Train more math and science teachers...

is the mandate from the state legislature according to the latest e-mail from EWU president Arevalo updating the campus community on the budget reductions. Here's the direct quote:

"The Legislature also added provisions such as no funding for any salary increases, the development of a plan to increase the number of math and science teachers we graduate, the development of a new performance agreement with the state, continued efforts to increase high demand enrollments and required examination of programs for consolidation or elimination."

(Added emphasis is mine.)

Interesting. I wonder how Dr. Arevalo's proposed 28% reduction in the funding level of the college that actually teaches science and math courses will help satisfy this mandate?

Some related graphics from EWU's administration web site (click to enlarge each graph):

Jurassic Park...

here we come: first dinosaur blood extracted from 80 million year old hadrosaur bone. It was bound to happen.

My advice: if we're going to mess with this stuff then be sure to build really big and strong fences.

Spring parade of flowers...

continues in eastern Washington as yellowbells (Fritillaria pudica) replace the quickly fading buttercups. This little gem stands only about six inches tall (click to enlarge.)

Digging dinosaurs with explosives...

sounds like fun: Paleontologists Use Explosives To Uncover Dino Bones.

Maybe it's a guy thing. Who's bringing the chips?

H1/N1 influenza has arrived...

in Spokane, just in time for the largest annual public event: Bloomsday.

Great. Just great.

PREVIOUS POST: The Tibetan Plateau is starting to look like a desireable place to vacation.

UPDATE: Suspected case reported in Kootenai County, Idaho.

UPDATE 1 May: Second Spokane County swine flu case identified.

Eight things you didn't know...

about the Internet. In 2002 there were 167 million Internet users in the US and about 46 million in China. In 2008 China overtook the US with 253 million and 220 million users respectively.

Image courtesy New Scientist and TeleGeography.

I'm not at all surprised...

that we may be approaching a bandwidth bottleneck on the Internet.

As I muster my best old-timer voice I will tell you that I long for the bygone day when web pages weren't so darned dynamic. Today, there are too many embedded java-scripts, animated .gifs, Shockwave videos and other generally bandwidth hogging distractions included in every web page. Stop it.

When I surf the net I want information. Not flashy crap. But perhaps I'm in the minority?

SIDE NOTE: Yes, I'm at home after a long day. Tipping a whiskey, too.

WHO raises pandemic alert level...

to 5 of 6 (pandemic is imminent.) Link to news article.

Lots o' meetings today...

on top of my regular routine, hence the blogging has been light. The busy day started early as I presented a guest lecture in ENVS 100 on the Rathdrum Prairie - Spokane Valley aquifer, summarizing the state of our understanding of this important regional groundwater resource.

I called a meeting with the environmental science faculty later in the day to discuss the program status, revisions to the degree, development of new courses and a new minor. In a few moments I'm off to the chairs/directors meeting with the dean of the College of Science, Health and Engineering to deal with the pressing issue of budget reductions.

Blech. This administrative bit is certainly not why I became a professor.

Top 10...

useless limbs and other vestigial organs.

I'd personally like to have a prehensile tail. Think how handy that could be during field work. And cooking/cleaning/etc.

Signs along the trail...

at Mount Rainier National Park (click to enlarge.) While not seen in the photo, the outcrop is indeed nicely polished and striated by a long-vanished valley glacier.

My favorite pandemic films...

of all time:

• The Andromeda Strain
• Outbreak
• 12 Monkeys
• I Am Legend

You've got your Netflix assignment for the weekend. Now go out and stockpile rice, tuna and powdered milk.

UPDATE: Just kidding about that last part.

Current info on swine influenza...

is best obtained at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention according to the Bu bro.

Track the spread of the disease using Google Maps. Learn everything you want to know about influenza, and probably more.

Wise words...

You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things — to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated.

— Sir Edmund Hillary

An image of Earth...

from space showing the Himalaya Mountains (click to enlarge.) Mt. Everest, the tallest peak on Earth at 29,035 feet (8,848 m), is in the center of the image and was first climbed in 1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal.

Interesting geologic note: The summits of the highest peaks are composed of fossiliferous ocean floor limestone, remnants of the closing Tethys Sea during the collision of the Indian subcontinent with Eurasia.

Image credit: NASA

Chicxulub crater may predate...

the K-T boundary by 300,000 years according to new research published in the Journal of the Geological Society, casting doubt on the popular notion that this impact was responsible for the demise of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Key evidence:

"At one site at El Penon, the researchers found 52 species present in sediments below the impact spherule layer, and counted all 52 still present in layers above the spherules. We found that not a single species went extinct as a result of the Chicxulub impact, says Keller."

Instead, prolific volcanic eruptions at the Deccan Traps in India seems the likely candidate.

Most distant object...

in the universe has been discovered at the edge of time: a star that exploded 13.1 billion light years from Earth, detonating just 640 million years after the Big Bang.

