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Mount St. Helens Lets Off Some Steam

jdray writes "The cube farm is all a twitter right now, as Mt. St. Helens is spewing out a steam plume, and you can see if from our building. The cam for the volcano seems to be down, but we just saw a news helicopter from KATU, one of our local news stations, headed that direction. They should have some content up shortly." Other readers suggest: KOIN, KOIN webcams, Kiro TV, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, or CNN.

342 comments

  1. Well sheesh... by tekiegreg · · Score: 5, Funny

    It just looked like it needed to sneeze....I mean if you had that much dirt building up in your crater you'd have to as well...

    Be polite and say "God Bless you" and move on....nothing to see here...

    --
    ...in bed
    1. Re:Well sheesh... by captainClassLoader · · Score: 4, Funny

      Michael says:

      The cam for the volcano seems to be down...

      Yeah, and if it wasn't down because it got pyroclastic-flow-dotted or flash-steam-dotted before he posted this story, it's certainly been slash-dotted to oblivion by now...

      --
      "The plural of anecdote is not data" -- Bruce Schneier
    2. Re:Well sheesh... by MikeMacK · · Score: 5, Funny

      Slashdot is the pyroclastic flow of the Internet.

    3. Re:Well sheesh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What part of "jdray writes..." don't you understand?

    4. Re:Well sheesh... by captainClassLoader · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that fits - Fast moving, overwhelming, and if you're a server, generally fatal...

      --
      "The plural of anecdote is not data" -- Bruce Schneier
    5. Re:Well sheesh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      thats not funny

    6. Re:Well sheesh... by pilgrim23 · · Score: 1

      She was just letting off steam....must be a Windows user...

      --
      - Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
    7. Re:Well sheesh... by MikeMacK · · Score: 5, Funny
      Yeah, that fits - Fast moving, overwhelming, and if you're a server, generally fatal...

      And you forgot: generally filled with a lot of hot air.

    8. Re:Well sheesh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, it was FARKed long before it was /.'ed. As a matter of fact, it was Farked before the eruption was added to the Google News page.

    9. Re:Well sheesh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And the big sneeze award goes to .....

    10. Re:Well sheesh... by MikeMacK · · Score: 1
      She was just letting off steam....must be a Windows user...

      Definitely a gamer.

    11. Re:Well sheesh... by bluekanoodle · · Score: 1

      Actually it's been overwhelmed off and on for the past week, well before Fark or /. picked up the story.

    12. Re:Well sheesh... by fatcatman · · Score: 1

      And you forgot: generally filled with a lot of hot air.

      And flames. Don't forget the flames.

      All I want to know is, where do the trolls fit into all of this?

    13. Re:Well sheesh... by supernova87a · · Score: 1

      sorry, there is a force even larger than the slashdot effect. It's called being linked on Drudgereport.

    14. Re:Well sheesh... by Martin+Blank · · Score: 1

      Trolls push it all along into the open. Duh. :)

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
    15. Re:Well sheesh... by MayorDefacto · · Score: 1

      Screw pyroclasts! For my money, it's got to be a Lahar... 400MPH boiling mud and debris riding on a cushion of air, baby!

    16. Re:Well sheesh... by glitch23 · · Score: 1

      slasdotters don't believe in God so it would have to be more like "Bless You".

      --
      this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. -- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
    17. Re:Well sheesh... by Shoten · · Score: 1

      I don't know...it looks like it's working for me. It's supposed to be a 'static image', right? :)

      --

      For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
  2. Where was the kaboom? by TykeClone · · Score: 4, Funny

    There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!

    --
    A fine is a tax you pay for doing wrong and a tax is a fine you pay for doing all right.
    1. Re:Where was the kaboom? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thanks - you made my day with that one.

    2. Re:Where was the kaboom? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not really. When its making all that noise its releasing the stress and pressure, so none can build up. Its when its quiet for a long time and the pressure can build that you need to watch out.

      Just watch out for the quiet ones, because you never know what they are thinking! ;)

    3. Re:Where was the kaboom? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Source: Google
      Reference: Marvin, Martian The (Looney Toones)
      Keywords: earth-shattering kaboom

    4. Re:Where was the kaboom? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well I'm off to buy some spackle.

  3. nothing to see here folks by crapnutassneck · · Score: 5, Informative

    watched it out my window here at work and it was nothing. my folks are 25mi from it and got no ash. still more to come.

    --
    .-=Wit is educated insolence=-. -Aristotle
    1. Re:nothing to see here folks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      No kidding. As someone who lives in the Northwest, I've said all along that nothing was going to happen. What has happened today is no more exciting than what happens with the geiser in yellostone - and THAT does it all day.

      Really. People need to calm the fuck down. Especially those news hound fags.

    2. Re:nothing to see here folks by SocietyoftheFist · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I have a relative that was sitting at the dining table eating breakfast and looking out his window right at the volcano as it erupted in 1980. Now that would've been something to see.

    3. Re:nothing to see here folks by erick99 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      The scientists who monitor the volcano seem to feel that an eruption is fairly likely:.

      All Things Considered, September 30, 2004. Researchers upgrade the chance of a mild to moderate volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens to 70 percent -- possibly within the next few days.

      . . . and . . .

      Day to Day, September 30, 2004 Scientists in Washington state are predicting an eruption of the Mount St. Helens volcano in the next few days. NPR's Noah Adams talks with Dan Dzurisin of the U.S. Geologic Survey about the activity brewing under the surface of the already-shattered mountain, which was the scene of a massive surprise eruption in 1980.

      . . . and . . .

      ASSOCIATED PRESS On Wednesday, U.S.G.S. scientists warned that a small or moderate blast from the southwest Washington mountain could spew ash and rock as far as 3 miles from the 8,364-foot peak.

      I live on the east coast so I can only go by reports from the scientists that are out on the west coast. I don't think that folks should get alarmed to the point that they become shrill or panic-stricken. However, it does seem reasonably likely that there will be some sort of eruption though all of the scientists, so far, say nothing near the 1980 eruption.

      --
      http://www.busyweather.com/
    4. Re:nothing to see here folks by ScuzzMonkey · · Score: 1

      "Will be?" This was it! There may be more but probably all on about this scale. People mostly associate "eruption" with something major, but in this case it's almost a technicality (not if you're standing inside the crater, in which case it would seem a damn important event...). I guess ya'll can be pardoned for not realizing that those tiny little whiffs of steam and ash on your TV were the main event. But we went through several rounds of this back in the mid-80's as well, and although it's interesting and unusual and all, for those of us that went through May 18th, it seems a little pedestrian.

      --
      No relation to Happy Monkey
    5. Re:nothing to see here folks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have mod points--where's the -1, RTFA option?

    6. Re:nothing to see here folks by NanoGator · · Score: 1

      "Now that would've been something to see."

      Heh when you said that I imagined a cartoonesque hole in the wall shaped like your relative. I'm a chicken.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
  4. Mt. St. Rongbad says by Bombcar · · Score: 5, Funny

    My mountain asplode!

    1. Re:Mt. St. Rongbad says by TheDarkener · · Score: 1

      Thank you, Valarie! No probalo!

      --
      It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
    2. Re:Mt. St. Rongbad says by DAldredge · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Mr. Bush, shouldn't you be on the campaign trail? ;->

  5. We're all gonna die! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually I doubt it hits Orting, let alone Lakewood...

    1. Re:We're all gonna die! by Cromac · · Score: 2, Informative

      With the wind blowing the ash to the W/SW I'm sure you're right. Longview or Portland might get a little dusting though.

    2. Re:We're all gonna die! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      With all the residue in the atmosphere from the burnt oil fields in the middle east, not much is gonna change with the addition of ash.

  6. more steam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bye bye eveyone

  7. VolcanoCam by GeckoX · · Score: 2, Informative

    The volcano cam is not down perse, but it's been hit and miss all day. I'm currently looking at an image from 13:24:01 PDT this afternoon.

    Now that the link is front and center on /. I wouldn't expect to have much luck for a while ;)

    --
    No Comment.
    1. Re:VolcanoCam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Yeah the server running the cam will make a bigger crater and kaboom than the volcano.

    2. Re:VolcanoCam by NoWhere+Man · · Score: 0

      The shashdot effect will take care of that camera - no problem. Instead of hit and miss....it'll just be plain offline...

      --

      "Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality." -Jules de Gautier
    3. Re:VolcanoCam by ackthpt · · Score: 1
      The volcano cam is not down perse, but it's been hit and miss all day. I'm currently looking at an image from 13:24:01 PDT this afternoon. Now that the link is front and center on /. I wouldn't expect to have much luck for a while ;)

      I was looking at it before the article even came up on Slashdot and it was pre-slashdotted.

      Looka this instead.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    4. Re:VolcanoCam by Gabrill · · Score: 1

      volcano cam is up. And staring right at a bugs underside.

      --
      Always going forward, 'cause we can't find reverse.
  8. It sure looks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It sure looks like a cloud was framed strategically behind the moutain to make the "steam" look like more than it was. I see some dark wisps, and then a big white plume that seems to start right at the top of the crater as if it were actually behind it.

    1. Re:It sure looks by identity0 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Well, it'd be pretty hard to pre-position yourself to get such a shot, unless you were in an airplane.... trust me, volcanoes can regularly send out clouds that big.

      For comparison, look at These pics of a volcano in Japan I used to live near. The pics show ash not steam, so it's a different color but you get the idea. The ash cloud would regularly blanket the nearby cities like a fog, and settle on everything. Keep in mind there was a major city across the bay about 3km away, about as far as Bremerton is from Seattle.

      I'm suprised that a volcano like St. Helens only does that much ash and steam, to be honest.

    2. Re:It sure looks by Keeper · · Score: 1

      It wasn't a cloud. The wind blew the steam and ash in that general direction.

    3. Re:It sure looks by NanoGator · · Score: 1

      "It sure looks like a cloud was framed strategically behind the moutain to make the "steam" look like more than it was. "

      I wanna make a tin-foil hat joke but I can't think of a clever way of phrasing it. >:I

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    4. Re:It sure looks by Babbster · · Score: 1
      "Maybe if you wrap your hat around a baked potato and leave it in the crater you can get some accurate information on how serious the steam was."

      Clever? I dunno, but I amused myself and that's what's important.

    5. Re:It sure looks by Babbster · · Score: 1

      Of course, I don't bother to preview and edit out the word "baked," making my attempt at humor that much more pathetic. I truly hate myself...though not as much as I'd hate having to clean ash out of everything for weeks as we did back in '80 (lifelong Portlander). :)

  9. Video of the "eruption" by valkraider · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Here is some cool video (Windows media, but VLC played it fine):

    1. Re:Video of the "eruption" by valkraider · · Score: 3, Informative
  10. Vocanoworld by AmigaAvenger · · Score: 1
    Anyone have a link to a working webcam?

    or for some kid related information, great if you have young ones asking about Mt. St helens, head on over to VolcanoWorld

    1. Re:Vocanoworld by flyboy974 · · Score: 2, Informative
      http://www.kgw.com/ has been having live video feeds if you have Windows Media Player.

