Upswing in Earthquakes in the Long Valley Caldera Region of California

(TheWeatherSpace.com) - An upswing in California earthquakes has some people questioning the health of the faultlines. Long Valley Caldera to Mammoth Mountain are swarming at the same time.

Earthquakes are the normal in California, however within the last week an upswing in activity has been noted. The Long Valley Caldera is showing signs that magma is indeed moving down there.

The Long Valley Caldera is something that is dismissed due to the Yellowstone Super Volcano. There is evidence in the past that the Long Valley Caldera is more dangerous than Yellowstone, and just a stone's throw away from the populated regions of Southern California.

The caldera is just north of Ridgecrest off of Highway 395 and activity has been spiking within the last week.

"We don't think much is going on there, but it is being monitored," said the USGS. "We have teams in the area and have just recently finished a study on the area."

So while no one can predict what will happen, just as Yellowstone, the Long Valley Caldera is considered a super volcano that can go off at anytime.

"We've notice an increase in 2s and 3s across California as well, with poppers across Southern California," said TheWeatherSpace.com Senior Meteorologist Kevin Martin. "This usually means we are going to have the stress released soon in the area. What is also interesting is Long Valley and Mammoth Mountain activity is happening at the same time. This is real interesting."

MORE Sinkholes Occurring in Alarming Numbers!

 Bus Nearly Swallowed by Sinkhole in Nanjing China (Nov 29 2012)

At 10.30am on Thursday morning, at the junction of Taiping South Road and Zhongshan East Road, a sinkhole opened and almost consumed a large public bus and the 31-passengers on board. Fortunately the size of the bus caused it to get stuck in the hole, and saved those on board from serious injury.  The sinkhole emerged next to a Nanjing Metro construction site.

Part of State Route 516 in Tuscarawas County Ohio Collapses into Sinkhole (Nov 28 2012)

DOVER, OH (WOIO) - -

ODOT's District 11 says SR 516 could be closed until spring due to the massive sinkhole that has the roadway seriously compromised.

Wednesday afternoon, the Dover Fire Department responded to a report that the ground had shifted at Newton Asphalt Plant, 2411 State Route 516, causing a large sink hole.

The issue was called in by employees at Newton Asphalt.

A spokesperson with ODOT says geotechnological  experts from Columbus are expected to be out at the site next week to help their engineers determine best fix for this situation. 

The gas company was out and addressed an exposed gas line that is no longer a hazard to the surrounding community.

There were no injuries to report.

(wtov9) ...Officials say a collapse took a massive portion of the road down more than 50 feet, exposed a gas line and sunk utility poles.

When it first happened, officials closed down 8 miles along the roadway from state Route 39 to state Route 93.

And now they are saying the roadway could be closed until the spring. Engineers and the Department of Natural Resources will be out to take a look in the morning.

"I've worked for ODOT 16 years now and I've never seen anything like this," said MacAdams. "This is very unusual situation. You would never think this pond would make it to the state route."

UPDATE: State and federal experts were examining the site of a massive sinkhole on Thursday, trying to determine what caused it and how it can be repaired.

The collapse happened along State Highway 516 just west of Dover.  It took the westbound lane of the two-lane highway.

Some estimate the size of the gaping hole as big as several football fields wide.

The site attracted dozens of spectators on Thursday who could hardly describe what they were seeing.
“I’m not sure what to make of it.  I’ve never seen anything like this before in my life,” said Jennifer Smith of Dover, who was there with her young daughter and husband, Jesse, who was worried that the hole might grow even larger.

The collapse happened in a matter of moments at about 2 p.m. on Wednesday.

“It puts chills in your back when you think of what might have happened,” said Terry Biglow of New Philadelphia who came to see the sight.

The nearest resident to the massive hole, Lou Wendling, says he drove over that part of the highway just minutes before the collapse.

Wendling says the road is used by a school bus that makes its rounds about the exact same time as the collapse every afternoon. Workers from the asphalt company turned the bus around.

“It’s a blessing that it happened when it did, not in the middle of the night with people traveling this road after hours and dark, you’d never see that,” said Wendling.