Man, that's old. And far.

WHO raises pandemic alert level...

to 4 of 6 (sustained human-to-human transmission.) Link to: Current WHO phase of pandemic alert.

We get results...

I have managed to arrange a special meeting with president Arevalo to specifically discuss the protected status of EWU's athetics program and the huge hits to science departments during this budget cutting exercise. The meeting will take place at noon on Tuesday, 12 May, in SCI 143. Faculty, staff and students are all invited.

Please put it on your calendar, and if you can, be sure to attend.

Yes, I'm a troublemaker. But I've got tenure.

Link to previous related post.

EWU athletics program...

challenged in lieu of the looming budget cuts in the sports section of Sunday's Spokesman-Review. Unfortunately you need a paid subscription to read the entire linked story on-line. Nonetheless, the article is highly critical of EWU. Dr. Jeff Corkill, professor of chemistry and long-time proponent of reductions in athletics, is extensively quoted in the article.

But EWU president Arevalo claims:

"But I don't hear, for the lack of a better word, a groundswell for [cutting the athletics program.]"

So here's your chance, dear reader, to contact our administration about your feelings regarding sustaining athletics at the expense of academic programs. Contact info:

Office of the President
214 Showalter Hall
Cheney, WA 99004
Ph:(509) 359-2371
Fax:(509) 359-7036
e-mail: president@mail.ewu.edu

Once again, please be brief and polite. But by all means let him know how you feel.

UPDATE: I have posted a copy of the full article outside my office.

100 DVDs on 1 disc...

can be achieved with a new breakthrough announced by General Electric.

Frankly, I'd like to see spinning disc technology die a quick death, to be replaced with solid state memory. Advantages: nothing mechanical to break/wear out and lower power consumption.

UPDATE: More here about micro-holographic technology.

Summer session registration...

opens today at EWU.

Shameless self-promotion: link to my summer field course The Battle of Lava and Life to be taught in southern Oregon, at Crater Lake National Park and Newberry Volcano National Volcanic Monument, the last week in July. Drs. Thomson and O'Quinn are co-instructors.

Don't panic about swine flu,...

get even: link to pork products at Amazon.

Mmm. Bacon!

Swoop is the king of the roost...

at the bat colony at Bat Conservation International in Austin, Texas. This charismatic straw-colored fruit bat (Eidolon helvum) lived with my late wife and me for a long period of time. Barbara French, the biologist that oversees the colony, e-mailed this latest news:

"He's always busy chasing the girls around. Everyone gets along well and while I am not yet positive, there is some chance Zuzu might be pregnant. She seemed very, very big but suddenly seems a bit smaller, so we are just not sure. But Swoop is definitely in love with her! He follows her everywhere and fawns over her. They are so cute when they all roost together during the day. I’m going to take some photos and sent them by e-mail so you can see him. He is such a happy little guy and it is obvious the girls like having him around."

That's my little buddy!

Windows 7...

to be released this week. Link to what you need to know about upgrading to the new OS.

One year ago today...

scientists at the Snow and Ice Data Center predicted an ice free Arctic by summer 2008. Contrast that with the fact that, at present, we have returned to the average level of Arctic ice measured between 1979-2000.

Tracking swine flu outbreaks...

using Google Maps. The map at the link updates regularly as new cases are reported. It even includes new suspected cases in New Zealand, France and Israel.

This is serious stuff, and a perfect example how GIS (Geographic Information Systems) can be used in real time to understand the spread of disease.

Link to previous related post.

Signs along the road...

in Yellowstone National Park.

Who owns the rainwater...

that falls on your roof? It depends on which state you live in, apparently. You do in Arizona; you don't in Colorado. You need a permit in Seattle.

Beware of the rain police!

Wise words...

Biology is the only science in which multiplication means the same thing as division.

- unknown

Fluorescent puppy...

is the first transgenic dog, and could help researchers to model human disease.

It makes a great night light for the kids, too.

Swine Influenza A/H1N1...

reported in Mexico and in the US (six in California, two in Texas and nine suspect cases in New York) according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC.) Link to news article.

The Bu bro is a medical doctor and he provides this bite:

"I suspect the WHO (World Health Organization) will issue a high level (maybe 6 of 6) epidemic/pandemic alert today or tomorrow along with a bunch of travel advisories. The human-to-human transmission is the key factor and with over 60 dead in Mexico City this is nothing to sneeze about. Another concerning factor is that it has affected 15-54 year-olds most seriously, rather than the very young and very old. A modern pandemic will spread quickly despite travel restrictions and quarantines due to modern transportation - this one is already out of the bag."

He adds that he is personally very concerned about this event, but he doesn't want to sound alarmist. Best advice: practice good hygiene.

This is serious stuff -- no kidding. We may indeed see widespread cancellation of public events, temporary school closings, travel restrictions and more.