      They've had their helicopter over the mountain for about 40 minutes now with a live feed, and have had some good shots of inside the volcano crater, looking at the hole that was created from the blast.

    2. Re:Vocanoworld by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/vancouver/default. aspx?cam=1255

      they are back to traffic, but were pointed at the mountain when all others were over loaded.

    3. Re:Vocanoworld by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If I gave you my link it wouldn't be working now would it?

  11. Need an update by fluxrad · · Score: 5, Funny

    Any news yet on possible terrorist involvement?

    --
    "It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
    1. Re:Need an update by chimpo13 · · Score: 3, Funny

      After the debate last night, Bush is making that announcement now.

      "My fellow Americans, thankfully, Poland was here to help us because the volcano, much like Kerry, flip-flopped on if this was a good, honest eruption or just some venting".

    2. Re:Need an update by shankariyer · · Score: 1

      Bush : The volcano is flip-flopping inside

    3. Re:Need an update by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 1

      Remember, if you wear a respirator, the geologists win.

    4. Re:Need an update by Muttonhead · · Score: 1
      There's no news on Mt. St. Helens exploding due to terrorism.

      There's no news on WTC7 being the only steel frame building in the history of the world to simply collapse -- nearly at the speed of a free fall -- due to fire.

      There's no news on the unprecedented three hurricane paths (Charley, Frances and Jeanne) intersecting nears the towns of Fort Meade and Homeland, Florida. In a single season.

      It's just one of those years. Don't think about it too much. Nothing to see here. Keep moving on.

  12. Theres one in Mexico also. by bludstone · · Score: 4, Interesting
    --

    no .sig
    1. Re:Theres one in Mexico also. by CanSpice · · Score: 1
    2. Re:Theres one in Mexico also. by eseiat · · Score: 1

      And since it's in Mexico it has to be hotter and spicer than the rest. It's the "Latin Explosion" incarnate!

    3. Re:Theres one in Mexico also. by AndroidCat · · Score: 1
      "The explosions are continuing and a lot of material is coming out, but we do not yet consider it a risk situation," Colima's chief of civil protection, Melchor Urzua, said.
      I wonder what's required to turn it into a "risk situation" and what do they do then, put up some yellow tape?
      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
    4. Re:Theres one in Mexico also. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      are these the "mexxed misages" Bush was talking about?

  13. Mild volcanic event happens on volcano by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bloody wow. Some hot ashy steam.

    Where's a decent bit of lava.

    Most volcanos vent steam and gases. This is a non-story isn't it?

    1. Re:Mild volcanic event happens on volcano by Kethinov · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Most volcanos vent steam and gases. This is a non-story isn't it?
      Most volcanos aren't sitting near densely populated areas in the United States.
      --
      You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
    2. Re:Mild volcanic event happens on volcano by srau · · Score: 3, Informative

      Mt. Hood poses a much larger danger to the Portland area. It's bigger than St. Helens, closer to Portland, and has a number of ski resorts and other people-attracting landmarks. Portland also has a volcano, presumably extinct, within the densely populated city limits - Mt. Tabor.

    3. Re:Mild volcanic event happens on volcano by Alomex · · Score: 2, Informative

      Mt. St. Helen is nowhere close to a densely populated area in the United States.

      First, it is a few hours drive from a major city (Seattle), and even then population density in the Seattle area is well below that of any place south of San Francisco on the California coast or north of Arlington, on the Eastern seaboard, all the way to Boston or so.

    4. Re:Mild volcanic event happens on volcano by Darth+Hubris · · Score: 1

      Mt. St Helens would flood the Columbia with ash and mud like it did last time. Mt Rainier would send it's load toward Seattle, where I live. The town of Orting, WA would disappear under a wall of mud. It would head down the Duwamish and deposit a bit of mud. Tacoma would get hit hard. The Puyallup, White, and Carbon Rivers would become giant mud sluices and converge on Tacoma. Olympia would get a fair bit in the Nisqually river, but I think the city itself would be okay.

      --
      The party's over ... the drink ... and the luck ... ran out
    5. Re:Mild volcanic event happens on volcano by Forbman · · Score: 2, Informative

      ...and neither is Mt. St. Helens.

      Mt. Hood and Mt. Rainier are, however.

      And then there is the area around Yellowstone Park.

    6. Re:Mild volcanic event happens on volcano by o-hayo · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't be more appropriate to word it: Most densely populated areas in the United States aren't sitting near volcanos. After all, it isn't the damn volcano's fault now is it?

    7. Re:Mild volcanic event happens on volcano by fatcatman · · Score: 1

      and even then population density in the Seattle area is well below that of any place south of San Francisco on the California coast or north of Arlington, on the Eastern seaboard, all the way to Boston or so.

      So? He didn't say "the most densly populated." Are you arguing that Seattle isn't densly populated?

    8. Re:Mild volcanic event happens on volcano by wessto · · Score: 1

      um...what about portland, OR?

    9. Re:Mild volcanic event happens on volcano by dgagley · · Score: 1

      The one we worry about is Rainier and when talking about densities in Seattle you also have to consider, Renton, Kent, Auburn, Puyallup, Sumner, Orting, Tacoma Olympia and others. So add all the densities in the area of the volcano's reach and it makes it worse. Than is if it blows out the Eastern side.

      --
      I can't use my sig - my computer can't read my handwriting.
    10. Re:Mild volcanic event happens on volcano by Alomex · · Score: 1


      Population of Portland: 437,000. In fact the entire population of Oregon fits in the city of Cleveland.

      More importantly, at the visitor center, the expected path of the run off in case of an eruption is described as North towards Tacoma. Moreover it is not expected to reach that far, even assuming a volcano explosion of unusually high intensity.

    11. Re:Mild volcanic event happens on volcano by Alomex · · Score: 1

      That is exaclty what I'm arguing. Seattle is #98 in terms of density of population out of the top 100 metropolitan areas in the US. Here are some of the major "metropolis" which are more densely populated than Seattle:

      Middletown, CT
      Kenosha, WI
      Youngstown-Warren, OH
      Grand Rapids, MI
      Sarasota, FL
      Danbury, CT
      Nashua, NH
      Wilmington, NC
      Gary-Hammond, IN
      Salt Lake City-Ogden, UT
      Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN
      Hartford, CT
      Akron, OH
      Norfolk-Virginia Beach, VA
      Buffalo, NY
      Milwaukee, WI

    12. Re:Mild volcanic event happens on volcano by fatcatman · · Score: 1

      That is exaclty what I'm arguing. Seattle is #98 in terms of density of population out of the top 100 metropolitan areas in the US.

      So out of the hundreds of thousands of populated areas in the United States, Seattle ranks it at #98. That's in the upper 90% range in terms of overall population density.

      Seattle is densly populated whether you like it or not. You can't simply measure it against the top 1% and say, "Oh, it's not dense. Look, there are 97 areas here that are even denser." You have to measure it as a whole. And as a whole, it's a very dense place, filled with dense people (did I just say that?).

    13. Re:Mild volcanic event happens on volcano by Jayde+Stargunner · · Score: 1

      The population of Portland is more like 550k nowadays, and the metro area (all within affected area of the 1980 St. Helens blast) is 1.95 million people.

      That makes it the 24th largest metro area in the United States, beating out a number of other "high profile" metro areas that may have larger name recognition.

      http://www.demographia.com/db-usmet2003.pdf

      -Jayde

      --
      What's a sig?
    14. Re:Mild volcanic event happens on volcano by Alomex · · Score: 1

      That makes it the 24th largest metro area in the United States,

      Actually it is 31th according to the US census, which I take any day over "demographia.com".

      More importantly affected area is not the same as "in peril". The entire world was affected by St. Helens (slight increase in atmospheric dust for a few days IIRC, this does not mean that the entire world population is/was at risk).

    15. Re:Mild volcanic event happens on volcano by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So out of the hundreds of thousands of populated areas in the United States,

      No. Out of the 350 cities in the US....

      Seattle is densly populated whether you like it or not.

      Seattle is a logger town that would not be in the map if it weren't for (a) Microsoft and (b) Californians who moved there and taught the locals the difference between Chardonnay and Coke.

      It's a medium size city with a low population density even for the non-densely populated US of A (there is this thing called "the world" outside America).

      flame on...

    16. Re:Mild volcanic event happens on volcano by Jayde+Stargunner · · Score: 1

      Unless you can link otherwise, IIRC the metro area statistics on census.gov are pretty old--the ones on the linked PDF are based on projected 2003 US census data and not 2000 figures. (The Portland metro area has grown at a higher than average rate over the last number of years.)

      http://www.census.gov/popest/metro.html

      The linked PDF also shows the official 2000 figures for comparison.

      -Jayde

      --
      What's a sig?
    17. Re:Mild volcanic event happens on volcano by winwar · · Score: 1

      "Mt Rainier would send it's load toward Seattle, where I live."

      Possible, but unlikely. Prevailing winds are towards eastern Washington. Seattle actually is relatively safe from Rainier. Now Tacoma could get a few mudflows-of course this could happen WITHOUT an eruption. And frankly, would the loss of Orting REALLY be that bad :) And for that matter, a few mudflows towards Tacoma :)

      And you are correct that Olympia wouldn't be touched (excluding any ashfall). I doubt much there would be much effect on the lower Nisqually either.

  14. In related news by hsmith · · Score: 3, Funny

    President Bush vows to find the terrorists responsible for blowing up Mt. St. Helen

    1. Re:In related news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Also, Kerry went to visit and inspect the damage. Word is he is demanding another purple heart for the steam burn to his thumb.

    2. Re:In related news by Hassman · · Score: 4, Funny

      Meanwhile Kerry voices his opinions to open bilateral talks in hopes of a peaceful solution...

      --
      -Mark
      Dovie'andi se tovya sagain.
    3. Re:In related news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...as Bush quietly reads "my pet goat" while waiting to be told what to think, say, and do.

    4. Re:In related news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And Bush launches an invasion of the north pole to stop the terrorists from blowing up another US mountain.

    5. Re:In related news by Professr3 · · Score: 2, Funny

      John Kerry walks into a bar, and the bartender asks, "What's with the long face?"

    6. Re:In related news by HikeFanatic · · Score: 0

      I heard that OJ is also looking for the real culprits...

    7. Re:In related news by rainman_bc · · Score: 1

      Didn't the department of homeland security decree that it was not terror related???

      =D

      --
      09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
    8. Re:In related news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Meanwhile Kerry voices his opinions to open bilateral talks in hopes of a peaceful solution...

      You need to invade poor mountain first in order to do that.

    9. Re:In related news by glitch23 · · Score: 1

      Meanwhile Kerry voices his opinions to open bilateral talks in hopes of a peaceful solution..

      But then 2 days later he decided not to.

      --
      this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. -- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
    10. Re:In related news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On Saturday Bush is expected to courageously commit U.S. troops to the western edge of the Cascadia subduction zone to preemptively impose America's will on plate tectonics. Bush noted that "my friend...Johnny Ashcroft told me that God told him that the earth was only 4000 years old anyway, and if plate tectonics is going on...out there...in the Altanltlic sea...by Ore-ee-gone...then pretty soon..our children...are going to start believing evolution...and destroy the moral fiber of our great nation..." He is rumored to have, with characteristic difficulty, kept talking, but the press wisely gave up and went home before anyone got so personally embarrassed that they were compelled to run up to the podium and forcibly muffle him.

