Stop Torture

Lets hold the Bush administration responsible for their actions. The Obama team is taking questions again lets get this one to the top.

Will you appoint a Special Prosecutor (ideally Patrick Fitzgerald) to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping?

That question ranked sixth in voting last time -- out of over 10,000 submissions -- but the transition team only answered the top five questions. Now that Vice President Cheney confessed his support for waterboarding on national television, flouting the rule of law, the issue is even more urgent. Activist Bob Fertik, who has submitted the question twice, explains how you can vote to press this issue on the transition team:

Sign in at http://change.gov/openforquestions

Search for "Fitzgerald" [...and] find our question

Look right for the checkbox, mouseover it so it goes from white to dark, then click to cast your vote

While the press has fixated on the criminal allegations against Gov. Blagojevich, for some reason, the (even more serious) allegations of torture by officials in the current administration receive scant attention. I have not heard one question about this during Obama's transition press conferences, and the traveling press corps almost never pressed Obama on the issue during the general election campaign.

Quake Lake

Quake Lake, originally uploaded by ML Dollan Art & Photography.

A swarm of over 250 earthquakes hit Yellowstone National Park this weekend. Is this a precursor to a super volcano caldera eruption? Who knows?

The earthquakes have occurred in an area of the park where the temblors are common, scientists at the University of Utah say.

However, that number of earthquakes in such a short space of time is unusual, officials say.

According to the University of Utah Seismograph Stations, the quakes have been centered beneath Yellowstone Lake some five to nine miles south-southeast of Fishing Bridge. They are shallow temblors, anywhere from less than 2 miles below the earth's surface to near it, according to reports.

The earthquakes started on Friday and continued over the weekend, growing in strength. The strongest quake was 3.8 magnitude.

The picture above is of Earthquake Lake. The lake was formed when a August 17, 1959 earthquake caused part of the mountain to slide into the Madison River forming this lake, also called Quake Lake. 28 people were killed in the slide caused by the earthquake.

Great Artesian Basin

Australia's Great Artesian Basin has enough water for Australians for the next 1,500 years but it wont be easy to get it all.

YDNEY (Reuters) - An ancient underground water basin the size of Libya holds the key to Australia avoiding a water crisis as climate change bites the drought-hit nation.

Australia's Great Artesian Basin is one of the largest artesian groundwater basins in the world, covering 1.7 million sq kms (656,370 sq miles) and lying beneath one-fifth of Australia.

The basin holds 65 million gigaliters of water, about 820 times the amount of surface water in Australia, and enough to cover the Earth's land mass under half a meter of water, says the Great Artesian Basin Coordinating Committee.

And it is slowly topped up with 1 million megaliters a year as rain filters through porous sandstone rock, becoming trapped in the underground basin.

Mining interests have already tapped into it throw its natural artesian well off balance.

So Sad

A mother was killed and her son injured while hiking along railroad tracks near Soda Springs, California.

Upon arrival, deputies and paramedics found two victims on the north side of the tracks. Sydney Parks, 59, of Petaluma, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her 22-year-old son, Alan Young, of Davis, was severely injured and transported to Truckee Forest Hospital, authorities said.

Parks and Young were hiking on what they believed was a trail when a Union Pacific Railroad train approached, police said.

The train sounded its whistle and initiated an emergency stop. With the whiteout conditions and poor visibility, the victims mistakenly moved into the train's path in an attempt to get out of the way, Kropp added.

My condolences to their friends and family.

Sad To Hear

A hiker died in California's Topanga State Park.

My condolences to his friends and family.
Update: The hiker has been identified.

Israel J Franco Bernabel, 67, of Northridge, died at the scene, said coroner's spokeswoman Kelly Yagerlenen.

An autopsy was pending to determine the cause of death, Yagerlenen said.

The Dark Side of the Moon

The dark side of the moon, originally uploaded by Maarts.

Christmas eve was the fortieth anniversary of man seeing the dark side of the moon.

Humans have been going into space ever since the Russian Aviation and Space Agency launched Yuri Gagarin into a single orbit about Earth on April 21, 1961 aboard Vostok 1. In the intervening 47 years, there have been 292 manned space flights; 182 by NASA, 105 by Russia, two by China, and three by private company Scaled Composites. Out of all of those missions, the majority—in fact a full 283—never really did anything more than go around the block, so to speak. Only nine manned missions have ever truly left Earth and entered the gravitational influence of any other celestial body.