UPDATE: Link to Current WHO phase of pandemic alert. At present it's 3 of 6.

Saturday field trip...

for my ENVS 393 junior seminar to the Colbert landfill in northern Spokane, County. We'll examine a groundwater remediation system that consists of interception wells and a facility to strip VOCs from the contaminated water. We'll be escorted around the site by a former EWU geology graduate who oversees the county's landfills.

Armageddon calculator:

Earth Impact Effects Program. You pick the distance from the impact site, the projectile, impact and target parameters, and voila, it determines how you'd die. Link to scientific article that is the basis for the calculator (large .pdf file.)

Almost as much fun as a video game.

"Hand of God" for sale...

by Paul Grayhek of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Here's his ad on eBay where he's attempting to sell an outcrop of basalt (minimum bid $100.)

Do I hear $150?

Hat tip: JL

UPDATE: Sunday morning, 26 April... high bid $615.00! Three more days to go. This just goes to show you that people will buy anything.

UPDATED UPDATE: Sunday evening... this sale has been canceled by eBay.

Rigors of astronaut training...

The College of Science,...

Health and Engineering is hosting a cocktail mixer for the College Advisory Board this evening in Spokane. The purpose of the social gathering is to strengthen ties with business leaders and industries in Spokane that may offer scholarships, internships and/or ultimately hire some of our graduating students, in addition to funding the acquisition of special technical equipment. I'll be attending the function to represent the environmental science program, and other departmental chairs will also be present.

Special thanks goes to my friend, WB, for hosting the event and being a big booster of the sciences at EWU. Thanks, buddy.

Nineteenth anniversary of the...

launch of the Hubble Space Telescope aboard shuttle Discovery in 1990 occurs today. During the past 19 years Hubble has made more than 880,000 observations and snapped over 570,000 images of 29,000 celestial objects. Link to the Hubble Heritage Gallery.

One feels quite small and unimportant when viewing the various imaged objects, especially when factoring in their size, distance and immense age.

It's field work Friday...

for me on the Rathdrum Prairie, Idaho. Groundwater levels typically change pretty quickly this time of year due to spring recharge so it's important to take frequent measurements.

UPDATE: Groundwater levels are higher since last month, from 0.25 ft to nearly 2 ft in wells nearest the Spokane River.

Lava dome developing...

at Mount Redoubt (click image for full size version.) This view is strikingly similar to the north-side breach at Mt. St. Helens and the subsequent extrusion of rhyodacite domes into its crater after the 1980 eruption.

Image courtesy USGS/AVO.

Wise words...

A person never really understands something unless he can explain it to his Grandmother.

- Albert Einstein

Say what?

Headline: Ozone Hole Linked To Increased Antarctic Sea Ice. Fact:

"Overall, the Antarctic sea ice has grown at a rate of about 38,610 sq miles each decade since the 1970s."

Interesting. Human pollutants are increasing sea ice in the Antarctic?! Hmm.

More counter-intuitive research findings: A Little Air Pollution Boosts Vegetation’s Carbon Uptake. Key bits:

"The world’s vegetation soaked up carbon dioxide more efficiently under the polluted skies of recent decades than it would have under a pristine atmosphere, a new analysis in the April 23 Nature suggests."

“Surprisingly, the effects of atmospheric pollution seem to have enhanced global plant productivity by as much as 25 percent from 1960 to 1999."

Does anyone really believe that climate scientists have any idea how global climate actually functions, including the countless feedback mechanisms?

What about blob?

Odd blob spotted 12.9 billion light-years away: Giant Mystery Blob Discovered Near Dawn of Time.

We can't even begin to appreciate what we don't know.

Eco-sensitive cell phone...

called the i-wood 3B, "the first step to a better world."

Arctic sea ice extent...

is rapidly approaching the 1979-2000 average (click to enlarge) according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Something to celebrate on Earth Day, but I doubt this news will get much media attention.

Contrast the data (above) with this article published today that portrays runaway Arctic melting. Blatantly misleading and unprofessional journalism.

Note: The graph embedded above automatically updates on a daily basis.

Don't worry, be happy...

during the budget reduction/crisis at EWU: Resources and Coping Methods Offered at Teach-In.

Yeah, that's going to help. Perhaps some Prozac dispensers in various locations on campus too?

Reduced energy consumption...

predicted for the summer ahead. This anticipated and continuing decline in the global use of fossil fuels should provide an interesting opportunity to test the notion that such reductions will result in reduced greenhouse gases - at least that's what some have been advocating as a solution to anthropogenic global warming.

But: NOAA: Greenhouse Gases Continue to Climb Despite Economic Slump.

Hmm.

Every day is...

Earth Day, no? Sadly, alarmism is scaring the youngest generation.

Some positive news for the environment: better air quality and farming technology.

