Hekla – Probably not erupting

/ February 15, 2012

At 21.13.31 Icelandic time Hekla had an earthquake at 0.1km depth. The earthquake was 1.4km west of Heklas top, that places it roughly at the center spot for the 1947 eruption.

Image by IMO: Earthquake at 1.2M at Hekla proper.

The location puts it 1500 meters from the top of Hekla, and at a location that is inferred to be right on top of the fissure chamber running right under Hekla. The current quake is in a suitable spot since magma seems to have moved to the west during the last two weeks.

It is hard to make any conclusion out of the changes in the magma that might have happened. I am hoping that we might get a good plot soon from the master of plots, GeoLurking that will shed some light on this.

Image by IMO: No large transient after the earthquake at Hekla.

This is probably not an eruption

The reason for this is the lack of strainmeter transients, the lack of micro-quakes, and no changes in tremor levels. This might at any time change. I advice everyone to carefully follow the information given by IMO and Almannavarnir.

Image by IMO: The earthquake is very visible on the Mjoaskerd SIL-station. No harmonic tremor component is yet visible, even on higher resolution.

Before an eruption there should be visible “popcorn”, and series of small earthquakes, and probably a 2M earthquake. There is nothing like that now.

If nothing more happens during the next 8 hours the danger is most likely over for this time.

For those who want to read up on Hekla I strongly advice to read my posts on Hekla, you can get them by clicking on the word hekla on the right side of the page under Categories. The apropriate articles are named Hekla.

Also, for those who I have told that volcanoes do not react to any small earthquake. Well, let us just say that Hekla is the only known exception to that rule. My articles explain why, look under Hekla.

CARL

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432 thoughts on “Hekla – Probably not erupting”

  2. I know something to demolish a stone statue. An Estwing hammer… Randy power!!! 😉

    Jus kidding. Hesitate to go really serious in here because I’m afraid with Carl I found some dude cleverer than I am. Sucks as much as it’s cool. I’d never touch this magnificent statue. 😉

    Reply

  6. I was just looking at the satellite view of Java. Carl, did you just post this? Don’t think I would want to live there. Way too many volcanoes. And, there must be millions of people living on this island. Just blows (aaahhh) my mind.

    Reply

  7. Thursday
    16.02.2012 19:25:36 66.591 -17.775 2.1 km 2.5 90.01 11.7 km ENE of Grímsey
    Thursday
    16.02.2012 19:21:33 66.621 -17.829 9.3 km 2.9 90.02 11.9 km NE of Grímsey

    Reply

  9. Nononono! York, Durotriges, Hwicce, you’ve got it all wrong. Everyone knows that it’s in the Celtic genes of those mad Irish to blow things up, just look at Crazy harry on the Muppet Show or Brad Pitt in “The Devil’s Own”! Hence anyone who displays an urge to Blow Things Up must be an Irishman, the only exceptions being non-Europeans and people with Sami blood in them such as the Swedish “Northlanders”. Thus Guy Fawkes was an Irishman and if he came from York, it’s only because he temporarily resided there. Or it could possibly have been a smear campaign by the Red Rose to discredit the White.

    QED 😉

    Reply

    • I’ve never heard that he was Irish before, and we to tend to claim our own, regardless of their relationship to us or what they have done…..And I think most Scottish men would know better than to use use as toothpicks….And as for us blowing things up, Crazy Harry we’ll take, but Brad Pit in The Devils Own…..

      Reply

  10. Totally OT, and I know it isn’t Friday-Bar-O’Clock quite yet, but Carl I saw this and immediately thought of… well, you’ll see!

    [LINK REMOVED DUE TO VIRUS CONTENT!]

    Volcanocafe!

    Reply

  11. Evening to all

    Ok here are more density plotting graph

    A real BIG thanks to GeoLurking who very kindly supplied me the map data, so that we have now the map and the density plotting.

    I will give only 3 links for the pictures at 11, 10 and 9 km.These are the depth were we get the higher density (up to 10 knowing the lat and long increment is 0.001).

    I have made the computations for each kilometer depth between 20 and 6 km. The data dates back to the 12th of february.

    Please feel free to comment.

    11 km

    10 km

    9 km

    For me it is probably the chamber. I have not made the volume calculation to compare with Lurking Mogi but that would be interesting.

    you can see all the pictures @
    http://eruptionelhierro.blogspot.com/2012/02/new-density-plotting-of-eq-with-maps.html

    I will try to redo some computation but after the 24th.

    Reply

    • Very interesting.

      Bear in mind that one paper suggests that there is more than one magma chamber – (the Stronsik paper?) so a very complex, mature magma reservoir.

      Look forward to seeing the volume computations.

      Reply

      • Hi KarenZ

        Thanks

        As said i’m only trying to play with data, as I “discovered” Octave/Matlab only recently and had some time to play with it (will end soon).But it is very powerful.

        If you look at the other depth graphs there is indeed some form of pattern, but the highest density of EQ is between 12 and 9 kms depth.

        When I have some time I will try either to do some 3D (If I find the right algorithm somewhere, cos I’m not the math guy (chemical engineer)), or try to play with the definition (these graphs were made using a increment of 0.001 in lat/long, so in fact the resolution is 0,0005 as in the algo you move along the x and Y and look either way with a definition of 0.001/2)

        another possibility would be to do the routine crossing depths and months. Maybe I will try to do that, but I am not on my computer now and need to have some time to redo the program.