Jeff Gessner of Newton Asphalt gave a statement on Thursday saying, “We are very thankful there were no injuries. We are also proud of our team for taking control of the situation to not put anybody in danger. The cause has yet to be determined.”

Ohio Department of Transportation Spokesperson Becky Giaque told FOX 8 News on Thursday that the road “would probably be closed for quite some time.”

Giaque says that the winter months and other challenges would likely prevent anything from being done until possibly springtime.

“We do not want to give anyone any false hope that it will be reopening any time soon,” said Giaque.  “It’s a big deal and will require a big fix.”

“You’ve got a big factory out at Case Farms and there’s a lot of traffic.  They have two shifts, there are shops are out here, it’s a well-used road,” said Wendling, whose trip into Dover will be rerouted an extra couple of miles.

“This is a main road between Millersburg and back in Dover,” concluded Jesse Smith.  “They need to get it fixed as best they can and get this road back open.”

 Sinkhole Nearly Swallows Truck in Lower Haight San Francisco (Nov 26, 2012)

 A truck got stuck in a sinkhole on Waller Street between Scott and Divisadero this afternoon, and the street is now closed to traffic.

As of 4:30pm, the rear section of the Vac-Con truck was submerged under street level, while a giant crane worked to free the truck from its predicament. It didn’t appear that anyone was hurt in the incident.

 No word on what caused the sinkhole, nor how long repairing the street might take...

Sinkhole takes Clark County driver by surprise (Nov 24 2012)

(KATU) LA CENTER, Washington State. - A sinkhole took out part of a road in La Center early Saturday morning and an unsuspecting driver ended up crashing right into it.

Northeast Charity Road is now closed at the 31000 block and detour signs are in place to keep folks safe. The detour is about three miles around the closure.

According to the Clark County Sheriff's Office, deputies and rescuers were called to the location overnight on a report that a vehicle had driven into a sinkhole.

When they arrived, they discovered that a vehicle did, indeed, crash into the sinkhole. The driver, a 47-year-old man from La Center, was able to get himself out of the vehicle. He suffered non-life threatening injuries.

Firefighters Rescue Dog From Sinkhole in Oregon (Nov 23 2012)

Portland firefighters rescued a dog that had fallen into a backyard sinkhole Thursday afternoon.
The male dog named Frito was uninjured and reunited with its owner. 

The rescue began at 5:51 p.m. on Nov. 22 when Portland Fire & Rescue was called to help a dog that had fallen into a hole in the backyard of 5120 S.E. 104th Ave. Engine 11 from the Lents station quickly arrived and firefighters determined that specialized resources were required to safely rescue the dog. 

Portland Fire's Trench Rescue Team was called in. Ground pads were placed around the hole to prevent further collapse and firefighters were able to secure the dog using an animal restraint pole and a rope. The dog was then lifted from the hole. The rescue took just over an hour. 

The dog was unharmed.

 Woman Can't Believe Sinkhole that Formed in her Backyard in Charlotte, N.C. (Nov 20 2012)

(Action 9) A homeowner cannot believe that a big hole opened up in her backyard underneath her fence.

She said she is nervous to even let her children play in the backyard.

Stephanie Palmer took Action 9 into her backyard, to show the erosion that was washing away the dirt that was holding up her fence.

"This is the hole that is starting to form as it rains," said Palmer.

The other corner of the fence has a hole just as big.

"This is another sink hole," said Palmer.

Palmer's house was built 8 feet from the edge of a steep hill and she is worried the erosion could affect more than her fence.

"My yard is sloped, I am afraid of the foundation for my house," said Palmer.

Palmer has complained to her builder, Garver Homes, which sent someone to look at the holes, but she said the company would not commit to do anything.

"I am waiting to hear their response again," said Palmer.

Action 9 called the builder, and he said he was having trouble finding the money to make the repairs, but promised he would take care of it.

Action 9 watched as workers dug trenches and installed drains to carry run off to the bottom of the hill.
"I like this," said Palmer.

Palmer is happy with the work and said her children can now play in their backyard safely.

"I don't have to fear that they are going to fall into a hole or that my house is going to slide whenever it rains. I am very happy," said Palmer.

