Russian Volcano Awakens After 3500 Years

Russia's Koryakski volcano on the eastern Kamchatka Peninsula has erupted sending ash 6,000 metres (20,000 feet) into the air, according to the local geophysics service.

In the past 24 hours, about 170 tremors have been registered near the volcano. The last major eruption occurred 3,500 years ago.

There are more than 150 volcanoes on the peninsula, 29 of them active.

This is not the first volcano this year to suddenly "come alive" after thousands of years of dormancy. The Chaiten Volcano woke up and took a serious toll on southern Chile earlier in 2008. As I have stated before on my various blogs, "the planet is going through it's cyclical changes which have been going on for millions of years." "Those changes are well documented in various texts, teachings and prophecies. Some of these changes will have devastating effects on some of our population. Some of us will be untouched. However, nothing mankind can do will alter the changes and the outcome. Pay attention and know what is going on around YOU and your world."

Go here for a video of the Koryakski eruption. I could not find a good copy on youtube.

BBC NEWS Europe Russian volcano erupts

Global Neighbor Russia,

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Pterosaur, One Step Closer To A Dragon?

'Thrilling' Dinosaur Discovery in Sahara

(Dec. 17) - Paleontologists claim they have unearthed a new type of pterosaur and a previously unknown sauropod dinosaur in the Sahara Desert.

The probable pterosaur was identified by a large fragment of beak from the giant flying reptile, and the probable sauropod, an herbivore, was represented by a long bone measuring more than a yard long, indicating an animal nearly 65 feet in length. Now extinct, both would have lived almost 100 million years ago.

The fossils were found in southeast Morocco, near the Algerian border, during a month-long expedition.

"Finding two specimens in one expedition is remarkable, especially as both might well represent completely new species," said University College Dublin graduate student Nizar Ibrahim, who led the expedition and was accompanied by Moroccan scientists Samir Zouhri and Lahssen Baidder as well as University of Portsmouth researchers Darren Naish, Robert Loveridge, David Martill and Richard Hing.

Ibrahim will undertake a detailed analysis of the sauropod bone, which he and Martill expect is a new species and genus of sauropod. He will also examine the pterosaur remains, which are particularly uncommon because their bones, optimized for flight, were light and flimsy and seldom well-preserved.

Most pterosaur discoveries are just fragments of teeth and bone so it was thrilling to find a large part of a beak, and this was enough to tell us we probably have a new species," Ibrahim said.

The team traveled more than 5,000 miles by Land Rover in an overland trip that went through the Atlas Mountains. Sandstorms and floods challenged the team. For instance, having discovered the giant sauropod bone, they had to return to the nearest town to get more water and plaster with which to protect the fossil, a trip which involved crossing flooded rivers at night with water coming in through the vehicle's doors.

At one point during the fieldwork, heavy rain in the Atlas Mountains flooded the Ziz River. To retrieve the bone, the team had to manhandle the fossil in its plaster jacket down the side of a mountain, clearing thousands of stones to make a safe path to carry it on a wooden stretcher.

"There was a point when we wondered if we would make it out of the desert with the bone, but we had worked so hard to find it so there was no way I was leaving it behind. It took us five days to get the bone out of the ground and down the mountain — and that was not the end of our problems," Ibrahim said.

Martill, one of the Portsmouth researchers, added: "When we had managed to get the bone in the Land Rover, the extra weight meant we kept sinking in the sand dunes and on several occasions everybody except the driver had to walk while we negotiated difficult terrain. Our journey home was equally eventful. While crossing the Atlas Mountains, we got caught in a snowstorm and total whiteout. But it’s all been worth it."

The team was also excited to discover some rare dinosaur footprints, including some that record several animals walking along the same trail, as well as hundreds of dinosaur teeth, bits of giant crocodiles and some probable new species of fish.

Ibrahim said: "It's amazing to think that millions of years ago the Sahara was in fact a lush green tropical paradise, home to giant dinosaurs and crocodiles and nothing like the dusty desert we see today. Even to a paleontologist dealing in millions of years, it gives one an overwhelming sense of deep time."

The fossils will return to Morocco for display after study in Dublin, said Zouhri, a geologist at the Université Hassan II in Casablanca.

