Conservation and zoning is very important.

Milton resident Laurel A. Florio brings to Milton decades of experience as a consultant, legal counsel, land specialist and educator for a host of environmental protection organizations. 

April 19, 2014
By Jonathan Copsey

..."At the city of Milton, (click here) we are dedicated to finding the right balance of environmental conservation and the preservation of land owners' rights in an environment, welcoming smart, measured business and residential development," said Mayor Joe Lockwood. "Laurel Florio, who we are truly blessed to have right in our backyard, is perfect to help us realize this tremendous opportunity."...

...Florio said she's excited to help her hometown craft its first green print land use plan, which will help Milton conserve the rural character of the city.

"I'm here because City Council and staff agree that Milton's residents deserve a town unlike any other – one that features a heart of good business, great schools and growing economic opportunity with the soul of unparalleled access to nature," she said. "This is simply too important to leave to chance."...

I agree, but, neutrality also equates to the safety of the people.

Ukraine’s stability depends on neutrality, pressure on Putin (click here)

April 19, 2014

THE ONLY way the United States can stabilize Ukraine is to help return it to a state of neutrality between Russia and the European Union, while demonstrating to Vladimir Putin that efforts to annex the eastern part of the country will irreparably damage Russia’s relationship with the West. 

Right now, there is little doubt that Putin is fomenting unrest in the industrial cities of Donetsk and Luhansk, near the Russian border, where pro-Russian militants have taken over government buildings and demanded annexation by Russia. But as contrived as the pro-Russian protests in eastern Ukraine appear to be, Putin is capitalizing on real resentments. Eastern Ukraine voted overwhelmingly for Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian president who was ousted by activists in Kiev after choosing a trade deal with Russia over one with the European Union. Yanukovych’s political party, the Party of Regions, has its stronghold in the east. Some of his political allies there are still loyal to him, and are furious that he was ousted from power....

Neutrality is what the majority of Ukrainians want, too. It is not an artificial standard. The people have a very significant modern day history in seeking neutrality.

I find it more than interesting that John McCain and Vladimir Putin are on the same side of this in fomenting violence and war. I think Ukraine can do without that dialogue.

Ukraine needs to return it's national military to a standard that defends it's borders. I find it more than interesting, so called Pro-Russian troops define the rebuilding of the Ukraine national military as 'aggression against fellow citizens.' THAT is propaganda. 

The uniformed and armed militias had no regard for fellow citizens when they manifested throughout Crimea or within the sovereign nation of Ukraine. I do recall there were deaths and even a burial in a shallow grave to hide the truth of what could easily be early evidence of ethnic hatred and violence.

Intolerance is not going to carry much weight in a country determined to be neutral with a high priority of upholding human rights. Intolerance will not work. 

That is what is so incredible about the support Russia has given Crimea. It acknowledged the fact that killing was okay to achieve an end. If it weren't for the Ukrainians to remain calm and survive the day, the carnage can only be speculated. 

It has to be said very plainly, it is obvious McCain and Putin are using Ukraine as a political tool. The people of any nation involved don't need it. Peace is a far better word to use. 

Peace within Ukraine. Peace among the nations involved in seeing to the safety of citizens. Disarming is another good word, too.

The leadership in Ukraine is fully aware they could be a reason for some stupid proxy war. They know what they are doing in asking for roundtables and a return to normal daily life without attacks on the innocent. Other nation's should recognize those directives and respect them.

Rouge? Rouge federal officers?

There are absolutely no rouge federal officers. Those federal employees were under court order to remove those cows. There isn't anything rouge about them.

As a matter of fact, if there were every rouge federal officers, there is no doubt in my mind the State of Nevada would be calling out the national guard and the President would be providing whatever support, possibly from Border Patrols and other states to back up Nevada National Guard. 

This is ridiculous. It is ridiculous for every reason they state they have justification. The governments of the USA would not tolerate rouge officers. It wouldn't happen.

It is that shallow place in Earth's atmosphere.