I get up early...

so you don't have to in order to photograph the occultation of Venus by the Moon (click to enlarge.) Spectacular event! If you missed it you'll have to wait until 11 October 2029 to experience the next one.

UPDATE: My image has been selected for posting at Spaceweather.com!

Stunning images of Saturn...

and its moons: a gallery of images in high resolution detail.

Did I say stunning?

Interstellar nanoglobules,...

whatever the heck they are, found in cometary dust particles. Pieces of the proto-solar system, near as I can tell.

It must be an amazing experience working with primordial stuff like this.

EWU president Arevalo...

e-mails faculty and staff this morning regarding budget cutbacks and it contains this paragraph:

"Each element of the university will feel the effects of the tightening budget. Staff and administration will have to become even more efficient. Faculty will have to teach more students. We will see some of our colleagues lose their jobs. Students will have larger classes and have to pay more for those classes."

But he didn't include this: ...and rest assured that we'll maintain a thriving athletics program despite the difficulties we face!

Rare picture of two...

space shuttles on launch pads simultaneously (click to enlarge.) Atlantis is on pad 39A in the foreground and is being readied to launch on at 10:31 PDT on 12 May to the Hubble Space Telescope for its last servicing mission. Endeavour on pad 39B in the background is standing by as a "rescue" mission if Atlantis suffers damage during launch.

Image courtesy NASA.

Bold prediction...

of a great earthquake in the Cascadia subduction zone: Big Earthquake Coming Sooner Than We Thought. Pull quote:

"...scientists are now in wide agreement that there's a 10 to 14 percent chance a powerful earthquake and tsunami will strike the Oregon coast in the next 50 years."

Perhaps this is not such a bold prediction given the stated probabilities. We'll see.

Wise words...

Sir, there is a distinct difference between having an open mind and having a hole in your head from which your brain leaks out.

— James Randi

Unbelievable...

Here's a snapshot of an on-line poll at CNN as of ~ 6:30 am PDT:

Do you believe that extraterrestrial life has visited Earth?
Yes 62% 49011
No 38% 30321
Total Votes: 79332

While these polls are entirely unscientific I am astounded at the overwhelming belief in favor of prior visitation.

Like Fox Mulder of X-Files fame, I want to believe. However, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. In this case it's likely too much consumption of sci-fi and not enough real science in the diet of the poll respondents.

Landscapes in stones...

illustrated in this photo gallery by Richard Weston. Dendrites, agates, sandstone and much more.

Daffodils in full glory...

at my woodsy lair southwest of Cheney, America (click to enlarge.) The pace of spring is back on schedule.

Congratulations to...

Ms. Heather Overstreet, geology senior, for being a recipient of the Frances B. Huston award for demonstrated academic excellence, leadership, and service. Heather has earned one of only four awards in the College of Science, Health & Engineering and one of twenty campus wide, signifying her outstanding achievements. She will receive the prestigious medal an an awards ceremony the day before commencement.

Well deserved. Congrats, Heather. You've made us proud!

UPDATE: This is the second year in a row we've had a geology undergraduate be presented the highest award the University bestows on students.

Capping carbon...

won't likely work: Carbon Trading Won't Stop Climate Change.

Related common sense article: Bound to Burn by Peter W. Huber. Some key points:

• We don't control the global supply of carbon.
• We don't control the global supply either of oil or of coal.
• We no longer control the global demand for carbon.
• Poor countries do, and they have no commitment to their continued poverty through increasing the costs of carbon consumption by carbon taxes.

Objective facts and rational thinking rarely factor in governmental policies. Funny how that works.

Occultation of Venus...

by the waning crescent Moon will occur early on Wednesday, 22 April, at approximately 5 am PDT. This very rare event, when the Moon passes in front of Venus, won't occur again until 11 October 2029 (and the last time this event occurred was in 1923.)

This naked-eye occurrence will be easy to see since it involves the two brightest objects in the sky. Get up at the appropriate time, cast your gaze low to the east, and weather permitting, enjoy! Link to article in Sky & Telescope.

Getting away from it all...

in the remotest places on Earth. Top spot to ditch the boss: the Tibetan Plateau (though Antarctica wasn't even considered, a big flaw, in my opinion.) Be sure to explore the various maps in the linked article.

An afternoon of music...

will be enjoyed with my good buddy, WB, as we attend a performance of the Spokane Symphony at the Fox Theater. Dinner with friends will follow the concert.

UPDATE: The violin solo by Mateusz Wolski (the Spokane Symphony's concertmaster) was spectacular.

Backlit fern...

from a botanical garden near Hilo, Hawaii (click to enlarge for detail.) I grabbed this image in August, 2007.

Wise words...

Science is not a sacred cow. Science is a horse. Don't worship it. Feed it.

- Aubrey Eben

Spring Open House at EWU...

today and I'll be representing the environmental science program at the recruiting event later this afternoon. Do you think there's any mention of this event whatsoever on the EWU home page? Um, no.

