Feb. 26 Death Toll: Volcano 0,Terrorists 6, Corporation 125 February 26, 2010

Mt. Hekla Put On A Spectacular Show in 1970. Is it Showtime Again?

Mt. Hekla Looms Over Iceland

On This Date in History:  Iceland is a rather ironic name for an island-nation that is not only formed from volcanic activity but is also a vulcanologist’s fantasy land.  It is known as the land of Fire and Ice because of Iceland’s climate, that is cold but not as cold as one might think due to the proximity of the Gulf Stream,  and the number of volcanoes that dot the landscape.  One source claims that there is some 200 volcanoes in Iceland, the Global Volcansim Program features 32 volcanoes on Iceland while the Michigan Technological University Volcanoes Page indicates 6 active volcanoes on the island.  I suppose the differences have to do with the parameters one uses to define a volcano and it’s state of activity.  Anyway, one volcano that goes on every list is Mt. Hekla.  From the top, you can take spectacular summit view video from Mt. Hekla.   It is active and has a recent history of erupting about every 10 years.  It hasn’t always been that regular though.   

Hekla's 2000 Plume rose to at least 13 km

A history of Mt. Hekla reveals that it erupted in 1104 and then did so for the 17th time since then in 1991.    The last time Mt. Hekla erupted was on this date in 2000.  And now, University of Iceland Earth Science Professor Freysteinn Sigmundsson says that recent activity suggests that Hekla may be up to no good again.  In December and January 2010, reports were circulating that the top of the big guy was void of snow, which is unusual in the middle of winter and especially since the past several months have been particularly cold.  Apparently, it could be a clue because it may mean the top is heating up.  But, not necessarily…well have to wait and see.  After all February 26 has at least a small history of disasters but the two I’m thinking of had everything to do with man and very little with Mother Nature. 

People Might Not Be Aware of the Extent of 1993 WTC Substructure Damage

Did you Forget that on This date in History… 

 the World Trade Center was bombed? Everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing on Sept. 11, 2001…but the first attempt to bring down the towers happened on February 26, 1993. The above photo is from the ATF files of the incident. Nice hole, huh? I suspect the bad guys got closer to undermining the integrity of the substructure than we were led to believe. No matter, they came back again 8 years later after we forgot about their intentions. While everyone remembers Sept. 11, 2001 and the events of the day I sometimes wonder if we remember enough that we take seriously the possibility that they will come back again, just as they did following their near-miss of February 26, 1993. With all of the justified pre-occupation with the economy, how certain are you that the new administration is as vigilante as it can be to thwart any more attacks? Or perhaps, do you think that there will be no more attacks? 

West Virginia Town Wiped Out

Now, as I said I suspect that a mega disaster was narrowly avoided at the World Trade Center in 1993 and there is no question that September 2000 was just an catastrophic day on many many levels.  Those were both man made events perpetrated by those whose clear aim was to destroy the buildings, kill many people, severely disrupt the American economy and terrorize it’s citizens.  

But, other man made disasters don’t have to be deliberate.  They can come about do to negligence or just plain stupidity.  There is no way that the Buffalo Mining Company purposely courted disaster.  Even the most cynical opponent to corporate America would agree the financial cost to the company would make such an assertion foolish.  But, it can be said that they were neglegent on safety issues, perhaps in an effort to control costs.  And there is no question that negligence was foolish from a financial perspective, a human perspective and from the viewpoint of a Patriot.   On This Date in 1972 a cascade of water funnelled down Buffalo Creek in Logan County, West Virginia. 4000 homes and buildings in 17 towns were washed away and at least 118 people lost their lives. Marshall Univeristy has a “virtual museum” dedicated to the event. The culprit was a rather ironic foe. The irony lay in that the killer was also the lifeline to many of those who died. (Photo Gallery-Huntington Herald-Dispatch)  

Debris Piled Up on Bridge

The Buffalo Mining Company was one of a number of companies exploiting West Virginia’s greatest natural asset (aside from its beauty) which is coal. Much of the state’s wealth and economy is based on coal. But a problem with coal mining is what to do with the wastes. If you put them on a mountain, you get landslides and if you put them in a valley, you spoil the creek or river. The great idea of the Buffalo group was to build a dam. Actually, it was a series of three dams. Because of the type of dam they were, they weren’t really regulated much. There really wasn’t much of an engineering study done or anything. The waste from coal mining is inherently unstable and makes for a lousy dam. The first dam gave way, putting pressure on the second dam which failed and the huge amount of water spilling down caused the main dam to collapse. 