It is going to be a hotspot for retrieving space rocks. Go get 'em.

By Scott Sutherland 
Geekquinox 
3 hours ago

Just over 14 months (click here) after a 20-ton asteroid exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk, Russian dashboard cameras have apparently captured another fireball lighting up the night sky, this time in the northern city of Murmansk.

According to RT.com and the dashcam time-stamp, the fireball burned through the sky at about 2:14 a.m., Moscow Time, on April 19, (or 6:14 p.m., Eastern Time, April 18).

There's no confirmation as to what the object could have been — whether meteoroid or artificial debris — thus the 'meteor-like' label used in the video's title. It is possible that this is some piece of orbital space debris re-entering the atmosphere. However, the pattern of flashes is similar to how meteoroids flare multiple times as they're crushed and broken apart by the pressure of the air they compress in front of them. Undoubtedly, this will spark a search for any pieces that may have survived to reach the ground. But given that the details of the video do not indicate exactly where the meteoroid exploded, finding any meteorites from it might be difficult....

The town isn't going to be able to handle this. USGS needs to have someone evaluate the region.

USGS Map Name:  Jackson, WY    Map MRC: 43110D7
Map Center:  N43.48124°  W110.75789°    Datum: NAD27    Zoom: 8m/pixel 

Depending on the source, snow fall this year is somewhere around 12 inches. The maximum snowfall for this region on an annual basis was in 2008 with a total of 44 inches.

So far this year, 2014, is proving to be one of the warmer years in Jackson, Wyoming. Mix that fact with historic snowfalls and that dictates soggy soil. 

It is safe to say this isn't a surface landslide that is why it is moving so slowly. The surface is only reacting to what is going on at depth. When angular motion is employed from depth, the surface is a wider swath than the ORIGINAL movement. So, what might be an inch a mile down interprets to a thousand inches at the surface.

Jackson is in a valley? Runoff as well. Gravity is having it's way. 

There is primarily "loam" on steep inclines. Sand, silt and clay. (click here, go to page iv) Where is real rock when it is needed? Sand, silt and clay, add water and shake; what have you got? The lower the percent incline the slower the movement.

Loam is great for growing stuff, but, on wet hillsides? Loam is why it is green and beautiful there, but, soggy hillside stability is not it's forte.

Normally, vegetation holds the ground without question and establishes stability. But. When the water goes to depth it works to loosen soil below the level of vegetative roots. Instability results when the surface is compromised by movement at depth.  

The hillsides surrounding Jackson need to be surveyed in the safest possible way to determine any fissures in the ground. I'd start with the steepest ones first. Please don't lose any geologists to opening fissures, okay? They are hard to come by.

April 19, 2014
By Liz Fields
World News

A rapid and sudden shift (click here) in a slow-moving landslide in Jackson, Wyo., has residents rattled and experts looking for answers.

The down-falling movement Friday created a fracture several feet deep in the ground beneath a house in the northwest Wyoming town in, causing it to split in two.

Workers who had been striving to stabilize the 100-feet-high hillside since early April, when town officials first noticed movement, were forced to suspend their efforts. Several other homes and businesses were also threatened by the abrupt land movement. 

Posted: Friday, August 6, 2010 12:00 am 

Updated: 3:45 pm, Mon Oct 14, 2013.

By Cory Hatch
Jackson Hole, Wyo.

Roughly 40 small to moderate earthquakes have rumbled across Jackson Hole from their epicenter in the Gros Ventre Mountains since the first shook the region Wednesday evening.
Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey recorded at least four earthquakes greater than magnitude 3.0, and as of Thursday afternoon, 588 people in 36 ZIP codes reported feeling the earthquakes at the Earthquake.usgs.gov “Did you feel it?” website....

No collateral damage!

