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I wont mention Mt.Redoubt for at least another week unless it does something more spectacular than the last month's of eruptions. Today, though, I'm going to put out a couple more pictures and links that may be of use.

Here is what changed my mind- and "ash storm" photo in Alaska. It is a huge photo, so I'm only going to link it, but anyone who takes the time to open it will be rewarded with a sight I've never seen before:
[url]http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2009/05apr09/Thomas-Kerns2.jpg[/url]

This is that same scene after the ash storm:

and a large version linked here:
[url]http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2009/05apr09/Thomas-Kerns1.jpg[/url]

These others are sunrise or sunset photos. Though not a result of a Mt.Redoubt eruption, they are from Volcano Mt.Kasatochi in Alaska last August. The small particles added blue into the sunset mix resulting in purples and weird oranges from August to October:

I HIGHLY recommend the larger version of this from the UK:

PLEASE CLICK LARGER VERSION:
[url]http://spaceweather.com/sunsets/images2008/26oct08/Pete-Glastonbury1.jpg[/url]

This from Colorado:

A link to the same in 1600x1200 pixels
[url]http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2008/18oct08/William-Helms1.jpg[/url]

From the Netherlands:

Larger:
[url]http://spaceweather.com/sunsets/images2008/29aug08/Jan-Koeman1.jpg[/url]

This from Poland:


One from Kansas:


Spaceweather.com has a gallery of about a dozen photographer's contributions of some 40 or so sunset pictures from Europe and the US resulting from the August2008 eruption of Kasatochi. Many of them almost look like they just HAD to be PhotoShopped:
[url]http://spaceweather.com/sunsets/gallery_kasatochi_2008_page2.htm[/url]

Plus these two:
[url]http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Doug-Zubenel-IMG_5491_1224297831.jpg[/url]

[url]http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Jonathon-Stone-fullmoonoct14_1224172546.jpg[/url]

Enjoy.

There is a chance that the Mt.Redoubt ash clouds will be tracked in their journey around the world. If I find a link to that tracking, I'll put it in a comment below, and probably at a later date on my blog.

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Mt.Redoubt VOLCANO in Alaska is putting on a great show. Here is a good picture of Mt.Redoubt as it appeared when I was there. One of the very few good highways in Alaska borders Cook Inlet, and Mt.Redoubt and many other prominent volcanoes are across the Inlet, so it is something most people who visit Alaska see looking West across the Inlet:

This link is a larger version of the same picture:
[url]http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/photos/img_026413-1000.jpg[/url]

On March 31, the volcano looked as below. I am pretty sure that this was taken looking toward the South slope of the volcano, the only photo here taken from that direction:


The following NASA link is a spectacular 2000x1333 photo of the same.
[url]http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/images/lunarlifestyle/Thomas-Kerns2.jpg[/url]

The nighttime picture below shows lightning in the ash. I chose it rather than one of the other nicer lightning pictures and videos at the link below for the suggestion of a catlike monster inside it, as well as the reflection in Cook Inlet at the bottom of the picture. It's still a mystery how lightning is generated in an ash cloud.

Again, there is a larger version of the picture at this link:
[url]http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/photos/IMG_T0456-1000.jpg[/url]

This picture came from a couple who live in the bush and whose property has a view of Cook Inlet, and write on "Journey on the Wild Coast Blog". Several time-lapse videos of the volcano erupting are listed. Also,there are more lightning and eruption photos, as well as a sketch of the process lightning may be formed in an ash cloud. In addition, there are some pictures of the landscape in the area and snowshoeing in the ash-covered snow. Many of the pictures also are links to an underlying larger version of the picture, which is often even more spectacular. Let me know which pix you like best!

The ash is quite sulfurous. It is easily charged up electrically, and it clings to many things easily. It is recommended that people wear masks/ filters to prevent the sharp edged particles from invading the body. It is so gritty that it can cause small cuts. NASA is fascinated by talking about the resemblance of this particular ash fall to the Moon, and uses analogies to the Moon often in stories that I have seen them discuss Mt.Redoubt.

Another effect of the volcano eruption is that several seismic stations have been lost, probably due to the effect of the electrical activity in the area on the sensitive electronics of the seismometers.

One other thing I'll mention is that the eruption of the volcano during the last month has melted the glaciers that were covering the mountain, testifying to the huge amount of heat that is being brought to the surface by during this activity.

I visited an aunt in Alaska about eight years ago, and I highly recommend to anyone that if they ever have an opportunity to go there that they just say YES! Mt.Redoubt is only one of the amazing sights I saw when there, and since it is quite visible for photography, there will be more nice pictures coming around. Alaska is a truly incredible place to visit- no matter how long you are there, you will not be able to see all you wish you could.

