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Expert Warns Of Giant Tidal Wave
Kieckerjan writes "Forget about asteroids and start worrying about the unassuming Cumbre Vieja volcano. According to prof. Bill McGuire of the Benfield Grieg Hazard Research Centre, if this mountain erupts, it could cause a tidal wave that would wipe out America's east coast. Google news has the same story over and over again. (This makes you wonder: how much would it take to trigger an eruption for one bent on destruction?)"
Yes, clearly. Americans need to be afraid of MORE things. Since cancer, terrorism, guns, murder, disease, nuclear (nuk-you-lar) war, security levels blue through hot pink, killer bees, and France aren't scary enough.
I believe they thought of doing mining (as in for minerals, not data) in the 1950's and 1960's using nuclear explosives.
While this was a great incomplete theory, it left out the crucial detail of environmental damage and subsequent release of radiation to the ore, the slag, and the mined-out areas. Of course, in that day-in-age it wasn't well known what the long term effects of radioactive byproducts of nuclear explosions were.
There's also the crucial political perspective of Eisenhower's use of 'Atoms for Peace' to give political cover to the Atomic Energy Commission's mandate / goals of limiting proliferation. Basically, we promised the world that if they would NOT develop nuke bombs, we would give them reactors for free power. I am not "up" on the issue, I'd defer to some Ph.D.'s who do nonproliferation studies for a living. However, I'd wager there's a tradeoff between the lives saved by not having too many nukes out there vs. the lives lost in long term radiation exposure due to waste from 3rd world reactors.
Regardless, this builds up to the idea that if you're a terrorist, and you're going to try to set off a volcano, you're going to need lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots of conventional explosives, or one medium- to large-sized nuclear bomb. And, if you have a medium to large nuke, you're not going to use it on an off-the-wall gambit like an underwater or underground explosion.
Geologists, please comment on any demonstrated effects of the use of explosives in the triggering of volcanic eruptions (if any) ?? I would suspect very few experiments, am I right?
Unitarian Church: Freethinkers Congregate!
Let's look at the source:
On the front page of the Benfield Grieg Hazard Research Centre web site is this interesting statement:
<sarcasm>Why would an insurance company post such an article?</sarcasm>
First off, a disclaimer.. IANAG, IANAP, and IANAO. (I am not a geologist, physicist, or geologist.) But, unless something is dramatically different about rocks and water, F = ma, and the laws of conservation of energy still apply. How is an object of this mass, compared to the mass of the ocean, going to generate a swell 300 feet high that will maintain its height when it reaches the US shore? While I don't remember the formulas for predicting wave propagation, I'm pretty damn sure that attenuation over that distance would be pretty steep. A couple extra inches in a few swells isn't exactly going to overwhelm our shoreline.
I think Slashdot's been trolled by the Beeb, here..
Weapons of Mass Analysis
In the last 2.1 million years, Yellowstone erupted 3 times at intervals of between 600,000 and 800,000 years. Even allowing a statistical analysis of such a small sample size, the expected interval would be something more like 700,000 years plus/minus 100,000 years. Yes, Yellowstone may erupt again someday, but calling it overdue is listening too much to the tinfoil hat folks.
It is possible that you could have seen a documentary about this. I read about this more than over a year a ago. This is definitely not news, just a reminder for the people! What worries me is that governments still haven't responded to the threat. Why? Because we consider some kind of a natural catastrophe often as a very unlikely and local phenomena. I have never seen, and don't know anyone who would have seen a natural catastrophe. Have you? The ever lasting problem remains; people won't believe you until it happens. Remember 9/11? It is a pity.
I demand the Cone of Silence!
Consider who has killed more people.... Karl Marx, or Osama bin Laden. I'll choose to fight a hundred armed OBLs to one do-gooder politician.
BTW, the followers of Karl have killed about ten thousand times more people than the followers of Osamma.
- High Tech workers, please say NO to Union Carpenters, their Union sees fit to control our compensation.
Sustainability and energy independence essay
Karl Marx, to my knowledge, never called for the imprisonment, execution, and/or disappearance of millions who chose not to toe the line. Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and others chose those policies.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
Go to volcanic island. Locate large slipping rock. Make gravel and dispose of gradually filling pot holes in Italian roads and New York's city streets.
------ The only greater hazard to your liberty than n politicians is n+1 politicians.
What happens when two waves meet, and cross? When the peaks cross you get a wave with a height that is the sum of the waves. When the troughs cross you get a trough with a depth that is the sum. When the peak of one crosses the trough of the other they cancel out temporarily .
But, once they have crossed, they go merrily on their way as if nothing had happened.
So you explode a missile in the path of the big wave? All you have done is add a second big wave to worry about. That doesn't sound like such a good idea to me.
Is there some way to break the big slab into smaller peices? Let them drop into the ocean one at a time?
How about building a coffer dam right under where we expect the slab to fall, and then pumping out all the water? No water, no big wave.
I think you need to brush up on your Marxs. He called for a violent overthrow of the current order. Generally violent overthrows involve imprisonment, execution, and/or disappearances.