E-COLI ALERT!!! ROMAINE LETTUCE SOLD IN 23 US STATES!

2010-05-07 USA

Area: USA, Multistates
Alabama
Connecticut
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Missouri
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Tennessee
Virginia
West Virginia
and Wisconsin.

Description:
Romaine lettuce sold in 23 states and the District of Columbia may be contaminated with dangerous E. coli O145 bacteria and has been recalled. So far, 19 cases of E. coli O145 illness have been reported in Michigan, Ohio, and New York.

Twelve people have been hospitalized, including three with life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) caused by the bacterium. Several lines of evidence -- including detection of bacteria in an unopened package of Freshway Foods shredded Romaine lettuce -- point to Freshway Foods wholesale Romaine lettuce products. Freshway Foods has recalled all products containing Romaine lettuce with a use-by date of May 12 or earlier.

These products were sold wholesale to restaurants and supermarkets under the Freshway or Imperial Sysco brands. The recall does not include bagged or prepackaged Romaine or lettuce mixes containing Romaine. However, the lettuce may be found in supermarket salad bars and delis. Freshway Foods is advising consumers not to eat "grab and go" salads sold in store salad bars and delis at Kroger, Giant Eagle, Ingles Markets, and Marsh stores.

Symptoms of infection with harmful E. coli may range from none to mild diarrhea to severe complications. The acute symptoms include severe abdominal cramps and diarrhea, which may be bloody. Patients may progress to serious complications, such as kidney damage. The FDA and the CDC encourage anyone with these symptoms to contact his or her health care provider immediately.

The name of Hazard: E.Coli

Michael Bradbury reporting for Viewzone

05/16/2010

Description:
Boasting swaying coconut palms and azure shores, Tuvalu’s nine sun-soaked coral islands resemble a castaway’s idyll, situated in the expansive waters of the Pacific Ocean midway between Australia and Hawaii. But there is trouble in paradise. Rising tides that are being blamed on climate change and the melting of polar ice, mean this low-lying archipelago, barely five metres above sea level at its highest point, could become the world’s first national casualty of global warming. As islanders battle the encroaching seas, Tuvaluan politicians have aligned with counterparts in other low-lying island nations, likening themselves to the “canary in the coal mine” – a harbinger of the environmental chaos facing mankind.

However, requests for international cash assistance to build sea walls and other defences remain unanswered, and the world’s biggest polluters have failed to agree on slashing greenhouse gas emissions. Fanny Héros, who works for an assistance project called Alfo Tuvalu, meaning “Love Tuvalu” in the local tongue, says: “This would be the first time that mankind as a whole would be responsible for the loss of a nation. “A nation like Tuvalu has its own language, its own way of life. If you just take the handicrafts as an example – each island has its own unique way of producing crafts, with only a small number of people weaving fans and threading necklaces in their own way. When you get to know those people it just becomes unacceptable to think that all this could be lost.” Some 12,000 Tuvaluans across a 26-sq-km area have watched tides creep higher, flooding homes and roads so frequently now that some fear the islands could become uninhabitable within decades.

Planners hope to build sea defences with international donations before devising a strategy for nation-wide evacuation – a taboo topic among the country’s population. Lotoala Metia, Tuvalu's minister of finance and economic planning, said: “We will not even consider migration and relocation of the people of Tuvalu.” Scientific predictions on the impact of climate remain contentious – but the bottom line for Tuvaluans is that an anticipated sea level rise of about 1 metre by the end of this century would make island life close to impossible. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports sea levels rising by 1.8mm per year from 1961 to 2003 and accelerating to 3.1mm per year from 1993 to 2003. Further increases will “exacerbate inundation, storm surge, erosion and other coastal hazards, thus threatening … island communities”, the UN-formed panel said in a report. Other scientific reports, however, are not quite so apocalyptic.

A study by the University of Hawaii in 2000 reported a sea-level rise of only 0.07mm a year over the preceding two decades at Tuvalu, while the University of Tasmania calculated the rise at being 1.2mm a year. Recent flooding, say other experts, could be the result of land erosion caused by cyclones in the late 1990s. The UN’s International Organisation for Migration describes “no reliable estimates” for climate change refugees, but predicts that deluged islanders could number among some 200 million forced from their homes by global warming. A diplomatic grouping, the Association of Small Island States (AOSIS), has called on the world’s industrialised nations to slash carbon emissions and limit “global average temperature increases to well below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels”.