Sheesh. Looks like it will be a nice, sunny day, though.

Antarctic ice growing,...

not melting, according to the British Antarctic Survey in a soon-to-be-published technical article in the scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters.

The opposite impression has been pushed on the public by hysterical media reporting last week (using recycled photos taken more than a year ago) about the imminent collapse of the Wilkins Ice Shelf, thereby indicating runaway global warming. Never mind the fact that fracturing of ice is a mechanical process, usually assisted by bitterly cold temperatures, rather than a melting phenomenon.

For a thorough, critical scientific analysis be sure to read Watts Up With That? In fact, if you are interested in global climate change you should bookmark this site and visit it often. Then make up your own mind.

The great San Francisco earthquake...

occurred 103 years ago today. The loss of about 3,000 lives still ranks as California's worst natural disaster. Link to historical photos.

Kepler Space Telescope's...

first light: initial test images released by NASA. Its mission is to scan 100,000 stars for the next 3.5 years in a search for transiting exoplanets.

Link to previous related post.

TGIF...

Best beer commercial. Ever.

Hat tip: RO'Q

Colliding fermions...

the basis for a new timepiece: Clock So Precise It Loses Only One Second Every 300 Million Years.

Now if we could only get the airlines and buses to run on time.

Cascadia subduction zone...

is capable of generating M9 earthquakes: Understanding Risk To Seattle's High-rise Buildings From A Giant Cascadian Earthquake.

Blood Falls in Antarctica...

yields 1.5 million year old microbes that have been sequestered by the glacial ice cover. The newly discovered chemotrophic organisms live without light or oxygen in a briny fluid and utilize sulfur to extract iron from the underlying bedrock.

Why not on Mars?

Buyer beware...

of greenwashing: Majority Of Green Products Make Bogus Claims.

I had suspected as much and it's good to see it documented.

Flotsam...

in service of science to map ocean gyres. Clever work.

While we're waiting...

for eaglets to hatch, don't forget this delightful site: Zooborns (I'm particularly fond of the baby hoglets.)

Warning: overwhelming cuteness at the Zooborns site.

On this day in history...

a number of important events occurred that have altered human destiny (click to enlarge.)

UPDATE: And this came in my e-mail this morning, from my wonderful nieces and nephew:
Thanks, kids!

I'm attending...

the non-partisan rally this afternoon in Spokane to protest the unprecedented deficit spending by the federal government. Related article: Tax Day Becomes Protest Day. Get this:

• If you’re a 50-year old-with a college degree, you will pay approximately $81,000 over your working life just to pay the interest on the debt in the Obama budget.
• If you’re a 40-year-old, you’ll pay $132,000.
• And if you’re a 20-year-old, just starting out after college, you will pay a whopping $114,000 just to service the interest on the debt created by the Obama budget.

Link to key graphic showing budget deficits between 2000 and 2020 (CBO = Congressional Budget Office.)

Welcome to your future.

UPDATE: Just heard via e-mail from the Bu Dad - he attended a similar rally in Rapid City, South Dakota and he reports that "a large crowd of people turned out, many of whom were carrying signs. It was a very peaceful gathering. It was pretty hard to hear the speakers on the stage as there was a lot of chattering going on. I enjoyed the experience very much."

UPDATED UPDATE: The Spokane event was wonderful. An energized citizenry, peaceful assembly, wonderful weather... in sum: a worthwhile outing.

An image of Earth...

from space showing the Big Island of Hawaii (click to enlarge.) Mauna Loa volcano dominates the island, its black basaltic lava flows stand out in stark contrast to the surrounding lush tropical forests in green. A thin bluish-gray plume of smoke is visible near the island's southeastern shore, rising from Kilauea, the most active volcano on Earth. Just to the north of Mauna Loa is the dormant grayish Mauna Kea Volcano dotted with smaller cinder cones (in orange), which hasn't erupted in an estimated 3,500 years.

Image credit: NOAA Coastal Services Center Hawaii Land Cover Analysis project; NASA, 24 November 2003.

Caddyshack redux...

at Finch Arboretum as the Spokane Parks Department goes nuclear on ground squirrels.

Can't we all just learn to get along?

Guest speaker...

will be on campus Tuesday, 21 April, at noon in SCI 118.

Mr. Stan Miller, former Water Quality Program manager for Spokane County, will present a talk on the hydrology of the Spokane River and approaches to flow augmentation. The lecture is open to all that are interested.

Wise words...

The universe is not only queerer that we suppose but queerer than we can suppose.

- J.B.S. Haldane

Top 10...

telescopes of all time: a photo gallery. I've personally visited three of them: Gemini North, W.M. Keck and the Very Large Array.

Facebook users...

get lower grades in college when compared to their non-user peers. Interesting correlation but not necessarily causative.