When you look at the steep terrain of West Virginia, it makes you wonder, “what were they thinking?” It’s one of those things in which it seems so obvious that using unstable material in such an area that a three-year-old could figure it out that it wouldn’t work. To say that its an example of corporate greed is probably a bit over-the-top as I’m sure those with the company didn’t want that to happen. Even if you have cynical view of the corporation, from their fiscal standpoint, it cost them a huge amount of money. However, the company was a subsidiary of the Pittston Mining Company and that company had a history of shabby safety practices. So, it would be fair to say that it appears that the company’s saving money on safety issues was the root cause of the disaster. But, given what it cost them from lawsuits, lost revenues, fines and other costs it seems that a greedy fellow would have prevented that from happening in order that they may keep more of their money. The result was from short sighted, stupid business practices and its a shame that we have to have government watch dogs to force some businesses to do what is not only smart from a corporate standpoint, but the right thing to do from a human perspective and for a business that relies on the efforts of their fellow citizens of the United States of America for their success. 

NAM In Mid to Upper 30's by 1 PM Sunday

 

GFS Critical Thickness Lines SW of Louisville Sun 1 PM and moving Northeast

Weather Bottom Line

Okay, I get it now, but I’m not sure that I’m buyin’ it.   The models were in a bit of flux but now I’m seeing some consistency and support for the idea of warmer temperatures for the weekend; particularly Sunday.  Not warm, mind you, but something closer to seasonal.  Then we get colder again.  But, I wouldn’t hold your breath.  Yes, the data has some consistency but it’s not making sense.  We’ll see.  I do think though that it’s a certainty that a big old storm should  come up out of the Gulf early in the week.  Snow White and my friend at Apple Hill Farm in the Mountains of North Carolina may get dumped on with snow on Tuesday and Wednesday.    She’s had a very large amount of snow this year.  But, the alpacas are just fine…they’re from the mountains of South America.   The trend has been for the storm to track a bit farther west and if this trend continues and it does track farther west than is progged now, then we may see another round of snow.  But, again, we’ll see.

Presidential Example of How To Deal with Islamic Terrorists Helped Re-Election Bid May 18, 2009

Teddy Knew How To Take Care of Business

On This Date in History:  President Theodore Roosevelt got a boost to his re-election campaign from an unlikely source on this date in  in 1904.  The benefactor was an Islamist terrorist.  Did you think that was a late 20th century phenomena?  Of course not.  They’ve been around for quite awhile as I’ve pointed out numerous times on these here pages.  However, this event really wasn’t that long ago when you consider that the seamstress for one of the main characters just died in 2004. 

Abdul Aziz Was Tossed in 1908

This guy inadvertently helped out Teddy when he kidnapped a wealthy American, Ion Perdicaris, in Morocco.  Mubu (Mulai) Ahmed er Raisuli was considered to be a Barbary Pirate who was unhappy with the sultan of Morocco for allowing the French to have great sway and influence in the country as long as they gave him toys.  See, Sultan Abdul Aziz got bicycles, 25 grand pianos, over 600 cameras and even a gold car even though Morocco had no roads.  Well, Raisuli had enough so he decided to act.  Not in the violent way that seemed more prevalent in the early 20th Century in general and has been pervasive in Islamic politics for generations. No…he decided to follow a script that could have been written in Hollywood.

By kidnapping Perdicaris and ransoming him to the Moroccan government, he hoped to involve the United States and bring great shame in disrepute to the government which would lead to it’s demise.  His plan worked.  He got the attention of none other than the old Rough Rider himself, Teddy Roosevelt, whose re-election campaign was in need of a boost.  Roosevelt seized the opportunity and sent a negotiator even though Raisuli had a reputation for sending messengers back with their throats slit or even just sending back their heads.  In this case, Raisuli didn’t provoke Roosevelt that directly but he was being difficult.  He finally agreed to release the tycoon for $70,000 then he changed his mind.  That provoked TR.

Cruiser Brooklyn Was a Pretty Big Stick

Teddy sent a telegram to the envoy instructing him to proceed cautiously and also included numeorus other items for the envoy to consider.  But, it also included the phrase, “the government wants Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead.”  In typical Roosevelt fashion, TR sent a bunch of warships to the coast of Morroco.  The Republican convention had unanimously re-nominated President Roosevelt but the atmosphere was dull and listless until….they read the one “bully” phrase from the telegram to the negotiator.  When the conventioneers heard that TR wanted the prisoner back alive or the captor dead, wild cheers and applause errupted on the convention floor and the campaign was off and running.  It turns out it was all for naught because by the time the telegram reached Raisuli he had already changed his mind again, accepted the money and released Perdicaris.  Of course the perception of the public was that it was Teddy’s dead or alive demand that caused the release.  The campaign never did  anything to change that perception nor did it point out that the United States had given in to every one of the pirate’s demands.

Don't Let the Facts Get in the Way of a Good Cartoon

They also didn’t tell the electorate that it had been found out that Perdicaris wasn’t even an American citizen.  The administration had found out that during the Civil War, Perdicaris had renounced his US citizenship and become a Greek citizen so that when he refused his draft call into the Confederacy, his land holdings would not be confiscated.  The fact that the captive was not an American was not known to the public for 40 years, well after Roosevelt’s death.    I don’t think anyone shouted out “Teddy lied!”  Nor was there a movement to blow up his face from Mt. Rushmore. 

