens of farmers, university professors and people who coordinate agricultural apprenticeships. Andrew Marshall, who began organizing apprenticeships for the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association in 2003, used to see an average of 75 applications a year. This season, he has fielded over 200, with more coming in every day. Katherine L. Adam, who runs the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, financed by the Department of Agriculture, said 1,400 farms sought interns this year, almost triple the number two years ago. The number of small farms, which attract the new agrarians and can use the cheap, enthusiastic help, has grown sharply since 2003, according to the department.

Per the Zetas, these changes reflect the subconscious awareness of the times ahead, typical of contactees.

ZetaTalk Prediction 10/15/1995: Contactees who have become comfortable with their understanding of the alien presence and any role they have volunteered to perform during the Transformation are seldom passive. They reflect this in their daily life, as is inevitable following any overreaching concept grasped or heavy commitment. Just as the decision to settle down into married life can often be read by others, as perhaps taking up cooking or giving up singles parties, likewise the awakened contactee can often be recognized. The signs are subtle and in the normal course of human events would leave no mark, in that the alien presence is seldom discussed. But the awakened contactee changes, in not so subtle ways, the whole course of their life. The impact can be equated to joining the priesthood or the peace corps or the military. The contactee's whole life is affected.

And the collective conscious is also a factor, as food prices have been going out outside of the rate of inflation.

ZetaTalk Comment 6/7/2008: The collective conscious is often mentioned as a reason the populace seems to become aware of matters without being told directly by the media or the authorities. It is more than telepathy. It is body language noted during everyday activities, and also simply computing what is happening and extending this out into the future. Food prices are rising dramatically. This would not be happening if shortages were not happening. It is only logical to realize this. Price gouging to the extent of the current price rises would not be allowed. The gouging would not be overlooked. Those who can garden are anticipating saving money, and don't anticipate that prices will go down. This is occurring whether or not they are aware of a larger picture re Planet X, etc.

One Billion Starving

The UN has announced that the number of people in dire need of food has topped one billion. Though this is not much higher than the 963 million in that category in 2008, it graphically shows the state of the world and the trend.

U.N. Warns of Catastrophe as Hungry People Top One Billion

June 12, 2009

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE55B3M020090612

High food prices have pushed another 105 million people into hunger in the first half of 2009, the head of the U.N. World Food Programme said, raising the total number of hungry people to over 1 billion. Urging rich nations at a meeting of G8 development ministers not to cut back on aid, Josette Sheeran said the world faced a human catastrophe as more people struggle to eat a decent meal. In 2008, FAO said the world's hungry numbered 963 million. The agency says it has had to cut food aid rations and shut some operations in eastern Africa and North Korea because of the credit crunch. She said despite a decline in most food prices from record peaks last year, they remained high in developing countries, while global food aid was at a 20-year low. The financial crisis has made things worse, and in terms of staple food, people in poorer countries today can only afford about a third of what they could afford three years ago.

The Zetas, and the Zetas alone, predicted crop shortages at this time, due to the weather extremes such as drought and deluge which they also predicted in 1995, when no one else was making such predictions.

Question: What factors have made this situation different from previous years? I remember when US farmers produced so much wheat that it depressed the market so much, many chose to let crops rot in the fields rather than harvest them to sell for a loss.

ZetaTalk Answer 6/13/2009: This is almost entirely due to weather related problems. We and we alone predicted crop shortages back in 1995 when the ZetaTalk saga first began. We knew that the wobble would develop and what it would do to the weather, which we also predicted with great accuracy back in 1995 when no one else was mentioning this. But problems with crop shortages actually appeared in 2000, due to the weather. It was not the wobble alone that causes weather related problems, as the roiling core of the Earth, responding from a distance to the approach of Planet X, likewise affects the weather by affecting undersea volcanoes. Drought, deluge, late frosts, early spring thaws, and dying bees. All are affected by the weather or the roiling core which affects the immune systems of bees.



Classified Bolides

If bombing the Moon is confusing, making incoming debris from space classified seems whacky. What possible reason could there be for this move? None was given, frankly. Information on incoming space debris, freely given to scientists for the past 15 years, is no longer going to be made available to said scientists.

Military Hush-Up: Incoming Space Rocks Now Classified

June 10, 2009

http://www.space.com/news/090610-military-fireballs.html

A recent U.S. military policy decision now explicitly states that observations by hush-hush government spacecraft of incoming bolides and fireballs are classified secret and are not to be released. The satellites' main objectives include detecting nuclear bomb tests, and their characterizations of asteroids and lesser meteoroids as they crash through the atmosphere has been a byproduct data bonanza for scientists. Over the last decade or so, hundreds of these events have been spotted by the classified satellites. Priceless observational information derived from the spacecraft were made quickly available, giving researchers such insights as time, a location, height above the surface, as well as light-curves to help pin down the amount of energy churned out from the fireballs. But all that ended within the last few months, leaving scientists blind-sided and miffed by the shift in policy. The hope is that the policy decision will be revisited and overturned.

Bombing the Moon and classifying meteors. What next. Per the Zetas, the two are related. A Moon base for the elite and covering up the increasing debris incoming from the tail of Planet X - both are related to the coming passage. Per the Zetas, the establishment fears that a pattern in the increasing incidence of fireballs will be discovered, leading scientists to conclude that this is debris in the tail of a planet near the Sun. This is the conclusion the establishment fears, and thus the fireballs and meteors and near Earth objects are now classified.

ZetaTalk Explanation 6/20/2009: There was obviously no harm done to national security during the decade that data from these satellites was shared with scientists, so why the change? There is no explanation given, just the change in policy. On the face of it, this policy change is to prevent the bulk of scientists from seeing the increasing evidence of a rogue planet in the inner solar system. The tail, as we have been stating, is turning toward the Earth, and this means increasing fireballs screaming across the skies. It is the pattern of where this debris is coming from that the US military wants to avoid. To date, it has been haphazard enough that no pattern has been established. Fireballs scream across both hemispheres, erratically. They have not formed a clear pattern of a lick from a large tail, and this coming from the direction of the Sun. The cover-up has reached the stage where excuses can no longer be given, so no excuses are given. This in and of itself is evidence of the cover-up crumbling and failing.