Caustic Soda…. I might be the last to know.

… But oh well, I’m always glad to stumble upon a podcast of awesome.

So Caustic Soda is a fantastic podcast, mostly concerned about the most random, yet oddly relatable topics you can think of. It’s quite morbid, which is basically a required personality trait for my family, so I’m quite naturally drawn to it.

Like I mentioned, I’m pretty behind on the episodes, but just finished listening to the Music episode, which touches base with music used in the U.S. military as an experimental form of torture, which actually makes ridiculous sense. One of the songs mentioned was “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel, and when it was mentioned I couldn’t remember how the song went at all. Later on that day, had a tune in my head I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what it was, until my girlfriend said “Why are you singing We Didn’t Start the Fire?”… Human brains, I tells ya!! Crazy shit….

Anyways, I digress. There’s often a solid guest host on the show, in this case Canadian comedian Sean Cullen. If you’re looking for solid Sean Cullen, CBC’s The Debaters, specifically Pie vs. Cake is a good place to start (Season 4, I think). Regardless, the podcast was a good find, and chock full of fun facts. The website is just as awesome, with extra material that is just too damned visual for a podcast.

Check it out and enjoy!

Caustic Soda Podcast

Titanic II – Guaranteed to Make It!

Well some rich son-of-a-bitch stole my idea…. The Australian billionaire, Clive Palmer, is looking to make more history and build an exact replica of the Titanic.

Now where ARE those lifeboats?

Now I’m thinking this is an awesome idea, the man is a genuis, I’d buy a ticket.  Alright, genuis is a strong word…. The man is rich, and I’m surprised no one has done this earlier.  With all the news of big lovable modern cruiseships these days (due to their untimely incidents, naturally), you can’t help but Google them and see what they’re all about… and what they’re all about, is effing huge.  I mean, they’re huge!  Why the shit would you go spend money to be on a boat, when the them of the boat is to be on land (i.e. movie theatres, market squares, etc).  It just doesn’t make sense, then again I’ve never been on a cruise, so I’m somewhat bias.

What I like about the idea of the Titanic is that it’s a step backwards, in a sense.  A new cruise is ship is going to be built that is not going to be anywhere near the largest ship on the ocean, nor is it going to be the fastest.  It’s not going to have any room for the fanciness of the Allure of the Seas.  It’s to be an exact replica of a historic monument.

Obviously, there are going to be some modern additions… Lifeboats, for one.  I was just reading about the lifeboats on the Allure of the Seas and how ridiculous they are (in a good way).  I also hope they don’t segregate passengers this time around, because by George I won’t be able to afford a first class ticket. You know who I think had it rough back then?  Second class…. According to James Cameron, 1st class were quite posh, has everything.  Third class, partying it up in the basement and basically have the run of the place.  Second class?  Just sitting around I guess… no mention.  Then again I haven’t seen the movie in a long time…. OR in 3D!

Regardles, Titanic II is going to be a smash hit (is that an 80s term?  I feel like it’s outdated), and I for one would definitely buy a ticket (but bringing my own lifejacket).

Anyways, sidenote, apologies for not putting up anything interesting (as in, anything at all).  I really have been sucking at this lately, but I’m oh-so struggling to keep doing it!

Keep tabs, I swear!

Chinese Traffic Finger Jam Trap

So I heard of this traffic jam a couple days ago, which is kind of random because you shouldn’t ‘hear’ news of a traffic jam WHEN IT’S IN ITS NINTH DAY!

This is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve witnessed secondhand.  If you haven’t gathered the jist from the title, there is (was) a massive traffic jam spanning 100km, or 9 days within China.  The jam is more-or-less over now but……………… come on.  This is ridiculous.  If this isn’t a sign that your country is getting a little ahead of itself, then holy shit, I don’t know what is.

“Drive topwise…. TOPWISE!”

Seriously, I cannot wait for China to explode.  It may not be until I’m in my 50’s, when they’ve got away with so much bullshit that I won’t even care, but oh man that’s gonna be some birthday.  Really though, this traffic jam is a sign of self-destruction.  Keep in mind that China is new to vehicles…. like very new, relatively.  And being new to vehicles means having the driving skill of someone driving a Model T…. in the 20’s.  Just instead of of driving a Model T on your way to eat crumpets at your cousin/sister-in-laws, you’re driving a lorry full of coal from Mongolia.  There are no driving schools, and needless to say no common sense or courtesy.

