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Probably aren't any yet. Any flow should have been confined to the crater and obscured by ash and steam. The event came just before local sunset. Things may be clearer in the morning.

The Mt. St. Helens webcam sometimes picks up the infared glow of exposed lava after dark. It went offline Friday, but service was fortunately restored this afternoon -- just hours before St. Helens burped. Check to see whatever can be seen here. My site also has some background on the webcam.

KPTV has some impressive stills of the ash plume here.

Leaves aside...

It would be nice if we could avoid stuff like this pest. Or maybe this one.

Random thought:

I recently lived in a Michigan subdivision that was built in the 50s and 60s. The developer, back then, thought that it would be a good idea to litter the subdivision with Ash trees. 50 years later, it appeared to be a wonderful idea, as the streets of this subdivision were now canopied by beautiful ash trees. And then the emerald ash borer became a problem. The trees were all clearcut and disposed of. Now there are no trees. If this particular developer had used a variety of tree species, then this particular place would be much better off today.

This reminds me of the computer world. Too many homogenous PCs on the internet and we'll have an ash borer or Dutch Elm problem there, too.

We are arrogant, mankind is, to think that because of a half-century of climate fluctuations, that we are all going to die tomorrow. Please, the climate has been changing in HUGE ways for much longer than the life-span of a human being.

Seems like you are the arrogant one, thinking you understand the theory and data behind global warming well enough to dismiss it all as bunk. Are you a climatologist? Have you studied the actual data? If you want to disprove something, you'll need some data to prove scientifically that such-and-such won't happen. You are also being idiotic, to infer that anyone ever said we're all going to die tomorrow. Nobody ever said that, so it's just a bullshit strawman statement. Furthermore, your ignorance of the significance of past climate change is appalling. Yes, the climate has changed in the past. Guess what happened in parallel with massive climate changes in the past? Mass extinctions.

The simple fact is, we're looking at a climate record going back 10,000 years where the only real temperature increase is a spike that's been happening in the last 100 years, at an ever-increasing rate. During the 9,900 years before that, it's almost flat in comparison. We've got glaciers that have been sitting around since the last ice age breaking up and moving faster than ever before. The evidence says something is changing. Our best hypothesis is that the cause is increased emission of certain gases that absorb heat, such as CO2 and methane. We call them greenhouse gases because of their scientifically observed heat-absorbing characteristics. We have directly observed evidence that the technology of the human race produces vastly larger quatities of such "greenhouse" gases every year than all the volcano eruptions in the world. There are six billion of us, and we are having a measurable effect on our world. Surprise. References: one two.

Global Warming is alarmism, coming from political agendas of people who want attention. Remember how we all laughed at those people who purchased electric generators and resurrected old bomb shelters for the Y2K scare?

But you're absolutely right. Just because some political agendas get mixed in with the real science, as always, then it all must be bullshit of the highest order. All scientists are liars and heretics, after all. Global warming is alarmism because there are no UFOs. The climate is changing in ways that haven't been seen in 10,000 years, but ladies and gentlemen, this is Chewbacca. These aren't the droids you're looking for. Move along, nothing to see here, folks. No problem. No big deal. We now return you to your regularly scheduled bread and circuses.

Gah.

No, that's wrong. Volcanoes on average put in 100-200 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere. Humans dump about 6 BILLION tons each year. Here is a reference. here is another

here you go. Volanoes put out 1/130 as much carbon dioxide as human activity, 200 million tons vs. 26 BILLION tons by man

On average, volcanos emit 200 million tons of CO2 per year. Human activity averages 26 BILLION tons per year.

See here, here or here, taken from an earlier Slashdot thread.

Also remember that on the west coast there is very little coal energy production. Most power production is via natural gas and hydroelectric (with some wind and geothermal as well). Burning natural gas produces far less CO2 for a given amount of energy than say coal. If you look at the amount of CO2 emitted by a coal power plant, the amount is staggering. Coal is probably the worst fuel in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, or pollution in general.

Average annual CO2 emissions by all volcanos world-wide is 200 million tons. Human activity, by comparison, puts out on average 26 BILLION tons of CO2 per year. See here. Volcanos put out less than 1% of the CO2 as human activity.