Raisluli...Doesn't Look Like He Missed a Meal

Now, this Hollywood script worked better than Raisuli bargained for. He got the $70,000 but he made the Sultan look so incompetent that the Sultan’s brother overthrew the government and the new administration clamped down on the pirate Raisuli.  The French were so angered by the whole thing that they exerted even greater influence.  Perhaps there is a reason why those who wish to topple a government don’t follow a drama line…

Sean Makes a Better Raisuli Than the Real Thing

But Hollywood liked the script and in 1975 produced The Wind and the Lion that was based on the incident.  But, producers being as it is…they made some changes.  Instead of a wealthy expatriated American man getting kidnapped, the lovely Candice Bergen was held by her captive…Sean Connery…who just a few years later was named the Sexiest Man Alive!!!  

Does the picture at the upper left look like Sean Connery to you?

Here’s a link to more details if you like:

Teddy’s Big Stick

 

 

In previous years, taking target practice with beers at guys running on port-o-cans was popular...not this year

Preakness Infield Looked Nothing Like This in '09

Weather Bottom Line:

  Snow White and I had a wonderful time at Pimlico this past weekend.  But, they didn’t allow anyone to bring their own beer (BYOB) into the infield this year and attendance suffered.  It was down 35,000 from last year.  Usually, its very wild and there is no space to be found anywhere.  There were plenty of green places this year.  Beer sold for $3.50 and a pack of cigarettes sold for $10!  I talked to one guy who said the local colleges boycotted the event.  But, that was better for me because I got to see ZZ Top on the infield from about 10 feet away. 

 

Paul Richardson has a birthday today, but I don’t know how old he is but he’s closer to retirement than me.  I may have been in the Baltimore Sun because I was standing behind a woman who got her photo taken.   I met a couple from Tampa who told me that my old buddy Dave Reynolds suffered the same fate as I did.  But, because it happened to me, I was able to go to the Preakness for the first time.

You can tell I’m dodging the weather.  That’s because there’s nothing to say except a big ridge will be building in from the Southwest.  After a chilly Monday start, we begin moderating and will be quite warm by midweek.  No rain likely for the week ahead.  However, there will be a low wandering in to Florida from the Atlantic that will skid along the Gulf Coast.  It’s progged at 1008 mb and it will be interesting to see if they call it a depression.  Hurricane Season doesn’t start until June 1 but it’s not unusual for the boys at the National Hurricane Center to get aggressive with the classification of pre-season storms.  Often, it doesn’ t warrant such a thing but I think they bend the parameters a bit sometimes to get everyone’s attention.  Sorta  a marketing tool.   But, I don’t know that for certain.

1st Terrorist Threat Against USA By Islamic Extremists April 27, 2009

Happy Birthday Universe?

On This Date In History: It was on this date in 4977 BC that the Universe was created according to German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler.  In the early 17th century, Kepler made this calculation and claim.  Kepler is and was a noted and important figure in the development of the science of astronomy and physics.  But, he was just a bit off.  Today, the estimate for the age of the Universe is thought to be slightly different…like 13.7 billion years different.  Remember that next time you hear some scientists who come up with absolutes.

Jefferson Didn't Declare War, He Simply Ordered An Attack On Muslim Dominated Nations...Sound Familiar?

Ever heard of the Barbary Pirates?  They were from the Muslim states of Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, and Tripolitania on the Mediterranean.  In other words, on the other side of the Atlantic.  In the early 19th century, these guys would seize American merchant ships and then ransom their cargo and crew to the US.  President Jefferson got tired of paying ransoms and so he took action.  Interestingly though, the much thought of Constitutionally-minded Jefferson did not ask for a declaration of war.  Instead, as Commander in Chief,  he simply sent the Navy and Marines to invade. 

Barbary Coast 1st Base For Terrorists?

The war with the Barbary Pirates went on for about 4 years.  In 1804, with the war still going on, the US Senate had a drunken partyto simply show support for the undeclared war.  Today, they protest.  Anyway, the Americans and some mercenaries, following a 500 mile trek from Egypt, on this date in 1805 attacked Tripolitania and “deposed” the ruler and installed his brother, who was more sympathetic to American interests.  This is where the verse of “to the shores of Tripoli” in the Marine Hymn comes from. 

This paved the way for the end of the first Barbary Pirates War in June 1805.  Many scholars point to the threat from the Islamic extremists in the 18th and early 19th centuries as the first terrorist threat to the United States. And to think, people today think America has never had a Congressionally funded, undeclared war against a Muslim state half way around the world with the purpose regime change before.  And it was Jefferson’s fault!

Happy 47th Birthday Don Dumas, wherever you are.

Weather Bottom Line:  The story remains the same.  Upper 80′s again on Monday.  Tuesday rain chances increase with a few t’storms.  There may be some gusty winds but severe limits will probably not be breached.  The front that comes through on Tuesday will get hung up to our south and then migrate slowly back our way until a cold front sweeps through late Friday, hopefully to clear things out for Derby Day.  I’m not really changing my thinking much and I’m lazy so for more details, look at yesterday’s entry.

alphainventions

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