I actually randomly (and unrelated) found a YouTube video showing a very frustrating video of a traffic jam in a city in China.  Frustrating in the sense, that you know exactly how to resolve the traffic issue in this specific intersection, and it drives you crazy because eventually they figure it out, then 10 seconds later some other dumbass steps in and effs it all up again.  Alas, I’m way too lazy right now to post the video, so go find it yourself.

Anyways, what gets me about this is how driving reflects attitude, and I’ve been thinking about this ever since I’ve been able to drive.  Not only reflecting the attitude of the driver (which every can see and is pretty obvious), but the attitude from a political and social aspect.  It goes to show that driving is not related to common sense, it’s related to what people are exposed to.  If someone who just bought a car (i.e. in China) starts up a driving school in China, not that one actually exists, based on driving laws created by a bunch of other people who have never driven, then everyone’s going to follow their example.  Thinking their example is correct, no one would stop to think “Hey, maybe if I didn’t pull out in front of this guy, he would be able to turn left, and the one hundred cars behind him would be able to drive straight through…. but I need to get to my ex-boss’ cousins sons birthday party, so I don’t have time for thit shit”.  Really?

There’s actually a science based on traffic behaviour.  I read an article about a specialist on the subject, and he’s supposed to be the best in civil engineering (something that many towns and cities could use).  However, I think I’ll save that for a later post.

UPDATE:  I changed my mind about the video, here you go.

Breaking News Video Awesome…!

So, I just found my new favourite website.

Which, now that I look at it a little more closely, I think I’ve been to it before.  Anyways, it’s called the Breaking News Video Network (BNVN), and it’s a site chock full of videos showing severe weather phenomena, as well as natural disasters and other atmospheric…. phenomena.  I don’t like to use the same word twice in a sentence.

This site combines my two favourite loves… severe weather, and watching it.  It’s fantastic stuff.  Lightning storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, and now I’m watching floods.  Not so much extreme flooding, but just videos of cars driving through flooded streets.  I don’t know what it is about it, but I could watch it for hours.  Before geology, I always wanted to get into meteorology, but I figured it usually ended up with telling a weatherman what to say, or just overall sitting behind a desk and not getting to see much weather, except during your drive to and from said desk.  Also the program involved a lot of physics.  After that first year class, no thanks.  But now it’s related to everything I talk about, who knew!?

If you weren’t clever enough to find the two links in the above writing, here it is in plain sight below.

Breaking News Video Network

It’s a tornado, it’s an inferno!!… It’s a…. TOFERNO!!

Which incidently sounds like a tofurkey set on fire… to make it healthier, because all that’s left afterwards is a pile of ash.

Alright, well first off, I know I haven’t written a post in ages, because I’m the one that hasn’t written them, so calm down!  In my defense, it’s summer, or at least it was during my absence.  But now it’s drawing to a close, and I actually feel like writing a post.

Secondly… holy shit it’s a tornado of fire!!!

So after watching that, you may have noticed Brazil is having some fire issues, which I didn’t realize.  The publicity is more or less focussed on Russia, probably because it’s rampaging through villages (plural), and here in Canada, mostly in BC.  People are being evacuated a’plenty!  It’s crazy.  What I just realized as well is that this heat wave seems to be, dare I see….. worldwide!  It seems it’s pretty dry everywhere, or just lacking humidity, like in Brazil.  Here in Northwestern Ontario, we’ve had heat wave after heat wave, along with unusual rainfall which is completely unpredictable most of the time.  I’m not trying to get anybody’s opinions rowled up about global warming, because too be honest, it’s annoying (but feel free to comment).  It’s become such a hot topic over the past decade that the typical public has dumbed it down to a yes-or-no debate… Are humans involved in contributing to it, or no?  The whole debate is ten times more involved… and also, who gives a shit.  What would we do differently if you could come up with an answer to that question?  Basically people are asking “Was it our fault?”, therefore “Is it our problem?”.  I guarantee you, if someone somewhere says that humans didn’t contribute to the warming of the Earth, then it’s back to business-as-usual.