Negotiations on a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol held in Copenhagen in December failed to yield consensus, leaving AOSIS members hoping for legally binding targets set at a climate change meeting to take place in Cancun, Mexico, at the end of the year. Collin Beck, ambassador of the Solomon Islands to the UN, said: “The window for correcting the issue is fast closing – we are approaching a stage where it will be irreversible. These are the beginnings of things that are worse to come. We are on the front lines … what is happening to us now will happen to others.” Mr Beck said inhabitants of the South Pacific group of islands are “dealing with disasters on an ongoing basis”, with residents of low-lying areas forced to seek higher ground and often compete with rival ethnic groups for land and dwindling natural resources. Seeking to lead by example, Alfo Tuvalu is training locals to harness power from coconut bio-diesel and pig waste, demonstrating to carbon-emitters, such as the US and China, “what the country is doing at its own, tiny level in the fight against climate change”, Ms Héros said.

In the Maldives, an archipelago of more than 1,000 low-lying Indian Ocean islets, officials similarly plan to become “carbon-neutral within 10 years”, said Amjad Abdulla, director general of the ministry of housing, transport and environment.

Engineers have reclaimed land from the sea adjoining the main island, Malé, and Mr Abdulla described plans for habitable “floating islands” to replace submerged atolls. Some schemes involve the specialist firm, Dutch Docklands, which worked on parts of Dubai’s man-made archipelago, The World. “If you ask any of our citizens about migration, relocation from their nation, you would hear the same answer: none of us ever want to relocate from where we belong,” Mr Abdulla said. “This is not a situation we have created, but we are the frontline states.” Asserting their diplomatic clout, AOSIS members successfully pushed last year for a UN General Assembly resolution calling for intensified focus on climate change threats, with Mr Beck now calling for the UN “Security Council to take a stronger role”. But for the leaders of low-lying island states, it remains unclear whether their diplomatic manoeuvres will be enough. “We should not allow some countries to sink for the progress of others,” Mr Beck said.

Michael Bradbury reporting for Viewzone

05/17/2010

EVENT:

A group of British explorers just back from a 60-day trip to the North Pole said on Monday they had encountered unusual conditions, including ice sheets that drifted far faster than they had expected. The three-member team walked across the frozen Arctic Ocean to study the impact of increased carbon dioxide absorption by the sea, which could make the water more acidic and put crucial food chains under pressure.

Expedition leader Ann Daniels said the ice drifted so much that they eventually covered 500 nautical miles (576 miles) rather than the 268 nautical miles initially envisaged.One possible reason for the rapid drift was a lack of ice, she suggested. Satellite imagery reveals rapidly melting ice sheets in the Arctic, a region which is heating up three times more quickly than the rest of the Earth. The first day the team was dropped off the ice moved so quickly to the south that it took the trio 10 days to make it back to their starting point. "None of us had ever experienced that amount of southerly drift on our previous expeditions, and it continued for such a long period of time. We kept expecting it to stop, we began to pray it would stop," Daniels said. "At the end of the expedition we were losing three nautical miles a night ... it was quite a major factor," she told a news conference in Ottawa.

Many scientists link the higher Arctic temperatures to the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming. Martin Hartley, a member of the team, said the condition of the ice was unpleasantly bad. "We spent a couple of days walking on ice that was three or four inches thick with no other thicker ice around, which was a big surprise to us," he told the news conference. "On more than one occasion we came across enormous areas of very thin ice, which is quite stressful to travel on. We came across open water which we had to swim across." At one point an ice floe the team's tent was moored on broke apart, although no one was injured.

Last month explorers at the team's ice base some 680 miles (1,100 km) further south reported a three-minute rain shower, which they described as a freak event. The team is due to release preliminary results this September. The C$3 million ($2.9 million) expedition is sponsored by British insurer Catlin (CGL.L).