A Yemeni boy walks past a mural depicting a US drone and reading, "Why did you kill my family?" on December 20, 2013 @ Mohammad Huwais - AFP/File

April 19, 2014

A drone strike (click here) Saturday killed 15 Al-Qaeda suspects and three civilians in Yemen's central Baida province, a stronghold of the extremist group, a security official said.
The jihadists were travelling in a vehicle towards the southern Shabwa province, witnesses said. The three civilians were passing by in another car.
The United States is the only country that operates drones in Yemen, but officials rarely discuss the covert programme.

Last month, Yemen's President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi defended the use of drones against Al-Qaeda in his country, which has killed dozens of militants in a sharply intensified campaign over the past year.

Drone strikes "have greatly helped in limiting Al-Qaeda activities, despite some mistakes, which we are sorry about," Hadi told the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat.

The drone programme has come under criticism from human rights activists concerned over civilian casualties....

Every American should be worried about the drone program. There wars being fought in their name where innocent people die and world leaders such as President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi take great risk to support these attacks. If innocent people are causalities the unrest won't end, it will simply propagate a greater and more dangerous war.

People inspect the wreckage of a car hit by an air strike in the central Yemeni province of al-Bayda (reuters tickers)

April 19, 2014 
By Mohamed Ghobari

...Yemen (click here) has been fighting Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) - regarded by Washington as one of the most lethal wings of the group - but AQAP still manages to carry out significant attacks against security forces in the poor Arab country.

Stability in Yemen is a top priority because of the country's location next to oil exporting giant Saudi Arabia. Riyadh also watches AQAP with concern since the branch was founded by citizens of both countries and has sworn to bring down its ruling al-Saud family.

Nasser Salem, a witness who arrived at the scene after the strike, said: "We found a completely burnt car and body parts strewn around and we started picking them up," he told Reuters....

...Al-Bayda has seen serious security incidents in the past. In December, 15 people on their way to a wedding were killed by an air strike after their party was apparently mistaken for an al Qaeda convoy, according to security officials....

It is quite a machine now, isn't it? At one time it was about surveillance.  

There really is no comparison to the capacity of militants to that of sophisticated weapon systems. I realize these criminals kill important people. But, civilians are important, too.

April 19, 2014 - 19:17 
AMT
...AQAP (click here) is considered to be the most dangerous branch of al-Qaeda in the world and it overran much of Yemen's south in 2011.

A video posted online earlier this week purported to show AQAP leader Nasser al-Wuhayshi addressing more than 100 members of the group at a mountainous location in al-Bayda.

In the film, thought to have been shot near the border with Shabwa province, al-Wuhayshi pledges to pursue the war against Western "crusaders."

Civilians and the promise of a far more peaceful world is what most Americans believe to be the best mission for it's military anywhere in the world. The men that become militants are mostly young people called to a mission for reasons perverted by ignorance and misguided religious dogma. Their cause should never be made legitimate for the sake of ending al Qaeda globally. They believe they are correct no different than governments believe they are correct.

Any serious USA military campaign has to prioritize, nearly first, it is giving the young men absolutely no reason to be recruited to violence in the first place. The deaths of innocent people serve as the best recruiting tool they have. One has to ask, are they wrong after all?

Senior Journalist Hamid Mir was the first one Malala Yousafzai called from her hospital bed in Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

ISLAMABAD (click here) – Condemning attack on noted journalist Hamid Mir in Karachi, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Saturday said that detailed inquiry would be launched into the incident to trace the culprits, which has also been demanded by the Pakistan Army to ascertain the facts.

The minister has also reiterated that the government would ensure foolproof protection to journalists who were facing security threats. A spokesman of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) also condemned the incident of firing on Hamid Mir and prayed for his well being and quick recovery.

The spokesman said an independent inquiry must immediately be carried out to ascertain the facts. “However, raising allegations against ISI or its head without any basis is highly regrettable and misleading,” he said in response to allegations that Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) was directly behind the attack on the senior journalist.

Journalists haven't been the regular diet of the ISI, exactly. They usually like bigger fish. I have to admit though the rights of women, in many instances, equates to bin Laden for the ISI.