I will tell you this from a professor's perspective: texting, Twittering, updating your Facebook page or otherwise surfing the net on your laptop and generally fidgeting with your cell phone while in lecture is rude and immature. Most students that engage in these inappropriate behaviors in class usually sit in the back of the lecture hall, which typically correlates with low grades. I always wonder who is paying their (soon to rise) tuition?

Those feet were made for walking...

nearly 500 million years ago, making the transition from sea to land possible. A Cambrian age sandstone in Wisconsin contains the fascinating arthropod tracks imaged above (click to enlarge.)

We need more electrons...

to power "green" next-gen autos: plug-in electric cars challenge the electrical grid. Key bit:

"When a Chevrolet Volt is plugged into a 240-volt outlet, it will use about 3.3 kilowatts of power, or about the same amount of power as a dishwasher or air conditioner. Most people are already familiar with what can happen when thousands of air conditioners are plugged in and running at the same time during the summer: brownouts."

Everything has a hidden cost - even the "greenest" technology.

Link to previous related post.

Renowned volcanologist...

passes away: Geologist Dwight Crandell dead at 86

. He's probably best known for this work:

Crandell, D.R., and Mullineaux, D.R., 1978, Potential Hazards from Future Eruptions of Mount St. Helens Volcano, Washington -- USGS Bulletin 1383-C, 26 p.

I participated in a field trip to Mount St. Helens with him in 1984 and found him to be a consummate field geologist.

Twenty years and counting...

until our rendezvous with asteroid Apophis. On this date in 2029 the 350 m wide space rock will zoom past earth at a distance of only 18,000 mi and shine like a 3rd magnitude star. While it is not predicted to impact Earth during that pass, there is a small chance that a slight change in its orbit could create an increased probability of collision in 2036.

Link to some asteroid deflection strategies.

No worries. Plenty of time to get a band of rogue drillers together and send them to the space rock in a modified shuttle with some nukes.

My bat buddies...

in residence in one of the many bat houses I built and have hanging around my place (click to enlarge.) I count more than a dozen Big Brown Bats peeking out of the open bottom of the bat house, which in turn is hanging on a south wall of my house.

Bats need friends. Here are plans for a simple, single chamber bat house, from Bat Conservation International.

Wise words...

Organic chemistry is the chemistry of carbon compounds. Biochemistry is the study of carbon compounds that crawl.

- Mike Adams

My last opportunity...

to make a snowball this season has come and gone. The last trace of snow has now vanished from my wooded hideout. My weather prognostication: it will be hot this summer, and for a while, really hot.

An image of Earth...

from space showing the Dry Valleys in Antarctica (click to enlarge.) Many scientists regard this remote and inhospitable location as a terrestrial analogue to Mars. My colleague, CN, spent a summer field season in this amazing place.

Image credit: false-color image captured by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite on 29 November 2000.

Biofuel threatens water supplies...

according to this article. Wow:

"A gallon of ethanol may require up to more than 2,100 gallons of water from farm to fuel pump, depending on the regional irrigation practice in growing corn, according to the study detailed in the April 15 issue of journal Environmental Science & Technology."

And I thought "green" was good.

Geology Club meeting...

is scheduled for Monday, 13 April at 1 pm in SCI 115. Items on the agenda include spring event planning, t-shirt designs, filling committees and club officers. Be there.

/end public service announcement. Now back to regular blogging.

The year without a summer...

occurred in 1815 when Indonesian volcano Tambora erupted on this date.

Perhaps we could use our national nuclear arsenal to "stimulate" volcanoes worldwide into eruption, thereby curbing global warming? It's no more crazy than this idea!

What's so good...

about Good Friday?

Related: Resurrection: A History of Myths.

Signs along the road...

in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, at the Jaggar Museum, overlooking the Halemaʻumaʻu crater inside Kilauea caldera (click to enlarge.) If you're a serious geologist, put this place on your "to do" list.

It was all about the money,...

the Confiker worm, that is. Link to earlier related post.

See if you're infected: Confiker eye chart (this is a harmless test page.)

I hope they find and prosecute those responsible.

Top 10...

volcanic eruptions: a photo gallery. Neither Mount Redoubt, nor Mount St. Helens, made the cut, but I do like the number one choice.

Jimmy Buffet said it best: I don't know where I'm a-gonna go when the volcano blow.

Spring weather outlook...

is summarized in the recently released March 2009 issue of The Weather Watcher of the Inland Northwest. It reports:

"...a better chance of below normal temperatures and more seasonal precipitation for the Inland Northwest for the rest of March, April and May."

We'll see.

Wise words...

We have designed our civilization based on science and technology and at the same time arranged things so that almost no one understands anything at all about science and technology. This is a clear prescription for disaster.

-- Carl Sagan

Geoengineering the atmosphere...

to stave off global warming! I'd love to see the environmental impact statement for this proposal. Does any sane person really think this is a good idea?

Human hubris knows no bounds.

