One World

In the process of setting up WorldSTAT, I made an error and actually entered the symoblic links "WorldSTAT" (as it would turnout, case matters). I decided that my attempts to fix it might break the internet, so instead I simply changed the name. I feel that One World is the end goal of all of these thinkers, builders, shamans, and chiefs. Besides, it will be nice not having to explain the name to everyone. The site is up, and can be found here: One World.

WorldSTAT

I've decided to launch another project today: Its called WorldSTAT. The name was suggested by Taran Rampersad, who explains:

STAT being used for 'immediate' in the medical sense, and subsequently being used in Disaster terminology.

American Street Tsunami Round Up

Kevin Hayden of the American Street has put together a comprehensive collection of the various Tsunami bloggers, organizations, and information centers. If you've found this site through Tsunami googling, then I suggest you leave and go to the American Street, here, and here.

The Atlantic's Sleeping Monster

Source: The Independent (UK) Published Aug.10th 2004

It sounds like the plot of a fanciful Hollywood disaster movie. A dangerous volcano in the Canary Islands erupts, sends a giant tsunami travelling faster than a jet aircraft into the major population centres of America's east coast, killing tens of millions and wiping out New York and Washington DC. But unlike the eruption in the 1997 film Volcano (which threatened in its tagline that 'the coast is toast') scientists believe the threat from the volcano of Cumbre Vieja on the island of La Palma is real, and that it could send a massive slab of rock twice the size of the Isle of Man crashing into the Atlantic. The effect would be to generate a huge wave with the energy equivalent to the combined output of America's power stations working flat out for six months. After travelling across 4,000 miles of the Atlantic for about nine hours the tsunami would hit the Caribbean islands and the east coasts of Canada and the US with devastating effect. It would stretch for many miles and sweep into the estuaries and harbours for up to 20 miles inland, destroying everything in its path. Those scientists are warning that the US government is not taking the threat from Cumbre Vieja seriously enough and not enough is being done to monitor it. Professor Bill McGuire, the director of the Benfield Grieg Hazard Research Centre at University College, London, warned that Boston, New York, Washington DC and Miami could be virtually wiped out. Professor McGuire said close monitoring might at best provide two weeks warning of the disaster but that despite knowing about the danger for a decade, no one was keeping a proper watch on the mountainThe Cumbre Vieja volcano last erupted in 1949 and its western flank is highly unstable. It could literally split apart next time the volcano erupts, which could be at any time in the next 1,000 years.Any evacuation plan would have to be based on the forecast of an eruption, since once the collapse happened it would be too late, he said. However, it could be a false alarm. Several eruptions could come and go before one of them sent the mountainside crashing into the sea in a matter of minutes.Professor McGuire acknowledged that the decision to depopulate the US eastern seaboard would not be an easy one. "I don't honestly know how we handle that," he said. "As scientists all we should really do is advise people of what we think the risks are."The wave front from the collapse of the mountain would spread out in a crescent, striking the west African coast with a wall of water more than 300ft high in two to three hours. Its northern side would also brush against Europe. Within three to four hours, a 33ft-high wave would smash into the south coast of England, causing immense damage.Unlike a normal wave, the tsunami would not break rapidly but just keep coming, said Professor McGuire. "You're not talking about the destruction of the UK economy, but very serious damage along the south coast," he said. Trying to stop the mountain collapsing was simply out of the question, he said. He has calculated that it would take 35 million years to dig out the dangerous part of the volcano and move it away.

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Sleep tight.

Delirium Blogging

I'm delirious, and I'm proud of it -- I even have this blog to prove it. Thus, I will start tonight's delirium with this little diddly from the notorious villian, the Continental:

Three Seconds to Midnight

 homage to the apollinaireWe'd gaze at our sky in awe as the doomsday asteroid began burning its way through our atmosphere; the silent yet blindingly bright fireball would fly across the sky above, and eventually settling over the horizon like a time lapse sunset. Impact.

Deep thought

I wonder if those self-important TV pundits who proclaimed that "after the election, bloggers aren't going to have anything to do anymore!" feel stupid.

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