Primary Sources used and more info:

Journey on the Wild Coast Blog
[url]http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/blog/[/url]

Mt. Redoubt Gives Alaskans a Taste of the Moon
[url]http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/03apr_lunarlifestyle.htm[/url]

This started out as a comment on juicy's blog, but grew and grew as my comments are wont to do ... so I decided to take it up in this space instead. I copy in part some of juicy's blog, and RMJay's and woderwick's remarks:

juicy: "Some of you guys really need to take your armour off. Knights are sooo 15th century ... The knights and the fem fatales need to move into the 21st century. ... I am totally embarrassed by the sexual stereotypes some feel the need to portray. ... To see these archaich behaviours does nothing to move us forward.
Rant over,
ju" [url]https://www.newbienudes.com/blogs/viewblog.asp?id=3214&fp=y[/url]

- - - - - -

I disagree with your rant, juicy. My armor is rather rusty sometimes, but I wear it with pride. I wear it not because I was raised this way, but because it is the RIGHT WAY to behave. I wear it not because I believe "men are better", but because "WOMEN ARE BETTER". The future of the race always lays with them, and it is important to respect that.

I will never understand how anyone ever came to believe that "men are better", since it is clear that from early civilization the lives of the men have been expendable but women and children have been precious. In addition, in the most successful societies, the lives of elders have been considered precious in recognition of the value of their wisdom.

Primitive societies behaved in a way protective of women, but not many recognized the root reasons for this behavior. The Chivalry of the Middle Ages DID understand it. Men have been sent into battle because they are MORE EXPENDABLE, not because they are better. Young men are the least valuable to society prima facie. If they age well and come to be older and well regarded, they likely have traits that it would be well for the species to preserve. The tribe, the species, can afford the loss of many men, but we can not afford the loss of the women and children.

I agree in entirety with woderwick's: " "Honor is the foundational and guiding principle of chivalry. Thus, for the knight, honor would be one of the guides of action." end quote. --- [I am] a re-incarnated 15th century Knight... [but] 15th century or 21st century.... Internet or Public Bar-room Brawl.... I have values that I Uphold.... and one of them IS triggered by a feirce defensive mechanism where certain people are concerned."

So, when RMJay wrote: "Well .. I actually disagree. ... I would come to your defense in a heartbeat, not only because you're a chick, but because you're a mate. ... [not] because I think you are weak or helpless, it's just how I was trained.", I only disagree with his "just how I was trained". His training has REASON behind it.

CHIVALRY EVOLVED in part due to the most brilliant early Greek, Roman and Christian philosophers and the "Just War" concept. The Geneva Conventions, the "rules of civilized warfare", recognize this principle inherently. A large part of the these is protection of women, children, and the elders. The major reason that terrorism, whether Islamo-facist, related to drug cartels, or tyrants, or abortion protests, is universally recognized by Civilization as being contrary to the good of society is that it violates this principle of protecting our women and children.

SideBar: By the way, this is also the reason that I strongly object to women being put anywhere near the "front lines" in a military situation.
I strongly support women having an equal right to job opportunities in every other field of endeavor. However, allowing women in any military job where they have a significantly greater chance of "contact with the enemy" is not moral in a naturalistic sense.

So, juicy and all other women, I encourage you to take pride that you are a woman and welcome those of us who engage in chivalry as a matter of course. Recognize your own greatness in our eyes! We are merely behaving in a natural moral manner, in deference to the primal importance that you have to our continuing society.

I'm sure that there will be a whole load of interest in this story at NN!

SPANKING "BRINGS COUPLES TOGETHER"

SPANKING is stressful at first, but it could bring consenting couples closer together. That's the implication of two studies of hormonal changes associated with sadomasochistic (S&M) activities including spanking, bondage and flogging.



Brad Sagarin at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb and colleagues measured levels of the stress hormone cortisol in 13 men and women at an S&M party in Arizona, before, during and after participating in activities. During S&M scenes, cortisol rose significantly in those receiving stimulation, but dropped back to normal within 40 minutes if the scene went well. There was no change in those inflicting the activity.

It's important to note that levels of both hormones dropped back down in couples who enjoyed the experience, Marazziti says. "When sexual intercourse is consensual it is not stressful - even if it is extreme sex."

Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield, UK, adds that almost any shared activity is likely to promote interpersonal closeness. "It doesn't have to be tying up your partner or placing clamps on their nipples, it could be something as simple as cooking a meal together or even doing the housework as a duo," he says.

Nick Neave, a psychologist at the University of Northumbria, UK, says the results are interesting, but future studies should control for whether participants experienced orgasm, which is associated with reduced stress and an increase in hormones associated with partner-bonding and affection.