Mid-1980s: ISI Head Regularly Meets with Bin Laden (click here)

According to controversial author Gerald Posner, ex-CIA officials claim that General Akhtar Abdur Rahman, Pakistani ISI’s head from 1980 to 1987, regularly meets bin Laden in Peshawar, Pakistan. The ISI and bin Laden form a partnership that forces Afghan tribal warlords to pay a “tax” on the opium trade. By 1985, bin Laden and the ISI are splitting annual profits of up to $100 million a year.[Posner, 2003, pp. 29]

Leadership at last, thank you god.

April 19, 2014, 1:36 p.m.
Ukraine
by Interfax-Ukraine

Yulia Tymoshenko has called on protesters, politicians and public figures to organize a roundtable to settle the situation in the southeastern part of Ukraine after Easter holidays.

A candidate (click here) to the post of Ukrainian president and leader of Batkivschyna Party Yulia Tymoshenko has called on protesters, politicians and public figures to organize a roundtable to settle the situation in the southeastern part of Ukraine after Easter holidays....

Nothing to say there will be kind words at the roundtable, but, at least there will be words. Good beginning.

Curious though, will there be translators for the Russian Speaking folks? 

I haven't looked into it, but, this may be the first time in world historical records where a spoken language was the reason for vast unrest to challenge sovereignty. Usually it is more a death of one or more people that prompt such disruption in borders. WWI was the death of Ferdinand or something like that. WWII is was simply the ambitions of the Third Reich that unhinged civility. And of course, the reason for WWII was the poverty of WWI imposed on Germany. Some things never end.

I am happy to see Former Prime Minister on her toes. She, at least, realizes dialogue can engage people differently than tanks, jets and unidentified uniforms. Everyone on both and any sides of this should be providing her support in achieving a peaceful end and successful, unimpeded elections whereby citizens feel safe to cast a vote without undue external influence or reprisals from 'surprise there is a militia in town' tactics.

She is looking well.  

Passenger ships need to be treated as if an airline.

Airlines are required to give safety instructions at the beginning of each flight. There needs to be reviews of safety evacuation procedures for every passenger. People should be able to identify the stewards that would show them where the life rafts and emergency equipment are and how to use them. There should be no panic so much as informed movement to safety. 

Outside of such precautions, people left to their own resolves are best to know there is an emergency. Drifting away is highly unlikely when the response is as intense as this. It was an incredible response by the South Koreans. In such dangers, it is best to drift away than sink with the ship and/or be pulled into the vacuum following the ship to the bottom of the sea. Most travelers don't understand the dangers of a sinking ship and how the physics dictates to move away from it rather than seek shelter as long as possible with it.

19 April 2014  
Last updated at 06:12 ET
 
The captain of a South Korean ferry (click here) that sank this week said he delayed giving evacuation orders because he feared passengers would "drift away".

Lee Joon-seok, 69, was arrested with two crew members on Friday.

Divers saw three bodies in the ship on Saturday but were not able to retrieve them. The number of missing stands at 270 with 32 now confirmed dead, after three bodies were found in the water.

The official leading the rescue said it "may last one or two months."

Some 174 passengers were rescued, but poor visibility and strong currents are making the search - now in its fourth day - difficult.

The captain faces charges including negligence of duty and violation of maritime law after being criticised for not giving orders to evacuate soon enough.

Meanwhile relatives of the victims have begun providing DNA samples to help identify bodies recovered from the wreckage.

Investigations are focusing on a sharp turn the vessel took before it started listing and whether an evacuation order could have saved lives....

The "Free Surface Effect." That is what is suspected as the cause of this tragedy.

...Centre of gravity (click here) is affected by the position of all the masses in a body, while centre of bouyancy is affected by the cross-sectional shape of the fluid displaced. The centre of buoyancy is the centroid of the cross sectional shape of the displaced fluid, as seen from picture 2 and 3....

The problem with transporting cargo often enters into the stability of the cargo within the transport vehicle, no matter what that vehicle is. The center of gravity is important with ships and so is their displacement in the water. They are related.

