Thursday, October 6, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs dies aged 56
my tribute to a great man, rest in peace
Former chief executive and co-founder of US technology giant Apple Steve Jobs has died, the company says. He was 56.
"Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve," Apple said.
Jobs announced he was suffering from pancreatic cancer in 2004.
He was one of the world's best-known business leaders and introduced the iPod and the iPhone to the world.
His death came a day after Apple unveiled its latest iPhone 4S model.
More than almost any other business leader, Jobs was indistinguishable from the company he co-founded in the 1970s.
As the face of Apple, he represented its dedication to high-end technology and fashionable design.
And inside the company he exerted a level of influence unheard of in most businesses.
BBC
Turkey holds military drills near Syrian borders Oct. 5
ANKARA, Oct 4 (KUNA) -- Turkey said Tuesday it would carry out military exercises near the borders with Syria tomorrow at a time Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be visiting the camps of Syrian refugees later on this week.
Turkish land forces will be conducting the drills in the southern Antakya province to test readiness of reserve forces, the army command said in a statement on Tuesday.
The 39th Mechanised Infantry Brigade and the reserve squad will take part in the drills which would last until October 13, it added. These are the first of a kind exercise carried out by the Turkish army near the Syrian borders.
The drills will be held as Erdogan announced he would be visiting the Syrian refugees' camp in Antakya, estimated at 7,000 people, by end of this week to get acquainted with their living conditions.
Relations between Ankara and Damascus are tense because of the protests in Syrian cities. The protests forced thousands of Syrians to flee to Turkey.
Turkey warned its southern neighbor that the way it was handling the protests would spark chaos in the region.Turkey had already banned weapons' exports to Syria and is currently coordinating with the US to impose penalties on the government in Damascus.
Kuwait Agency
Earthquake Swarm Continues On El Hierro, Canary Islands
The Instituto Geografico Nacional (IGN) has reported surface deformations exceeding 35mm on the Spanish island of El Hierro, where residents have been alert for a possible volcanic eruption.
The number of earthquakes recorded since July 17 on the smallest of The Canary Islands exceeded 9250 on Tuesday morning.
IGN confirmed on Monday that 1172 earthquakes were recorded last week, the majority of which were located in the sea to the SW of the 280-sqkm island.
52 of the earthquakes were felt by the local population, estimated to be approximately 10,000. A further 10 earthquakes, exceeding 3.0 magnitude on the Richter Scale, were felt during Monday and early on Tuesday.
Hierro, a shield volcano, has had a single historic eruption from the Volcan de Lomo Negro vent in 1793. The eruption lasted approximately one month and produced lava flows.
The recent surge in the number and intensity of earthquakes prompted officials from the IGN and The Canary Islands Government to raise the alert level for the Hierro volcano to ‘Yellow’ late last month.
Magma Movement
Seismologists say the majority of the earthquake activity has shifted from El Golfo in the island’s northwest to beneath the Las Calmas Sea in the south.
However, magma is now on the move upwards while the depth of earthquakes has become increasingly shallow in recent days with most being recorded at a depth of 10 to 14 kilometres. Movement of magma towards the surface signifies that a volcanic eruption is likely to happen, but the timing of such remains unclear.
Volcanologist Juan Carlos Carracedo last week suggested that an eruption on El Hierro would “not be a major surprise”. He explained: “It is the youngest of the Canary Islands. There is a ball of magma which is rising to the surface and it is stationed at the limit of the earth’s crust. At the moment we do not know if that ball of magna will break the crust and cause an eruption.”
IGN Director, María José Blanco said that any eruption on El Hierro would most likely have a “low explosion value”.
Evacuations
A dramatic rise in recorded earthquakes on El Hierro last Tuesday prompted officials to evacuate some local residents, shut El Hierro’s main tunnel, and close local schools.
The Spanish Civil Guard (Guardia Civil) advised almost 50 residents of the municipality of La Frontera to leave their homes because of landslide fears. Two units of the Spanish military’s emergency intervention unit (EMU) were also placed on standby to depart the nearby island of Tenerife to assist in the possible evacuation of hundreds of other El Hierro residents.
Meanwhile, the island’s main tunnel (Tunel del Golfo), which links Frontera to Valverde, was shut forcing motorists to travel across the 280-sq-km island via a mountain road. The Cabildo de El Hierro also ordered the closure of schools on Wednesday.
Latest seismic activity on El Hierro
Earthquake activity (most recent marked in red). Image IGN
Seismic hitsory since mid-July. Image IGN
4-D Plot Of El Hierro Earthquakes July-September 2011
El Hierro’s Volcanic/Seismic Past
El Golfo, El Hierro, The Canary Islands (Spain) where the majority of earthquakes have been recorded up to recently
El Hierro is situated in the most southwestern extreme of the Canaries. The island was formed after three successive eruptions, and consequent accumulations, the island emerged from the ocean as an imposing triangular pyramid crowned by a volcano more than 2,000 metres high.
