Sheepy Dalek, Updates and Riddles!

/ January 25, 2013

Update on:
Whakaari – White Island

Webcam image

Webcam image

http://geonet.org.nz/volcano/info/whiteisland/camera/whiteislandcraterfloor
The latest report from GeoNet speaks of ongoing vigorous mud geysiring on the crater floor. An overflight showed the same gas levels as in december which suggests that an eruption is not imminent but the volcanologist on duty suspects an increasing risk for tourists visiting the island.

Volcanic Alert Bulletin WI-2013/04 – White Island Volcano

An article by One News on the subject.
White Island is now shown on alert level orange. Tongariro and Ruapehu are shown as color code yellow.

A stratovolcano in the Andes in Ecuador made the news this week. Reventador has erupted over 25 times in the last 500 years though many of its eruptions might have gone unnoticed because of it being situated in a very remote area.

Greg gave the next 2 links:

Information on Reventador
Global Volcanism Program 
John Seach 
Claude Grandpey

Rabaul Papua New Guinea
The volcano Rabaul has spewn ash up to a height of 500m and caused the closure of the local airport.
Radio Australia
Erik Klemettis blog Eruptions
John Seach

Erik mentioned that Taal in the Philpines had registered more volcanic quakes again lately. So I paid the webcam a visit. If nothing else, maybe some readers can see Pliny the Gecko and his friends on the webcam again.

Webcam Screenshot

Webcam Screenshot

Taal webcam
………………………………………………………………………
Alan´s Evil Riddle!

If you’re sitting in the park
and you lose your whisky in the dark………..

It’s your own fault, you should have cut it with me!!

A) What am I?
B) In what am I found?
……………………………………………………………………………..
Kilgharrah’s Riddle – Name those Volcanoes
6 volcanoes 6 points – Enjoy!

No 1 – According to local mythology, when shrouded in watery clouds it is weeping for a distant lover and as night falls, and the sun sets, it is showing her its beauty. SOLVED

No 2 – 0-6-0ST SOLVED

No 3 – An enormous crucifix now serves as a poignant reminder of the graveyard destroyed following one of its nineteenth century eruptions. SOLVED

No 4 – Visitors here might consider this an aptly named volcano! Foul smelling odours of penguin poo and fumes pervade the whole island. SOLVED

No 5 – Did it get its local name following a visit by Captain Jack and his crew? SOLVED

No 6 – Its devastating February eruption caused, amongst other things,  severe hunger in Russia, flooding in Sweden and interrupted the harvesting of grapes in France and Germany. SOLVED

Spica assited by Kilgharrah

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112 thoughts on “Sheepy Dalek, Updates and Riddles!”

  5. Hi all – you’re quick off the mark tonight!
    I’ll check back in 45 minutes and put a note above on any clues that have been solved!

    Reply

  7. Reposted here as requested by Spica.
    Two small quakes at El Hierro today, a 1.7 and 1.8. Nothing to get excited about but the last one was only 10km deep (unless they change it later) so worth keeping half an eye out for a couple of days anyway.
    Here are the links
    http://www.ign.es/ign/layoutIn/volcaListadoTerremotos.do?zona=2&cantidad_dias=10
    and
    http://www.ign.es/ign/head/volcaSenalesAnterioresDia.do?nombreFichero=CHIE_2013-01-25&ver=s&estacion=CHIE&Anio=2013&Mes=01&Dia=25&tipo=1
    also
    http://www.ign.es/ign/layoutIn/volcaUltimosTerremotos.do
    Reply

    Reply

  9. Alans riddle is easy today 😉
    If you’re sitting in the park
    and you lose your whisky in the dark………..
    A) What am I? A drunk Scotsman! (A sober one would never lose his whisky!)
    B) In what am I found? An alcoholic stupor!