I know that Greenhouse deniers and other polluters like to say forestation is "increasing", fabricating that intriguing little factoid so it flows around the pseudoscience grapevines. The fact (pp. 5-6) is that forests declined from 1045M acres, when Europeans arrived to colonize North America, to 759M acres by 1907. Though that acreage is described even by the USDA Forest Service as 747M acres in 1997, almost a 2% drop. In fact, only the North has reforested at all since 1907, steadily returning from 139M to 170M acres in 90 years, still down from 298M acres in 1630 (and still showing periods of net cutting, during WWII, Vietnam and Reagan/Bush). In the South, lost acreage appears to have slowed to a halt after the relatively slow clearing of about 10M acres (2%) in the first 275 years was followed by the loss of about 6% after 1907, accelerating to compensate while the rest of the country slowed. Something like 30% of the US land area came under Federal control, with limited or no logging, after 1907 in the wake of Teddy Roosevelt's prescient vision of conservation. Of course that's changing, so we're probably not really stable at 30% total loss.

Russia cut so much of its forest in a desperate drive to create liqiod wealth, while dragging hundreds of millions out of feudal poverty and creating an industrial technology system. Now that it's capitalist, it can drop many of those people back into poverty while exporting oil from its unmatched reserves that used to subsidize the population, keeping them from revolting as they had against past tyrannical governments. Monetizing their role in sucking up our mess in new forests not only invests money in a low grade biotech that immediately supports the planet. It also gets them started in a cycle of harvest that maintains the CO2 balance (and other ecologies) while continuing to deliver materials for other sustainable global industries.

China is just getting to where Soviet Russia was in the 1950s. Unfortunately, their rise from feudalism (through mafiaism) is also accompanied by both the vintage Soviet militarism and the increase in pollution, floating atop an economic expansion that allows them to ignore their integral role in global cooperation. But like the Soviets, their growth will haunt them, and they'll be increasingly tractable in treaties as that cooperation increases in economic importance to their decisionmakers. We can start now by including them in treaties like Kyoto, even though it doesn't change them yet, because it does no harm while establishing momentum. That's how we get people to join regimes for real results. Waiting to start until their participation is crucial for survival gives them too much power in negotiations, while leaving too little time to build that momentum. The inevitable can begin sooner, bringing inevitable results closer and reducing the time spent transitioning to sustainability.

No, actually, it's quite safe. Coldwater Ridge Visitor's Center is located literally right on the edge of the blast zone for the big eruption. If I were standing there on a certain morning in 1980, yeah, I'd be toast, but this one is not going to be nearly as big (if it actually KABOOMs, which it may very well not). The Forest Service isn't stupid, that's why they closed Johnston Ridge Observatory, which is much closer to the crater. See this map http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/04mshnvm/global/images2/ mshrec.jpg of the area. The beige part is the blast zone (basically pea gravel, ash, and shrubbery), green is trees courtesy of Weyerhauser Lumber. Besides, there are about 15 satellite trucks parked in a lookout point nearby, each with a few hundred thousand bucks worth of very nice broadcasting equipment. If I trust the news guys, (which I do 110%!!!!!!!! ha, no...) it's safe. Either way, don't be such a wuss, get the hell up there and see it, it's beautiful.

The USDA Forest Service has a live VolcanoCam that refreshes every five minutes. It has produced some pretty neat images over the last couple of weeks. The USDA page goes down fairly often but the image itself is still available so check out this page for image links (including my own) if you ever can't get to the Forest Service page.

The USDA Forest Service has a live VolcanoCam that refreshes every five minutes. It has produced some pretty neat images over the last couple of weeks. The USDA page goes down fairly often but the image itself is still available so check out this page for image links (including my own) if you ever can't get to the Forest Service page.

As soon as news got out about this little burp every webcam site was "/.ed" These guys: http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/ need to get Boa

You wouldn't be buying property near Spirit Lake because it is on a National Volcanic Monument, within a National Forest.

You wouldn't be buying property near Spirit Lake because it is on a National Volcanic Monument, within a National Forest.

You wouldn't be buying property near Spirit Lake because it is on a National Volcanic Monument, within a National Forest.

No, it's not the alien conspiracy doing it...

This is from the Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam site, in the archive area.

Mount St. Helens is located in the Pacific Northwest where is has either just stopped raining, is currently raining, or is getting ready to rain. The camera site is at an elevation of approximately 4,500 feet. It is located approximately 5 miles north-northwest from the volcano, and looks across the North Fork Toutle River Valley. This is an area which receives more than 100 inches of rain a year. Most likely, you are looking at rain, clouds, fog, and/or a combination of the three.

There is nothing wrong with the VolcanoCam or the image.

No, it's not the alien conspiracy doing it...

This is from the Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam site, in the archive area.

