Friday, January 29, 2010

The last earthquake of Port-Au-Prince was January 27, 2010 at 22:26:08 UTC.



Magnitude 4.0. Things are settling down a bit with the North American Plate. At least for now. There has been other activity in the region, but, none over 5.0.

These quakes all occurred today, January 29, 2010 (click here)


5.1 GALAPAGOS ISLANDS REGION

2.7 PUERTO RICO REGION

4.9 COLOMBIA

5.0 SALTA, ARGENTINA

2.6 ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII

5.0 GALAPAGOS ISLANDS REGION

2.6 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

2.7 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO

2.7 SOUTHERN ALASKA

2.6 PUERTO RICO REGION

3.5 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA

2.9 PUERTO RICO REGION

5.1 VANUATU

2.6 PUERTO RICO REGION

3.0 PUERTO RICO REGION

2.9 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION

4.6 NORTHERN COLOMBIA

4.7 KEPULAUAN SANGIHE, INDONESIA

3.7 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC REGION

Goddard to pick up the slack on Climate Change. No more pork for Congress.

NASA Directed Toward Climate Change, But Not the Moon (click title to entry - thank you)
Posted 2010-01-29
There will be money lacking for NASA's Constellation program, the program designated to return humans to the moon by 2020.

The White House will instead direct NASA funding to concentrate on Earth-science projects -- principally, researching and monitoring climate change, -- and on a new technology research and development program that will make human exploration of asteroids and the inner solar system possible.

This could be good news for the folks under Dr. James Hansen who monitor climate change at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS).

The White House budget request, which is certain to meet fierce resistance in Congress, scraps the Bush administration's Vision for Space Exploration and signals a major reorientation of NASA, especially in the area of human spaceflight, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Senior White House officials said NASA was expected to see some "modest" increases in its current $18.7 billion annual budget, possibly $200 million to $300 million more, but far less than the $1 billion boost agency officials had hoped for.

Obama's budget freeze is likely to hamstring NASA in coming years as the spending clampdown will eventually shackle the agency and its ambitions, according to the Sentinel.

One administration official said the budget will send a message that it is time members of Congress recognize that NASA can't design space programs to create jobs in their districts. "That's the view of the president," the official said.

Story by AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson.





January 29, 2010
Antarctica Satellite

There is some accumulation over the Blue Ice. It is an improvement from last week. But, then the angle of the sun is changing and beginning to start its northward traverse already.



January 29, 2010
0300 PM

Antarctica Temperature Satellite (click here for 24 hour loop)


The Warmest Reporting Station

Base San Martin, Antarctica

Local Time: 1:16 AM GMT (GMT +00)

Updated: 9:00 PM GMT on January 29, 2010

Lat/Lon: 68.1° S 67.1° W

Elevation :: 13 ft.

Temperature :: 42 F - High -- 32 F Low

Conditions :: Partly Cloudy

Humidity :: 36%

Dew Point :: 24 F

Wind :: 6 mph from the North

Wind Gust :: -

Pressure :: 29.32 inches (Steady)

Visibility :: 12.0 miles


Coldest Reporting Station

Vostok, Antarctica

Local Time: 7:24 AM VOST (GMT +06)

Updated: 1 hr 24 min 34 sec ago

Lat/Lon: 78.4° S 106.9° E

Elevation :: 11220 ft

Temperature :: -22 F -- High ; -41 F Low

Conditions :: Clear

Humidity :: 44%

Dew Point :: -44 F

Wind :: 5 mph from the WSW

Wind Gust :: -

Pressure :: inches (Falling)

Visibility :: 12.0 miles




January 29, 2010
Lawton, Oklahoma
Photographer states :: Ice storm 2010




KRMG Local News



Ice, snow chill southern Plains amid power outages

By Don Bishop @ January 29, 2010 5:59 AM

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A winter storm has dumped snow, sleet and freezing rain on Oklahoma and the southern Plains, leading to thousands of power outages, canceled flights at the state's largest airports and the closure of major highways.

Ice accumulations estimated by the National Weather Service at between one-quarter to 11/2 inches brought down electrical lines and trees limbs Thursday, knocking out lights and heat to more than 132,000 Oklahoma homes and businesses.

Parts of southern Oklahoma, where freezing rain fell for several hours, appeared to be hardest hit.

Altus Emergency management director Lloyd Colston says the entire city was without power, except the hospital and other emergency operations that had generators.

Colston says streets are slick and a shelter has been set up for residents.




January 29, 2010
19:32:07 EST
USA Weather Fronts and Isobars - 3 hour loop (click here)



January 29, 2010
12:30:14z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of the North and West Hemisphere (12 hour loop - click here)


1/25/10

Former Lubbock resident survives tornado (click here)

Posted: Jan 25, 2010 11:37 PM EST

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - A former Lubbock resident is recovering after her home was destroyed by an East Texas tornado. Sarilda Routier is the mother-in-law of Darlie Routier who sits on death row.