      In other headlines:
      "The moon explodes."
      "India and Pakistan Declare War -- Nuclear Armageddon Imminent."
      "Video Of Cute Squirrels In The Park."
      "Feature Story: Does Your Teenager Abuse Himself -- Warning Signs To Watch For."

      Tune in at 10:00 for all the day's headlines!

    11. Re:In related news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then 2 days after that he decides to open talks again, denies he changed his mind, and in a good will gesture agrees to send more Uranium to North Korea since they seem to have lost the Uranium that Madeliane Aldull and Bill Clinton sent.

  15. All over? by SiliconEntity · · Score: 5, Informative
    From the Post-Intelligencer:
    Small earthquakes had been occurring continuously in the crater since Sept. 23. They grew steadily stronger, finally reaching a magnitude of 3.3 Thursday and Friday, but the earthquakes quit after the eruption, said University of Washington seismologist Tony Qamar.

    "That makes us think this is the end of the eruption," Qamar said. "All this buildup was leading to that relatively small eruption."
    1. Re:All over? by cdrudge · · Score: 5, Funny

      Um hello. Haven't you ever seen Dante's Peak?

      All the US Geological Service people or whoever monitors all this stuff is going to pack up soon, leaving behind one middle age man who wants to go out with the town mayor. Pretty soon they are going to start drinking sulfer water, find naked skinny dippers floating in boiling water, and ultimately drive a truck into an abandoned mine shaft that will amazingly suffer no damage other then a colapsed mine shaft from the volcanic explosion. Thanks to NASA and their radio signal that has absolutely no problem penetrating solid rock, everyone will be fine with the exception of our hero's right arm snapped in two.

    2. Re:All over? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      "That makes us think this is the end of the eruption," Qamar said. "All this buildup was leading to that relatively small eruption."

      I realy need to get my mind out of the gutter. I read that and thought, "Maybe the volcano was just nervous."

    3. Re:All over? by Wind_Walker · · Score: 4, Funny
      "That makes us think this is the end of the eruption," Qamar said. "All this buildup was leading to that relatively small eruption."
      There's a sexual joke to be made there, but I just can't get the bat off my shoulder.
    4. Re:All over? by Soko · · Score: 4, Funny

      "That makes us think this is the end of the eruption," Qamar said. "All this buildup was leading to that relatively small eruption."


      My wife read that over my shoulder, patted my head and snickered. Then I read your response, with her still there.

      There's a sexual joke to be made there, but I just can't get the bat off my shoulder.

      *Snicker* The smack in the head was worth it.

      Soko

      --
      "Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
    5. Re:All over? by Emugamer · · Score: 2, Funny

      sweet, now I don't have to watch the movie, I can just drive down and watch it live

    6. Re:All over? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      If you try it, agents from the MPAA will shoot you down like a dog, you copyright pirate terrorist!

    7. Re:All over? by TrevorB · · Score: 1

      Guess what. It's not all over.... The earthquakes have started again...

      Update from 2 hours ago from USGS

      Mount St. Helens Update, October 1, 2004, 7:00 P.M.

      Current status is Alert-Level 2-Volcano Advisory

      The increasingly energetic seismic swarm of the past week culminated in a small 25-miunute-long eruption around noon today from a vent just south of the lava dome. The vent opened in a portion of the glacier that had become increasingly crevassed and uplifted over the past few days. This deformation was probably driven by piston-like uplift of a portion of the lava dome and crater floor. The eruption sent a steam and minor ash plume to an altitude of about 10,000 ft. It drifted southwestward accompanied by minor ashfall in areas close to the volcano. Seismicity dropped to a low level for several hours after the eruption, but is gradually increasing with earthquakes (maximum Magnitude about 3) occurring a rate of 1-2 per minute. We infer that the system is repressurizing. As a result, additional steam-and-ash eruptions similar to today's could occur at any time.


    8. Re:All over? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You deserve to be publicly shamed for:
      1) Admitting in public that you've seen that movie.
      2) Watching that movie to the finish.
      3) Remembering enough details to give that level of summary.

      You deserve to be dipped in molten hot "magma". Although you could have totally lied about that storyline and I wouldn't know any better. I quit watching within 15min of the beginning. Must be among the worst movies. Ugh. I feel sick now. Thanks a lot.

  16. Try this: by valkraider · · Score: 1
  17. It reminds me... by IronChefMorimoto · · Score: 5, Funny

    This big buildup to a little eruption reminds of me of how I feel when I eat something that might disagree with me more than it actually did.

    You go out to lunch, come back, and go to a meeting. During the whole meeting, your stomach is growling in such a horrible way as to sound like you've shit your britches. People look at you, and boss asks, embarrassingly, if you have to leave the meeting. You say, redfaced, "I'm OK, and plod through the rest of the meeting while your co-workers roll their chairs a little farther away from you."

    At the end of the meeting, you rush to the bathroom, which everyone giggles about as they see you make the mad dash, lock the door, drop your trousers, and sit down for what you think will be mother of all bowel movements. And then you... ...fart rather loudly a few times and drop a turd the size of a peanut into the commode.

    All that buildup and embarrassment for...a single tiny turd.

    Looks like the other mountains in the area laughed at Mt. St. Helen's before she popped her piddly piddle today.

    IronChefMorimoto

    1. Re:It reminds me... by Cat_Byte · · Score: 3, Funny

      or vice-versa. You think you have a little fart and you get the surprise of your life.

      --
      Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one the bus load of girls just went down.
    2. Re:It reminds me... by NickF · · Score: 1

      There you sat all broken hearted, went to shit and only farted.

    3. Re:It reminds me... by Wire+Tap · · Score: 1

      What's worse is if you let that "little fart" out in your cube when you think no one is listening...

      --

      Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.

    4. Re:It reminds me... by ajlitt · · Score: 1

      You must have lived a very uneventful life.

    5. Re:It reminds me... by haggar · · Score: 1

      I think that was more information than I wanted to know.

      --
      Sigged!
  18. tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    This is Slashdot, you're not allowed to say God here unless it's associated with an epithet or you're railing against his followers.

    1. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by tekiegreg · · Score: 2, Funny

      Ok fine then "Gesundheit", no wait that's German, nobody understands it and I'm an insensitive clod...ummm....so what do I say when someone sneezes??? May the non-denominational powers that guide this universe be well in your favor???

      --
      ...in bed
    2. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by SuiteSisterMary · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Here, have a tissue."

      --
      Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
    3. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      hehehe

    4. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Losely translated gesundheit means good health (actually just health but good is implied). So wishing somebody good health would be fine.

    5. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by tekiegreg · · Score: 1

      sure, I'll walk up to the volcano and hand him one immediately, thanks for the suggestion Sister!

      --
      ...in bed
    6. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by schon · · Score: 4, Funny

      gesundheit means good health

      Really? And here I was all along thinking it meant the opposite of "comes out loose". :o)

    7. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by pixelpusher220 · · Score: 1

      or the after affect of my reading your post...."sprays on monitor"

      Thanks for the friday laugh!


      --
      People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people :-D
    8. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by semifamous · · Score: 2, Funny

      No that's goesintight. ...the "German virgin"

    9. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by yiantsbro · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Thanks for sharing the germs. Now, mind if I fart?

    10. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by Kehvarl · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      May the non-denominational powers that guide this universe be well in your favor

      I like this. I think I'm going to start saying that everytime somebody sneezes.

    11. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by rwoodford · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      If they sneeze into their hands, say 'nice catch'.

    12. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by mrroach · · Score: 1, Funny

      You are sooooo good looking

      -Mark

    13. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by coutch · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      "You are so good looking!"

    14. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by strike2867 · · Score: 0

      This is the same guy thats asking for job applications on slashdot.

      --

      Vote for new mod!!! Score:-2,Imbecile
    15. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by Feanturi · · Score: 1

      May the non-denominational powers that guide this universe be well in your favor???
      How you assume! My universe is guided by no-one, you insensitive clod!

    16. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by Too+Much+Noise · · Score: 2, Funny
      What about something like:
      Insofar as I may be heard by anything, which may or may not care what I say, I ask, if it matters, that you be blessed for sneezing. Conversely, if not blessing but something else may be required to insure any possible benefit for which you may be eligible after sneezing, I ask that this, whatever it may be, be granted or withheld, as the case may be, in such a manner as to insure your receiving said benefit."


      (with due acknowledgement to the late R. Zelazny)
    17. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by spiralscratch · · Score: 0

      Say, "You're soooo good-looking!"

    18. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by dancingmad · · Score: 2, Funny

      Have you never watched Seinfeld?

      The appropriate non-demoninational response to a sneeze is "You're SOOO good looking."

      Mount St. Helens, you're sooo good looking.

      --
      "There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter," Jeeves, (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
    19. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by MntlChaos · · Score: 1

      The null set is still a set...

    20. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by NanoGator · · Score: 1

      "You are sooooo good looking"

      Pssst mods: Seinfeld reference. It's obscure, not off topic.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    21. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by modecx · · Score: 1

      A simple "gesundheit" would be just as good.

      Judging by the complexion, I'd guess the mountian just might be German!

      --
      Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
    22. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by Cylix · · Score: 1

      That Mount St. Helens... she's so hot right now.

      (Reference to zoolander)

      --
      "You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
    23. Re:tekiegreg, you are bound by law to stand down by SuiteSisterMary · · Score: 1

      One day, an elderly couple from America are vacationing in Germany. In a small antique shop, very dusty, the woman sneezes. "Gesundheit!" exclaims the shop-keeper. The wife turns to the husband, saying 'Thank goodness! We've finally found somebody who speaks English!"

      --
      Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
  19. obligatory space balling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    " she's gone fromsuck to blow!"

  20. Stock up on pantyhose by PIPBoy3000 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When the last one hit, things like pantyhose were used to keep ash from destroying their engines.

    I live a couple hours south of Portland and we got only a light dusting after the first eruption. My wife lived further north and was cleaning ash off of cars for days.

    1. Re:Stock up on pantyhose by DavidNWelton · · Score: 1

      There wasn't any ash south of Portland, and I don't recall there being any in Portland itself. My grandparents, on the other hand, all the way in Idaho told us about the sky getting dark, and digging out from under the ash a week later...

    2. Re:Stock up on pantyhose by maxpublic · · Score: 1

      Not true. About an inch dropped in Eugene and skies turned dark. Eugene is two hours south of Portland.

      Max

      --
      My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
    3. Re:Stock up on pantyhose by DavidNWelton · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure where you're getting that idea, but while we felt the explosion in Eugene, there was no ash there:

      http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/teachers-packets/vo lc anoes/lesson3/less3fig2.jpg

      maybe you're thinking of somewhere else, because the only ash in eugene that I remember were the little vials my grandparents sent me from Couer d'Alene in the mail:-)

      Here's an even better one:

      http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/MSH/Maps/map _m ay18_ash_path.html

      Even Portland was spared, because of the wind direction.