Giant Sinkhole Opens in Changsha China (Nov 19 2012)

Sinkhole closes NC 24 in Fayetteville NC (Nov 15 2012)

(Fayobserver) It usually takes Charles Barbour five minutes, maybe 10, to drive from his home in Stedman to New York Restaurant on U.S. 301 in Fayetteville in the morning.

On Thursday, it took him that plus another hour.

Barbour was one of thousands of people caught in slow-moving snarls of traffic in east Fayetteville on Thursday after N.C. 24 was closed between Dunn Road and Cedar Creek Road because of a sinkhole on Grove Street.

That section of the highway will remain closed during repairs, which are expected to take at least two weeks, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation.

Posted detours may ease some of the traffic that idled and crept in bumper-to-bumper lines along Fayetteville-bound lanes of roads in the area.

N.C. 24 traffic was funneled into one lane, then routed left onto Cedar Creek Road, then right onto Clinton Road, which has two lanes and turns into Person Street. People seeking to turn left often had long waits and were the subject of horn honks from frustrated drivers behind them. Many small feeder roads had long lines of traffic.

"This is unbelievable," said Michael Lister as he watched the traffic from inside the S&D Florist shop that he manages at Cedar Creek Road and Person Street. "I'm just wondering how long it's going to last."

The highway closure added to an already increased traffic load on roads in the area because of this week's closure of a section of U.S. 301 to accommodate a two-year bridge-replacement project.

The sinkhole under N.C. 24 was discovered Wednesday night after a driver spotted a hole in the road and contacted police.

DOT personnel checked the hole and found it extended much farther underground than its above-ground appearance indicated. Bill Hammond, DOT's maintenance engineer in Cumberland County, said the void beneath the highway is probably 40 to 50 feet long, across three of the four lanes and 12 feet deep.

Workers were using 20-foot poles to try to measure its depth. Hammond said an 18-inch corrugated metal drainage pipe deep beneath the road had apparently collapsed. When that happened, the material above it shifted downward, too, leaving the void just below the pavement.

Luckily, Hammond said, someone saw the hole before more of the pavement broke under the weight of traffic.

Hammond said DOT staffers are studying the best and fastest way to fix the problem. A larger drainage pipe will be installed, either by being bored in beneath the road or digging up and rebuilding the road.

The work may be done by a contractor or DOT's bridge maintenance unit. Whoever handles the job will likely work round-the-clock to finish it, including over Thanksgiving, Hammond said.

DOT hopes to have the road back in service in a couple of weeks, he said.

Thursday morning, the hole in the pavement was perhaps 4 feet long and 2 feet wide.

The hole is in the left westbound lane of N.C. 24 across from the triangular median where eastbound drivers turn left onto Cedar Creek Road. The highway bisects a deep ravine at that point. As rain fell Thursday, steam rose from the hole.

Nearby, diverted traffic idled and crawled from N.C. 24 onto Cedar Creek Road.

Few drivers knew the reason for the traffic problems Thursday morning. They simply coped, and many fumed. By Thursday afternoon, a few impatient drivers, apparently unaware of the danger, ignored the orange cones blocking traffic from that part of the road and cut through. DOT workers then installed solid barriers to block traffic from both sides.

Lisa Bolanos, who lives in east Fayetteville, said she had not heard the reason for the traffic that caused the 2 1/2-mile trip to her daughter's school to take 45 minutes. When she later had to go to Ramsey Street, she didn't even try to get there via Person Street. Instead, she said, she went up Interstate 95 to I-295 and got to Ramsey Street that way.

"I had to go 20 miles out of my way," she said.

Mary Patterson, who owns Patterson's Barbecue on Clinton Road, remembers all too well how her business suffered over the 3 1/2years that it took to replace the Person Street bridge. The bridge, the main conduit for her customers from Fayetteville, was closed that whole time.

Now, she said, she may pick up extra business as a result of all the traffic passing by her business because of the bridge closure on U.S. 301 and the sinkhole on N.C. 24.

"It'll sort of be a give-back for what 3 1/2years took," she said.