    Loadsa points for me Alan. 😀 😀 😀

    Reply

      • Ach, ’tis no tha’ Lassie!
        ‘Tis Burns Night ‘ere, so haggis piped in with a wee dram of Glenrothes malt – v acceptable!!
        Be back later, snow permitting!!
        🙂

        Reply

          • Robert Burns – Address to a Haggis

            Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
            Great chieftain o’ the puddin’-race!
            Aboon them a’ ye tak yer place,
            Painch, tripe, or thairm:
            Weel are ye wordy o’ a grace
            As lang’s my airm.
            The groaning trencher there ye fill,
            Your hurdies like a distant hill,
            Your pin wad help to mend a mill
            In time o need,
            While thro your pores the dews distil
            Like amber bead.
            His knife see rustic Labour dicht,
            An cut you up wi ready slicht,
            Trenching your gushing entrails bricht,
            Like onie ditch;
            And then, Oh what a glorious sicht,
            Warm-reekin, rich!

            It goes on for a wee while more, but hope you all you get the gist. Cheers!

            Reply

  10. No.2: hmm, I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I knew what an 0-6-0ST was before the quiz, as I am sure Alan does too!
    Only connection I can make with a volcano is Saddle Mountain? (there seem to be a few volcanoes called that)

    @Kilgharrah – enjoy your weekend off from football. Some of us still have to go out in the freezing cold tomorrow! 😉
    (sorry – couldn’t resist, and now inviting all manner of abuse when we get knocked out by lower-league opposition)

    Reply

    • Rest assured, the abuse has been planned and penned …

      I’m just waiting till 5pm tomorrow to publish it 😉

      Actually good luck and COYR ……..

      Reply

        • I was ‘pulled’ by an 0-6-0ST every Wednesday, if you pardon the expression! Until the late 1960s they were used on our little branch line, and every week my mother took me on the train to the local market town – the highlight being a toffee apple and seeing the pigs in the stalls (yeah, I was a weird kid, and easily pleased!!)

          Reply

          • Missed this part of the conversation coming from an old Railroad Family (both sides)
            I’ve always admired British efforts to preserve the past. Been involved with railway historical groups myself.Last one I left in frustration due to the way they handled
            things ( and ran off their best people including a genuine Canadian Pacific Steam
            Engineer and Mechanic-still certified!!)I will not go further other than say if I did, I’d lock the caps key down in writing about these Klowns–grrr.)
            Here is my local group which I haven’t joined but admire greatly:
            http://www.sumptervalleyrailroad.org/ They do it right.

            Reply

  13. One O 6 0 locomotive was called Vesuvius so I will plump for that for No 2 riddle.
    Probably wildly wrong but a lovely volcano anyway.

    Reply

  14. Three clues solved already …… good going (note to self: must make riddle nastier next week) ….. I’ll be back in a few hours to ding as required.

    Reply

  17. Wait much better for number 6: Huaynaputina eruption in 1600, in February! It caused a volcanic winter, but only a minor one.

    Reply

  18. #5 is Medicine lake shield volcano.

    “Volcanic eruptions on the Medicine Lake shield volcano have created an incredibly rugged landscape punctuated by cinder cones, lava flows, spatter cones, lava tube caves and pit craters. During the Modoc War of 1872-1873, the Modoc Indians used these tortuous lava flows to their advantage. Under the leadership of Captain Jack, the Modocs took refuge in “Captain Jack’s Stronghold,” a natural lava fortress. From this base a group of 53 fighting men and their families held off U. S. Army forces numbering up to twenty times their strength for five months. Visitors can tour both the geologic and historic wonders of this unusual landscape. “

    Reply

  20. Alans riddle – Sarkinite – The mineral occurs in manganese-rich lenses in quartzitic chlorite schists. Cutty Sark Whisky.

    Reply

  21. Sodalite – glows in the dark. Whisky and soda? Occurring typically in massive form, sodalite is found as vein fillings in plutonic igneous rocks such as nepheline syenites. It is associated with other minerals typical of undersaturated environments, namely leucite, cancrinite and natrolite. Other associated minerals include nepheline, titanian andradite, aegirine, microcline, sanidine, albite, calcite, fluorite, ankerite and baryte.