National survey of water quality...

in domestic water wells in the U.S. is summarized in a new U.S. Geological Survey report. Tests on 2,100 domestic wells across the United States were performed for as many as 219 properties and contaminants, including pH, major ions, nutrients, trace elements, radon, pesticides, and volatile organic compounds.

Man crashes motorized bar stool...

and receives DUI. Maybe he needs one of these?

You really can't make this stuff up.

Eagle eye view of...

a bald eagle's nest near Vancouver, British Columbia. Check back frequently to the live webcam at the provided link as eaglets are anticipated to hatch at any moment.

Very cool.

An encore presentation...

of my lecture on the geology of Mars will made at noon on Thursday, 16 April, in SCI 118 for everyone who may have missed last night's lecture in Spokane.

This time there will be a quiz afterward.

News you can use...

How Long Would it Take Piranhas to Eat a Person?

Wouldn't it depend on the time since the last devouring?

Extremophiles rule...

in the most bizarre ecological niches: microbes thrive in hyper-saline environments.

Is there a terrestrial/aqueous environment that can't support life? Seems increasingly unlikely.

Earthquakes don't kill people,...

buildings do. Link to article: Disaster Reveals Italy’s Lack Of Quake-Proof Architecture. Here's a pullout quote:

"...almost half of Italy is designated “dangerous” in regards to the levels of seismic activity, yet less than 15% of the buildings in its most dangerous areas are up to par with modern earthquake safety standards."

According to various news reports, more than 260 people have died and 28,000 are homeless.

Prepare for tuition spike...

if Governor Gregoire's proposal is approved: University tuition could skyrocket 28 percent. I am additionally disappointed by comments included in the article by Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, a former EWU economics professor. Read the whole thing.

Yeah. We're in the very best of hands.

It's showtime...

Ode to water...

"Water—the ace of elements. Water dives from the clouds without parachute, wings or safety net. Water runs over the steepest precipice and blinks not a lash. Water is buried and rises again; water walks on fire and fire gets the blisters. Stylishly composed in any situation—solid, gas or liquid—speaking in penetrating dialects understood by all things—animal, vegetable or mineral—water travels intrepidly through four dimensions, sustaining (Kick a lettuce in the field and it will yell "Water!") destroying (The Dutch boy's finger remembered the view from Ararat) and creating (It has even been said that human beings were invented by water as a device for transporting itself from one place to another, but that's another story). Always in motion, ever-flowing (whether at stream rate or glacier speed), rhythmic, dynamic, ubiquitous, changing and working its changes, a mathematics turned wrong side out, a philosophy in reverse, the ongoing odyssey of water is irresistible."

— Tom Robbins, Even Cowgirls Get The Blues

Titan may have subsurface ocean...

of hydrocarbons. What an amazingly odd moon.

My favs? Enceladus, Europa, Io and Titan, in alphabetical order. Why? All are active and dynamic bodies, and all may harbor life. And I'm a nerd.

We're in the very best of hands?

The EWU administration held an open budget forum this afternoon where they presented their first budget reduction proposal. I would estimate more than 300 faculty and staff were present. Link to graphics used during the meeting.

I examined the charts and tables and found the following, benchmarked against the Governor's proposed reduction of $9.6 million directed specifically at EWU. Here are EWU's proposed cuts in that context (see slide #18 in the linked document above):

• Academic Affairs = $6.02 million (62%)
• Business Affairs and all other units = $3.27 million (34.6%)
• Athletics Program = $336,100 (3.4%)

Yeah. That's fair. And sadly, not entirely unanticipated.

UPDATE: Link to EWU President's Office (if one, um, feels compelled to express their opinion.) Some advice: If you choose to voice your opinion, keep it short, polite and respectful. Once you begin to hurl insults you lose the argument.

Redoubt is a pain in the ash...

for downwind residents of the volcanic edifice. Here's an image taken by a resident of Homer, Alaska that shows why particulate masks are selling out at local stores.

Large tremor east of Rome...

kills >90 people early this morning. The M6.3 earthquake has displaced an estimated 50,000 people.

Interesting: Italy muzzled scientist who foresaw quake using radon gas levels as a precursor indicator.

This is a developing event and I'll post more later.

UPDATE: a description of the geologic setting. Also, our departmental seismometer detected the event.

A universe in grains of sand...

as documented by Dr. Gary Greenberg, Author of A Grain of Sand, in selected photomicrographs. Quite artful.

Today is the nicest...

day of spring so far in the pine forests of eastern Washington. The windows in my digital cottage in the woods are wide open, with warm breezes of fresh air displacing the stale air of winter. And, I'm very happy to discover, I have my first bat resident of the season occupying one of the many bat houses hung around the place. UPDATE: Monday morning's census shows six Big Brown Bats (Eptesicus fuscus) in residence.