    4. Re:Stock up on pantyhose by 3D+Lover · · Score: 1

      I live in Tigard, just southwest of Portland. After the May 18th, 1980 eruption I distinctly remember scraping about 1/8th of an inch of ash off of the slide on the swingset. We have several jars full of ash in the basement. I also remember using the snow scoop to clean off the driveway. We had a fair sized pile in the front yard for a few months until weeds started growing in it. I don't know how far south it got, but yes, there was ash in Portland.

      The ash was so fine that when mixed with water, it set up hard. It was much easier to shovel when dry.

  21. Eruption by Mark+of+THE+CITY · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Supposedly this one may throw rock and ash up to 3 miles away. The Forest Service camera is 5 miles off, and the 1980 explosion threw ask over 250 miles.

    I haven't been up there but did hike up Lassen Peak in 2000. Much of that area is still bare from the eruptions that occurred around 1915.

    --
    The clearance system sounds logical. It is not. It is completely arbitrary. -- John Bolton
  22. can we slashdot kiro? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative
  23. Sorry...my bad by GillBates0 · · Score: 4, Funny
    It was just me lighting up a campfire to cook up some lunch.

    Sorry to get all your panties in a bunch...

    --
    An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
    1. Re:Sorry...my bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That explains the smoke. From the gases, I assume you were cooking beans.

  24. G-d speed m8s by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 0

    Best of luck, i hope she doesnt blow... but if she does lets pray she doesnt kill as many as she did last time. Forests can be replanted, buildings reconstructed, and computors backed up... but lives can never be replaced.

    --
    A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
  25. Re:Interesting by the_mad_poster · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Good point. I'm voting for this "Helen" chick in November.

    Stupid troll. If I were a dingo, I'd eat your babies.

    --
    Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
  26. The new "All your base" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
    1. Re:The new "All your base" by chimpo13 · · Score: 1

      Ack! Thanks for the warning. I'll avoid making that joke again. Goatse though, can't be killed.

    2. Re:The new "All your base" by ballpoint · · Score: 1

      Actually, in Polish notation, that should be "You Poland forgot."

      --
      Flourescent (adj): smelling like ground wheat.
    3. Re:The new "All your base" by ballpoint · · Score: 1

      correction: ... in Reverse Polish Notation ...

      --
      Flourescent (adj): smelling like ground wheat.
    4. Re:The new "All your base" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How do you say it in Soviet Russian?

    5. Re:The new "All your base" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      V Poltscha zablyi.
      Unfortunately /. doesn't allow to post in Unicode.

  27. Where's Duke Nukem at a time like this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Wars, rumors of wars, angry volcanos, swarms of locusts, and more.

    It's not long before the alien bastards from Mars or Hell find their way into our world.

    Where is Duke Nukem in all this? Save us Duke Nukem, save us Forever!

    1. Re:Where's Duke Nukem at a time like this? by Maul · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for Duke Nukem to arrive.

      --

      "You spoony bard!" -Tellah

    2. Re:Where's Duke Nukem at a time like this? by mbvgp · · Score: 0

      Duke Nukem will come. Duke Nukem will come "When its done" erupting :)

  28. Re:Exit Here by cbelt3 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I for one welcome the impending arrival of our underworld dwelling overlords.... (someone had to say it)

  29. good for the soil by temojen · · Score: 1

    It should be good for the nearby soil though.

  30. Bush accuses God of wielding WMDs by dygituljunky · · Score: 5, Funny

    BREAKING NEWS: With the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, US President George W. Bush accused God of attacking the United States with multiple WMDs over the course of the summer. Bush counted several hurricanes, numerous tornadoes and thunderstorms, floods, and the recent earthquake in southern California as examples of God's terrorist activity. Bush said that the threats of detonating Mt. St. Helens in Washington and another volcano in Hawaii signalled great threats to national security. Bush said that his administration would immediately begin searching for God's forces "on the ground" so that the US might be able to fight back. A spokesman for the Vatican said that the Pope was preparing a statement in response to Bush's grevious threats. When asked what she thought of Bush's reponse to the eruption, a spokeswoman for the USGS simply shook her head, blushed, and asked for the next question. Bush tried to use the simultaneous eruption of a Mexican volcano to garner Mexican support for the War on Terror. The Mexican ambassador to the US said "Bush is loco. Muy, muy loco." No members of Bush's inner circle could be reached for comment.

    1. Re:Bush accuses God of wielding WMDs by coopaq · · Score: 1, Offtopic
      Bush said that his administration would immediately begin searching for God's forces "on the ground" so that the US might be able to fight back.

      If god were a terrorist and the Vatican god's homebase Bush would order a premptive attack on the moon.

    2. Re:Bush accuses God of wielding WMDs by PhyrricVictory · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      A spokesman for God is quoted as saying "George Bush is a dick."

    3. Re:Bush accuses God of wielding WMDs by glitch23 · · Score: 0, Troll

      You won't be laughing when the real pestilence hits that is brought by God.

      --
      this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. -- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
    4. Re:Bush accuses God of wielding WMDs by Mr12inch(Powerbook) · · Score: 1

      You're right, I won't be laughing when the "real pestilence hits", because it won't happen. Wake up, "God" is an imaginary friend for adults. It just makes you feel better about yourself to think "God" exists and that you know "the one true way." Sad, but you know what, I am laughing at you right now:)

      --
      every time a republican dies a queer angel gets his wings
    5. Re:Bush accuses God of wielding WMDs by glitch23 · · Score: 0

      You may be laughing at me but i feel sorry for you. Kind of tells the difference between the 2 of us doesn't it?

      --
      this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. -- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
    6. Re:Bush accuses God of wielding WMDs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Kind of tells the difference between the 2 of us doesn't it?"

      Yes, it shows that you're an idiot and that the other poster has a brain of his own.

  31. Re:Interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've been planning on voting for Jesus all along. Glad you agree.

  32. Just smoke by bigjnsa500 · · Score: 1

    Nah, its just a burp. Wait a few days for the *real* explosion. Also, I'm watching a live stream and these idiots are going up there to see it smoke. TV reporter interviewed this one dude, "wow, man, it was like all smokey and stuff. I just had to come down and see it." If morons like this keep going out there, the death toll will be the same or higher than the 1980 blast.

    --
    This is a test. This is a test of the emergency sig system. This has been only a test.
    1. Re:Just smoke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "If morons like this keep going out there..."

      Well, on the bright side, this might impove Kerry's chances

    2. Re:Just smoke by bigjnsa500 · · Score: 0, Troll

      Its hopeless for Kerry. The ship is going d....o.....w.....n

      --
      This is a test. This is a test of the emergency sig system. This has been only a test.
    3. Re:Just smoke by rainman_bc · · Score: 1

      Death toll, or natural selection? Really, if you don't have enough sense to stay the hell away, then you get exactly what you deserve.

      --
      09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
    4. Re:Just smoke by bigjnsa500 · · Score: 1

      This is truely sad. I thought Slashdot was a place for peace. A comment NON Kerry is modded Troll. Oh well, I know where you live.

      --
      This is a test. This is a test of the emergency sig system. This has been only a test.
  33. CBS webcam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Here.

  34. webcam by quantaman · · Score: 4, Funny

    The cam for the volcano seems to be down

    So clearly by putting a link to it on the /. front page we can bring it back up.

    --
    I stole this Sig
    1. Re:webcam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It would get their attention if nothing else...

  35. Goats and Pigs galore by ciphersequence · · Score: 1

    Looks like the towns folk are going to get some free bacon that should last a couple months !!!.

  36. I didn't think it was going to be big. by TXP · · Score: 1

    Mnt St. Helen's has already blown her head off what else is there to do but let off steam and a little magma until she rebuilds her crown up. Now if this was going on at Mt Fuji I would say KABOOM!

  37. From first hand account by fawlty154 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I was fortunate to be within sixty miles of this explosion today, and I can say that it looked incredible in person.

    1. Re:From first hand account by apostrophesemicolon · · Score: 1

      it looks better when you're drunk...

      DRINK TIL SHE'S BEAUTIFUL!

    2. Re:From first hand account by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      -1, wtf?

  38. Kaboom by ackthpt · · Score: 3, Funny
    There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!

    ? Iludium Pu-36 Space Modulator Missing at Line 335

    ...and when the big one hits, all the land to the east of the fault will slide off into the Atlantic...

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  39. Re:DYLD? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do You Like Dinner?

  40. Probably not as big by Mark+of+THE+CITY · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The last big blast cleared about a cubic mile of rock out of the way. Pressures this time won't build as high as a result.

    --
    The clearance system sounds logical. It is not. It is completely arbitrary. -- John Bolton
    1. Re:Probably not as big by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 0

      Heh, think i made some enemies on the modding team. Notice that your post is at 3, insightful and mine was knocked down for -1 overrated. time for me to boot up a Daxian Conspiracy.

      --
      A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
  41. the camera is back by k3v0 · · Score: 1

    it is now 4:57 EST (GMT -5)

  42. The real truth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mount St. Helens begins releasing steam

    MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash. (AP) Mount St. Helens began belching a huge column of white steam Friday after two small figures were seen running into a crack in the volcano's side today followed by another gangly figure.

    1. Re:The real truth by Professr3 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What?? Peter Jackson followed them in? Horrors! I guess he wanted to get some good shots before they got toasted... Talk about some hazard pay for the actors.

    2. Re:The real truth by dgagley · · Score: 1

      Thoes were the guys from Starbucks who forgot to turn off the St. Helens steamer.

      --
      I can't use my sig - my computer can't read my handwriting.
  43. And one coming in Alaska... by KnarfO · · Score: 1
    --


    "Creativity is allowing ones self to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep" - Scott Adams
  44. neat-o by recharged95 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Geologically, this is fascinating. For the last few weeks, high concentration of hurricanes (on both coasts), a few earthquakes (on both coasts), now dual volcano events. I wonder if the collection and fusion of all this data is gonna identify that some global event happened within the environment?

    The past may have had extreme natural events similarly, but were they so "focused" like in the last 3 months?

    Maybe the earth had to reboot itself due to some Y2K issue?

    1. Re:neat-o by Jormundgandr · · Score: 5, Funny

      Did you see that map of 2000 election results in Florida superimposed on the last 3 hurricanes' paths? Avoiding democratic counties? Now the conservative interior of Washington state is going to be covered with ash? What does heaven have to do to get us to vote Kerry? Break out the locusts?

      --
      -sig removed for tax purposes-
    2. Re:neat-o by TuxMelvin · · Score: 1

      No, these types of events happen constantly around the world. We simply have had an unusual concentration of it in America.

      As for St. Helens, I think if anything this has been long overdue. The mountain is one of the most active in the Cascade Range, and this is the kind of activity that has to happen in order to rebuild itself over time.

      I'm hoping we'll see more of this... small non-threatening eruptions that in a few hundred years will return the mountain to it's former beauty.

    3. Re:neat-o by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You want to borrow my foil hat or do you have your own?

    4. Re:neat-o by aafiske · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Probably more a testament to human beings' ability (or lack thereof) to comprehend randomness. We love finding patterns in things, but sometimes stuff just happens at the same time. How often is there a bad Hurricane season? How often are there earthquakes and volcanoes? It's obviously not common for these things to coincide a lot (otherwise it'd happen every other year) but I doubt it's that rare.