At an S&M event in Colorado, testosterone was measured in 45 men and women. It increased significantly in receiving women only. Donatella Marazziti of the University of Pisa, Italy, says the boost may help women cope with the aggressive nature of S&M activities, or that it could be another sign of stress. In both studies, couples who said the party went well also reported increases in relationship closeness (Archives of Sexual Behavior, DOI: 10.1007/s10508-008-9374-5)

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I expect this to be the last time I comment about this topic.

My friend died just about the time I entered my last blog. I've been in close contact with his fiance since then. I have been very happy that her whole family seems to be regularly getting in touch with her. She is in better condition now than I expected her to be at this time, so that is a relief to me. She's been sharing a lot of "our favorite things"- songs, poems, pictures, etc, with me. She writes poems and loves doing photo ensembles of different types. He wrote and performed songs, along with his many other talents. This process has been good for me, as well as her, I believe.

Several of the places that he frequented on the web have already started "memorial" pages for him, since his wisdom was so strongly regarded. I'll be helping with that process in the days ahead. Thank you to all of you who have contacted me about this event.

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The political mentor/ friend I wrote about Thursday slipped into a coma last night. I suspect he will not recover from it at all. I was on the phone/ computer with his ex-fiance (Will call her Jane) most of yesterday and overnight and am very tired. I wrote the following already, and will copy it here for others:

"The friend/ political mentor is in a coma now. I have been communication, by chat and phone, with his former fiance. She is really torn up - knocking herself off for breaking off their engagement 5 years ago, etc. "jealousy", mostly, she says. Any way, we were up at all hours of last night with each other. And it isn't only she being torn up, either - this is me, too -

At one time in chat last night, she said: "all that matters is the fact that i know i will never see, or get to talk to him ever again, in this lifetime....."

I then said, after thinking a while:

": You may find it interesting that I am jealous of how you are feeling right now.
: I am jealous that you knew him as well as you do.
: You were so very lucky... though that is now giving you the pain
: I would love to have been able to spend hours and hours with him.
: And like you, I'll never be able to get more of his wisdom than I already have now.
: That is why it seems I am so close to the situation you are in... in many many ways... but your emotional involvement is much deeper, of course."

This man was a true political mentor in many ways for me. Though I am very similar in demeanor and orientation, he reinforced and taught me a lot. I would gladly have traded having more of the type of pain that Jane is feeling now for an even closer relationship with him than I had, since I know I could have learned even more from him. He gained a similar amount from me in the realm of science and technology. Much mutual respect. This is a real loss in my life. He is a real friend, not simply a "cyber friend", though I never met him in person. Big sigh.

Jane is now sleeping, finally. I slept sitting in my chair by the computer, blanket over me, ready to respond to her all during the night. I expect to get a call any time from her saying he has died. God Bless him.

Unless he comes out of this coma, it turns out that some of the last lucid words he spoke were those he had me write up in an effort to teach about the Great Depression, and his love for Jane. Sobering.

I've seen some unusual rainbows, some similar to this one, and other really neat atmospheric phenomena, but this one from today's [url]http://www.spaceweather.com[/url] really takes the cake!

spaceweather.com/swpod2009/27mar09/Danny-Ratcliffe1_strip2.jpg" class="embedded-image" >

"Atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley explains: "Purple and green fringes inside a rainbow are called supernumeraries. Light waves squeezed through small raindrops interact and interfere to make them - the smaller the drops the wider apart the fringes. This bow is very unusual because there are so many fringes and they are fan shaped."

There is a much larger picture at spaceweather.com if you click on the pic there... Also much more about the atmospheric optics that lead to these neat things!

I hope everyone enjoys this pretty thing.

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Here comes the rain!

Our first major springtime rainstorm is on its way. It is about the size of the whole United Kingdom, and its center appears to be headed directly at my house. The temperature is going to be well above freezing throughout, about 50F/10C. Fortunately, the snow is pretty much all melted, and the streams have taken most of the water from that away and are receding. When we get our first spring rain, we often get major flooding and damage due to the snow melt that occurs at the same time, but that won't be the case anywhere near me this year.

It will definitely thaw the ground deeply enough so I can do the planting I have been chompin' at the bit to get done! Yippee!

Yesterday, I took some notes from a friend who is dying from cancer and worked them up for him as an article on the Great Depression.

I spent about 6-8 hours on it. I am very amazed at how tired I am today. Slept well last night after doing it. I was emotionally and mentally drained yesterday. That wasn't surprising, given the situation. What surprises me is how drained I am still feeling today.

I started yawning about noon, after being awake only 5 hours or so.