        Reply

  12. Avcan FBComment From Avcan

    http://www.avcan.org/sismica/graficas/G819.jpg?t=1329426015

    Because there is more sismicidada ayer y hoy?, because well mainly due to an increase in the number of earthquakes located by IGN, locating today even earthquakes very weak under 0.5, thing that not passing from long ago

    In the graph of evolution of energy seismic accumulated released see how the thing stays… uploading… but not too increases the rise. simply continues to rise, indicating the activity of the system and that the system is “alive” and continues to evolve into something that we do not know yet and we can only hope to move tab, we will see that you tab moves (Henry).

    Reply

    • Hi Judith and everyone…Gosh we have had a real downpout of rain today in Tenerife, well overdue as we were almost in a dought situation….I saw someone posted that there were huge clouds over El Hierro today, so maybe they too got a downpour…..What´s it like in Feurteventura today…it is still pretty chilly here but I was just hoping that the rain wouldn´t effect Bobette, making her a damp squib, then stupid me realised that with all that sea water on top of her, a few drops of rain wouldn´t really matter…there is, at last, snow on El Teide today….

      Reply

      • ooops why do I always make a spelling mistake when I post here,,,what is a “downout” should have been downpour!! xx

        Reply

    • hey Carl, please don´t ruin our fun…I think Volcanocafe has an awful lot to offer ..he is a lovely troll and should be allowed to mingle with us..not stuck in some rotten dungeon. I hope he can read all your comments here, maybe he will realise that he too could become a 20st Buddah and beat the bosses! xx

      Reply

      • It is a nice troll, but really (s)he has some really nasty feeding habbits… And yes it is a (s)he, we never really wanted to check out the gender… for obvious reasons.

        Reply

        • just a quick note to say sorry to any scottish people that might be here. no offence is intended with my english version of scottish accents..I just write it how it sounds to me, and Scottie was one of my favourites in Star Trek, after Captain James T Kirk and Mr Spock…however now that I am grown up, Captain Carl is starting to replace my previous super hero, Captain Kirk! xx

          Reply

          • If I was a scotsman, standing on my ben and feeling the wind under my kilt, listening to some pipes playing the old melodies of my ancestors, I would stay miles above what an english may say or think… 🙂

            Reply

          • In my fantasy all scotsmen wears whopping huge Claymores when they stand barechested in kilts ontop of cliffs, with the wind sweeping the cape around. And anybody with huge one and a half hander swords. Short semantic pause, this is the only known word in english that is actually a composite word I know of, I have though noticed that no Englishman ever understand it…. After the semantical interlude of oneandahalfhander-swords, back to the narrative… Wait a minute, I was done.

            Reply

  19. TTFN, BBGN & SD and god knows what HBÄB means, but I hope it is something nice XX will catch up with you all tomorrow – scheep well everyone xx

    Reply

    • How did you know about my passion for Jetpackers???
      That’s one of those things you can easily loose an hour or two on youtube. Except the fantastic idea of flying “by your own” (honestly one of my obsessions, but I have many…), most of them are just too funny in their attempts. If they don’t crash into the next pond or whatever, they usually have a range of 30 seconds and 200m…
      If I could get out of my house, put one of these on and fly to work superman-style my life would really be improved. I’d smile from the moment I think of doing it until the moment I land in front of the office, and the rest of the day because I remember it and look forward to flying home…

      Reply

      • All you need would be the 30 sek and 200 meters… would still be enough to positively kill your co-workers with envy 🙂

        How I did divinate this. You are a man, you wear a hammer at work. It is a one in ten that you are to scared of flying. Hell of a good bet really. I want one to by the way 😉

        Reply

  22. OT, but what isn’t anymore haha…I’ve always been concerned/interested with fracking and now there has been a study done. My concern is with the earthquakes that seem to be related to the process, but the article is silent on that. SO WHY DO THE DAMN STUDY? Bah, humbug. Save your eyes. Bunch of hooey. Horking hooey. Pffft.

    The Energy Institute at The University of Texas at Austin funded an independent study of hydraulic fracturing in shale gas development to inject science into a highly charged emotional debate.
    It’s not fracking’s fault, study says:

    http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/16/10426765-its-not-frackings-fault-study-says

    Reply

      • Not easy to put geological thinking in a timeframe of 6’000 to 12’000 years… Or how many years ago did this one interstallar power create the earth, then the light and later the sun according to creationists?
        Why did smilodon fatalis have big teeth? For us to have something nice to look at… What are dinosours? The devils attemps of creation, that failed crawling to the surface from beneath and got stuck on their way…
        Dr. Walt Brown, your hydroplate theory is the biggest horkload of Bullshit I have ever read. If there was an interstellar power knowing it you would have been hit by some thousands lightnings straight into your bottom.
        Sorry, that just had to be for a good start into this Friday.

        Reply

        • I generally agree with you, and especially about the esteemed Dr. Walt Brown and his hydroplate theory of behemoth teeth. I have never heard of the esteemed doctor and his theory of course, but I wholeheartedly agree with you.
          *I on general principle agree with everything before second coffee*

          Reply

        • To be truthful, I am a ‘creationist’.

          But I don’t put God in box and have him/her follow a timetable or rules written down by some idiot a few hundred years ago.

          Science… specifically ‘hard’ science, is all about figureing out how it’s put together.

          There are constants that exist in the make up of all things (atomic/subatomic level) that if they were just a fraction off from their values, would not allow life to exist.

          Reply

          • You know our/my usual way to comment. Direct, a bit harsh. Don’t feel I’m blackandwhitening things because of that. I have no problem with whatever god plays a role in even evolutionary concepts – as long as logical thinking and causality are not “anihilated” in the process…

            Reply

    • Gawd, not that Gasland crap again. The chemical signature of the gas doesn’t match well gas. It most closely matches surface biological sources.