    Reply

      • A wee riddle for Fred – After I had left my child lost her head. I’m a bit mixed up, tender but still strong. I will always wear my coat with pride.
        I did this one a while back but it was late and maybe you didnt see it, Fred. This is a slightly revised version as the first one was not quite correct, it has nothing to do with geology or volcanoes, just a childish bit of fun. Maybe someone else can get it, if they know what other interests Fred has 🙂

        Reply

  27. Another quake near Kistufell.
    Friday
    25.01.2013 23:06:36 64.704 -17.324 6.1 km 2.0 42.92 10.1 km SSW of Kistufell

    Reply

    • And VolcanoCafe strikes again.

      From Wickerpedia:

      Magayon grew up to be a very beautiful and sweet woman that struck the swains from faraway tribes who vied for her attention.

      Swains?

      From TFD: swain (swn)
      n.
      1. A country lad, especially a young shepherd.
      2. A beau.

      And being a career sailor, I think back to common terms, such as Boatswain. (pronounced “Bo’sun”) or Coxswain

      Note: the Wickerpedia misspelling was intentional and intended as humor.

      And now that I have forcibly brought up wicker → some trivia.

      After the Berlin Wall came down, he moved back home to Schwerin, where Till Lindemann worked as a basket-weaver and played drums in the band First Arsch

      Lindemann is the singer for Rammstein. and pyrotechnic afficianado.

      The guy in the kettle is Christian “Flake” Lorenz, keyboards. The song is a take off on a pretty disgusting part of modern German Media history, involving Internet predator and cannibal Armin Meiwes.

      The phrase in the song “Denn du bist was du isst und ihr wisst was es ist” is probably a take off on Frank Zappa’s “You Are What You Is” (Note: conjecture on my part, no official word of this)

      Reply

  35. And slipping slightly back towards volcanoes… following the dino meme of White Island.

    Weird all parodies the Red hot Chili peppers.

    In my defense, I’ve been driving all day and I’m tired… but it is the weekend.

    And now rumination of the odd… bear with me, this is sort of educational.

    A computer virus is a program code segment that is designed to spread from machine to machine, much like a biological virus. Like a real world virus, it can not propagate and spread with out the action or resourced of a host. In this case, a computer and a transmission vector. (infected floppy, program, E-mail etc. From that aspect, everything that computer virus does and how it acts… is all up to the person who designed/wrote it. All of these steps had to have been through through and implemented in program code. From the exploitation of a vulnerability to the movement to another machine. I saw one that actually got from machine to machine by using a hole in the network stack that implemented drive shares on a local network. Once one machine was hit, it could spread with no action by the user other than having both machines up and running on a common local network.

    Insidious. Clever, but insidious.

    now… step back from those thoughts and read a definition.

    A meme (pron.: /ˈmiːm/; meem)[1] is “an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture.” A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate and respond to selective pressures.

    Taking the idea of virus, and implementing with nothing more harmful than lost brain time while having to deal with it, and still having it spread, is sort of a cross between chain mail (not the armor) and computer virus thinking.

    The victim is motivated/coerced into spreading the “package” willingly. Be it “forward this to 10 friends or you will break the good luck chain” or threatening you with a false urgent information.

    Weird Al did a parody of the latter in his song “Virus Alert.” I’ll not link it, since too many vids can bog down slower connections on the forums. which is why superflous vids usually show up on fridays.

    Enjouy the pondering!

    Side note and a psuedo rant. “Theft of service” is how early computer infiltrators were prosecuted in the days of the main-frame. The logic is that unauthorized CPU usage denied the owners of the server the ability to sell those CPU cycles to the authorized users. The server I cut my teeth on was an HP3000. It was a “beast” as far as we were concerned. I later learned that it had two Z-80’s running back to back and that was what gave it it’s sheer horsepower. (the Z-80 isn’t really anything to write home about. We had the equivilent of 16 of them handing off data in a peice of equipment that I later worked on… and one civilian application of that “general purpose processor” system was a telephone switching system.)