Ferries fall into the category of "Roll On Roll Off" vessels.

The RoRo Shipping Specialist (click here)

RoRo is short for "roll on, roll off". This simply refers to the method by which vehicles and machinery are loaded onto large ocean shipping vessels for transport overseas. World Class Shipping is a leading provider of roro logistics services to individuals and corporations who wish to transport single or multiple vehicles....

Ferries, due to their width have a ratio to depth that is less than ocean going ships because the travel is expected to be short in duration and along a proven route that is mostly safe from ocean surface fluctuations.

It is true ferries have challenges to their stability, especially when passing by inlets where ocean waters mix with bay or coastal waters. A ferry can become unstable if hit with strong currents, but, most captains know their boats and the water they navigate and anticipate these currents.

I experienced and witnessed on ferries some very adept captains and crews as they travel across waters that become turbulent during storms or meet with incoming ocean turbulence. They primarily turn 'at angle' to the water rather than take it head on. That is not what happened here according to what is being reported. 

From what I can discern, the government is stating a quick turn in the water 'created' a shift of weight on the ship that caused it to tumble. I suppose that is possible. Cars aren't anchored in place on ferries. And this ship was only recently in route so the amount of fuel would be significant while some would have been used for propulsion. I suppose there was enough room in the fuel tanks to cause problems with stability and it is very true ferries are precarious in water to begin with. 

In this photo (click here) released by South Korea Coast Guard via Yonhap News Agency, South Korean rescue team boats and fishing boats try to rescue passengers of a ferry sinking off South Korea's southern coast, in the water off the southern coast near Jindo, south of Seoul, on Wednesday. 

Without any insult to the hull or evidence of collision, instability would come into question. This type of ferry is not at all unusual in the world. It is seen in most countries where water transport occurs. Ferries also operate in shallower waters because of their water displacement.

So, we are looking at human error. I am not an expert on these waters. I do find it odd that unless the crew were completely novice to this route a sudden change in direction knowing the capacity of the ship, seems odd to me. But. That is me and not the officials overseeing the investigation. 

Odd because it would be irrational to turn quickly without sincere reason of danger to do so. Briefly leaving prescribed routes or wandering ever so much out of a shipping lane isn't a dire emergency if here is no peril nearby. I think this sudden turn in open water is very strange.  

Do you see what happens when the New Jersey Democrats take on the challenges of the State of the State address?

By David Sirota
On April 17, 2014

Yesterday, (click here) New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) made headlines by slamming his state’s legislators for supposedly paying police and firefighters too much.
“They want to give away more of your money,” thundered Christie.

The irony of the complaint coming from Christie is strong. The Christie administration has been spending record amounts of taxpayer money on corporate subsidies at the exact same time as he claims New Jersey doesn’t have enough money to make required public pension payments.

In short, Christie is using money that should be going to fulfill pension promises to instead pay for large corporate gifts – and not just random gifts, either. A Pando analysis of campaign finance data has found that Christie is giving those huge taxpayer-financed corporate subsidies to some of his major political benefactors....

While seeking to resolve the Governor's concern over the State's pensions and having to reach into statewide coffers, reality came to call. It is called oversight. Magnificent. Who knew?

What is even more interesting is the depth of the corruption. The RNC, no doubt, would simply like to isolate this to Governor Christi, but, it goes far beyond that. This literally defines chronyism and RNC methodology in seeking to influence elections. This is New Jersey. Now. Apply New Jersey anti-corruption laws to every state where the RNC is influence peddling. The picture is probably more than interesting.

The picture will reveal vast corruption and why such anti-corruption laws are not adopted by every state in the nation. If one wants to rid the country of power brokers and return it to the people it is best to get on with it. The Koch influence peddling will quickly dissolve once the reality of the corruption is revealed.

What tangled and ensnaring webs political bosses weave.  

An even more interesting DNC agenda should be to propose anti-corruption legislation in the US House and then have them explain why they can't pass it.