      Anybody that intentionally put out bullshit like that should be spayed or neutered.

      Reply

      • I haven’t seen gasland, but I have friends who can no longer drink their water cause it’s full of fracking fluids and sediments and FOUL odor that was never there before for the hundred or so years they’ve farmed there. It’s not the gas itself that’s doing the poisoning, it’s the ‘secret’ mix of chems they use to shatter the ground and let the good water mix with the bad crap. A few states in the US now require disclosure of the contents of fracking fluid, Colorado for instance, but in most areas they can keep their secrets.

        Reply

        • Negats Ghostrider.

          There are two methods of breaking the formation.

          1) Well head pressure that is high enough to push the hydrostatic pressure higher that what the rock can withstand.

          2) Nitroglycerin.

          The additives are “propping” agents. That is material that is used to keep the newly opened pores from closing back up.

          Each and every well has a well log. That log details the events of what goes on when drilling the well. The size of cuttings, drilling fluid pressure, how much is used, etc.

          That data allows the drilling engineers to keep track of what is going on in the well so that changes to the drilling process can be made in order to keep it efficient and safe. Density of the mud, is fluid being lost to the formation, is more fluid entering the well than what you put into it, all that can tell you if you are getting close to a kick condition that can cause you to loose the well and have a blow-out. That gives you a bad PR event and you loose lots of money. (See: Deepwater Horizon)

          My point is that a lot of information is gathered about the making of a well, and it’s operation. A lot of this information is closely guarded “trade secret”, but fully accessible by the EPA, various Oil and Gas Commissions and other governing bodies. Failure to produce the data (when requested) can result in the loss of your permit and mandatory suspension of your operation.

          No.. fracking is not your culprit. Disposal and spillage of material(s) on the surface afterward… well, that’s possible. But you can have the symptoms that you have listed from something as benign as a paper mill or a bad grease trap at a restaurant. (You want foul odor, try cleaning out a grease trap).

          So… what is in drilling mud? The main addative is something called Bentonite.

          Sounds suspisious right?

          Well, Bentonite is also used to clarify some wines. It’s a clay. One extremely dense clay. A solution of Bentonite allows you to push the density of the drilling fluid far above what you would get with ordinary water, and lets the drill team stay on top of what the pressure down at the drill tip. If the well pressure falls below the pore pressure, you can get a “kick” where fluid from the formation rushes into the well… loose control and you can get a blow out.

          There are others here that are better versed than I am… but try looking into it. Study the science behind it. Follow some of the legalese of the regulations that they have to jump through in order to get a well placed into operation.

          If it were fracking… that would be painfully obvious.

          *Note: Nitroglycerin detonation is what was used in the early days of well field management. They would drop a ‘torpedo’, or a canister of Nitro into the well and detonate it in order to open up the formation.

          Reply

          • All the paper work is pretty and legal, yet the water is still ruined.
            I know the tests they had done revealed some chemicals, but I couldn’t tell you which ones. I do know they showed extreme levels of sodium and chloride (naturally occurring of course) which alone makes the water undrinkable for humans or stock, and will kill any plant you water it with.
            We also know this same drilling company has been cited and fined over the last 20 years for illegal dumping and unreported safety violations and accidents.
            So it’s really irrelevant if there were ‘chemicals’ involved at all, at least in this case. Formerly safe water is no longer good, and a large productive farm is now worthless 😦

            Reply

          • From you:

            “We also know this same drilling company has been cited and fined over the last 20 years for illegal dumping and unreported safety violations and accidents.”

            From me:

            Disposal and spillage of material(s) on the surface afterward… well, that’s possible. But you can have the symptoms that you have listed from something as benign as a paper mill or a bad grease trap at a restaurant. (You want foul odor, try cleaning out a grease trap).

            This is the reason that inspections are done, and are the responsibility of the governing body. The drilling company’s responsibility is to be in compliance.

            Whether the company was involved in oilfield operations or the tanning of wild gerbils or the making of toilet paper is immaterial.

            Right now, there is a plume of contaminants under Pensacola Florida. It’s slowly migrating towards one of the bayous. It will be doing that for years. Hydrofracking? Nope. Creosote treatment plant. We still get our drinking water from deepwells to the aquifer… which lies under and to the North of the city.

            Just because you have a pollution issue, doesn’t automatically make it hydrofracking.

            Oh, and that “pretty paperwork?” Well log data isn’t pretty paperwork. It has to be dead on accurate or the well goes out of control (blow-out) if they make the wrong adjustment.

            Reply

          • Just one comment.
            Lurking is right in that hydrofracking is just one of all the stupid things we are doing, and have been doing.
            But, unarguably it is so that if you frack rock you will have things that get lose, and that will in most areas of the planet travell through the groundwater system and end up somewhere. Depending on why and what you are after when fracking different sets of contaminants will get loose into the system. In Hengill you are getting copper as the large parasitic agent, if you frack oilshales you will get carbonatic residues getting into the water.
            It is simple fluid dynamics. Cause and effect.
            The question is not if it is at some places causing problems, of course it does, the question should be, do we want to do it here? Is the benefit larger than the drawback?

            In Europe we have decided against it, based on exactly the same data that has made americans go forth with it. I am not judging anyone on this, because the argument could equally well be that we in Europe loose out on an oportunity.

            Anything that we do on a sufficiently large scale will cause damages. I live in a part of the world where we have large mines. Those are causing shitloads of problems. Because on those we are out into a territory of unknowns. But still we have decided to go ahead with them. Why? We need the cash they bring. Same with our ultrascaled papermills. Why do we do it even though we know it is causing problems? Answer is simple… 80 percent of the country in one way or the other gets it income from this heavy industry. The remaining 20 percent is mainly wellfare (paid by the dirty industry), the sexy high-tech is only about 2 percent.