    But… the CPU cycles were what counted. Think of it as “attention” because while a program is being performed, the instructions are being brought into the CPU architecture and worked with. In other words, it (the program) has the CPU’s “attention.”

    Extending this to the human realm… are flashy attention grabbing commercials not the same thing? They are all vying for your attention, and while you sit there thinking about what they are saying, are you not deprived of the ability thinking about something more important to you? (or at least the attempts are continuously made to get your attention, something your senses and brain still have to process)

    That is why I detest advertisements. To me, I consider it attempted theft of service.

    but then… this whole deviation from talking about volcanoes could be seen in the same way. So… I apologize. Something you don’t see commercials doing. “We’re sorry for making you forget to carry the 1, but we would like to sell you something.”

    And yet another note…. your PC has the horsepower of the old HP3000… many times that actually. What you consider to be a PC, would have been thought of as main-frame or supercomputer “back in the day.”

    And what did I do in my early exposure to computers?

    I plotted trigonometric functions for sheer entertainment. I wasted more time doing that than made sense. But at least I was able to complete my “bubble up sort” program assignment on time. I always proffered to use the “high speed” 9600 baud graphics terminal. (9600 baud is not considered “fast” today”

    Three years later I would be learning about binary, octal, hexadecimal, registers, accumulators, counters on a ComTran-10. (a CPU architecture training device in the military)

    Reply

    • Re: meme, advertisment spam: It helps a lot to throw out the TV. We did that in 2001 and I regret not a single day. Interesting shows emerge on the internet anyways sooner or later. Still listening to radio so hope we are not too far out… 😉

      We are having a virus alert of the original kind, complete family knocked out by H1N1 on the first week, now second week kids are off to grandparents so we get the chance to recover a bit. Have not felt so miserable for a long time…which I could do a clean reboot…
      Btw, the Pandemrix vaccine from 2009 did not help now 😦
      And since it´s weekend:

      Two dings surely cheered me up! 🙂

      Reply

      • You did really well – 2 correct answers almost as soon as we put the riddle up! I hope you feel totally better soon!

        Reply

      • You are not alone in this. wife and I had the shot did no good. got it Christmas day.
        finally just shy of 1 month feel human again, nasty stuff -helps to have nice weather
        by that I mean 5c+ and no wind…Or snow…Or freezing rain…

        Reply

  38. NtV Riddle – Answers, Explanations, Links and Points

    No 1 Mount Taranaki (aka Mount Egmont) – Kelda at 00.11 1 point
    Mount Taranaki (aka Mount Egmont) is an active but quiescent stratovolcano in the Taranaki region on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island. Although the mountain is more commonly referred to as Taranaki, it has two official names under the alternative names policy of the New Zealand Geographic Board. According to Māori mythology when Taranaki conceals himself with rain clouds, he is said to be crying for his lost love, and during spectacular sunsets, he is said to be displaying himself to her.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Taranaki

    No 2 Vesuvius – Newby at 18.18 1 point
    Steam Locomotive 0-6-0st called Vesuvius in 18, build at the Vulcan Factory.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Vesuvius

    No 3 Hibok-Hibok (aka Catarman) – chryphia at 17.22 1 point
    Mount Hibok-Hibok (also known as Catarman Volcano) is a stratovolcano on Camiguin Island in the Philippines. It is one of the active volcanoes in the country and part of the Pacific ring of fire. On February 16, 1871, earthquakes and subterranean rumblings began to be felt on the island, which increased in severity until April 30 when a volcanic fissure opened up 400 yards southwest of the village of Catarman, on the northwest flank of Hibok-hibok Volcano. Portion of the old town where the cemetery was, sank into the sea and is now marked with a huge white cross off the coast.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibok-Hibok