Patterson said traffic in front of her business had picked up after the 301 bridges closed early this week. But it was nothing like the swarm of vehicles that covered the road Thursday.

"Today, it's crazy out there," she said.

Giant sinkhole swallowing up Windermere home's front lawn (Nov 13 2012)

WINDERMERE -- A sinkhole close to 60 feet wide and 10 feet deep is swallowing the front yard of a home in Windermere.

Now, town engineers said dozens more homes could be in danger of sinkholes as well.

That's 9 Sinkholes, just in the Month of November... That have been reported...  How many more have occurred that have not been seen or reported about?

Protesting Farmers Spray EU Parliament with Milk

Farmers used a platform to hose the European Parliament with milk

Angry farmers protesting at falling dairy prices in the EU have sprayed fresh milk at the European Parliament and riot police in Brussels.

Thousands of dairy farmers, accompanied by hundreds of tractors, descended on the Belgian capital on Monday for two days of demonstrations.

Disruption has continued, with EU officials hindered from reaching their offices by tractors blocking roads.

Farmers want an increase of up to 25% in their prices to cover costs.

EU milk is often sold at below production costs due to a drop in international demand and increased competition.

The European Milk Board (EMB), which is co-ordinating the protest, says small farmers are being forced out of business.

In Belgium, for example, the wholesale price for a litre of milk is 0.26 euros (£0.21; $0.34) but the cost of producing it is 0.40 euros, the board said.

Dairy farmers in Shropshire, England, recently won a price increase to £0.29 (0.36 euros) per litre from a leading processor but reported that the cost of production was still £0.31 (0.38 euros).

The EU is the world's largest milk producer and in 2010 nearly 47% of its 123bn euro budget went on subsidies and other forms of financial aid for farmers, including dairy producers.

'Killing us'
 
Police guarding the European Parliament found themselves being squirted with jets of milk on Monday as protesters directed hoses at the building.

 A trailer of hay was set alight on the nearby Place du Luxembourg, where a mock gallows was erected with what appeared to be a hanging dummy of a farmer.

"Politics are really killing us," Belgian farmer Julien Husquet was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

"It has to change very quickly at the European level. The way it is going, we are in big trouble."

"It's very simple: you can't live off milk anymore," French farmer Leopold Gruget told AFP news agency.

"If I go on, it's thanks to European aid... If they do it [phase out subsidies] there will be no more small and medium producers here in five years."

Some of the largest farmers' contingents have come from Denmark, France, Germany, the Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain, the EU Observer reports.

Erwin Schopges, head of the EMB in Belgium, said Tuesday's protests would be "symbolic" and calmer.

Arafat's Widow Speaks Out After Exhumation

source

Government Tells NJ Hurricane Victims to Demolish Their Homes Immediately or pay $2,000 Per Week

By JG Vibes
theintelhub.com


After hurricane Sandy hit the east coast, all of the mainstream media sources were praising FEMA and the governments overall response to the disaster.

However, since the dust has settled and reality has set in, it seems that most of the actual help is coming from people in the community and the government is actually doing more harm then they are doing good.
 
This week, residents of one of the most hard hit areas on the east coast, Seaside Heights, New Jersey, were told that they had to demolish their homes or face heavy fines.
According to a local newspaper:

“This weekend, Joe Biden visited this oceanfront community in Ocean County, but local residents, some who saw their homes for the first time, were also greeted by demolition notices.
Dated November 13th, one noticed by a resident who wishes to remain anonymous, stated “Your structure has possible structural of footing failures.”

It went on to say the structure would be demolished by November 30, 2012, just 17 days from the notice.   The order allowed the residents to request a hearing, but also threatened by fines of up to $2,000 per week if they did not comply with the order and fix their homes before the 30th.

To date, homeowners have been allowed to hire contractors for damage assessments, quotes, winterizations and insurance inspections, but no plans have yet been made for any reconstruction, leaving homeowners in a difficult position with very little time to decide what to do before their homes are demolished by the township.”

People should be able to move at their own pace with this, especially because these are decisions that are being made with their own property.  The government has no right to tell these people what to do with their property.