    5. Re:neat-o by Forbman · · Score: 1

      Mmm...the ash fall did not really make it out of the crater. What is left of the plume is blowing to the SSW, north of Vancouver, WA.

      Not a lot of people in that region (and I have relatives in Castle Rock, WA).

      Nice try, though.

    6. Re:neat-o by yeremein · · Score: 3, Informative
      Did you see that map of 2000 election results in Florida superimposed on the last 3 hurricanes' paths? Avoiding democratic counties?

      Not quite.

    7. Re:neat-o by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 1

      Geologically, this is fascinating. For the last few weeks, high concentration of hurricanes (on both coasts), a few earthquakes (on both coasts), now dual volcano events.

      Keep in mind that hurricanes fall under meteorology, not geology.

      I guess I missed the earthquake news on the East Coast, I'm not sure what you mean.

    8. Re:neat-o by mark*workfire · · Score: 1

      Keep in mind that hurricanes fall under meteorology, not geology.

      Oh, good. As long as mother nature knows that, no worries then!

    9. Re:neat-o by rainman_bc · · Score: 1

      I'm surprised some evangelist hasn't started barking about the third coming yet... They always seem to come out of the woodwork for this.

      --
      09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
    10. Re:neat-o by southpolesammy · · Score: 1

      "Mount St. Helens erupts, and the Apocalypse is upon us."

      "News at 11...."

      --
      Rule #1 -- Politics always trumps technology.
    11. Re:neat-o by recharged95 · · Score: 1
      Yeah, geology vs. meteorology (got caught up in the video ;) ). I heard that hurricanes would set off some geological instruments though...

      I was talking about the one in the northeast recently, but can't get find the info. Then there was one in Kentucky recently (register low). Actually revisiting the usgs site just now, there's a lot of activity everywhere.

    12. Re:neat-o by Vellmont · · Score: 1

      Huricanes, earthquakes, and volcano eruptions are quite common. Hurricanes hit the US almost every couple years (maybe even on average once a year or more). It's highly unlikely there's any connection between the hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanoes. Plate tectonics is fairly removed from weather. It's far more likely this is just a co-incidence. (there's a high likelyhood that common events will occur near each other in time, given enough chances).

      I could easily believe there's some undiscovered phenomenon creating more hurricanes this year than normal. El Nino was discovered relatively recently, so we do know there's major trends that can effect weather.

      --
      AccountKiller
    13. Re:neat-o by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wonder if the collection and fusion of all this data is gonna identify that some global event happened within the environment?

      Depends.

      Republicans: It's due to God's will. We must learn to accept it.
      Democrats: It's due to global warming. Shame on you, companies.

    14. Re:neat-o by glitch23 · · Score: 0, Troll

      I wonder if the collection and fusion of all this data is gonna identify that some global event happened within the environment?

      Yeah it identifies God is getting pissed at us.Are you surprised considering what we have been getting ourselves into?

      --
      this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. -- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
    15. Re:neat-o by glitch23 · · Score: 0, Redundant

      From the map link This is no longer an interesting coincidence. It is an unmistakable message from God. I hope everyone is listening.

      It's more like nothing really since God doesn't want a democrat in office who believes in abortion (despite claiming he is Catholic; must be nice to make up rules and still say you are religious) and will allow the homosexual agenda to be carried even further than it already has been.

      --
      this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. -- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
    16. Re:neat-o by Delta+Vel · · Score: 1

      Random things happen in groups.

      Anyone who's ever kept a drawer in a grocery store knows that some days, you start off with almost all singles and have to get more every hour...and some days, you start off with ten singles and when you count your drawer at the end of your shift you have 90 of them, and you didn't buy more once that day.

      Course it usually falls somewhere in the middle.

      --
      It's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye. Then it's fun and games without depth perception.
    17. Re:neat-o by mati · · Score: 1

      Think about it this way: there are an absolute ton of unlikely things that could happen, so it's pretty much guaranteed that some of them will happen. But it still surprises us when they do.

  45. Re:Interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If I were Xander, I'd eat principle Flutie.

  46. Mega Slashdot Effect by rrhal · · Score: 1

    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

    --
    All generalizations are false, including this one. Mark Twain
  47. in other related news as it seems by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  48. KING 5 streaming live helicopter video by maokh · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://www.king5.com is currently offering a live helicopter stream of the scene, along with misc. USGS commentary.

  49. Darwin Candidates by sbowles · · Score: 1
    From this CTV article:

    Tourists have been flocking to the site for several days now, hoping to see the volcano erupt ... and get their names enshrined in the Darwin Hall of Shame.

    --
    You sly dog: you got me monologuing! - Syndrome
  50. This isn't it by Teahouse · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Ring of fire activity is up all around the ring. From Japan to Mexico to California, there is a lot of seismic and volcanic activity still going on. St. Helens is just a symptom of something else. I am betting something big happens in the next 3 months. Either an inactive volcano blows, or there's a big EQ in the ring, but something is going to happen. 6.2 in Mexico, 6.0 in California, 7.2 in Japan, St. Helens burps, small quake activity in Alaska and the cascades is up, and Hawaii is looking at Mauna Loa going very active. All of this within the last month, and all of it unusial. I doubt this burp from St' Helens is going to be the total end result.

    --
    "Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect."- Steven Wright
    1. Re:This isn't it by Jormundgandr · · Score: 1

      Does Hawaii count as part of the Ring of Fire? I thought it was just the volcanism around the pacific plate boundaries that were part of the Ring of Fire. Hawaii's volcanoes are entirely independent of plate tectonics.

      --
      -sig removed for tax purposes-
    2. Re:This isn't it by Jonny+Ringo · · Score: 2, Funny

      "Would you say its time to crack eachothers heads open and feast on the goo inside?"

      ahh the Simpsons, couldn't help myself.

    3. Re:This isn't it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How 'bout if we keep California, and all the people and infrastructure just slide off into the Pacific.

    4. Re:This isn't it by KKin8or · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Yes. Hawaii is just a "hot spot."

      Japan's earthquakes and volcanoes are part of the Pacific plate's subduction zone.

      California has earthquakes because of the pacific plate sliding along the north american plate (heading up toward Japan...).

      The pacific northwest has volcanoes and earthquakes because it's the subduction zone for the plate of Juan de Fuca.

      Hawaii, however, is in the middle of the pacific plate. Like Yellowstone, it's just a small place with some volcanic activity unrelated to plate tectonics (though the movement of the hotspot, creating the chain of islands, is probably related to plate tectonics).


      Hurrah for intro Geology... ;)

    5. Re:This isn't it by Vellmont · · Score: 1

      Do you really have any reason to believe earthquakes across the globe all causally related (between themselves, or some other phenomenon causing them)? Or are you just connecting events that are close together in time with no real justification other than that? I'm not a geologist, but I've never heard anyone claim there's any connection between earthquake activity around the world.

      --
      AccountKiller
    6. Re:This isn't it by Jormundgandr · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I took that course too, but my question was really about nomenclature, not what was physically happening. I just want to know whether Hawaii "counts" as part of the Ring of Fire.

      --
      -sig removed for tax purposes-
    7. Re:This isn't it by winwar · · Score: 1

      I don't know if you are clueless, but you ARE ignorant.

      "Ring of fire activity is up all around the ring."

      Evidence? And media reports don't count.

      "From Japan to Mexico to California, there is a lot of seismic and volcanic activity still going on."

      Really? And you just now noticed this? I mean it has only been going on for millions of years now. When two geologic plates meet and subduct you tend to get volcanism and seismic activity. It's called the ring of fire because the Pacific Ocean is mostly surrounded by active continental margins.

      "6.2 in Mexico, 6.0 in California, 7.2 in Japan, St. Helens burps, small quake activity in Alaska and the cascades is up, and Hawaii is looking at Mauna Loa going very active. All of this within the last month, and all of it unusial."

      It isn't unusual. Not at all. Mauna Loa is one of the world's most active volcanoes. The Cascade range is full of active/dormant volcanoes that could reasonably erupt at any time. Quakes in Mexico, California, Japan, and Alaska are about as unusual as the sun rising each day. Worldwide, there are approximately 100 magnitude 6 earthquakes a year and 10 magnitude 7 earthquakes a year. Most occur in the Pacific region. You do the math.

      "I am betting something big happens in the next 3 months."

      I am betting that a lot of people will wake up tomorrow, do a lot of stuff, then go to bed. An equally useful prediction.

    8. Re:This isn't it by Teahouse · · Score: 1

      Wow! You're just a sour little shit aren't you? The activity in the last month including large quakes is the most activity seen since the year of the Kobe quake. There have been 18 x 6.0+ on the ring in less than 28 days, YOU do the math.

      Oh, and Mauna Loa hasn't blown since 1984. You're thinking of Kilauea, which has been constantly active since 1983. So no, Mauna Loa isn't "CONSTANTLY active", and it's last eruption almost made it to Hilo. It has recently been raising a new dome and it looks to be erupting soon. If you need help finding articles explaining this just ask. Don't go off half-cocked.

      Next time you want to throw a superior attitude, at least know what the fuck you're talking about.

      Peace out,

      --
      "Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect."- Steven Wright
    9. Re:This isn't it by Teancum · · Score: 1

      I don't think it is too hard to simply ask that if you start making wild assertions regarding a massive increase in the number of earthquakes in the Ring of Fire, that you need to back it up with solid statistics. And demonstrate that there is indeed a definite upward and consistant trend for the number of earthquakes rather than simply a statistical anomoly.

      Just as you can occasionally roll snake eyes with a pair of dice, unusual events can also occur near simltaneously and not be related to each other... or be part of a larger trend. Perhaps that is all that is going on right now? Prove me wrong if you think otherwise, but at least try to use real statistics rather that quotes from the National Inquirer or George Carlin's Seven Deadly Words.

    10. Re:This isn't it by NichG · · Score: 1

      I'm not totally up on it, but I know that there's a professor here (University of Illinois at UC) who studies the statistics of earthquakes and models them as an avalanche process.

      There's a theory called 'self-organized criticality' which models systems in which you have the natural evolution of an unstable state, which can then be set off by relatively small perturbations, so large events which would be statistically unlikely in an uncorrelated system (exponentially unlikely as a function of magnitude) become far more likely (power law distribution).

      Here's a random search result that explains it: Self-Organized Criticality and Earthquakes

    11. Re:This isn't it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, it does not.

      As noted, it's position in the middle of the Pacific is unrelated to the activity that define the informal term "Ring of Fire" and is not considered part of "The Ring of Fire."

    12. Re:This isn't it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm not the author of the comment you are responding to, but I do know what I'm talking about. There has not been an unusual level of activity around the Pacific Rim. Your prediction of "something big happen[ing] in the next 3 months" is not meaningful, although depending on what you mean by "big" and "something" it is very nearly certain to come true, albeit trivially so.

      Consider 2004 earthquake statistics:
      http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eqlists/eqs tats.html

      The table shows a slightly lower than expected frequency of large earthquakes than are expected. Furthermore, the incidence of small earthquakes is not known to indicate the probability of future large events.