In 1996, Darlie and her two young sons were stabbed in their home in Rowlett, Texas. Darlie says an intruder attacked them, killing her sons, then fled the scene. She was convicted of the murders, she says she did not commit. Sarilda Routier still maintains Darlie's innocence.

Now 62-years-old, Sarilda is thankful to be alive after coming face to face with a tornado. Routier was at the door of their home when the twister hit. Sarilda was found about 25 feet away from her home. She was treated in a Tyler hospital for bruises on her abdomen.


Texas tornado outbreak of Jan 20: Photos and damage survey (click here)

January 22, 11:51 AM

Steve LaNore

Tornado damage survey teams captured these images (scroll down for slideshow) of the aftermath of tornadoes which skipped across east and northeast Texas on January 20, 2010.

While there were no fatalities, hundreds of structures were damaged, some severely. A church was destroyed by the Van Zandt County tornado near Starr, and more than 50 homes suffered roof damage just southeast of Sulphur Springs. Numerous outbuildings and perhaps thousands of trees were also damaged or destroyed.

The Canton tornado is rated EF2, with the two Henderson County ones at EF1 and EF2 respectively (two tornadoes, most likely). The two Sulphur Springs tornadoes were classed as EF0.

It was quite a mini-outbreak for January. Given that a moderate to strong El Nino is forecast into early summer, it may be an especially rough severe weather season for north Texas. Below is the complete text of the NWS preliminary findings, with some NWS photos in the slide show at bottom of this article....

The Rigid Right of the Republican Party has an economic bias. Their tax cutting doesn't provide what it promises.



We have 'been there' time and time and time again with Republicans. It does not work and it drops the Middle Class and Working Class in an abyss without any power to do anything about it.

Money is power in the USA and the power is not equally distributed.

Ronald Reagan never had an economic policy and I wish I had a nickel for every time I have ever said that or written it, but, the Republican rhetoric continues to state he did. He did not.

Ronald Regan DEREGULATED the country. He also exploited natural resources to the point where we are today and that is with marginal natural resources, if we are lucky, except for coal.

Reagan's deregulation produced star Wall Street performers such as Junk Bond King Michael Milken. So, don't even think that the USA is going back to the Bush and Reagan years. We ain't.

We have a new President that understands the struggle Minorities, the Middle Class, the Poor and the Working Class face. Deregulation does not work to benefit most of the populous of the USA that actually supports this country's treasury.

Tax cuts have a 'place' in the economics of the free market, but, they are only remotely a good idea when the USA has just finished bailing out a huge banking sector of its economy and is faced with incredible issues in regard to jobs and destroyed infrastructure that supports small businesses.

I wish someone would open the eyes to reasonably intelligent people that are in the Republican Party and educate them about what economics in the USA is all about, they really don't 'get it.'


President Obama and Vice President Biden have a plan for economic growth that will matter, produce a sustainable employment base and will build a strong tax base for states as well as the federal treasury. Americans aren't used to that. Plans to expand the economy of the USA in a meaningful way isn't easy, cheap or overnight.

Sometime in the future, the USA will have many, many more people living within its borders. There won't be enough roads to support the transportation needs of the populous. Fast, clean trains are the best venue for the USA today and a century from now.




June 30, 2009, 4:54 PM ET

Trickle-Down Economics Fails to Deliver as Promised (click title to entry - thank you)

Trickle-down economics, a centerpiece of conservative economic thinking for many decades, failed to deliver its promise of distributing wealth across the economy, a new paper from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government says.

According to this theory, when government policies favor the wealthy — for example, via tax cuts for upper-income classes — the increase in wealth flows down to those with lower incomes. That’s because the rich are more likely to spend the additional income, creating more economic activity, which in turn generates jobs and eventually, better paychecks for the less well-off.

It’s a school of thought that is closely linked to former President Ronald Reagan, and is frequently referred to as “Reaganomics.”

The idea has had enough power to be used as part of a long process to lower tax rates on the wealthiest Americans. According to the Tax Policy Center, the top marginal tax rate in the U.S. stood at 70% when Reagan was elected in 1980, falling steadily to 28% by 1989, before it began to rise modestly. The top marginal rate now stands at 35% against a peak of 94% in 1945.

Trickle-down economics prevailed in a period in which a smaller portion of the U.S. gained an increasing share of the most important measures of economic vigor. Be it total wealth or net income, the top gained a greater share of the pie at the expense of the less-well-off.

The paper does not argue that trickle-down economics is without merit. It’s just that it doesn’t appear to generate enough bang for the buck. It was written by Harvard’s Dan Andrews and Christopher Jencks, and Australia National University’s Andrew Leigh....