Tuesday, December 31, 2013

World Population -- By the Numbers

For today's blog posting I decided to research the world's human population.  According to scientists, homo sapiens evolved and first appeared around 200,000 years ago.  Our species has been increasing in numbers ever since.  The map below shows where most of the people live.


As of today, it is estimated that there are 7.134 billion people on earth.   Population experts estimate that that the world population exceeded 7 billion sometime between October  31, 2011 and  March 12, 2012. The median age was 30.4 years in 2012 and is expected to rise to 37.9 years by 2050.


The world population has experienced continuous growth since the end of the Great Famine and the Black Death in 1350, when it stood at around 370 million. The highest rates of growth were seen briefly during the 1950s, and for a longer period during the 1960s and 1970s. The growth rate peaked at 2.2% in 1963, then declined to below 1.1% by 2012. Total annual births were highest in the late 1980s at about 138 million, and are now expected to remain essentially constant at their 2011 level of 134 million, while deaths number 56 million per year, and are expected to increase to 80 million per year by 2040.
 

Current UN projections show a continued increase in population in the near future (but a steady decline in the population growth rate), with the global population expected to reach between 8.3 and 10.9 billion by 2050.






CITES:
http://anthro.palomar.edu/homo2/mod_homo_4.htm

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/World_population_distribution.svg/270px-World_population_distribution.svg.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population
http://bixby.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/current-pop-jpeg.JPG
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H6e11TQ_hvE/UO5qL-oVmSI/AAAAAAABN90/ag5rEdPU6p8/s1600/youtube_logo.gif
http://www.buygoldordie.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/World_population_1950-2050.jpeg

Monday, December 30, 2013

Unusual Photos and Yet Another Blizzard

I was going to go out to ski or snowshoe, but it was nasty out there today.  Winds picked up over 40 mph and temperatures stayed near single digit.  Then I remembered that I was invited to a condo warming gathering out on Coast Guard Point.  An old softball team mate from Ann Arbor and his wife, who are coincidentally friends with others in Grand Marais, bought one of the condos a few months ago.  I took a couple of photos from their windows. 



Then I decided what I would get if I did an internet search for "most unusual photos."  There are some great ones.  There are over 55,000 caves in the United States.  Here is a photo of one of the most famous:  Carlsbad Caverns in southern New Mexico.


The Chocolate Hills are an unusual geological formation in Bohol province, Philippines. According to the latest accurate survey done, there are 1,776 hills spread over an area of more than 50 square kilometres (20 sq mi). They are covered in green grass that turns brown during the dry season, hence the name.


The Derweze area in Turkey is rich in natural gas. While drilling in 1971, geologists tapped into a cavern filled with natural gas. The ground beneath the drilling rig collapsed, leaving a large hole with a diameter of about 70 metres (230 ft). To avoid poisonous gas discharge, it was decided to burn it off. Geologists had hoped the fire would use all the fuel in a matter of days, but the gas still burns 40 years later. Locals have dubbed the cavern “The Door to Hell”.


The Pinnacles are limestone formations contained within Nambung National Park, near the town of Cervantes, Western Australia.






These odd-shaped clouds are often associated with a storm front, especially one involving a thunderstorm. It’s not completely understood how they form.



I have only seen the "green flash" once.  Conditions have to be perfect for this phenomenon to form.  I was expecting a "flash" and missed the photo when it was just a green streak.  This occurs very briefly before total sunset and lasts for only a second or so.  It is caused by refraction of light in the atmosphere.  I found the following photo on the internet.






To finish this posting, here are some cute photos from the internet.





CITES:
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01465/giraffe-ostrich_1465317i.jpg
http://typeinstereo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/animals.jpg
http://cdn.morefm.co.nz/morefm/AM/2013/1/25/5751/Animal_best_friends08.jpg
http://global.fncstatic.com/static/managed/img/U.S./cave_Carlsbad.jpg
http://www.buzzize.com/30-of-the-most-unusual-landscapes-from-around-the-world/
http://listverse.com/2008/04/19/20-amazing-and-unusual-weather-phenomena/

Sunday, December 29, 2013

More Agate Close Ups

As I finish up the year and now that I have completed all the custom mineral art orders, I can turn my attention to other tasks.  With the computer problems I've had this year, one of the things I wanted to get done was to implement an on-site backup system.  I also wanted to move and store some of my files from my laptop to the new external drive.  I was not too surprised to learn that on my computer I have almost 30,000 photo files, not including the 25,000 files I have for the online rockhounding classes.  Even though my laptop has 444 GB of space -- it was almost 90 percent full.  To speed up my computer, I wanted to free up more space.  I also spent several hours researching petrified wood to prepare for getting photos during my trip out west. 