The volcanic activity, principally at the convergence of the three ridges, resulted in the continual expansion of the island. A mere 50,000 years ago, as a result of seismic tremors which produced massive landslides, a giant piece of the island cracked off, crashed down into the ocean and scattered along the seabed. This landslide of more than 300km3 gave rise to the impressive amphitheatre of the El Golfo valley and at the same time caused a tsunami that most likely rose over 100 metres high and probably reached as far as the American coast.
According to the Global Volcanism Program, the massive Hierro shield volcano is truncated by a large NW-facing escarpment, seen here from the east, which formed as a result of gravitational collapse of the volcano. The steep-sided 1500-m-high scarp towers above a low lava platform bordering 12-km-wide El Golfo Bay, which is barely visible at the extreme left. Holocene cones and flows are found both on the outer flanks and in the El Golfo depression. The last eruption, during the 18th century, produced a lava flow from a cinder cone on the NW side of El Golfo.
According to ElHierro.com: “Although over 200 years have elapsed since the last eruption, El Hierro has the largest number of volcanoes in the Canaries with over 500 open sky cones, another 300 covered by the most recent outflows, and some 70 caves and volcanic galleries, notably the Don Justo cave whose collection of channels surpasses 6km in length.”
El Hierro is located south of Isla de la Palma (population 86,000), currently the most volcanically active of the Canary Islands. About a half a million years ago, the volcano, Taburiente, collapsed with a giant landslide, forming the Caldera de Taburiente. Since the Spanish occupation, there have been seven eruptions.
Early Season Snow Storm Hits Northern California
Three inches of snow fell in the mountains of northeastern California early on Wednesday, the U.S. National Weather Service has confirmed.
The snowfall associated with an unusually early seasonal storm which could see up to 20 inches of snow accumulating above 7,000 feet.
The NWS issued a winter storm warning for a stretch of terrain along the Sierra and western Nevada. Heavy rainfall is forecast for areas north of San Francisco and in the coastal mountains from Point Reyes to Santa Rose.
According to the NWS: “A strong storm dropping out of the Gulf of Alaska will bring unseasonably cold weather to the central California interior today and Thursday. snow accumulations could be as high as 20 inches over the high country, with 6 to 12 inches down to the 7000 foot level. The storm is forecast to move east of the region late tonight, however snow showers could linger into Thursday.”
“A winter storm warning above 7000 feet remains in effect until 5 am PDT Thursday for the higher elevations of the southern Sierra Nevada. Locations include: sequoia national forest, Big Meadows and Buck Rock areas, Quaking, Aspen, Ponderosa and Sherman Pass2, the NWS added.
See Winter Storm Warnings for Utah and Nevada.
IRISH Weather
Ahmadinejad: 'NATO radar won't stop Zionist regime's fall'
Iranian president slams Turkey for hosting early-warning system that aims to spot missile threats coming from outside Europe, including Iran.
TEHRAN - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticized Turkey on Tuesday forhosting a NATO early-warning radar system, saying it was aimed at protecting Israel but warning it would "not stop the fall of the Zionist regime."
The Turkish and US governments said last month the radar system would help spot missile threats coming from outside Europe, including potentially from Iran. The system, provided by the United States, is to become operational later this year.
"This radar system is more aimed at defending the Zionist regime," Ahmadinejad said in a live television interview late on Tuesday.
"They want to make sure that our missiles do not reach the occupied territories, in case they acted militarily against Iran one day," he added.
"We have told our Turkish friends that it was not right to give this permission and that it was not in their benefit to do this... But such radar system will not stop the fall of the Zionist regime."
Muslim Turkey, with NATO's second biggest military, has become a bigger player in the Middle East. It is emboldened by its booming economy and seeks stronger ties with Muslim countries in the Middle East, like Iran.
But Ankara, increasingly critical of Iranian ally Syria, has split with Iran recently over Syrian President Bashar Assad's bloody crackdown on a popular uprising within his country.
Turkey has said the radar system is not intended to protect against threats from any specific country.
Washington and its allies are at odds with Iran over its disputed nuclear program, which they suspect is a front for developing atomic bombs. Iran denies this, saying it is enriching uranium only for electricity and other civilian purposes.
Israel, which Iran refuses to recognize, and the United States have not ruled out militarystrikes on Iran if diplomatic means fail to stop it obtaining nuclear weapons.
Iranian officials previously have announced that the country's domestically produced missiles can reach Israel and US bases in the Gulf. Tehran says its response to anymilitary attack will be "painful".
Russia unilaterally suspended the delivery of S-300 missiles to Iran after the UnitedStates and Israel expressed concern that the Islamic Republic could use the anti-aircraft system to shield its nuclear facilities.
Opposition to Israel is a fundamental principle in Shi'ite Muslim Iran and Ahmadinejad often rails against the Jewish state.
Jerusalem Post
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