      At any particular moment there are probably a half dozen to a dozen volanoes erupting around the world on any particular day. Trying to link the Mt. St. Helens event to any global pattern is beyond speculative. At this time there is little evidence to even suggest the magma systems of mauna loa and kilauea are linked, let alone that extremely far away plate boundary interactions could somehow substantively relate on short timescales to Hawaiian volcanic activity.

      Simple semi-random chance will all by itself cluster events at times. There is, furthermore, no recognized mechanism known that results in newspaper headlines describing geological events to increase the frequency of similar events. However, just like newspaper headlines describing shark attacks or west nile virus, increased awareness of events will increase the frequency of headlines. People are very good at identifying patters, even where they do not exist.

      If you have additional evidence you'd like to share to support your assertion that "something big happens in the next 3 months," please detail what you mean, share you scholarly credentials, and inform the rest of the world of the mechanisms you invoke to cause it. Also please contact the USGS or GSA.

      Actually, saying "something big happens in the next 3 months" is very safe. In fact, I concur. It would be statistically astonishing if something "big" didn't occur, somewhere, over that length of time. I do not, however, need to extrapolate from any recent events to reach that very safe conclusion.

      In short, I can't conclude your prediction is well informed or has any specificity. It's not useful, and would likely simply be wrong if it weren't so general that it's almost certain to come true.

  51. If we're lucky... by Run4yourlives · · Score: 1

    California will join Atlantis somewhere in the Pacific :-)

    1. Re:If we're lucky... by G00F · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Actually, LA and san fran, and if both go, it will clean up the a lot of the mess today. (riaa, mpaa, holywood, and just plain scummy cities)

      The rest of cali is worlds better.

      --
      The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive
    2. Re:If we're lucky... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A tidal wave couldn't save the world from Californication....

    3. Re:If we're lucky... by JDevers · · Score: 1

      SF isn't all that bad... LA is a pimple on the ass of society though, I think it would be better if the whole basin completely crumbled on its way out to sea... The only problem is the worst people in the city are the ones who would have aircraft to make a quick getaway...

    4. Re:If we're lucky... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please. SF is a gross hairy birthmark on the face of society. At least LA can be cleaned away with some Stridex, SF has no hope besides extensive surgery and/or a major Earthquake (which we can only hope for).

    5. Re:If we're lucky... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Atlantis isn't in the pacific you fool. It's in the Pegasus galaxy. :-P

    6. Re:If we're lucky... by TheSHAD0W · · Score: 1

      It's too bad Lex Luthor still owns all that sand that will become beachfront property...

    7. Re:If we're lucky... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ugh, please, as a San Franciscan I cannot possibly believe that you would prefer L.A. survive while S.F. be blown to pieces. Have you ever visited either city? At least the air here is breathable, the scenery beautiful (and visible) and people respect each other...

    8. Re:If we're lucky... by WhiteBandit · · Score: 1


      Actually, LA and san fran, and if both go, it will clean up the a lot of the mess today. (riaa, mpaa, holywood, and just plain scummy cities)

      The rest of cali is worlds better.


      Sorry to disappoint, but San Francisco and Los Angeles are on opposite sides of the San Andreas. So no matter what, you'll be stuck with one of them... most likely San Francisco.

      Anyway, maybe California will break off and the rest of the United States will sink. Now *that* would truly be a miracle. ;)

  52. Re:Exit Here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    someone had to say it

    No, not really.
  53. Re:Eruption ... That's some pretty serious... by davidsyes · · Score: 1

    ASH kickin', heheeh. Helen's got LEGGS.

    Our leggs crisp your leggs, they ash you, they toast you.. they nev-hur lehh-chuu-goooh

    --
    Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
  54. Wrong CNN link given in story by Ineffable+27 · · Score: 1

    The CNN link as given in the story leads to a static, out of date AP story from yesterday. Their 'breaking news' page for Mt. St. Helens is continually updated.

    --
    "He'd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once." - Steve Jobs on Bill Gates
  55. Ok by aengblom · · Score: 4, Funny

    So when do we start throwing the virgins in? ... I think some Slashdotters better watch out o_O.

    --


    So close and yet so far from the world's perfect ID number
    1. Re:Ok by jcuervo · · Score: 1

      "Some"?

      --
      Assume I was drunk when I posted this.
    2. Re:Ok by fatcatman · · Score: 1

      So when do we start throwing the virgins in? ... I think some Slashdotters better watch out o_O.

      Technically, I know jacking off has nothing to do with losing one's virginity, but when you do it six times a day with inflatable dolls and the occasional sheep, can you morally claim to be a virgin? For that matter, would the volcano gods accept you?

    3. Re:Ok by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So when do we start throwing the virgins in?

      Just as soon as all the neocons have gone in..

  56. Death toll? by way2trivial · · Score: 1

    or evolution in action?

    --
    every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
  57. thank god... by hyperstation · · Score: 1

    it's not in florida! :P

  58. hey by Run4yourlives · · Score: 1

    Leave me out of it.

  59. Re:Exit Here by escher · · Score: 1

    "So throwing a virgin into the volcano appeases the gods or something?"

    "Naw, it just plugs up the hole."

  60. Who Was St. Helens? by kiwiokie · · Score: 3, Informative

    And the swing states continue to get hit by natural disasters, proving...what, exactly? While you ponder this question, you can read the shocking(ly boring) truth about who this St. Helens actually was here.

  61. something is happening.... by Run4yourlives · · Score: 1

    this might get a whole lot more interesting....

  62. Good to see the system work by lpangelrob2 · · Score: 2, Insightful
    It's good to see this 'trial run' work the way it's supposed to for the time when something bigger and more dangerous threatens. The ability of the USGS to monitor, detect, and predict volcano eruptions probably means that threats like the 70,000+ casualty disaster of Krakatoa and 25,000+ casualty disaster of Pompeii will probably not happen here.

    If people in the Ring of Fire areas get as much lead time as people in Florida do about hurricanes, there should be no reason for a large amount of fatalities due to predictable volcanic activity... except maybe that Tacoma doesn't have an evacuation plan in case Mt. Ranier goes. I'm not sure what the probability is of unpredictable, sudden, catatsrophic volcanic activity, though.

    1. Re:Good to see the system work by Keeper · · Score: 1

      With the kind of forces involved in a large volcanic erruption, I would be very suprised if there wasn't a ton of advanced warning. A perfect example is Mt. St. Helens '80 erruption. The sucker was building up for quite some time before it blew.

      Hell, we had over a weeks notice before this tiny event...

    2. Re:Good to see the system work by Vellmont · · Score: 1


      except maybe that Tacoma doesn't have an evacuation plan in case Mt. Ranier goes.


      And that's the big problem as I see it. I don't know much about evacuation, but as I understand it a large part of the increased interstate in FL is for hurricane evaculation. Does Seatle/Tacoma have sufficient evaculation routes to get everyone out of the city in a few days?

      --
      AccountKiller
    3. Re:Good to see the system work by zzyzx · · Score: 1

      Heh, yeah right.

      There's one major N/S route (I-5) through Tacoma and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. With mountains to the east and a body of water to the west, this isn't the easiest place to leave.

      I remember a few years ago when it was literally impossible to leave the northwest on a freeway for a few days. I-90 was closed through the Cascades and there were mudslides in either southern WA or northern OR.

    4. Re:Good to see the system work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In the Seattle-Tacoma area it's pretty tough to even get across town -- and that's on a good day. If a major evacuation is ever necessary, people there might as well just bend over and kiss their a$$es goodbye.

      The basic evacuation plan goes something like this:

      1. Shriek like a preschooler.
      2. Get in your SUV -- do not stop for a Latte.
      3. Start driving. Shriek some more.
      4. Phone your friends (while driving, of course) and tell them to do the same.
      5. Merge onto I-5, 405 or any other major highway.
      6. Stop.
      7. Die.

    5. Re:Good to see the system work by zakezuke · · Score: 1

      .. except maybe that Tacoma doesn't have an evacuation plan in case Mt. Ranier goes...

      Is there a viable solution to evacuate Tacoma in the event of a natural disaster? Seriously... Tacoma is bordered by puget sound on the west, so unless you have a boat that's not an option. If you do have a boat you still have to get to it.
      You have I-5 which i'm sure you've noted is generally a pain in the tookus during rush hour. Narrows down to about 3 lanes or so between milepost 133 and milepost 131, city center / i-705 and highway 16 exits. You have highway 16 over the narrows bridge, which presently is 4 lanes being expanded, which again is totally inadquate for the morning rushhour needs. There is always going through Steilacoom and taking the Steilacoom Dupont road which will take you back to i-5 which would likely be conjected by all those other folk trying to evacuate. Besides, Chambers Creek road is just a two lane highway, and I believe also it's just two lanes all the way to the freeway.

      The general attitude is if Mt. Ranier blows, we're fucked. We have neither the roads nor the public transportation to evacuate cities in the kill zone.

      --
      There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
  63. What if... by vhold · · Score: 1

    .. you submerged a nuke down a volcano in a kind of downward firing stabilizing rocket with enough shielding to survive at least a half mile or until it hit solid rock and then blew it up.

    Just curious is all....

    1. Re:What if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it goes boom

    2. Re:What if... by InfiniteWisdom · · Score: 1

      I thought by the time you'er half a mile into a volcano its all magma all the way? Maybe I'm wrong

  64. Camera was farked earlier by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    > The cam for the volcano seems to be down

    Yeah, fark beat you to it by an hour or so. All hail the new slashdot effect.

  65. Web Server Erupted by kkovach · · Score: 1

    Well, it seems the web server hosting the images from the camera has erupted, because I can't see what's going on!

    - Kevin

    --
    The less confident you are, the more serious you have to act.
  66. Must be Microsoft's fault. by Hobadee · · Score: 1

    As a true slashdotter, I shall not let this story slip by without relating it to how Microsoft sucks.

    It's pissed off that the supreme court let the Microsoftcase slip by. Note also that they are both in the same state.

    --
    ...Had this been an actual emergency, we would have fled in terror, and you would not have been informed.
  67. Ob Star Wars reference by iamlucky13 · · Score: 1
    Either I missed it or no one's said it yet:

    LAVA SURFING!
  68. Re:Interesting by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Did you see the LIPSTICK on Kerry last night? Must have been a play to the Drag Queen contingency of the left wing.

    Did you see Bush looking like a Monkey caught in the Headlights last night? Must have been a play to the six-pack football watchers of the right wing.

    Washington - 1, California - 1, Florida - 4, Mexico - 1. Canada, you are next.

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  69. Wow by aLe-ph-1(sh) · · Score: 0

    That's seriously impressive! & Kinda scary.

    --
    sig!wind down the juuice, let the tubes roar with the glow of alternative powers, not they that be." me, today...
  70. Nostradamus... by Forbman · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    No, it is predicted in Nostradamus.

    My wife was freaked out yesterday, because some kooks were calling in the radio station stating "the end of the world has begun", with the earthquakes in Central California, Mt. St. Helens, etc.

    Freaking Revelationists (Christian, and the Islamic equivalents), doing what they can to "prepare" (i.e., create) what they most fear!