FEMA shut down a few weeks ago “due to bad weather”, during which time Occupy Sandy and other independent voluntary organizations continued to provide aid to hurricane victims.

Although mainstream media sources have been reporting that FEMA has done a great job, people who are actually forced to interact with FEMA have an entirely different story.

Some people who have no choice but to live in the “tent cities” set up by FEMA say that they are treated like criminals and actually feel like they are “in a concentration camp”.

Many on the east coast are still without power, lighting or housing and it seems that in many ways the natural good will of peaceful human beings is outshining the inefficient programs that are put forward by corrupt governments.

Message from Spain to The United States of America GET READY!!! You are the next victim!!

The Speaker in this video sounds like Judge Napolitano....  The Youtube user that uploaded this video; TheLipperTube, states that it is the Judge...

Arafat’s Body ‘to be Exhumed Tuesday’ for Poison Tests to Establish the Truth of Allegations that Israel may have Poisoned the Iconic Palestinian Leader

Palestinian official say Yasser Arafat will be reburied with full military honours after his exhumation next week (AFP)

By AFP 
Ramallah
 

Palestinian officials said Saturday they would exhume the body of their leader Yasser Arafat next week to see if Israel poisoned him with a Russian-produced radioactive isotope.

The controversial announcement came as a group of international experts arrived in the West Bank city of Ramallah to take samples of the remains of the iconic leader’s bones and clothing for further study in European labs.
 

“The tomb will be opened on (Tuesday) and experts will take samples the same day within a matter of a few hours,” Tawfiq Tirawi told reporters in Ramallah.

He said a reburial ceremony would be held with full military honours later the same day in Arafat’s mausoleum at the heart of his Muqataa headquarters. Family members had earlier indicated the exhumation would probably go ahead on Monday.

Tirawi did not explain the apparent delay while stressing the procedure was painful but necessary to establish the truth of allegations that Israel may have poisoned the iconic Palestinian leader.

“November 27 will be one of the most painful days of my life for personal reasons as well as patriotic, political and religious ones,” the Palestinian inquiry chief said.

“But it is necessary in order to get to the painful truth behind Yasser Arafat’s death.”

Tirawi added that members of his commission remained convinced that Israel had used the radioactive element polonium to kill Arafat -- the same poison used to assassinate Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.

“As patriotic Palestinians, we remain convinced that the Israelis assassinated president Arafat, and at the inquiry level, we have evidence leading in this direction,” he said.

Rumors and speculation have surrounded Arafat’s death ever since a quick deterioration of his condition saw him pass away at the Percy military hospital in suburban Paris in November 2004 at the age of 75.

French doctors were unable to say what killed him and a post-mortem was never performed.

But many Palestinians believed he was poisoned by Israel -- a theory that gained ground in July when Al-Jazeera reported Swiss findings showing abnormal quantities of the radioactive substance polonium on Arafat’s personal effects.

France followed that up in late August by opening a formal murder inquiry at his widow’s request.

The experts who will be performing Tuesday’s operation under Palestinian command originate from Switzerland and Russia. They will accompany three French criminal investigators who will also be taking samples back home to Paris.

Tirawi said analysis of the samples will be conducted in all three countries.

But he added that any additional investigative work -- including interviews with witnesses that may be required by Paris investigators -- will be conducted either by or in the presence of Palestinian government representatives.

“All the testimonies of the Palestinians must be collected by Palestinian prosecutors in the presence of French investigators,” Tirawi said.

Large Blast Destroys Egypt Intelligence Building in Sinai

An Egyptian soldier keeps watch on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border. (Reuters)

By Al Arabiya

An explosion in the Egyptian city of Rafah near Gaza Strip destroyed part of an intelligence building, Al Arabiya correspondent reported early on Sunday.

Large numbers of security forces were deployed at the scene of the explosion and sealed off the area while search for possible explosives was underway.

The cause of the blast was not immediately known, but Egypt has been fighting Islamist militants in Sinai for several months. The collapse of the former regime and the deterioration of security conditions in Egypt created a security vacuum in the desert peninsula.

The security lax was exploited by armed militants seeking who have both attacked Egyptian and Israeli forces.