Mount St. Helens is located in the Pacific Northwest where is has either just stopped raining, is currently raining, or is getting ready to rain. The camera site is at an elevation of approximately 4,500 feet. It is located approximately 5 miles north-northwest from the volcano, and looks across the North Fork Toutle River Valley. This is an area which receives more than 100 inches of rain a year. Most likely, you are looking at rain, clouds, fog, and/or a combination of the three.

There is nothing wrong with the VolcanoCam or the image.

You can watch the CAM here. There is a nice view of the volcano.

If you go to the webcam at the visitor's center right now (7:40 am pst), you'll see nothing but a grey screen. It's the early morning fog. If it were ash, you would get a "page not found...", something /. readers see more often than not anyway.

A friend sent me this link to the Mount St. Helens Volcano Cam, updated every 5 minutes from the Johnston Ridge Observatory.

dont forget the webcam.
http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/

OK, so maybe it's just dark there at 6:40 am.

Hmm. I was hoping to see a live volcano eruption here, but it seems
not to be broadcasting now. Anyone knows why/what's happening ?

USGS earthquake info for Mt St Helens National Volcanic Monument area (wide view)

USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory Mt St Helens seismic observations

Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network Mt St Helens home page (earthquake list)

USGS earthquake info for Mt St Helens National Volcanic Monument area (wide view)

USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory Mt St Helens seismic observations

Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network Mt St Helens home page (earthquake list)

Kevin J. Kalupson

Don't forget, Alaska is more than twice the size of texas.

Picture. We stretch from South Carolina to California, and from Canada to Texas.

Exactly. In United States history, I would say there has been more effort put into managing fires than actual prevention. How do you reduce widespread fires? Education of humans only goes so far, since nature likes to toss around lightning strikes. That means to stop fires you have to reduce the number of trees.

Of course, some reports say increased logging causes fires, but you have to read why. In rainforest areas, haphazard logging can dry out the vegetation, which makes them more susceptible to widespread fire. But the argument doesn't hold true for temperate climates like the US, where our forests are typically (dryer) evergreen. Some argue that controlled logging protects areas by thinning the tree population and reducing brush, something the current administration has been pushing for a while with little success from the opposing party in congess. (Funny that this was removed from the CNN's live site and search history, but the web never forgets).

Historical statistics on US forests

But forest land data is not the same as the number of planted trees. As another poster mentioned, cutting down an old tree allows several young ones to use its space. The US Forest Service report also does not count trees planted on private property, which is like 67% of the US land - the malls you go to, public parks you visit and neighbors that have trees in their yards.

Yes, welcome, Linus!!!

If you need some help in getting oriented or someone to show you around, send me an email.

Living in Portland is far better than in NoCal. NoCal has too many cars and bad smog.

Here's useful info:

Portland has the largest bookstore in the world.

Portland borders on the confluence of the Willamette River and the Columbia River, one of the largest rivers in the world.

One of the 7 WindSurfing Wonders of the World is in the Columbia River Gorge, on the eastern edge of the Portland metropolitan area.

Portland has one of the largest and most successful dealers in contemporary art in the world. The gallery has a funny name, but shows the work of over 1,100 artists.

Portland has the largest park inside a city in the world. The park has over 74 miles of wilderness hiking trails and 5,124 acres.

Portland is the home of Pink Martini, a band that writes multi-cultural songs. One of Pink Martini's songs was once one of the most popular songs in France. You can listen to the music video.

It's a 55 minute drive from downtown Portland to the ski areas. "World Class Skiing in Your Own Backyard."

The K-12 Linux Project, in Portland, is one of the more successful projects for giving Linux to average users, who in this case are students.

On the other hand: Q. Why do hippies come to Portland? A. Because there are no jobs.

Many people don't like the months of rain every year. They say Portland is the perfect place for slugs and ducks. (However, the rain cleans the air.) Those with the correct philosophical orientation call it Liquid Sunshine.

From The First Link:
Bur oaks bear seed up to an age of 400 years, older than reported for any other American oak. The minimum seed-bearing age is about 35 years, and the optimum is 75 to 150 years

"Bur oak is said to have reached a height of 52 m (170 ft) and a d.b.h. of 213 cm (84 in) in the lower Ohio Valley. On the better sites, mature trees generally grow 24 to 30 in (80 to 100 ft) tall, 91 to 122 cm (36 to 48 in) in d.b.h., and live 200 to 300 years. Characteristically, they have a massive, clear trunk and a broad, open crown of stout branches."


from The Second Link:
In the early 1900's, "mature" ponderosa pines were defined as 200 years old, 300 year old trees were considered "veterans." Today, the Forest Service defines 100 year old trees "old growth."