Polar Ice is melting at a rapid pace at both Poles. One important item that needs to be recognized is the water displacement. This will obviously have a negative impact on the world's small Islands, some could completely vanish. Another factor to take into consideration is Isostatic Rebound. In short, Isostatic Rebound is simply a stretching of the Earth's crust from the absent weight of the ice. Here is an example. Take a bowling ball and set in in your easy chair for a couple of days then remove it. The 'dent' it leaves in your chair will naturally rise. Same principle is applied to the Earth.....remove the heavy ice and it will naturally stretch.....just like the cushion in your chair.

That stretching can also trigger earthquakes.

Michael Bradbury reporting for Viewzone

05/28/2010

This volcano, Katla, could, and more than likely will erupt.

Event: Volcano Activity
Location: Iceland Volcano Katla

Situation:

Katla is the second largest volcano in the country of Iceland, and Iceland's president is issuing a warning saying that the eruption of Katla is close. Icelandic president Ólafur Grímsson has warned other governments around Europe "that a significant eruption at the volcano is close." "We [Iceland] have prepared ... it is high time for European governments and airline authorities all over Europe and the world to start planning for the eventual Katla eruption," he said.

Europe is still experiencing clouds of volcanic ash from Eyjafjallajokull that erupted in April. Airlines all over the world have lost significant flight time and money due to flights being cancelled as a result of the ash clouds. An eruption of Katla, the second largest volcano is Iceland, could spell even more trouble. There has been speculation about Katla since the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull.

Katla is the larger of the two volcanos. The planet appears to be in a perpetual state of unrest. From today's 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Vanuatu to the pending eruption of Katla in Iceland; it seems like Mother Nature is kicking up her well worn heels.

Last night, 05/27/2010, a volcano in Guatamala erupted, sending ash spewing all over Guatamala City. There were casualties involved.

Be prepared my friends, more than likely, things like this and earthquakes are going to increase in numbers and strength, more than what they already have. In case you were unaware, the 7.2 mag quake that hit in the Mexicali Baja on Easter Sunday, produced over 5000 measurable aftershocks!

Michael Bradbury reporting for Viewzone

05/30/2010

This is a list as of may 30th, 2010 of volcanoes that are erupting, world wide. Some have been erupting for several months, some, a few weeks. Each volcano IS erupting either lava or gas/ash clouds.

VOLCANO
LOCATION
Arenal Costa Rica
Bagana Papua New-Guinea
Barren Is. India
Batu Tara Indonesia
Chaiten Chile
Concepcion Nicaragua
Dukono Indonesia
Eyjafjallajökul Iceland
Fuego Guatemala
Gaua Vanatu
Ibu Indonesia
Jebel al-Tair Yemen
Karymsky Russia
Kilauea USA
Kirishima Japan
Kliuchevskoi Russia>br> Mt. Erebus Antarctica
Mt. Etna Italy
NyamuragiraDem Republic of Congo
Ol Doinyo Lengai Tanzania
Pacaya Guatemala
Planchon Petero Chile
Poas Costa Rica
Popocatepetl Mexico
Rabaul Papua New-Guinea
Reventador Ecuador
Sakura-Jima Japan
Sangay Ecuador
Santa Maria Guatemala
Semeru Indonesia
Sheveluch Russia
Stromboli Italy
Suwanose-Jima Japan
Tungurahua Ecuador
Ulawun Papua New-Guinea

The list contains 35 at present time, we will update as new ones come to life. Lets not even think about the volcano at Yellowstone......we must be careful what we think about!

Michael Bradbury reporting for Viewzone

06/17/10

Location: Prince Edward Island, Canada

Description: Fireball from the Sky!!

The P.E.I. fire marshal's office is investigating after an unusual fire on Saturday in a farmer's field in Grahams Road. Louis Campbell and his wife said they were sitting on their front yard just before noon when they saw a ball of fire — about the size of a football — land in their hay field.

"Don't know where it came from," he said. "It hit the field and I didn't notice much for a couple of minutes, and then there was smoke come up." Campbell said he went to check on the damage and decided to call the fire department. "It was spreading in the straw or the hay," he said. "So I tramped it out." New London volunteer fire department Chief Allen Cole said the object is being considered an "unidentified falling object," and the fire marshal's office is investigating.

It appears that this type of event has become more and more common in the past few months of 2010. This is the fifth such incident in the North American Terra in as many months. Some of the previous reports have been much more dramatic, involving explosions and very bright light. The event in Nebraska involved a earthquake at the time of the fireball. The earthquake was a 3.5 magnitude and was dismissed as coincidence.