    No 4 Mount Asphyxia (aka Mount Curry) – chryphia at 17.25 1 point
    The name refers to the suffocating fumes experienced on the island; volcanic fumes spew from the mountain and to this is added the stench of penguin guano, and the fumes can indeed suffocate a visitor to the island. The same qualities given names to a number of Zavodovski Island’s other features. Argentine hydrographic publications use an alternative name “Mount Curry”, after an Argentine sailor who lost his life in naval combat at Colonia, Uruguay, in 1826.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Curry

    No 5 Ustica – Kelda at 23.16 1 point
    Ustica is a small volcanic island of Pleistocene age off the NW coast of Sicily. It lies on the crest of the fold-and-thrust belt of the Maghrebian-Appenninic chain which runs across northern Sicily, and Calabria before bending NNW-wards along the Italian peninsula. The island is also known locally as the “black pearl”. In the 6th century, Attempts to colonize the island in the Middle Ages failed because of raids by Barbary pirates.
    http://www.volcanolive.com/ustica.html
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ustica

    No 6 Huaynaputina – Alison at 18.37 1 point
    On 19 February 1600, it exploded catastrophically (Volcanic Explosivity Index—or VEI—6), in the largest volcanic explosion in South America in historic times. The explosion had effects on climate around the Northern Hemisphere (Southern Hemispheric records are less complete), where 1601 was the coldest year in six centuries, leading to a famine in Russia. In Estonia, Switzerland and Latvia, there were bitterly cold winters in 1600–1602; in 1601 in France, the wine harvest came late; additionally, production of wine collapsed in Germany and colonial Peru. In Greenland, the sulfuric acid spike was larger than that from Krakatoa (1883). The effect was felt on the other side of the globe, where a severe winter caused famine in Russia. Snow blanketed Sweden, leading to record flooding and a poor harvest. Wine harvests were late in France. In Japan, Lake Suwa froze far earlier than usual. Galleons travelling from Mexico to the Philippines made the trip significantly faster than normal, perhaps because of altered wind patterns.
    http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080411/full/news.2008.747.html
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huaynaputina
    http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1504-03=
    http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/oldroot/CVZ/huaynaputina/index.html

    Reply

  39. @ plotters, anyone got the El Hierro catalogue, in excel format? Mine hasn’t got the info I need (my own fault…) and the clunkputer really will not download a huge amount of data from IGN without overheating and hovering 6 inches above the shelf…and ultimately seizing up and failing to download, the one I have was done in increments and I would rather not go through that again…
    I think geolurking provided one a while ago, but I can’t find it int VC archives… probably hidden in comments somewhere…
    If anyone can help please let me know here and I will email you.

    Cheers 🙂

    Reply

      • Yeah, that’s the one,
        I’m being cheeky and looking for it already converted and in an excel schpreadscheet, i wasted days (this is going back a while…) trying to convert it myself, and resorted to downloading tother page piecemeal… I’m working on a post and I could do with getting on with the plots rather than faffing with re-aquiring the data…
        Would really appreciate if you have one you would share… 🙂

        Reply

          • You can import a text file into Excel. But make sure that the version you are on will take 16,000 lines (can’t remember what the limit was on early versions).

            Reply

  41. New article from the pacific coast seismic network:
    http://www.pnsn.org/blog/2013/01/24/the-last-cascadia-great-earthquake-and-tsunami-313-years-and-ticking
    Note what is being done.
    an per the the previous article, not done..
    http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2012/05/coastal_coos_to_practice_tsuna.html
    This is that announcement-note the map and the “escape routes”.
    works ok if the quake IS NOT on the Cascadia fault. If it is- note
    the bridges you will have to cross that won’t be there.
    an finally the best illustration of what the the US Pacific coast in general is up against:
    http://www.coos-bay.net/oregon_tsunami.html
    We seem to be preparing for things that could happen but not what WILL happen..
    Nice day here 5C and going higher.and I have to work..

