Sincere Condolences to Russia

Meteor over Russia today   (Picture from NY Daily News)

    

(Photo www.kctv5.com )

    Here in the US, we are somewhat lucky we did not get nuked this morning.   Some hours ago, on what is Friday morning over the Ural Mountains,  in Chelyabinsk,  in Russia, multiple meteorites screamed by, and the sky lit up in what looked like a nuclear blast.  Then, multiple loud explosions occurred.  The largest one caused a blast wave which damaged buildings and blew out windows for great distances.  I have reviewed eight dashcam videos of the event from Russia, and my first impulse would have been that this was a nuclear attack.  As of the moment of the writing of my own post here, just under 1100 people have been injured by the resultant blast wave.  Several news outlets have reported that the largest meteor was the size of a bus.
              We are being told that this is in no way related to the near miss of , the meteor which is to pass close to Earth later this evening, but I don't believe that anyone can know that certainly.
             I send condolences and best wishes to any of our Russian friends who were afflicted by this apparently natural, but very frightening disaster/phenomenon. I would imagine that people in Chelyabinsk are very shaken. I was shaken myself by simply watching a series of these videos.

Blast wave damage outside a zinc factory.   ( (Oleg Kargapolov/Chelyabinsk.ru/AP Photo)

Viktor was injured by the meteor blast earlier today.  (Photo: rt.com)
Viktor declined to provide his last name.





This is the General Meteor Situation Page:  http://www.vuetoo.com/asteroid/SituationPageNews.asp?sit=6526

UPDATE: One day later, fifteen people from the region remain in hospitals as a result of the meteorite. One person remains in a coma.

Welcoming the "Last Resort" to Television

      Tonight, American television debuted a new program on the ABC network called "Last Resort".  It ran also in Canada on the Global network.  The program centers on the Captain and Crew of the USS Ohio, which is the most powerful nuclear submarine ever constructed.   The Captain is sent orders through unusual channels to mount a nuclear attack to Pakistan.  Rather than doing so, he asks that the order is confirmed via regular channels.  He is promptly relieved of duty.via radio-telephone. His second in command, also requests conventional notification of his orders, and this is met by a US ship attempting to destroy the USS Ohio and her crew of 150.  The sub is damaged and twelve members of the crew are killed.
        In order to survive, and to honorably discover what has happened that would generate an order to nuke Pakistan, and to clear their names of any wrongdoing, they commandier an island which operates as a NATO monitoring station.
         This was an interesting program because we do live in a time when our White House makes some incredibly bizarre statements and has taken unusual actions.as well as generated a large number of Executive Orders without the benefit of Congress.   The program cannot help but ask whether a completely bizarre order from the White House would be followed, or whether the order would be clarified, questioned or refused on its Constitutionality.  Implied is how much do we trust our government ? And perhaps more importantly, how much does our military trust our government as a legitimate entity, and how far, when push comes to shove, does that allegiance go, and in what circumstances ?

Italy's Second Deadly Earthquake

Todays Italian earthquake  (Photo: The Associated Press)

    

     According to the Reuters news service, another earthquake, this one of 5.8 magnitude hit Italy, in the vicinity of Modena today. It was felt far and wide within Italy, and outside Italy as well.  This one is said to have turned many buildings to rubble.  It is also known to have killed eighteen people, thus far.  More are suspected to be buried in rubble.  Please say a prayer for the people impacted by this disaster.  There is known to be widespread disruption of train and transportation service to the region, and cell phone communication disruption.
           This quake will also adversely impact Italy's economy.  The area damaged is broadly agricultural. It produces parmigiano reggiano cheese,  and has damaged some of the country's best agricultural lands as well.  This quake is about 30 km. from the epicenter of the one we preciously reported on here.   An earlier earthquake this week in Bulgaria, did not result in any injuries.

This is Mirandola, in Northern Italy.  (Photo: AP Photo/Marco Vasini)

       

Update:  As of May 30, 2012, there have been fifty aftershocks in the area of Northern Italy.

Earthquake in Italy

This is the handiwork of this particular quake. This is in Saint Agostino near Ferrara.  (Picture:  STRINGER/ITALY/REUTERS)

  



    According to the Reuters news service, a 6.0 earthquake occurred in Northern Italy about six hours ago.  Thus far, there have been determined to be at least seven deaths, and Silvio Belusconi has rescheduled a G8 function, in order to be available to the people near the quake area. This quake occurred overnight, and would no doubt have caused more deaths had it occurred during the day.  The predominance of those who died, were factory workers who were working overnight and who died when the factory collapsed.   There is significant damage to some areas.  A medieval castle was badly damaged. The epicenter of the quake,  was  near Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of the Po River Valley, and the tremor was felt as far west as Liguria, bordering France, and the Friuli region bordering Slovenia.   In San Felice Sul Panaro, not only was the Estense Castle from the fourteenth century damaged, but numerous churches there were as well.   The quake may have killed and injured more people had it not been at 4 am, their time. Other sources are now saying that at least fifty people have been severely injured. There was a pre-shock, and this region is experiencing aftershocks also.
          Although Italy does experience periodic quakes, they are generally smaller than this.  Magnitude alone does not determine the level of damage from an earthquake. The depth of the epicenter and what is built there often helps to determine the degree of damage, along with what happens to be built in the area of the epicenter itself.   Today our thoughts are with the Italian people, especially those near Modena,  Bologna, and especially those who have lost family in this quake and the quake aftermath. The quake was also felt as far as Tuscany.
         For the rest of us, it is again time to assess our quake plans, and go room to room, making sure that anything which could fall on a vulnerable person particularly a child, is secured.  Remember that bookcases on walls must never be above the head of a bed, for example.

Damage in this quake.  (Photo: BBC)

Reports of people feeling this quake are far and wide, and are marked on this map.  (Map: Lalate News)