I was going to get out and ski, but I must admit that I did have sore muscles after skiing in Mount Pleasant a couple of days ago.  I decided to take the day off from exercise, but I will get out today.  I will certainly have to dress for it since temperatures are in the single digits with 20 mph winds and lake effect snow.

For today's blog posting, I decided to dip into the agate book photos and zoom in on a few close ups.


Kentucky agate...

Mexican Laguna agate....

Lake Superior agate....

Mexican Laguna agate....

Mexican crazy lace agate...

Australian Queensland agate...

Another Mexican agate....

Botswana agate....

Mexican Laguna agate....

Lake Superior agate....

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Covered Bridge Ski and More

I arrived back home yesterday after spending Christmas in South Lyon with my son and his family.  I last saw my grandson, Keenen, a couple of months ago when I was down state for the Mason show.  The changes are amazing.  I guess that is one of the differences between being a grandmother and a mother:  it is easier to see the changes when you don't have daily contact.

A few Christmas photos....






The day after Christmas I started heading north.  I stopped for a night to visit my college friend, Steve, in Mount Pleasant.  We had a great cross country ski outing at Deerfield Park, along the Chippewa River.  I just love the covered bridge.





A cool artisan well....



The covered bridge...





Thursday, December 26, 2013

Earth Observatory Photos

I hope that everyone had a safe and joyous Christmas.  For today's blog posting, I decided to see what NASA has posted lately on their Earth Observatory web page at http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/.

In 1968 the Apollo 8 mission took this incredible image of the Earth rising from the moon.


Now for more recent photos, mostly taken from the International Space Station.  Demure, Turkey is shown below.


The photo below shows the dormant volcano is Sollipulli, located in central Chile near the border with Argentina. The volcano sits in the southern Andes Mountains within Chile’s Parque Nacional Villarica. This photograph by an astronaut on the International Space Station features the summit (2,282 meters, or 7,487 feet, above sea level) and the bare slopes above the tree line. Lower elevations are covered with green forests indicative of Southern Hemisphere summer.  The summit of Sollipulli is occupied by a four-kilometer wide caldera, currently filled with a snow-covered glacier. While most calderas form after violent, explosive eruptions, the types of rock and other deposits associated with such events have not been found at Sollipulli. Geologic evidence does indicate explosive activity occurred about 2,900 years ago, and lava flows were produced approximately 700 years ago. Together with the craters and scoria cones along the outer flanks of the caldera, this history suggests Sollipulli could erupt violently again, presenting a potential hazard to towns such as Melipeuco and the wider region.


The following photos show the results of recent volcanic activity along the western edge of the Pacific “Ring of Fire," which gave rise to a tiny island in late November 2013. Located in the Ogasawara Islands, part of the Volcano Islands arc, the new islet sits about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) south of Tokyo in waters considered part of Japanese territory.

The water around the island is discolored by volcanic minerals and gases and by seafloor sediment stirred up by the ongoing volcanic eruption. The faint white puffs above the center and southwest portion of the island are likely steam and other volcanic gases associated with the eruption.
The new island (or “Niijima” in Japanese), rose up out of the sea during a volcanic eruption first reported on November 20, 2013. The new island sits about 500 meters from Nishino-shima, another volcanic island that last erupted and expanded in 1973–74. The two islands are located at approximately 27°14’ North latitude and 140°52’ East longitude, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) from the nearest inhabited island.

In the first few days after the eruption, scientists speculated that the new island might not last.
But according to news reports, the new island is still erupting and growing. Scientists from the Japan Meteorological Agency think the island is large enough to survive for at least several years, if not permanently. By early December, it had grown to 56,000 square meters (13.8 acres), about three times its initial size. It stands 20 to 25 meters above the sea level.


Below are two aerial photographs taken by the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) on December 1 (top) and December 13, 2013.





The picture below shows morning sunlight illuminating the southeast-facing slopes of the Islands of the Four Mountains in this photograph taken from the International Space Station (ISS). The islands, part of the Aleutian Island chain, are actually the upper slopes of volcanoes rising from the sea floor: Carlisle, Cleveland, Herbert, and Tana. Carlisle and Herbert volcanoes are distinct cones and form separate islands. Cleveland volcano and the Tana volcanic complex form the eastern and western ends respectively of Chuginadak Island. A cloud bank obscures the connecting land mass in this image.