An earthquake in Nebraska is comparable to an 80 degree day in Antarctica!!

Michael Bradbury reporting for Viewzone

07/12/2010

2.7 sq. miles of ice melts in one day!? The Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier, one of the largest glaciers in Greenland, swiftly lost a 2.7-square mile chunk of ice between July 6 and 7, NASA announced late last week. The ice loss pushed the point where the glacier meets the ocean, known as the "calving front," nearly one mile farther inland in a single day. According to the space agency, the new calving front location is the farthest inland on record.

Events such as this one are not unusual, but rarely do scientists see them unfold in near real-time. Researchers working with the space agency spotted the rapid ice loss using high-resolution satellite imagery.

Why does this glacier matter to me, you ask? The short answer: sea level, although this particular event won't raise the level of the Potomac or any other U.S. river anytime soon. Unlike the loss of sea ice, glacial melting causes sea level to increase, and the fate of glaciers like this one will play a key role in determining by how much sea level increases.

The Jakobshavn Isbrae is what is known as an outlet glacier, which the National Snow and Ice Data Center defines as "a valley glacier which drains an inland ice sheet or ice cap and flows through a gap in peripheral mountains." In other words, it serves as a drainage pipe from the land ice into the ocean. According to NASA, the Jakobshavn Isbrae, which is located in western Greenland at about 69 degrees north latitude, is the largest outlet glacier in Greenland, draining 6.5 percent of Greenland's ice sheet area.

Scientists at NASA, NOAA and other agencies are keeping close tabs on Greenland's ice due to its significant ramifications for global sea level rise. If the entire Greenland ice sheet were to melt (a process that would likely take several centuries to play out, even with more global warming than we've already seen), sea level would rise by as much as an estimated 23 feet globally.

NASA reports that "as much as 10 percent of all ice lost from Greenland is coming through Jakobshavn, which is also believed to be the single largest contributor to sea level rise in the northern hemisphere." Interestingly, this particular glacier has been retreating especially rapidly in recent years. As the below image shows, the ice front receded more 27 miles in 160 years, but in recent years the ice loss rate has increased, with six miles of retreat observed in just the past decade.

Recent studies have found that warming ocean temperatures may be responsible for much of the increased melting of Greenland's outlet glaciers, and this may be accelerating the melting of the larger Greenland ice sheet. For example, one study published in Nature Geoscience in February concluded that glaciers in west Greenland are melting 100 times faster at their undersea end points than on the surface.

This event would support the ocean-driven melt theory, according to a NASA ice specialist. "While there have been ice breakouts of this magnitude from Jakonbshavn and other glaciers in the past, this event is unusual because it occurs on the heels of a warm winter that saw no sea ice form in the surrounding bay," said Thomas Wagner, cryospheric program scientist at NASA Headquarters, in a press release. "While the exact relationship between these events is being determined, it lends credence to the theory that warming of the oceans is responsible for the ice loss observed throughout Greenland and Antarctica."

Ocean currents, particularly the North Atlantic also play a very strong role in weather patterns. If it is changing, so will the weather on Terra (land).

Michael Bradbury reporting for Viewzone.

08/05/2010

Date&Time: 2010-08-05 02:56:50 [UTC]
Continent: Europe
Country: Germany
Location: Statewide
Event: Chernobyl nuclear meltdown
Damage level: Moderate (Level 2)
Wild Boars with radioactive contamination from Chernobyl incident in 1986 still present and apparently, on the rise in Germany.

Radioactive wild boars are on the rise in Germany, where they have attacked and frightened residents, even snarling traffic when they gang up on roadways, according to Spiegel International Online and numerous other media reports over the past couple of weeks. Their radioactivity stems from Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, which happened way back in 1986, but contaminated much of Europe.

Apparently the nuclear contamination is still detectable in some animals, including Germany's wild boars. The Spiegel report mentions that German government payments compensating hunters for lost income due to radioactive wild boar meat have quadrupled since 2007. Last year alone, $555,000 was paid to hunters who found themselves with inedible boar meat, due to its radioactivity. The hunters would have otherwise sold the meat, but it was deemed unfit for human consumption.