  71. Re:Pschye! by Professr3 · · Score: 1

    It's "flinched"... PLEASE try to spell without inflicting quite so much pain on the grammar-aware ;)

  72. WebCam Shot from 12:04 by kc0dxh · · Score: 1

    I grabbed a shot of it the moment the smoke went up and the server went down. It's on my (God help me) blog.

    --

    --- "1.21 Jigawatts!" -Doc

  73. Viewable from the office? by Ralph+Spoilsport · · Score: 1
    "The cube farm is all a twitter right now, as Mt. St. Helens is spewing out a steam plume, and you can see if from our building.

    [insert nutty mad scientist voice]
    HAHAHAHA!!! TWITTER WHILE YOU CAN, MONKEYBOY!!!

    For soon, you will be made DEAD by the evil Evil EVIL PYROCLASTIC FLOW that will DO MY BIDDING and slaughter all of you chortling little fools in your pathetic little weepy office buildings!

    JUSTICE WILL BE MINE!!!! MINE!!! MINE I TELL YOU!!!

    [/nutty voice]

    RS

    --
    Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
  74. 2nd that people need to use good grammer nowadays go to school or someting.

  75. Mt. St. Helens Begins Releasing sSeam by coyotedata · · Score: 0

    Is all of that steam on parole?

  76. Here ya go by xant · · Score: 1
    --
    It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
  77. I remember that as a child by Dark+Paladin · · Score: 1

    We were moving from California, and my father was telling me about Washington. "It's all green," he told us. "Not like these brown dry hills - it's all green all the time, even in the winter. You'll love it!"

    We moved May of 1981. About a week after the eruptions, and my first impression of Washington was ash gray. Ash gray everywhere, like snowflakes that refused to melt. You'd sweep it off the porch, maybe if you were unlucky shovel it away. Eventually, it dissolved and the rains of Washington carried it away, but for months, even a year or two afterwards, you'd wake up to a light dusting on the grass.

    1. Re:I remember that as a child by fatcatman · · Score: 1

      Wow, your father had a really crazy view of Washington. A good portion of the state is a desert.

    2. Re:I remember that as a child by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You do realize that St. Helens erupted in 1980, right?

  78. Love those TV Reporters by MMHere · · Score: 1
    "and.... of course.... the closer to the mountain you are, the ... ah ... better you will be able to see it [the steam plume]"

    Heard that while watching this video link from KATU:

    easylink.playstream.com/katu

  79. The Separation of Church and Slashdot by vizualizr · · Score: 1

    Amendment I

    Slashdot readers shall make no guidelines respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

    That's how it reads, isn't it?

    --
    anything i tell you will cloud your opinion.
  80. Or, as I like to say: by Bingo+Foo · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Chances are, unlikely things will happen."

    --
    taken! (by Davidleeroth) Thanks Bingo Foo!
  81. Re:Exit Here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...and if she doesn't put out then what else is she good for?

  82. Giant Fly Emerges! by ackthpt · · Score: 3, Funny
    Is this a job for Strongbad or Gozilla? A giant fly has emerged from the volcano!

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    1. Re:Giant Fly Emerges! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The fly came back yesterday!!!! Arghhh, anybody else see it??

  83. Ash Photos by huskerdoo · · Score: 1

    One of my favorite family photos was taken by my Dad in Yakima, Washington sometime after the eruption. You can still see ash in this photo though:

    http://www.12xu.com/

    I do remember on May 19th the ash being deep enough to write my name in it, only to be scolded by Mommy for going outside.

    A guy my Dad worked with left his 1975 Corvette parked outside on May 18th....with the T-tops off. Soon the black interior was a very deep and dusty grey!

  84. Lunch break by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have to say, it was fun standing up in the cube just as lunch started and having something interesting to look at for a change.

    It even ended with enough time to get a bite to eat.

    Thank you Mt. St. Helens. You even waited for the first clear engough day to see it.

    "I don't know where I'ma gonna go, when the volcano blows"

  85. Please let this die! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There are many of us here in WA state that are SICK AND TIRED of hearing about Mt. Saint Helens! Oh no, earthquakes. Oh goodness, steam. Let's all run into the streets if any ash makes it out, okay?

    1. Re:Please let this die! by valkraider · · Score: 2, Insightful

      There are many of us here in OR state (Thats OR-IH-GUN for those of you elsewhere) that are NOT sick and tired of hearing about Mt. Saint Helens!

      No one is panicking, it is just kinda cool. Of course I also think it is neat when it rains, and I like lightning storms and even forest fires... Even the recent hurricaines I found fascinating. If you don't like it, don't read!

  86. Just remember... by RichDice · · Score: 1
    ... if you throw The One Ring into Mount St. Helens, it will destroy Bill Gates!

    Cheers,
    Richard

  87. Actually, that should be by commodoresloat · · Score: 1

    "Here, have a God-damned tissue."

  88. Pictures from the neighbors yard by scooterphish · · Score: 1

    Took some pics of the eruption from the vantage point of our neighbors front yard.
    They're not the greatest (had the camera in 'point and shoot' mode - had to act fast, yanno), but I did tweak the brightness & contrast to get a better view of the crater and plume.

  89. Transformers by jayfehr · · Score: 1

    I just read through all the posts and so far no one's mentioned if the Autobots are evacuating, and if so whats the location of the new base?

  90. Natural selection by gnuman99 · · Score: 1
    If morons like this keep going out there, the death toll will be the same or higher than the 1980 blast.

    Hey, natural selection might not work very well for the human race anymore, but it doesn't mean it is non-existent.

  91. Re:Interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    There's also another volcano exploding down in Mexico as we speak right now. This less than one day after the Democratic challenger allegedly "beat" the Republican president in a televised debate. Wonder if somebody up there is trying to send a message to folks who might be inclined to change their vote on the basis of a single debate?

    So then the message is 'Vote for Bush or else I'll crush the Mexicans with my Volcanic Fury'? I wonder how that's going to play in the southwestern swing states.....

  92. Or the old classic... by Fizzog · · Score: 1

    Some come here to sit and think.
    Others come to shit and stink.
    But I come here to scratch my balls,
    And read the writing on the walls...

    1. Re:Or the old classic... by fbjon · · Score: 1

      Here's a catchier one:

      Some come here to sit and think
      and to write down on these walls.
      I come here to shit and stink
      and to scratch my hairy balls.

      --
      True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
  93. ...and snow boots, and shovels, and... by coolerthanmilk · · Score: 2, Interesting
    My wife lived in Mossyrock, WA at the time of the big eruption. Too close for comfort. Her strongest memories from that time are

    • Being in Morton when it blew and having to return home - toward the volcano - while the eruption was occurring. There was ash, including firey bits as she describes it, falling all around as they drove home. Sounds like hell's equivalent of a snowstorm.
    • Wearing snow boots for weeks to go anywhere, particularly school, and trudging through all the ash.
    • Checking out the tracks left by insects in the ash as they wandered about.
    • Thinking everyone she knew who lived elsewhere was nuts for thinking it was cool to collect ash that had fallen from the volcano, or even worse, buying it as a memento. It was everywhere, who could possibly want it?


    I'd go for the snowboot and shovel markets if I was there, I think. That and selling the ash to those living too far away to be blessed by it's falling in their yard.

    As for me, I thought it was so cool that I had a small bag of Mt St Helens ash I purchased with a photo of the eruption. I'm not sure if I've ever shared that little nugget of info with her.
    1. Re:...and snow boots, and shovels, and... by chiph · · Score: 1

      I'm, uhhh, one of those who has a small plastic container of Mt. St. Helens ash tucked away in the attic somewhere.

      Dad had gone on a sales call to Tektronix in Oregon and brought it back for me. It was pretty cool at the time -- I was a junior in high school on the east coast, and since there aren't a lot of volcanos around here, it was quite the novelty.

      Chip H.

    2. Re:...and snow boots, and shovels, and... by slandis · · Score: 1

      Horribly offtopic.

      My wife is from Mossyrock too. I don't think I've ever met somebody who is still *IN* mossyrock ;)

      Not that I blame them...

      --
      BAM!
    3. Re:...and snow boots, and shovels, and... by WuphonsReach · · Score: 1

      Our aunt brought us a little pebble of pumice with those little plastic eyes glued to it.

      The whole thing was attached to a card, with something along the lines of "I'm a little orphan pebble and my name is...".

      /shrug (the 80s were just plain weird)

      --
      Wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?
  94. No big deal! by jvollmer · · Score: 1

    I vent steam from my ash all the time!

    If it's not Consolidated Lint, it's just fuzz!

  95. Mexed Messeges by Cumstien · · Score: 1

    Uno momemto por favor...

    Bush tried to use the simultaneous eruption of a Mexican volcano to garner Mexican support for the War on Terror. The Mexican ambassador to the US said "Bush is loco. Muy, muy loco." No members of Bush's inner circle could be reached for comment.

    As you know we simply can't have a commander in chief sending "Mexed Messages." Please cease and desist....

  96. AMAZING PHOTO! by TiggertheMad · · Score: 0, Troll

    I live a very close to the Mountain, and I went out walking with my digital camera this afternoon. As it started to erupt, I caught this spectacular shot. You should have been there!

    http://www.atomicarchive.com/Photos/LANL/images/mo hawk.jpg

    --

    HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
    1. Re:AMAZING PHOTO! by Tongo · · Score: 1

      Ummm...isn't that photo from May of 1980?

    2. Re:AMAZING PHOTO! by NanoGator · · Score: 1

      "As it started to erupt, I caught this spectacular shot. You should have been there!"

      How'd you get that photo of my boss catching me reading Slashdot?

      --
      "Derp de derp."
  97. Ya by siskbc · · Score: 1
    Probably more a testament to human beings' ability (or lack thereof) to comprehend randomness. We love finding patterns in things, but sometimes stuff just happens at the same time. How often is there a bad Hurricane season? How often are there earthquakes and volcanoes? It's obviously not common for these things to coincide a lot (otherwise it'd happen every other year) but I doubt it's that rare.

    Well, there's a reason they call it Hurricane *season.* ;) So I guess if any mediumish-rare thing happens during fall, it's linked, right? Now I'm waiting for someone to explain to me how a hurricane - in the atmosphere above Florida - is going to affect magma buried miles beneath WA state. But there I go being cynical again.

    As for earthquakes and volcanoes, there's a pretty damned good correlation there.

    --

    -Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat

  98. Dinosaur by djroute66 · · Score: 1

    Is this the same volcano that someone had put a pink toy (or stuffed) dinosouar in front of the camera recently?

  99. OMG!!!! THEY ARE COMING!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is a HUGE FLY hoving right above the volcano!! WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!

    15:24:01 pacific time.

  100. Ash in Wood Village and further eruptions emminent by Baloo+Ursidae · · Score: 1

    The ash is starting to settle in Wood Village, there's a fine layer on the cars here now. The USGS is also saying on NWCN that the odds of further, more severe volcanic activity is 100% at this point.

    --
    Help us build a better map!
  101. But what I want to know is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How can we blame George W. Bush for this?