Once again, another new find in a new place. One more step closer to finding the remains of dragons. But, then again, maybe man will never find them.

Global Neighbor Morocco,

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Oh Crap, Is My Boat Sinking?

Cruise ship stranded in Antarctic

A cruise ship carrying 122 people has run aground on the Antarctic coast, the Argentine navy has reported.

Admiral Daniel Martin said the Panama-registered ship, the Ushuaia, was leaking fuel and that a "minimal amount of water" was coming in.

He told local TV that none of the passengers had been hurt and the ship was not in danger of sinking.

The navy said another passenger ship in the area was on its way to rescue those on board.
Argentina and Chile are both reported to be sending a rescue mission to the Ushuaia, which is carrying 89 passengers and 33 crew members. Their nationalities were not immediately known.

"The aim is to get the passengers off as soon as possible and this they're going to do with the Atlantic Dream, which will soon be arriving there," said Adm Martin, referring to the vessel making its way to the stricken ship.

The head of the Argentine National Antarctica Directorate, Mariano Memolli, said the ship ran aground in Wilhelmina Bay, a peninsula stretching towards the southern tip of South America.

Ice danger

Tourist travel to Antarctica is believed to have increased five-fold in the last 15 years.

During 2006-7, more than 37,000 visited the region, according to figures from the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO). Most of those visitors arrived by sea.

The organisation has expressed concern that some vessels are not adequately strengthened for icy seas.

This increases the risk of serious accidents and the risk of an oil spillage if a ship is damaged.

A year ago, 150 people had to be evacuated to lifeboats when their ship hit an iceberg close to the South Shetland Islands in the Antarctic Ocean and started sinking.

The 2,400-tonne M/S Explorer had sustained a hole in its hull and eventually sank. All those on board were picked up by a nearby ship.

See, this is one of those things that we, as humans, have a propensity to do. Take vacations in places where YOU do NOT want bad stuff to happen. Didn't the people on this boat know what happened a year ago with the other boat? Hello!

Not to mention though, but, this is where Shang, the dragon in my book, "Dragon, Book Of Shang, came to life. Who knows what else could be living in and around all that ice.

Global Neighbor Antarctica,

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Want A New Body? NO PROB!

Scientists Report Mental 'Body-Swapping'

TUESDAY, Dec. 2 (HealthDay News) -- The illusion of body-swapping -- making people perceive the bodies of mannequins and other people as their own -- has been achieved by Swedish neuroscientists.

In one experiment, the team fitted the head of a mannequin with two cameras connected to two small screens placed in front of volunteers' eyes, so that they had the same view as the mannequin.

When the mannequin's camera eyes and a participant's head were directed downwards, the participant saw the mannequin's body where the person would normally have seen their own body.

The researchers created the illusion of body-swapping by touching the stomach of both the mannequin and the volunteer with sticks. The person saw the mannequin's stomach being touched while feeling (but not seeing) a similar sensation on their own stomach. As a result, the person developed a strong belief that the mannequin's body was actually their own.

"This shows how easy it is to change the brain's perception of the physical self. By manipulating sensory impressions, it's possible to fool the self not only out of its body but into other bodies, too," project leader Henrik Ehrsson, of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, said in a news release.

In another experiment, a camera was mounted on one person's head and screens were mounted in front of another person's eyes. When the person with the camera and the person with the screens turned towards each other to shake hands, the person with the screens perceived the camera-wearer's body as his/her own.

"The subjects see themselves shaking hands from the outside, but experience it as another person. The sensory impression from the handshake is perceived as though coming from the new body, rather than the subject's own," study co-author Valeria Petkova said in the news release.

This illusion worked even when two people looked different or were of different sexes. It did not work when a non-humanoid object -- such as a chair or large block -- was used.

The research, published online Wednesday in the journal PLoS One, could prove useful in virtual reality applications and in robot technology, the team said.

This is pretty trippy stuff. However, the mind can and does do things that we cannot even comprehend yet. But, if YOU need a new body, or, would like to experience some other things outside of your own body, give it a try. If that does not work, maybe YOU can try some of this 2,700 year old high potency herb. Bobby Sharpe's " Opyn Mindz": Want A Hit Of This? 2,700 Year Old Marijuana

Global Neighbor Sweden,

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