            So, regarding hydrofracking it is just to cut the bullhockey and state this question. Do we accept them problems it causes if we compare it to the benefits? That is it.

            Oh, and bentonite… it is one of the most inert and least dangerous materials on the planet. Another word for it is cat sand, or porcelain.

            Reply

          • Yeah, I got distracted on the Bentonite.. I should have elaborated further.

            As a kid, up in Central Mississippi, where I learned that modern Warming Mantra is a load of shit, there are places where the water runs foul. These places can usually be traced back to some ancient paper-mill that no longer exists.

            In one year, the lack of rain was so bad that the Pearl River was so low that you could hop across it in one jump. We went down to the old swinging bridge at Byram and marveled at all the stuff that littered the river bed, and admired the cuts in the riverbank that you ordinarily don’t see. (if I had known more about hydrology at the time it would have been even better). What did we find? Typewriters, toolboxes, newspaper stands, pay telephones, baby carriages, all sorts of stuff. Unwanted stuff that had been throw off the bridge over the years.

            Thinking back… that baby carriage gives me the creeps.

            Reply

    • ER,

      Update 17/02 – 00:38 UTC
      – We have just seen burning lava balloons on the eruption webcam. Upper left part of the screen. they must be rather big as they burned for several seconds. Hopefully it will be repeated for people who start to look now.

      Reply

        • Today I would have needed nr1 to make nr1 and nr2… How hard can it be to make coffee without having had coffee?

          *slowly grumbles of first successfull cup of the day*

          Reply

          • I just finished my chocolate drink and am gathering the energies to stand up and walk the 35m to the coffee machine…

            Reply

          • I would never succed with that in the morning.
            And how horkingly long house do you have to get to walk 35 morning to the coffee machine? Second question, chocolate before the coffee, this is the long lost proof that Suisse are not Sweden 🙂

            Reply

          • Yeeeeah, me got DA house paid from da % of ma Ho’s work…
            Naah, it’s at the office.
            No, we’re not from the same world, but from the same star…
            Uhm, was this philosophic or just stupid? 🙂

            Reply

  25. Hello Diana, Judith and all. Well I went girl shopping this evening and had a great time. But now I am trying to catch up on all the posts. How is old pooper doing?

    Reply

    • Good Morning hattie.
      He’s well thanks. Yesterday he was fluttering well up to his perch on the chair back. I am just waiting for the wound to heal a little more. next week is forecast cold ,bad weather. Then after, as soon as conditions OK I will release him. 🙂
      I shopped yesterday with my Husband. he bought me my Christmas present. A spade, fork and rake :)…… nearly as romantic as my wedding present to him……A Top of the range chain saw 😀

      Reply

      • Just goes to prove that one persons romantic, will make someone else go “oh my how un-romantic”.
        You had probably spent quite some time thinking before coming to the chain-saw, and I bet you husband thinks of your every time he even sees the chain-saw.
        Personally I think the rake, fork, spade and chain-saw are very romantic. Because it is gifts from someone who know the other person well.
        Practical romanticism 😉

        Reply

        • Better than my ex-husband who bought ME a chainsaw for my birthday…cos he wanted one! Diana – I agree with Carl… you can be practically romantic too..

          Reply

  26. The first coffee need to make the first coffee is replaced by the hope that while you prepare you going to make soon …
    Good change … caffeine changed to hope … hahaha
    Good morning, Diana, judith, Hattie and Carl …

    A good and relaxed song for starting the day…
    Tonight I cant enjoy of this song after the atack of Teco Peco “nitbook” viruses… hahaha

    Reply

    • Tonight?
      Time to sleep Carlos?

      Here is something impossible to do, and cheerfull for a nice fridays beginning.
      Good music to smell the roses in the Garden with 🙂

      Reply

      • Kaspersky… It has saved my codiot ass so many times.
        One of the few products in a computer that through the years have been worth every dime I have spent on it.
        It is not bloatware (at least not compared to the rest), and it works like clockwork.

        Reply

        • A while back, non-US antivirus software became quite popular.

          Want to know why?

          Go look up “Magic Lantern.” (the software)

          Reply

          • Yepp, cured by SpyBOT Search & Destroy. Another great invention of the freedom-loving swedish Pirat-partiet (Piracy Party).
            For those who do not know it, we actually have a bona fidé political party that works actively in favour of downloading, hacking and internet-freedom in general. They got 7 percent in the EU-election (swedish). So, in the EU-parliament you have two abuse swedes who always get up and shout everytime stupid laws and things like this comes up…

            Swedish Law: It is legal to hack, it is illegal to get caught hacking. Someone might now say that it is the same as illegal hacking. Well, no… I can own any hackware I want. I can hack anyone I wish. Ie, being stupid is what is outlawed.

            Reply

          • How do the Swedes think about the use trojan horses? My PC was haced some years ago, something which was at least very scaring. With the help of a trojan horse the hacker wrote me letters which were printed automatically on my own printer. He tried to harass me.

            Reply

    • Hi Carlos, I was lucky and had not clicked on the link with the virus. I was just looking at the earthquake list, and since midnight there have been 5 small ones.

      Reply

  27. And actualy On Topic…
    About 15 minutes to twelve last night Hekla suffered a mini-quake.
    At one o’clock tonight there was a shallow harmonic tremor at Heklas Mjoaskard SIL

    It affected the Hekla Borehole, that had a flexation during this time. It started at the instant of the mini-quake, and ended with the start of the harmonic tremor pulse.
    http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/hekla/thensla_hekla.html

    Even if the event is very small, it is rather interesting.