Why am I talking about this.  I just got my own opinions rowled up!!  OH THE IRONY!!!

Anyways, enjoy that video of the tornado of fire… and I’m back to blogging, so check back often!!  And for the randoms that actually bookmarked this page, I’ll make it worth your while!  Non-sexually.

Let’s ummm, plug that leak, ok BP?

So, I haven’t been writing anything about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico because I really thought BP would have their shit together by now.

But their latest attempt has yet again, hit the fan.  The oil spill in the Gulf, which occurred after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion on April 20th, is now the 3rd largest waste of oil in history.  BP has come under a lot of scrutiny for their lack of success in cleaning up their mess, which is beginning to damage a good chunk of the US coastline.

Site of the Deepwater Horizon.

The company’s been brainstorming several different methods to contain the leak ever since the accident, but so far they’re coming up short.  Let’s go through some of the the list, shall we?:

Oil Booms: Large floating barriers that that go down just a few feet below of the surface of the water (oil floats), and contains the oil as it spreads.  So far, these are doing their job to a certain extent, sometimes rough seas, or just improperly placed barriers can cause oil so sneak through and reach the coastline… and there is a LOT of oil.

Controlled Burning: Basically, they try to contain the oil with oil booms, and burn it off.  Good idea, but it creates just as much atmospheric waste as it does marine.

Dispersant: I was too tired to look anything up.  BUT I’LL GET THERE!

Dome over leak: I honestly don’t know what they were trying out here.  They would put a giant dome over the remainder of the wreckage to contain the oil, then what?  Well, I guess while I was writing that, I realized they’d just try to pump it out.

Pipe to the surface: Basically another rig to suck up the oil to the surface, however the oil is a little too heavy to makes it way to the top, and the only to get enough sucking power to keep it coming to surface, is to build a new drill rig, which would probably take some time.

Top Kill Method: This was the most recent method so far that failed miserably.  I had my doubts when I heard about it, but I also had some hopes.  Basically it’s like pumping heavy mud and cement down through an adjoining pipe and ‘clogging’ up the leak.  Why it failed?  I couldn’t tell you, but it did.

Top Kill method.

So, what’s next?  It seems their final option, seems like the most obvious to me.  Cutting the pipe for a clean cut, and capping it off.  But they must have some reason for not trying it out earlier.  Earlier today, rumour had it that the leak would not be taken care of until August, which got me a little rowled up, but now they’re expecting a result in the next 24 hours.  I won’t lie, their back and forth makes me a skeptical.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings…

UPDATE: Well, they’ve attempted to cap that well, but surprisingly hasn’t received that much attention.  Maybe because IT’S NOT ENTIRELY CAPPED.  They put a cap over the BOP (Blow-Out Preventer), meant to prevent these types of accidents, however it’s not capturing all of the oil, only roughly a third of it (but rising).  They seem to be ok with it.

More Icelandic Boom Boom!!

I’m telling you, Iceland’s gonna go ooooffff!

The same volcano in Iceland, which for some reason doesn’t have a name, which erupted last month, is at it again!  It’s located in the Eyjafjallajoekull area, so we’ll just call it that… but not out loud, because that’s just ridiculous.

Unlike the last eruption, this one actually occurred under glacial ice, raising water levels in rivers by several metres before the eruption even began.  No casualties whatsoever, however quite a few villages had to be evacuated.

This isn't Iceland, but pretty cool, yeah?

But while this eruption is wreaking havoc for parts of Iceland, the stories in the news are concentrated elsewhere.  Again, unlike the last eruption, this one released tons and tons of volcanic ash into the air, and prevailing winds are smackin’ Europe in the face!!  Long story short, don’t get on that plane, yo!  Flights anywhere to and from most of Europe, are grounded because of all the ash flying about.

Why does this mess things up?  Well when most people think of ash, they think of the stuff left in firepits basically… wood ash.  Volcanic ash is a little different.  Think of it as smashing a window down to a dust, because that’s what volcanic ash is…. glass.