By 1962, when the Forest Service began region- wide surveys, the forests were already highly degraded, the very largest trees being already logged off. The rule of early forestry was to exclusively and rapidly cut all the largest trees (Drake 1910, Woolsey 1911, Moore 1912). The large trees were eulogized as far back as 1891


The Third Link:

Linus Torvalds can go anywhere. It's probably no accident that he and the The Open Source Development Lab are in Portland. (Beaverton is one of the towns that are part of the metropolitan area of 1.4 million people called Portland.)

Portland has the largest bookstore in the world.

Portland has one of the largest and most successful dealers in contemporary art in the world. The gallery has a funny name, but shows the work of over 1,100 artists.

Portland has the largest park inside a city in the world. The park has over 74 miles of wilderness hiking trails.

Portland is the home of Pink Martini, a band that writes multi-cultural songs. One of Pink Martini's songs was once one of the most popular songs in France. You can listen to the music video.

It's a 55 minute drive from downtown Portland to the ski areas. "World Class Skiing in Your Own Backyard."

The K-12 Linux Project, in Portland, is one of the more successful projects for giving Linux to average users, who in this case are students.

Portland borders on the confluence of the Willamette River and the Columbia River, one of the largest rivers in the world. The Columbia River Gorge, on the eastern edge of Portland, is a world class wind-surfing area.

On the other hand: Q. Why do hippies come to Portland? A. Because there are no jobs.

Many people don't like the months of rain every year. They say Portland is the perfect place for slugs and ducks. (However, the rain cleans the air.)

Up in Los Angeles, I have similar interests in what is going on. Here are some links...

Broad overview by the National forest Service

Excellent PDF of California, updated more than daily

Satellite imagery (Forest Service, very amazing)

More satellite imagery (NOAA, false colored with fires highlighted)

National Interagency Fire Centers wildfire reports

Interactive (zoomable) airspace restrictions map

And this is just the tip of the iceberg/what I happened to bookmark.

Anm

Up in Los Angeles, I have similar interests in what is going on. Here are some links...

Broad overview by the National forest Service

Excellent PDF of California, updated more than daily

Satellite imagery (Forest Service, very amazing)

More satellite imagery (NOAA, false colored with fires highlighted)

National Interagency Fire Centers wildfire reports

Interactive (zoomable) airspace restrictions map

And this is just the tip of the iceberg/what I happened to bookmark.

Anm

Up in Los Angeles, I have similar interests in what is going on. Here are some links...

Broad overview by the National forest Service

Excellent PDF of California, updated more than daily

Satellite imagery (Forest Service, very amazing)

More satellite imagery (NOAA, false colored with fires highlighted)

National Interagency Fire Centers wildfire reports

Interactive (zoomable) airspace restrictions map

And this is just the tip of the iceberg/what I happened to bookmark.

Anm

F. concolor azteca Merriam
F. concolor browni Merriam (Yuma puma)
F. concolor californica May
F. concolor coryi Bangs (Florida panther)
F. concolor couguar Kerr (eastern cougar)
F. concolor hippolestes Merriam
F. concolor kaibabensis Nelson and Goldman
F. concolor missoulensis Goldman
F. concolor olympus Merriam
F. concolor oregonensis (Rafinesque)
F. concolor shorgeri Jackson (Wisconsin puma)
F. concolor stanleyana Goldman (Texas panther)
F. concolor vancouverensis Nelson and Goldman

> Just wait till someone finds a living creature
> that can withstand several hundred degrees .....
> it'd have a real chance of surviving a fire .....
> now that would be scary.

Scary ? Check on Eucalyptus globulus. More info here and on google of course

We geeks think we're in control with all our devices and formulas and plans. Go see the Mt. St. Helens blast zone for an important lesson in just how puny we are on this earth.

It's truly awe inspiring.

Flamebait? Maybe, but it's true.

Flamebait? Maybe, but it's true.

Mature Redwoods (like the 200+ year old ones being clear cut by Pacific Lumber) will survive even severe forest fires, read this. However no tree can survive Pacific Lumber's chainsaw. Period. And let's not bullshit about whether they are clear-cutting or just 'clearing out dead wood'. Don't insult everyone's intelligence.

Today we have 100 or 200 year fires every year from the crap in the forests that the forest service and loggers can't remove because of environmentalists.

There are regular prescribed fires in the California forests.