    Reply

  29. And before I go and do something usefull with my life for today, I just want to share why not all good ideas are worthwile…

    Spending a bucketload of money on a electronic steeldrum… and then play classical music on it…

    Reply

  30. The right to be stupid…

    A deputy sheriff’s actions in landing his helicopter, issuing citations to persons in a restricted area of volcanic activity, and departing, was not tantamount to an arrest so as to support a claim for false arrest even if, as alleged by the plaintiffs, the officer was angry and vulgar while he was in the process of issuing the citations. Johnson v Barker (CA9 Wash) 799 F2d 1396.

    http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/799/799.F2d.1396.84-4175.html

    Seriously funny.

    Reply

    • Seriously sad.

      After they were cleared of violating the area in question, the prosecutor tried to drum up charges of “intent” to violate it, and then tried to make it for a different larger zone.

      I’m stopping my response now. The rest of it would contain quite a bit of profanity.

      Reply

      • Well, I guess I’m twisted. Mt. St. Helen’s blows up as one of the biggest natural disasters ever. Three days later a remarkably stupid film crew is hiking up the mountain. An army helicopter on rescue duty comes by to save them. They are offered rescue, which they refuse, so the pilot gives them a map and a compass and departs. Then, on the way down, a cop flies by, pulls them over and gives them a ticket. They now ask for rescue (read, free ride), but he refuses, cursing, presumably, because stupid people make him irritable. Then he makes them take the long way down, which requires another night on the mountain. Then, just as you would think, the volcano blows up again and pelts them with ash and mud. When they get down, they sue for alleged wrongs all the way to the Appellete Court. I kinda like that whole thing there, where people can sue for their own stupidity. Keeps everything flowing along nicely, everybody working for something. Risking the lives of rescue pilots doesn’t count against them at all, not as long as they got their shot. I especially like the part where the Appellete Court states that even the cursing doesn’t make it rise to the level of false imprisonment.

        No need to get so upset. You’ll pop your cork. It happened a long time ago, and I thought it was funny, so thought it might belong here. No matter. See Ya.

        Reply

        • Have you ever come across a Husquarna lawnmover? It now comes with instructions running to several hundred pages. Why? Because some American moron used his to trim a hedge, predictably got chopped up pretty badly, but of course won his case because the earlier instruction pamphlet did not specifically say that you should not use the lawnmover as a hedgecutter…

          Here’s a nice video of eugenics at its finest! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwOy_V7TXKI

          Reply

          • I love this phrase from my Husqvarna chain saw instruction manual.
            Safety usage warning in swedish is short. “Do only use this chain-saw as it is intended.”
            Then I got a copy of the american version. 130 pages. Best line in it is… “Do not insert into bodily orifice”…
            So, some american somewhere has inserted a chainsaw into a “bodily orifice” and then sued and won…
            Law boils down to 2, and only 2 different philosophical view points. 1. The law should at all cost protect idiots. This forces companies to act as legal guardians. 2. Everyone is considered to have a brain of their own, and it is their damn responsibility to use it. And if they do not have a brain they should have a legal guardian.

            The best one I have heard is the 82 year old woman who tipped a cup of coffee in her lap at MC Donalds, and then sued them for 100M$ and won on the grounds that she could not any longer have sex… Result is that MC Donalds coffee not only taste shit, it is also luke warm.

            Reply

          • In Brazil, if you buy a microwave oven, there are instructions “not to put animals” in it. LOL.
            Afterwards I got the explanation: a woman wanted her cat to get dry… well no need to tell the rest of the story. 🙂

            Reply

        • No.. it’s not that. There is an underlying stupidity on their part. I agree.

          But there is also a pompous self-righteousness in our legal system. I have an opinion that no person is any better than any other person… in the citizen sense. Laws should not be more harsh if the victim is in law enforcement, or a judge, or some other entity in government.

          The law should be equally harsh in it’s punishment of criminal activity.

          If a person is killed, the police will look for the suspect, do an arrest, and the thing will go to court and last a gazillion years before it gets settled. Let that person be a police officer and the criminal will be lucky if they make it to jail alive.

          It’s that aspect that pisses me off.

          A while back Mike Judge (creator of Beavis and Butthead / King of the Hill etc.) produced a movie called “Idiocracy”. The backstory is that through natural selection, the human population has managed to select for the most stupid and idiotic traits and has devolved into total morons.

          In all good comedy, or fiction, there is a nugget of truth. A plausibility. Something that makes it believable.

          Judge built on this in his comedy and it makes for a good entertaining movie. But in the back of you mind, you have to wonder about it when you read some of the inane events and see some of the warnings that we are presented with.

          I may have mentioned this, but down in South Florida a couple of years ago, two people broke into a home, held the resident at knife and gun point, and stole an eggbeater. Nothing else. That pair will be doing mandatory prison time under Florida’s 10-20-Life law.

          In Parker Florida, they had a special election recently to replace a City Council member…. who had been arrested while buying crystal meth.

          Same town (Parker) the police were crowing about making the largest crystal meth bust in the towns history. They were quite pleased with themselves. The house had ‘multiple’ meth labs and they even caught them in the proccess of making the meth. I’m not sure how proud I would be of that bust…. it turns out upon interviewing the neighbors, that that group used to cook meth out in the front yard ‘all the time’. And Parker Police never noticed.