  102. Geology Jokes! Weee! by Geburah · · Score: 2, Funny

    Its Friday. Be nice. ;)

    A man flying in a hot air balloon realizes that he is lost, so he reduces his altitude and spots a man on the ground down below. Lowering the balloon a little further, the balloonist shouts "Excuse me Sir! But can you help me? I promised my friend that I would meet him half an hour ago, but I don't know where I am!" The man on the ground replies, "Yes. You are in a hot air balloon, hovering at approximately 30 feet. You are between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude, and between 58 and 59 degrees west longitude." "You must be a geologist," says the balloonist. "Why, yes I am," replies the man on the ground. "How on earth did you know?" "Well", says the balloonist, "Everything you have told me is well described. It is also technically and geographically accurate. However, I have no idea what to make of your information, and the fact of the matter is I have spent much valuable time conversing with you and I am still lost. Furthermore, I will not be able to make my appointment now." The geologist below nods his head and says, "You must be a manager in an oil company." "Why, yes I am," replies the balloonist, "But how did you guess that?" "Well," says the geologist, "You have no idea where you are or where you are going. Also, you have made a promise which you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem for you. The real fact of the matter is that you are in exactly the same position now as what you were in before we met, yet now your predicament has somehow become my fault."

    One more:

    Here in California, when a bridge falls down, we know it must be San Andreas' Fault!

    Hahahaha!! Sheer comic genius!

  103. What he said and... by bayerwerke · · Score: 1

    If it erupted big time and blew north it would only be what you (native) Washintonians deserve anyway, with the way you drive and all. Remember seeing those "Slower Traffic Keep Right." signs last time you were in Oregon? They are there for YOU! But noooooo, 'I'm planning on taking a left about seveteen miles up the road so I'll just sit here in the left lane making sure I am extra safe by going eight miles per hour below the posted speed limit'.

  104. If I were the submitter and saw the smoke... by Retrib96 · · Score: 1

    AFK, volcanic eruption.

  105. Slashdot helps me not have to go outside by RC_Car · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I probably would have never known about this if I hadn't read about it here on Slashdot. I need to look outside more often since Mount St. Helens is in viewable range of my window.

  106. Mount Hood next? by jd · · Score: 3, Insightful
    According to KATU, Mount Hood has been experiencing a number of quakes for some years now. The chances of an eruption over the next few decades is put at 1:15 to 1:30.


    Mount Hood is awfully big. Obviously, it'd depend on the size of the explosion, but the potential exists for something that would make Mount St. Helen's 1980 event look like something mild.


    Despite comments by other posters on this, before, I can't help but feel that the Cascades affect each other. Even if there is no direct connection, the mere proximity means that the internal structure of each volcano may be affected by earthquakes caused by the others.


    Mount Hood hasn't (so far) had a major increase in pressure build-up. However, isn't it within the realms of possibility that the Mount St. Helens quakes may block vents, compress the magma, etc? Sure, the shock waves haven't been big (so far), but that's relative. It might not take a whole lot to set Mount Hood off.


    The Cascades are part of the so-called "Ring of Fire", which is a massive chain of volcanos. KATU talked about it having 3/4s of all the volcanos on Earth. That's a lot. I don't know if this Mexican volcano that's also gone off is also part of the Ring, but if it is, I (for one) would be very much in favour of increased monitoring over the whole of the Ring. Things seem a little too active, right now, and it probably isn't sensible to just sit back and wait.


    Even if the probability of any further eruptions in the near future are extremely low, and even if the probability of either of these events triggering further volcanic activity elsewhere is minimal, it might be prudent to make sure of that.

    --
    It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
    1. Re:Mount Hood next? by ainsoph · · Score: 0, Troll

      According to Kurt Kobain, Mount Rainer has been experiencing a number of quakes for some years now. The chances of an eruption over the next few decades is put at 1:15 to 1:30.

      Mount Rainer is awfully big. Obviously, it'd depend on the size of the explosion, but the potential exists for something that would make Mount St. Helen's 1980 event look like something mild.

      Despite comments by other posters on this, before, I can't help but feel that the Cascades affect each other. Even if there is no direct connection, the mere proximity means that the internal structure of each volcano may be affected by earthquakes caused by the others.

      Mount Rainer hasn't (so far) had a major increase in pressure build-up. However, isn't it within the realms of possibility that the Mount St. Helens quakes may block vents, compress the magma, etc? Sure, the shock waves haven't been big (so far), but that's relative. It might not take a whole lot to set Mount Rainer off.

      The Cascades are part of the so-called "Ring of Fire", which is a massive chain of volcanos. KATU talked about it having 3/4s of all the volcanos on Earth. That's a lot. I don't know if this Mexican volcano that's also gone off is also part of the Ring, but if it is, I (for one) would be very much in favour of increased monitoring over the whole of the Ring. Things seem a little too active, right now, and it probably isn't sensible to just sit back and wait.

      Even if the probability of any further eruptions in the near future are extremely low, and even if the probability of either of these events triggering further volcanic activity elsewhere is minimal, it might be prudent to make sure of that.

      What does it take to make our world come alive? What does it take to make us sing? (SoM // Vision Thing)

  107. Yellowstone ? by RedLaggedTeut · · Score: 1

    Well, Yellowstone park is supposed to blow up some time, unless someone helps to relieve the pressure under the hot baths.

    --
    I'm still trying to figure out what people mean by 'social skills' here.
    1. Re:Yellowstone ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is worth clarifying that by "sometime soon" what we really mean is "sometime" because the processes that have caused it to erupt in the past are still active. The word "soon" is misleading; the major eruptions at the Yellowstone hotspot have a recurrance interval of many hundreds of thousands of years. So "soon" really means, inferring from a small statistical sample, and ignoring anything going on today with the geology of the area, there is a greater than X probability that there will be an eruption in the next N years. Where larger values of N correspond to larger values of X. So we might say there's a 50% chance of a major eruption in any 500,000 year period, or a 70% chance in any 650,000 year period, or whatever. It doesn't mean it could erupt at any moment.

      There is, in fact, no reason to suspect a major eruption will occur anytime in the forseable future. Small eruptions give lots of warning signs, and it is pretty reasonable to suspect that a large eruption will give pretty staggering warning. I doubt, however, that anyone alive today, or for many, many, many, human generations will witness any reasonable sized effusion of magma from the Yellowstone hotspot, let alone a climactic eruption on the scale of past gigantic eruptions.

  108. Living downtown Portland by jonnystiph · · Score: 2, Funny

    I for one welcome our Volcanic OverLords, as a matter of fact I am rounding up virgins for the volcano right now. Any interested parties should meet me tonight at the base of St. Helens were we can discuss further details concerning your last swan dive.

    --

    If we don't make light of everything, we are just stumbling in the dark - Blank

  109. Yes and No by Teahouse · · Score: 1

    I am making an observation. Generally, when the ring of fire gets active, it gets REALLY active, then goes through a cyclical calm spell. The recent observations point to an active spike, and I am making that observation. I have no idea if anyone has recently produced a paper on this, but when I was in college this cycle of activity in the ring was a commonly observed phenomena my professor seemed to think was worth watching. Just passing it on. I didn't advise anyone to go buy "End of the World insurance" or anything.

    --
    "Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect."- Steven Wright
  110. Not really by Teahouse · · Score: 1

    But it is right in the middle of it

    --
    "Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect."- Steven Wright
  111. How ironic by caryw · · Score: 1

    Upon logging into our shell server my fortune read:

    Mount St. Helens should have used earth control.

    Good timing fortune!

  112. insert dirty joke here... by GerbilSocks · · Score: 0

    Mount St. Helens, and she blows.

  113. MOAB by aggiefalcon01 · · Score: 1

    I was watching FNC when it went off ... and I wondered: what if they dropped a MOAB or bunker-buster into the crater right now ... what would happen?

    I've heard that all the ordinance dropped in Afghani mountains ended up causing earthquakes for months afterward. So, then, it'd seem that a handful of biggo bombs might have an effect on a semi-dormant volcano.

    Call me childish, but if it was one nobody lived near, and I had enough money, I'd try out this experiment.

    --
    Global warming is neither science, nor politics. It is a religion.
    1. Re:MOAB by Anthony · · Score: 1

      I suspect the Afghani earthquakes altered the structure of the rocks causing greater water flow to specific areas below ground,hence the earthquake. Mt St Helen's hydrothermal activity is generated by a somewhat different and greater energy source, a significantly large magma chamber.

      --
      Slashdot: Where nerds gather to pool their ignorance
    2. Re:MOAB by aggiefalcon01 · · Score: 1

      Correct. So if we were to drop a huge explosive device on top of the plug of said magma chamber ... I wonder if we would be able to cause a small, medium, or large eruption.

      Of course, with populated cities nearby, I'd be against trying this. But I'm still curious. I don't know if we'd ever want to cause a volcanic eruption--maybe to add a lot of dust to the atmosphere to counteract global warming--but it'd be nice to know whether we're able to, period.

      --
      Global warming is neither science, nor politics. It is a religion.
  114. Not over yet. by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 1

    There continues to be some sesmic activity after the small eruption of steam and ash. So it might not be over yet.

    --
    Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
  115. Re:Exit Here by NanoGator · · Score: 1

    "(someone had to say it)"

    Why? To make sure the joke's never funny again?

    --
    "Derp de derp."
  116. the earth has to fart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I imagine some ppl have a smoking gun in their anus as well. Get the fire fighting planes and start doing fly-overs of the crater to dump butt loads of peptobysmal down there...

  117. Oh Noes!!! by WormholeFiend · · Score: 1

    I hope that little Dino toy is still ok!

    or was that some other volcano....?

    1. Re:Oh Noes!!! by Anthony · · Score: 1

      That would be White Island, NZ http://www.geonet.org.nz/whiteisland.html

      Looks like he's still alive :-)

      --
      Slashdot: Where nerds gather to pool their ignorance
  118. Back before they invented eruptions by wwphx · · Score: 1

    we had to carry lava down from the volcano in baskets and throw it on sleeping villagers.

    (I think I got it off a /. sig, I don't remember. Not enough drugs.)

    --
    When you sympathize with stupidity, you start thinking like an idiot.
  119. Quick fiction check by mattr · · Score: 1

    Okay slashdotters! Time for a timely /fiction check. (does not require that you create a new root "fiction" directory but it might help).

    1) What black and white scifi movie features a scientist who predicts correctly, and in part has a hand in, a widely moving seismic phenomenon that traces a closed loop, so that the tremendous subterranean pressures throw a huge flaming chunk of the Earth into orbit? I don't think aliens are at all involved though the net seems to. There are also a cute couple who try to survive it all. Neat!

    2) What contemporary scifi novel features a visionary seismologist who uses (still unavailable) high-tech sensor networks to predict, correctly and repeatedly, the time and place of earthquakes around the world, and profits on it for a while? Also neat! and has a similar cute couple I believe.

    3) Here's a hard one. What novel from the Golden Age of science fiction features a beam of light that crosses time and space to plunge into our hero's skull and warp or seriously bend the plotline? I don't remember anything seismic being involved but there were some good robots, maybe a latent memory brought this one up. Also I would give this one an extremely neat! times 10^8.

  120. Re:Newer Update... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And let's check to see if anybody gives a fuck!

    Hm, nope.