The first time this happened was the Apollo 8 mission, during which Jim Lovell, Frank Borman, and William Anders put their Apollo command module into lunar orbit 40 years ago today, December 24th, 1968. 1968 is considered one of America's most tumultuous years in the 20th century. Beginning with the Tet offensive in Vietnam, which saw heavy American casualties, it was followed up by Rev. Martin Luther King's assassination in Memphis and ensuing riots across the nation, then saw Robert Kennedy get assassinated two months later. Finally, the battle between police and protesters in the streets of Chicago at the Democratic National Convention left a black mark on 1968. However, on December 21st, Apollo 8 launched three humans on the first-ever voyage to the moon.

Santa And His Old Lady

Cheech explains Santa to Chong.

The Christians and The Pagans

Dar Williams.
From Susie who has the best music at her place.

Happy Christmas

John Lennon.

Christmas Wrapping

What you forgot cranberry too.

12 Days of Christmas

The Indian version or somebody's version of an Indian version.

Funny

When Chico Marx was told to sign a clause that would prove he was sane, he rightly said: "You don't fool me: there is no Sanity Clause"

Ezra Says

it's "illegal in California to use human medical waste to power vehicles."

Yellow Legged Frog

Rana boylii (Foothill yellow-legged frog), originally uploaded by birdgal5.

The Pacific Crest Trail is going to be re routed to protect the yellow legged frog.

Hikers and outdoor enthusiasts will still have to stay clear of a 1,000 acre area in the Angeles National Forest for another year, but for a good reason. The relatively small closure in the 655,000 acre forest is to protect a critical habitat for the endangered mountain yellow-legged frog.

"This once-abundant amphibian is disappearing," said Dr. Roland Knapp who runs a website and blog dedicated to the animal. "Many of the lakes and ponds in which I observed mountain yellow-legged frogs just a few years ago no longer contain them, leaving behind an eerie silence.

Frogs are a bell weather species. If the frogs are doing well the ecosystem is well.

Gloom And Doom

Sharon Astyk of Casaubon's Book makes her 2009 predictions she was amazingly good in 2008. Lets hope she is wrong about 2009.

COALergy

There is no such thing as clean coal.

Not So Bad

Do not listen to the nay sayers. We can beat global warming without too much trouble.

OSLO (Reuters) - Tough targets for avoiding dangerous global warming may be easier to achieve than widely believed, according to a study that could ease fears of a prohibitive long-term surge in costs.

The report, by scientists in the Netherlands and Germany, indicated that initial investments needed to be high to have any impact in slowing temperature rises. Beyond a certain threshold, however, extra spending would have clear returns on warming.

Until now, most governments have worried that costs may start low and then soar -- suggesting that ambitious targets will become too expensive for tackling threats such as extinctions, droughts, floods and rising seas.

When Florida sinks under the ocean the political will will be there but it will be to late. It will become easier through economies of scale, conservation(aka efficiency), education, and new technology.

White Christmases Are Doomed!

Global warming is making it less likely there will be a white Christmas.

ERLIN (Reuters) - The odds of a "white Christmas" in temperate parts of the northern hemisphere have diminished in the last century due to climate change and will likely decline further by 2100, climate and meteorology experts said.

Even though heavy snow this year will guarantee a white Christmas in many parts of Asia, Europe and North America, an 0.7-degree Celsius (1.3 Fahrenheit) rise in world temperatures since 1900 and projected bigger rises by 2100 suggest an inexorable trend.

"The probability of snow on the ground at Christmas is already lower than it was even 50 years ago but it will become an even greater rarity many places by the latter half of the century," said Friedrich-Wilhelm Gerstengarber, climate researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. In the northern German city of Berlin, for instance, the chances of snow on the ground on December 24, 25 and 26 have fallen from 20 percent a century ago to approximately 15 percent in 2008, he said. By 2100 the odds will be less than 5 percent.

Winter Solstice!

Winter solstice, originally uploaded by bryanilona.

Happy winter solstice!

How Bizarre

Not that he returned the money, just that it happened twice in the same spot.

AUBURN - Tuesday morning, walking the aisles of The Home Depot looking for a trailer part, a man's wallet caught Gil Steward's eye. It was on the floor, stuffed with almost $1,000 in $100s and $50s.

Thursday morning, Steward was back, shopping at Home Depot to replace a blown-out Christmas light when his eyes fell on a green money bag. It was also on the floor, also stuffed with money.

Same store, same time of day. Both returned to men who didn't know they'd dropped the money.

Some Christmases will be better for the kindness of strangers this year. He is going to play yhr lottery. Who knows maybe the third time is the charm.