But the problem isn't just radioactivity. Despite the contamination, wild boars are multiplying in record numbers. "In the last couple of years, wild boar have rapidly multiplied," a spokesman from the Environment Ministry told Spiegel Online. "Not only is there more corn being farmed, but warmer winters have also contributed to a boar boom."

The German Hunting Federation supports this claim. During the 2008/2009 hunting season, approximately 650,000 wild boar were shot, breaking previous records for such kills. Only 287,000 were shot the prior season, suggesting that fewer of these animals were around for the competitive hunters to target. Wild boar remains a popular meat in Germany, where it's found in everything from stews to meatballs.

Diners don't seem to be too deterred by the nuclear contamination scare, but the governmental reports on the meat aren't very appetizing. Spiegel mentions that Germany forbids anyone to sell meat containing high levels of radioactive caesium-137, meaning that animals with contamination levels of 600 becquerel per kilogram or higher must not be eaten. Some meat in Southern Germany has been measured at 7,000 becquerel per kilogram, however.

Although the radioactivity has been detected in other animals, such as birds, wild boar are more susceptible to contamination because they often eat mushrooms and truffles that absorb the harmful radioactivity. The radioactivity, in turn, can remain in the soil for years. In fact, levels in mushrooms and truffles are predicted to rise in the not too distant future. Hunters aren't idly standing by. They've found a concoction called Giese salt that supposedly causes wild boar to excrete radioactive substances after the animals have ingested the salt. Work performed in Bavaria, according to the Bavarian Hunting Federation, indicates the salt does the trick, presumably allowing the meat to pass government inspections. It's already been 24 years since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, but experts are predicting the problem of radioactive wild boars will plague Germany "for at least the next 50 years."

Michael Bradbury reporting for Viewzone

09/06/2010

Colombia confirms 'giant fire ball' a meteorite.

Monday, 06 September

"Colombian authorities confirmed that a "giant fire ball" that fell from the sky in the central Santander department was a meteorite.

The Colombian media has been buzzing with eye witness accounts of the fireball, which fell out of the sky and caused a massive explosion at 3:15PM local time Sunday.

Bucaramanga Mayor Fernando Vargas confirmed the phenomenon was a meteorite that left a crater 100 meters in diameter where it crashed into the earth in the San Joaquin municipality in Santander.

There were also reports of 'fireballs' witnessed in Canada and China the following day, September 7th. The Canada report included 3 fireballs streaking through the sky in the same general area. No impact was reported.

Michael Bradbury reporting for Viewzone

03/30/2001

Winds that reached estimated speeds of 110 miles per hour in central Mississippi damaged more than 40 homes as severe storms dumped large hail and heavy rain flooded roads, officials said Wednesday. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

A line of severe thunderstorms was sweeping across the Southeast, and there was a report of a tornado and several suspected twisters in Florida, but there was no damage or injuries. Daniel Lamb, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson, said officials went to Simpson County to determine if it was a tornado that hit the area. Three homes there were destroyed and 40 others were damaged, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said. "This damage was from straight line wind," Lamb said.

Lamb said the highest wind estimates were 110 mph in northern Simpson County and estimates were as high as 90 mph in Copiah County, where one home received major damage and one business was destroyed. At least 15 people in Simpson County were displaced by the storm, MEMA said in a news release.

In Hinds County, three farm buildings were destroyed and a mobile home received minor damage, the agency said. Mike Edmonston, another meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson, said flood waters inundated at least eight homes in Scott County. More than two dozen roads were at least temporarily shut down in Copiah County due to flooding, debris or damage, emergency officials said. Some areas along the Interstate 20 corridor saw between 3 inches and 4 inches of rain.

Golf ball-sized hail hit Claiborne, Copiah, Rankin and Simpson counties, with smaller hail in other areas. Edmonston said golf ball-sized hail was also reported across the state line in Tensas Parish, La., and lightning blew out the back window of a police car in Franklin Parish. Hail was reported as far north as Grenada in Mississippi, but most of the largest chunks of ice fell in central Mississippi.

One report, Edmonston said, was that hail 4-inches deep coated some areas and the ice was piled a foot deep in a few spots, Lamb said. Strong wind also knocked down trees in many areas.

Michael Bradbury reporting for Viewzone

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