Cleveland volcano (elevation 1,730 meters above sea level) is one of the most active in the Aleutian chain, with its most recent activity—eruptions and lava flow emplacement—taking place in May of 2013 (A crew aboard the ISS captured an earlier eruption in 2006.) The northernmost of the islands, Carlisle volcano (peak elevation 1,620 meters), had its last confirmed eruption occurred in 1828, with unconfirmed reports of activity in 1987. Herbert volcano (peak elevation 1280 meters) displays a classic cone structure breached by a two-kilometer wide summit caldera (image lower left), but there are no historical records of volcanic activity. The easternmost peak, Tana (1,170 meters) is a volcanic complex comprised of two east-west trending volcanoes and associated younger cinder cones. Like Herbert volcano, there is no historical record of activity at Tana.

A layer of low cloud and/or fog obscures much of the lower elevations of the islands and the sea surface, but the clouds also indicate the general airflow pattern around and through the islands. Directly to the south-southeast of Cleveland volcano, a Von Karman vortex street is visible. Shadows cast by the morning sun extend from the peaks towards the northwest. The peaks of all of the Four Islands have snow cover. This is distinct from the clouds due to both higher brightness (white versus gray) and the specific location on the landscape.


The photo below documents a rare winter storm dropped snow across much of the Middle East between December 10 and 13, 2013. For the most part, the snow is confined to higher elevations in Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Israel and the West Bank, and Jordan. Some lower-elevation desert regions in Syria are also snowy.  Snow storms in the Middle East are not frequent but not uncommon either. However, this one was unusually early in the winter and more intense than normal. The storm paralyzed Jerusalem with 30 to 50 centimeters (12 to 20 inches) of snow, knocking out power for roughly 15,000 households. The snow closed mountain roads leading into the city, effectively cutting Jerusalem off. Amman, Jordan, received about 45 cm (18 inches) of snow, and Lebanon and Syria also were unusually cold and snowy.




However you measure them, the world’s tallest mountains are treacherous. They have towering blocks of ice—seracs—that can crush climbers in seconds. They are prone to tremendous avalanches of rock and snow that obliterate entire expeditions. And they are home to spider webs of ice crevasses that swallow humans whole. Even during the summer, average daytime temperatures are frigid. And, hurricane-force winds are common.

Then, of course, there is the lack of oxygen. At 5,000 meters (16,404 feet), the atmosphere contains about half as much oxygen as at sea level. By 6,000 meters (19,685 feet), the air is so thin that full acclimatization is no longer possible. No matter how fit, climbers begin to slowly suffocate. By 7,000 meters (22,966 feet), survival times plummet and lucid thought becomes difficult. By 8,000 meters—the so-called “death zone”—even the strongest climbers can survive for a few days at best.
The three most dangerous of the eight-thousanders—Annapurna, K2, and Nanga Parbat—claim the life of about one climber for every four who reach the top. The fatality rate for Annapurna, the most dangerous mountain in the world, is over 30 percent. Bottled oxygen and guided climbs have made Mount Everest much safer than it was decades ago, but the world’s tallest mountain still takes lives regularly. Nine people died on the mountain in 2013. Ten in 2012.

All this risk is for what, exactly? Reinhold Messner, the first person to climb all fourteen of the eight-thousanders, pointed to something he calls “overview” to explain the allure. “It is not the mountain but the view from the peak that suggests increased awareness,” he writes in the book Mountains from Space. “The person who stands on top of one comes back down with a new sense of the world.”
Messner risked everything for fleeting views from the top of the world, ascending many of the eight-thousanders solo and without the aid of bottled oxygen. It took him 16 years (1970–1986) to climb them all. Only 31 other people—give or take a few because the records of some climbers are considered controversial—have done it since.

While the summit of an eight-thousander may represent the ultimate view on Earth, satellites take Messner’s concept of overview to a whole new level. The summit of Mount Everest is about 8.8 kilometers (5.5 miles) above sea level. Most polar-orbiting satellites fly at an altitude of 705 kilometers (438 miles). So when viewed from space, the world’s tallest mountains become blotches of shadow, rock, and snow. Epic glaciers become narrow tongues of ice feeding glacial lakes that look like puddles. Deadly storms become mere tufts of cloud.


Ground photography of Mount Everest and the other tall peaks are ubiquitous, but the gallery that follows—a collection of imagery acquired by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s EO-1 satellite—offers a less familiar perspective. The sensors on ALI looked directly down on the mountains, not from an oblique angle like a passenger on an airplane or an astronaut on the International Space