          North of here, a marijuana bust occured. The helicoper found the growing operation and radioed in to coordinate getting a ground unit on site to make the bust before the got away. The closest ground unit? On the other side of the fence at the County Admin building. It took him all of 1 minute to walk around the fence and start the arrests.

          And it took a helicopter to find it.

          Yeah… Mike Judge may have accidently hit the nail on the head with his movie.

          Reply

          • I still say that the most likely place to not get caught in would be either around the corner of, or inside a police facility.
            I sweden the largest reseller of stolen goods was in the same compound as the police had their impounded goods… for ten years.

            Reply

  31. Copied from AVCAN Facebook:

    Note 452 AVCAN – earthquake activity – VOLCANIC – island of HIERRO – 17 February 2012-9: 15 pm peninsular – earthquake and volcanic activity continues today moderate, with seismic activity in the area of summits, at the height of the Tanganasoga towards the Julan and East coast of the Julan. Also see microsismicidad detected but not located in the spectrogram. The signal of volcanic tremor continues in the eruptive area of la Restinga, takes 5 days down without stopping, although yesterday repunto something, continues downward and already is barely noticeable in the spectrogram.New 26 earthquakes. Magnitude between 0.2 and 1.5. Depths between 7.1 and 12.3km (and one 2.7km and other four to 15.2, 15.6, 15.9 and 16.0km). The day before yesterday 23. Yesterday 30. Today van 5. In total van 12277 earthquakes located in El Hierro by IGN from 9: 00 a.m. of the day 19 July 2011 (Henry).

    Reply

    • That sheep dog looked in the middle of the video like he meant business. Head down, shoulders hunched, charging the flocks with measured determination.

      Quite amazing.

      Reply

      • A well trained Border Collie herding sheep is poetry in motion. One of the best things about the annual agricultural shows in most Australian towns & cities is that they include competition sheep dog trials. I could sit & watch them for hours.

        Reply

    • Indeed. Not the first time the authorities there are criticized for “prevention” questions. One should always remember that other “powers” could have influenced the construction activity…

      Reply

    • The problem is in part a scientific one, Mualchin said. The Italian scientists based their analysis on the frequency of earthquakes in the area. This is known as the probabilistic seismic-hazard analysis (PSHA), a method that is state of the art in many countries, but that, in Mualchin’s view, systematically underestimates seismic hazard because it does not consider extreme and rare events.

      Ahh… the Black Swan rears it’s ugly head.

      Personally, I think that Mualchin is showboating. If they succeed in prosecuting these guys, then they need to yank every politician and executive up by the short hairs and throw them in prison for using David X. Li’s gaussian cupola (along with Li).

      A Black Swan is the thing that you don’t expect, based on the math, which is usually based off of a ‘normal’ distribution.

      In a ‘normal’ (also called Gaussian) distribution, the data points fall within a curve (the infamous bell curve) that allow you to predict the likelihood of a follow on random event.

      It doesn’t work for volcanoes… and it doesn’t work for earthquakes. It will get you into the ball-park, and will generally be close, but there is always that outlier that will come along and bite you in the ass.

      Li’s gaussian cupola was central in the analysis of risk in the mortgage packaging market and put a false air of confidence into the various fund managers. As you may have noticed… that model was not accurate either.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Swan_%28Taleb_book%29

      http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-03/wp_quant?currentPage=all

      Reply

      • From the article,

        “As Li himself said of his own model: “The most dangerous part is when people believe everything coming out of
        it.        “

        Well, at least he got that part right.

        Reply

    • I find it utterly absurd to try these guys, and I am wondering what in the world is going through the minds of the prosecutors. This is a sample of real injustice, blaming someone for an act of nature that can’t presently be predicted.

      “Q. Is there any soon coming earthquake in the near future in Chin Hills or Mizoram?

      A. None can tell! Current science can not say when the next earthquake will be because of our limited understanding of detailed earthquake processes. I will add that knowing the times of, or of predicting earthquakes will not prevent damage of structures (buildings, bridges, lifelines, etc) when the inevitable happens. Therefore, avoiding high-hazard sites and/or having well-designed and constructed structures to withstand anticipated earthquake effects are the best approach to earthquake safety.”

      http://lian-hawikom.blogspot.com/2009/02/dr-lalliana-mualchin-interviews-nak.html

      This is their witness for the prosecution. A retired CALTRANS seismologist. Caltrans!! Hahaha! Just proves you can find an expert to support any position you wish to take. And here he states that you can’t predict earthquakes, and even if you could, you can’t prevent damages.

      People need to grow up and take care of themselves. This type of absurdity will prevent anyone who has any expertise to speak up and give an opinion out of fear of prosecution for being incorrect. Chilling to think that this is what the world is becoming, a world of assinine expectations and unreasonable standards.

      Reply

    • Uhm…
      So the much vaunted and hailed Yellowstone “Supervolcano” started as the puniest lavaflood on record?
      An average of 0,115km3 of lava produced yearly. Wow… Now compare this to Bob, and then we move on to Iceland.
      I know, Iceland is not a volcano. But it is a rift in plates. Iceland produces more lava on average than that. uhm…

      It also says something rather interesting about other things. That a lavaflood can evolve from a lavaflood. Well, that was actually known, and it was also known that many supervolcanoes come into existence in the middle of contints through breaking of a continent. Heck, we just had Mt Cameroon rumble and that is a part of the mechanism that unzipped Pangea…

      But I will give them that it was surprisingly unalarmistic.