Birds aplenty too: Dark-eyed Juncos, California Quail, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Blackbirds and American Robins all keep me company this afternoon while I engage in yard chores. There's even an annoying Northern Flicker banging his head against the metal roof of my observatory, loudly proclaiming his territory as nesting season gets underway.

Cornell University's Lab of Ornithology web site: All About Birds

Uranium mill tailings pile...

near Moab, Utah to start being moved on 20 April 2009. Approximately 16 million tons of contaminated sediment will be loaded onto rail cars and transported to an engineered disposal facility at Crescent Junction, about 30 mi north.

Link to UMTRA project web site. Link to Final EIS.

Yeah, it's gonna take a long, long time.

Wise words...

Thinking is a momentary dismissal of irrelevancies.

— Buckminster Fuller

Springtime on Mars...

The origin of Mima mounds...

continues to confound earth scientists. Dozens of theories have been proposed to explain these enigmatic features that dimple the prairies of Washington state.

I personally enjoy the ongoing controversy surrounding these mysterious landforms. It is an excellent demonstration of the principle of multiple working hypotheses for beginning geology students.

An image of Earth...

from space showing the incised meanders at Gooseneck State Park in southern Utah (click on image to enlarge.) The San Juan River has maintained its course as the Colorado Plateau was uplifted, thereby causing the entrenchment into the underlying sedimentary rocks. This is, by the way, the type locality of the Honaker Trail Formation, a 350 m thick section of cyclic carbonates of Pennsylvanian age.

Image credit: Ikonos image, taken on May 9, 2004. Note: south is towards the top of the image.

What I'm reading...

right now: Ancient Landscapes of the Colorado Plateau by R. Blakey and W. Ranney.

This book is a superb summary of past environments of deposition and the changing physiography of the southwestern U.S. through geologic time. The senior author, Ron Blakey, is an unsurpassed academic expert on this topic. Moreover, the book has high production standards, and it is lavishly illustrated with color images and detailed paleogeographic maps.

I rate it 5 out of 5 rock hammers!

Woman calls 911...

to report that she's locked in her own car. The 911 operator instructed her to pull up on the lock on the door, and thus she was freed. Link to audio.

Priceless.

Wise words...

It would be a poor thing to be an atom in a universe without physicists, and physicists are made of atoms. A physicist is an atom's way of knowing about atoms.

- George Wald

Where gadgets go to die...

when they outlive their usefulness: e-waste recycling facility.

Now, a moment of silence. Please.

Hubble Space Telescope...

Servicing Mission 4, also known as STS-125, is on pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center and is nearly ready for launch. NASA has scheduled liftoff of shuttle Atlantis for 12 May. A second shuttle, Endeavour, is being readied and will roll out to pad 39B on 17 April (its purpose is to be available as a rescue vehicle if there is significant tile damage during Atlantis' launch.)

This ambitious mission will upgrade the aging space telescope, aiming to keep it in service and doing science until ~2013. Let's hope so, as this is the final mission to Hubble.

I can't think of a single scientific instrument that has returned more information than Hubble. Link to Hubble gallery.

Deep solar minimum...

is occurring right now according to NASA. Key bit:

"We're experiencing a very deep solar minimum," says solar physicist Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center.

"This is the quietest sun we've seen in almost a century," agrees sunspot expert David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center.

We've had the snowiest winter in Spokane. Ditto for the northern Great Plains and Canada. Lake Superior has frozen over this year. Coincidences?

Oh yeah. I just opened the back door and measured 4 inches of newly fallen snow and more is predicted today. Morning headline: record snowfall blankets Inland Northwest.

Link to previous related post.

Photogallery of impressive images...

of Mount Redoubt's recent eruption(s) are available at the Alaska Volcano Observatory. Link to image gallery.

UPDATE: Satellite image of eruption taken 30 March 2009.

Arriving in the mail...

today is a review copy of Earthquakes: Science and Society by David Brumbaugh. Rather timely as I am teaching a course in geohazards this term.

Wise words...

He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.

- Chinese proverb

The EWU student rally today...

at noon was reasonably well attended. I estimate about 300 students, staff and faculty were present, as well as a couple dozen photographers and reporters. Petitions were circulated and letters to the state legislature were encouraged.

Three speakers addressed the crowd: EWU president Arevalo was uninspired as usual; the faculty representative, associate professor Guillory, was excited and roused the crowd; but the best speaker (by far) was the ASEWU legislative liaison Matt Holmes who had a well scripted and intelligent statement to motivate the crowd.

Oh. And there was free pizza.

Link to previous related post.

Cascade volcanoes all erupt simultaneously!

Happy April Fools' Day.

Seriously though, and sadly, on this day in 1946 an earthquake in the Aleutians generated a tsunami that killed 165 people in Alaska and Hawaii.

Also on this date, in 2004, Gmail was released. I became a user in 2005 and find it operates considerably better than the e-mail service at the university. Highly recommended.