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POPS 2009 in Photos Specialist Sheldon Rabago, as his mother Nancy wraps her arms around both of them during a candlelight vigil at Hood Stadium on the Fort Hood Army Post in Fort Hood, Texas November 6, 2009. The day before, An Army psychiatrist opened fire at the post, killing 13 people and wounding 30 others A rocket fired by Palestinian militants from the northern Gaza Strip flies towards an Israeli target Burnt out trees outside Kinglake that were destroyed by fire are viewed from this aerial shot on February 8, 2009. Over 170 people were killed and entire towns razed in one of the worst wildfire disasters in Australian history, sending thousands fleeing in scenes Prime Minister Kevin Rudd compared to "hell". A US Marine of 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade runs to safety moments after an IED blast in Garmsir district of Helmand Province in Afghanistan on July 13, 2009.
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POPSDeep-Sea Volcano Seen By Scientists For First Time The eruption was a spectacular sight: Bright-red lava bubbles shot out of the volcano, releasing a smoke-like cloud of sulfur. The lava froze almost instantly as it hit the cold sea water, causing black rock to sink to the sea floor. The submersible hovered near the blasts, its robotic arm reaching into the lava to collect samples. Earth and ocean scientists said the eruption allowed them to see for the first time the creation of a material called boninite, which had previously been found only in samples at least a million years old.
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POPSSpectacular Sea Eruption Filmed -- Deepest Ever
One of the lead scientists called it, an underwater Fourth of July. Images show large molten lava bubbles about three feet across; glowing red vents ejecting lava into the sea, and lava flows across the seafloor. This West Mata volcano stands more than a mile high off the ocean floor. Its eruptive area is about the length of a football field. It is producing Boninite lavas, believed to be among the hottest erupting on Earth in modern times. Researchers believe they have a unique chance to study magma formation and how the Earth recycles material where tectonic plates slide against each other. A microbiologist on the team found diverse microbes in the extreme conditions, and they observed a small species of shrimp thriving. Its believed to be the same shrimp species found at eruptive sites more than 3,000 miles away. Mission scientists believe 80 percent of eruptive activity on Earth occurs in the ocean, and most volcanoes are in the deep sea.
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POPSScientists see deep-sea volcano for first time "It was an underwater Fourth of July," said Bob Embley, a marine geologist for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "Since the water pressure at that depth suppresses the violence of the volcano's explosions, we could get the underwater robot within feet of the active eruption."
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POPSYellowstone's Plumbing Reveals Plume of Hot and Molten Rock 410 Miles Deep
This thing is still plugged in....DEEP. About 4 miles beneath Yellowstone National Park's beautiful scenery is a forty-mile-wide chamber full of molten rock under incredibly high pressure. This magma is what powers Yellowstone's fantastic geysers and hot springs, It's the crown jewel of the United States national park system. Its mountain vistas, wildlife and geographic features are visited and admired by people from around the world. It erupted approximately 650,000 years ago. The caldera that it left is 53 miles long and 28 miles wide. In the area surrounding Yellowstone, 3000 square miles were subjected to a flow of pyroclastic material composed of 240 cubic miles of hot ash and pumice. Ash was also thrown into the atmosphere and blanketed much of North America. It can still be identified in core samples from as far away as the Gulf of Mexico. Since this occurred more than a half million years ago this is all ancient history, right? Not quite.
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POPS2010 could be warmest year on record (1) Nobody talks about consciousnes change leading to a new way of understanding what wealth means beyond the very basics of survival. If everyone just did everything they could to assist in the grand project of helping to heal nature which (some) people have harmed so grievously, then there may be a chance. All real wealth is co-owned and co-created by all life and the planet for the mutual benefit of all the stakeholders, both human and non-human. What is required is no more (and no less) than to redefine the purpose of life.
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POPSHuman Evolutionary Diversity & Ancient Volcanic Eruption In India "In 1998, Stanley Ambrose, an anthropology professor at the University of Illinois, proposed in the Journal of Human Evolution that the effects of the Toba eruption and the Ice Age that followed could explain the apparent bottleneck in human populations that geneticists believe occurred between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago. The lack of genetic diversity among humans alive today suggests that during this time period humans came very close to becoming extinct..."
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POPSThe Ring of Fire Amazing footage of a volcanic eruption in Japan in 1991. www.discoverychannel.co.uk/video/raging-planet-ring-of-fire/
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POPSMore facts on mud volcanoes In 2001, an eruption of a large underwater mud volcano off Baku created a new island, which is now almost one sq. km in size. Another volcano not far from Baku have erupted at least ten times since 1980, with flames reaching 300 m (1000') height.
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POPSAtlantis May be the romantic in me but ever since child always fascinated with legend of Atlastis
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POPSUp to 4,000 buried in Indonesian quake rubble "Aftershocks can be just as devastating as the initial quake," said Adjie Fachrurrazi, emergency response coordinator in Indonesia for the CARE aid organization, in a statement. "After an earthquake of this size, we know the immediate needs are going to be getting safe water, food and emergency supplies to the survivors. The question now is: How bad is it? We're hoping for the best, but the information so far is not looking good."
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POPSBeware The Stalin in Progressive Hearts Consider: Nowhere does the Constitution grant Congress authority to require every American to buy a particular private service or product on pain of forfeiture of a significant portion of their wealth. Yet, every version of Obamacare currently being discussed in Congress requires just that. Forcing all of us to buy officially approved health insurance is essential to a functioning government-run system. As Obama told Congress, "many of insurance reforms we seek - especially requiring insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions - cannot be achieved" without the individual mandate. Why? Because the politicians and bureaucrats who will manage the government-run health care program know that, without the force of government behind them, they won't be able to make the rest of us do what they tell us to do. But that is what government always does as it becomes more costly, intrusive and intolerant of dissent. As if to drive the point home,
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POPSFocus on climate mitigation; give geoengineering a chance Extravagant doublethink in action for the socially engineered: Pollute to counter pollution's effects. Huh? Didn't I see this in a Simpson's episode? Maybe that show was some sort of Murdoch sponsored conditioning? Nah. Nor could Captain Planet have been some sort of Turner sponsored conditioning.