      Reply

    • The American obsession with Yellowstone always makes me wonder as it’s nowhere near the most active such feature with only three big eruptions over the past two million years and just one eruption per cycle spaced at least 700,000 years apart. Before I move on, just a few reminders:

      1) In his Q&A article over on Eruptions, Dr. Shanaka de Silva says “Supervolcanoes are cyclical as well.”
      2) Argon dating while pretty accurate has a margin of error of +/-10%

      Now take a look at this sequence:

      -280kA VEI 7
      -254kA VEI 8
      -240kA VEI 7
      -230kA VEI 7

      -50kA VEI 7
      -26.5kA VEI 8
      -1.8kA VEI 7

      Seemingly, there’s between ten and thirty thousand years between each mega eruption so we should be safe for yet a while, but remember the Argon dating uncertainty! There could be substantial errors in the dating of the first cycle which could mean that there’s anything between a few hundred years up to some thirty thousand years before the next provided the last cycle didn’t end with the last recorded eruption. Since then, there has been many eruptions in the area, even several VEI 4 or VEI 5. Tell me, apart from being in the USA, why this fascination with Yellowstone? Duh…

      Reply

  38. Magnitude mb 4.5
    Region JAN MAYEN ISLAND REGION
    Date time 2012-02-17 16:08:55.9 UTC
    Location 71.83 N ; 0.69 W
    Depth 40 km
    Distances 1040 km NW Trondheim (pop 147,139 ; local time 17:08:55.9 2012-02-17)
    723 km NW Harstad (pop 19,433 ; local time 17:08:55.9 2012-02-17)
    666 km NW Straume (pop 291 ; local time 17:08:55.9 2012-02-17)

    Reply

  39. The Fingal’s Cave is a sea cave located on the island of Staffa in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, as part of a nature reserve. It consists of hexagonal basalt, similar in structure to the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland, who shares the same lava flow source. Its size, its roof of natural arches and chilling sounds produced by the echoes of the waves gives the feel of a natural cathedral. The Gaelic name of the cave, Uamh-Binn, means “cave of melody”.

    The cave was discovered in the eighteenth century by the naturalist Sir Joseph Banks in 1772. It was known as Fingal’s Cave, as Fingal (Fionn mac Cumhail) was the eponymous hero of a poem written by Scottish poet James Macpherson and historian). The composition of Mendelssohn, Overture Die Hebriden (“The Hebrides” Op.26), inspired by the echoes of the cave, popularly received that name.
    http://www.google.es/imgres?q=cueva+fingal+escocia&um=1&hl=es&sa=N&biw=1008&bih=467&tbm=isch&tbnid=LvVqs_UeoQIRWM:&imgrefurl=http://intrinsecoyespectorante.blogspot.com/2011/03/diez-de-las-maravillas-geologicas-del.html&docid=wNyFwtvgagH1_M&imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Staffa_Fingal%2527s_Cave_14712.JPG/800px-Staffa_Fingal%2527s_Cave_14712.JPG&w=800&h=600&ei=zoE-T7-xJImLhQec_vjMBQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=738&vpy=138&dur=1594&hovh=139&hovw=186&tx=166&ty=86&sig=104605407205754895600&page=2&tbnh=134&tbnw=171&start=10&ndsp=13&ved=0CKMBEK0DMBY

    http://www.google.es/imgres?q=cueva+fingal+escocia&um=1&hl=es&sa=N&biw=1008&bih=467&tbm=isch&tbnid=uxxYO5eG19SidM:&imgrefurl=http://ecodiario.eleconomista.es/galerias/global/9355/Las-10-cuevas-mas-bonitas-del-mundo/82260/index.html&docid=8-EpAdwaIWwmlM&imgurl=http://ecodiario.eleconomista.es/imag/_v2/ecodiario/galeria/cuevas/cuevadefingal-escocia.jpg&w=570&h=470&ei=zoE-T7-xJImLhQec_vjMBQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=438&vpy=3&dur=61&hovh=204&hovw=247&tx=105&ty=118&sig=104605407205754895600&page=1&tbnh=133&tbnw=174&start=0&ndsp=10&ved=0CEoQrQMwAg

    Reply

  40. Terremoto de 2.5 que ha podido ser sentido en la isla y con epicentro en la zona marina de Cala Tacorón. Si lo habeis sentido acordaros de rellenar el cuestionario del IGN, es muy importante (Enrique)

    1127181 17/02/2012 13:16:54 27.6759 -18.0445 12.4 2.5 4 SW
    EL PINAR.IHI

    http://www.ign.es/ign/​layoutIn/​geofisicaCuesmaCuesmaTerremotos​.do

    Earthquake of 2.5 that could be felt on the island and with its epicenter in the Pinar Cala marina area. If what you have sense to remember to fill the questionnaire of the IGN, is very important (Henry) 1127181 17/02/2012 13: 16: 54 27.6759 – 18.0445 12.4 2.5 4 SW EL PINAR.IHI http://www.ign.es/ign/layoutIn/geofisicaCuesmaCuesmaTerremotos.do (Translated by Bing)

    Reply

  41. Magnitude mb 4.7
    Region JAN MAYEN ISLAND REGION
    Date time 2012-02-17 16:52:23.0 UTC
    Location 71.80 N ; 2.26 W
    Depth 10 km
    Distances 1068 km NW Trondheim (pop 147,139 ; local time 17:52:23.5 2012-02-17)
    774 km NW Harstad (pop 19,433 ; local time 17:52:23.5 2012-02-17)
    715 km NW Straume (pop 291 ; local time 17:52:23.5 2012-02-17)

    Reply

  42. Today I can see some big steam coming out from the Hengill (at the drillhole).

    I think they were pumping water again today. So, you can probably expect tonight or tomorrow, a new earthquake swarm at Hengill. I live some 20km east of Hengill.