    Reply

    • Thanks! TBH the scoreline was flattering and it was a sh!te game. Terrible atmosphere – too many day-trippers. Bring on Chelsea Weds night in the league!

      Reply

  44. You see me now a veteran of a thousand psychic wars
    I’ve been living on the edge so long
    Where the winds of limbo roar
    And I’m young enough to look at
    And far too old to see
    All the scars are on the inside
    I’m not sure if there’s anything left of me

    And today, I ran across one a Psychic skirmish that was occurring in my kitchen.

    My wife was being mentally attacked by the dog. She was cooking sausage, and the dog was sitting there intensely trying to will her into dropping a piece.

    If canines ever succeed in their research, we are screwed.

    You can see them occasionally taking a nip off of vegetative matter out in the yard as they wander around there. Veterinarians will tell you that they are just trying to calm an upset stomach, don’t be fooled, they are actively seeking some compound that will enhance their psychic ability.

    Don’t be surprised. They already have the innate ability to sense ‘bad’ people just from meeting them…. and they can communicate from one pack member to another almost instantaneously. This they get from their ancestor… the wolf.

    Reply

    • I think my dog is winning the psychic skirmish, or in his case full out war! He makes me so nervous watching me so intently that unless i put him out of the kitchen I DO drop things!

      Reply

      • I am also convinced that he can hear the opening of a crisp bag through three doors and yet when he is in the garden he becomes deaf. Perhaps he has a rare ear affliction.

        Reply

    • My spaniel is capable of drooping his eyes automatically. He knows my wife and i
      have a very hard time resisting that hang dog look.Also he can hear anything hit the floor, dog bowl or plate and is there instantly. The one that took the prize for being a
      judge of character was our old Border Collie Sherpa. she could see a bad guy coming literally a mile away. It wasn’t unusual for her to start growling a good 5 minutes. Before that person arrived. Our neighbor next door was the president of the Port Orford Marijuana grower’s association he had all sorts of ah ,interesting clients. occasionally
      one of hi s”clients” would drive up our driveway instead of his, ‘ol sherp would hit the gate and go into the automatic herding crouch and not let the occupant out of the vehicle. Enough time to get the 12ga. off the rack and the wife’s .38 special ready.
      “Call yer dog off.” “No” “You’re not Mike!” “You are not welcome!” as I slam the
      receiver shut.” He’s next door.” by this time Sherpa is about to crawl into the cab of
      the vehicle looking for all the world like an insane Coyote…”Ok,ok, I’m gone!” his hands on the wheel and slowly backing out of the driveway.” Sherpa trying to crawl on the hood. The intruder then notices wife behind the porch rail with both hands on the .38…. Life on the south Coast of Oregon Nearest cop at that time was 30 miles away… Sherpa came in handy…

      Reply

      • The thing about dogs, that my wife has yet to figure out, is that you have to be able to “read” them. Dogs will tell you what they are doing or thinking by nuances in their posture or mannerisms.

        Anyone who thinks that dogs can’t talk is an idiot.

        And the grandkids “thing” (part pit, part lab) ate my two adirondack chairs. (literally ate). It must have had a cellulose defficiency. (guess that makes him part termite)

        In his defense, being part lab, he has a tendency to chew. I wonder if i can teach him to fetch beer….

        Reply

  45. Kilgharrah and me are preparing a post on Black Smokers. If anyone wants to contribute… go for it right here and now.

    Reply

    • Can’t seem to leave a comment ont New Post… It’s rather schplendid though, thanks Spica n’ Kilgarah.
      @ Karenz, I’m using excel 2003, I’ve been learning excel slightly longer than I’ve been learning volcanoes… I may well have missed a trick (I’m almost certain I did 🙂 ) but I literally wasted 3 afternoons failing to get the bolletin into excel…
      So, many thanks for your help, and thanks to Cryphia too, it’s much appreciated x

      Reply

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