Getting fine glass sucked up into an engine just isn’t a good thing.  Haven’t you ever seen Dante’s Peak?!  Actually, however lame that movie is, scientifically it’s probably more accurate than any other volcano movie.  Except for no geologist looks like Pierce Brosnan…. except for me, I’m fucking dashing.

So for your enjoyment, here are pictures of me in geology action!:

Here I am getting ready to unload some samples...

Here I am questioning my career choices...

Guess what? MORE holes into the abyss…

… And no, I’m not talking about your mom.

Discovered by two smart people at the University of Arizona, two black holes that are not only ‘supermassive’, but also theorized to be the most primitive black holes discovered so far.

Black hole..... just a young'in.

How do they know this?  Well supposedly, in the beginning, there was no dust… literally.  Seeing as the universe had barely been created, cosmic ‘dust’ has not yet been created to float around the universe, therefore could never be accreted into the classic dusty disk that is commonly seen swirling around the common black hole that we’re used to seeing so far.

Think of it like Saturn.  You know, the planet with the rings.  Now Saturn’s gravity is so great, that it attracted all dust and rock into it’s orbit, creating it’s rings.  Now, if Saturn was created just after the creating of the universe, it wouldn’t have any rings because there would be nothing around to be sucked into it’s orbit… this is obviously hypothetical because technically nothing would be around to created Saturn either.

Anyways, when NASA was looking for black holes (or not looking for them, I dunno), they were looking for classic signatures involving quasars with accretion disks (rings of dust) to be associated with them.  So when they were surprised to find these two without any of those classic signatures, then I’m sure you can figure out the rest… because I just mentioned it.  Above.  You didn’t read it, did you?  Shhiiiitt…

Feel free to comment though if you’re not following, that’s what this blog is for!

Earthquake in Haiti

As many of you may have heard, a fairly large earthquake devastated Haiti earlier this week.

The variables just didn’t work out for this, hitting an impoverished country such as Haiti, but the worst being that the epicenter of this earthquake was a measly 15km from Port-au-Prince, making the 7.0 magnitude quake all the more devastating.

USGS map showing epicenter of quake.

As mentioned, the main reason for such a disaster is the proximity to the epicenter, and taking a look at the tectonic plates around the globe, the Dominican Republic lies directly south of the plate boundary between the Caribbean and North America plates.  That is, the North American plate (correct me if I’m wrong) is subducting beneath the Caribbean plate, however the Caribbean plate is so small in relation because it itself is being subducted beneath the South American plate.  So basically it’s getting squeezed out and in millions and millions of years, will be completely subducted.

Simple map of the tectonic plates around the globe.

When people think of subduction zones, they’re pretty much thinking of a cut-and-dry scenario, where one plate goes under another, and that’s that.  However, depending on it’s orientation, there are several places along a plate boundary where they don’t meet head on, and you get what’s called ‘strike-slip’ faulting, where instead of one plate going underneath the other, they slide past.  Combine that with subduction, and you have an area like that in the Caribbean.  Eventually, the area that’s undergoing strike-slip will eventually subduct, but at the moment (geologically speaking), this small area slides past.  Now, even my explanation is pretty simple in relation to what’s really going on, but I’ll leave it at that.  Hopefully countries worldwide will come to the aid of the tiny nation of Haiti!

Below is a better picture of Haiti in relation to the plate boundary from Google Earth.

Google Earth image of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The red star is the epicenter of the quake, and the line to the north is the Caribbean-North American plate boundary. Click for hi-res photo.

The end is nigh…

Damned things...

I figure this is the sign we’ve all been waiting for…

I always thought there was something just not quite right about squirrels, and their nervous jumpy ways.  We have red squirrels up here in north Ontario, but grey squirrels have been (sneakily) making their way up… there’s one that walks along the fence in my backyard, stealing all my fruit and nuts, car keys, etc.  For some reason, people think they’re super cute, until they get their face bit off.  That’s why I like having a cat around, but alas, I don’t.  But apparently, in a bizarre twist of nature, a squirrel maimed and attempted to kill a bat, which is unusual… so now they’re out to kill… perfect.  Now they’re getting the extra weary eye from me.

By the way, have you ever googled squirrel for images?  For some reason they’re all dressed up, and it’s disturbing…