    Reply

  43. People love music for much the same reason they’re drawn to sex, drugs, gambling and delicious food, according to new research. When you listen to tunes that move you, the study found, your brain releases dopamine, a chemical involved in both motivation and addiction.

    Even just anticipating the sounds of a composition like Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” or Phish’s “You Enjoy Myself” can get the feel-good chemical flowing, found the study, which was the first to make a concrete link between dopamine release and musical pleasure.

    The findings offer a biological explanation for why music has been such a major part of major emotional events in cultures around the world since the beginning of human history. Through music, the study also offers new insights into how the human pleasure system works.

    “You’re following these tunes and anticipating what’s going to come next and whether it’s going to confirm or surprise you, and all of these little cognitive nuances are what’s giving you this amazing pleasure,” said Valorie Salimpoor, a neuroscientist at McGill University in Montreal. “The reinforcement or reward happens almost entirely because of dopamine.”

    Music to Your Ears?

    “This basically explains why music has been around for so long,” she added. “The intense pleasure we get from it is actually biologically reinforcing in the brain, and now here’s proof for it.”

    In a previous study, Salimpoor and colleagues linked music-induced pleasure with a surge in intense emotional arousal, including changes in heart rate, pulse, breathing rate and other measurements. Along with these physical changes, people often report feelings of shivers or chills. When that happens during a listening experience, Salimpoor’s group and others have found evidence that blood flows to regions in the brain involved in dopamine release.

    To solidify the dopamine link, the researchers recruited eight music-lovers, who brought to the lab samples of music that gave them chills of pleasure. Most picks were classical, with some jazz, rock and popular music mixed in, including Led Zeppelin and Dave Matthews Band. The most popular selection was Barber’s Adagio for Strings.

    After 15 minutes of listening, scientists injected participants with a radioactive substance that binds to dopamine receptors. With a machine called a PET scanner, the scientists were then able to see if that substance simply circulated through listeners’ blood, which would indicate that they had already released a lot of dopamine, and that the dopamine was tying up all available receptors.

    Be a Stay-at-Home Rock Star, If Ujam

    If most of their dopamine receptors were free, on the other hand, the radioactive substance would bind to them.

    The technique showed, definitively for the first time, that people’s brains released large amounts of dopamine when they listened to music that gave them chills, the researchers reported in the journal Nature Neuroscience. When the same people listened to less moving music the next day, their dopamine receptors remained wide open.

    Once the researchers knew for sure that dopamine was behind the pleasure of music, they put participants in an fMRI machine and played the moving music for them again. In this part of the experiment, the scanners showed that the brain pumped out dopamine both during the phase of musical anticipation and at the moment when chills hit in full force. The two surges happened in different areas of the brain.

    “It is amazing that we can release dopamine in anticipation of something abstract, complex and not concrete,” Salimpoor said. “This is the first study to show that dopamine can be released in response to an aesthetic stimulus.”

    The findings suggest that, like sex and drugs, music may be mildly addictive, said David Huron, a music cognition researcher at Ohio State University, Columbus.

    Clothing Plays Music When Touched

    Dopamine is an adaptive reward-inducing molecule that makes animals want to look for food before they’re hungry. It’s what makes it impossible for some people to pass by the neighborhood bakery without going in to buy a tart. And it provides a rush for heroin addicts when they see blood enter the needle — before the drug even gets into their veins.

    In its groundbreaking combination of techniques, Huron said, the study also offers a new way to study the relationship between dopamine and feelings of motivation, reward and pleasure. Brain scanners are notoriously expensive for scientists and claustrophobic for participants, with no room for people to do things like eat in them.

    Music, on the other hand, can be pumped right in to the machine, and scientists can then look at pleasure responses on a note-by-note basis.

    “Music is going to be a useful tool in trying to explain all sorts of aspects of pleasure, addiction and maladaptive behaviors,” Huron said. “It’s a technical tour de force what they’ve done. I just think it’s a really wonderful piece of work.”

    http://news.discovery.com/human/music-dopamine-happiness-brain-110110.html

    Reply

    • Well, that explains my “addiction”. When I do serious housework, I put on rock music at a volume that would equal any teenager. Puts me in the mood to get my old body moving!

      Reply

      • Very interesting – explains my obsessive need to acquire new music and the hours spent mixing them up together as R&R 🙂

        Reply

      • Not odd. I once spent 24 hrs nonstop coding a rather extensive Perl routine fueled by nothing more than Mountain Dew and “Devil Music Vol 1” by White Zombie.

        No.. I don’t like Mountain Dew. It’s essentially lemon-lime flavored sugar water and caffeine. I usually drink coffee, but the sugar kept me from having to stop and eat.

        Reply

  45. Well, the two earthquakes at Jan Mayen shows up nicely on the northern SILs on Iceland.
    They where normal MAR quakes for the region, and happen several times a year.

    Reply

    • Yes, that’s what I’ve been wondering about too. If this vessel according to its name shall explore the whole Atlantic Ocean, well they have quite a busy days ahead!

      Reply

  49. Magnitude mb 4.4
    Region JAN MAYEN ISLAND REGION
    Date time 2012-02-17 18:00:19.7 UTC
    Location 72.52 N ; 2.15 W
    Depth 200 km
    Distances 1132 km NW Trondheim (pop 147,139 ; local time 19:00:19.7 2012-02-17)
    797 km NW Harstad (pop 19,433 ; local time 19:00:19.7 2012-02-17)
    731 km NE Illoqqortoormiut (pop 531 ; local time 17:00:19.7 2012-02-17)

    Reply

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