But let's see if I understand what you're saying:

• Environmentalists are preventing forest workers (and loggers) from clearing out 'dead wood'.
• Since 'dead wood' is allowed to pile up, it results in unspeakably horrible forest fires worse than any of those seen before.
• If loggers were allowed to clear cut, then we wouldn't have to worry about bad forest fires! Horray loggers!

It's people like you that are quicking destroying our planet and making this a barren rock with nothing other than Humans, pets, and house-plants. The environmental damage caused by our race in just the last 100 years is absolutely staggering, and the rate of destruction is only increasing. Sad, really.

Mature Redwoods (like the 200+ year old ones being clear cut by Pacific Lumber) will survive even severe forest fires, read this. However no tree can survive Pacific Lumber's chainsaw. Period. And let's not bullshit about whether they are clear-cutting or just 'clearing out dead wood'. Don't insult everyone's intelligence.

Today we have 100 or 200 year fires every year from the crap in the forests that the forest service and loggers can't remove because of environmentalists.

There are regular prescribed fires in the California forests.

But let's see if I understand what you're saying:

• Environmentalists are preventing forest workers (and loggers) from clearing out 'dead wood'.
• Since 'dead wood' is allowed to pile up, it results in unspeakably horrible forest fires worse than any of those seen before.
• If loggers were allowed to clear cut, then we wouldn't have to worry about bad forest fires! Horray loggers!

It's people like you that are quicking destroying our planet and making this a barren rock with nothing other than Humans, pets, and house-plants. The environmental damage caused by our race in just the last 100 years is absolutely staggering, and the rate of destruction is only increasing. Sad, really.

Many forests have been rearranged, such as having a different type planted after logging, or the plant life after logging and fire not yet gone through the cycle to reach the "old forest" species.

There also are many situations where prairie, swamp, or other land has become "urban forest": 27 percent of a city is covered by trees. I don't think Minneapolis is willing to change its tree-lined boulevards back to the original prairie.

Did you all know that all power transactions on public power systems travel over the internet? Wanna hear something a little better? The backup plan in case of internet breakage is by E-Mail and then finally defaulting to the old fax machine. With the increasing complexity of transactions, increasing dependance on automation of power delivery, and an upcoming rollout of the ETag 1.7 transaction updgrade in April, who's to say the light switches will work in the future?

In light of this article and the probability that the public phone system is very susceptible to a terrorist or otherwise dangerous attack, shouldn't there be a dedicated messaging medium for the power grid? Say, Satellite or Microwave? I realize how daunting a project would be, as well as how cost prohibitive, but look at it this way: A foreign or national threat doesn't attack the power generation facilities, instead, they DDoS a server responsible for scheduling the power delivery. Thus preventing or decreasing the reliability of this power grid. Statewide or even interstate power blackouts are just one of a million effects of such an attack.

I'm not proclaiming a doomsday here, but with the current plight of Enron, shouldn't there be a little more scrutiny?

Related links:
FERC - Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

NERC - North American Electric Reliability Coucil

One thing the article didn't really go into that I found interesting is how carbon 14 dating was found to be inaccurate. It had been assumed that C-14 decayed at a constant rate. However, a guy named Schulman studying the Bristlecone Pine trees in the White Mountains of California discovered that C-14 dates didn't match the tree ring dates. Subsequently, tree rings between living and dead bristlecones have been used to construct accurate dating back 9000 years, and it has been determined that C-14 rates do change. Read more about it on the Inyo National Forest page.

I don't know if "critically-important government agencies like the Department of Agriculture" was meant to sound sarcastic, but I don't seem to be the only one who read it that way, judging from a couple of comments here. I'd just like to point out that the Ag Dept does an awful lot of good. Aside from various projects that help keep rural America afloat, the Agriculture Department also runs the Forest Service, protects open space, keeps ag-related disease out of this country, provides low-cost foods for school lunches, and does all sorts of other nifty behind-the-scenes market-oriented stuff to help ensure that when you go to the store, the stuff you need is always there. And affordable. If the Ag Dept vanished, you'd notice.

For more information you might try this FAQ at the Bureau of Land Management. I'll bet some of the folks there even read your friend's book.

For more information you might try this FAQ at the Bureau of Land Management. I'll bet some of the folks there even read your friend's book.

Because it's required by the Feds.

When this (FERC Rule 888, aka the Mega-NoPR)was being discussed, one of my co-workers fought long and hard to have it on a private network. The powers-that-be, however, thought it was important that every Tom, Dick and Harry Power Marketer should be able to access the system at minimum cost, i.e., via the Internet. *sigh*