Eyjafjallajokull

Eyjafjallajokull is the name of the glacier over the volcano currently disrupting air travel across Europe. I must tune into a world news program video to see if anyone dares try to pronounce it. Few reporters seem to attempt to spell it. I went to Wiki to see what they had to say:

Eyjafjallajökull (pronounced [ˈɛɪjaˌfjatlaˌjœːkʏtl̥], translated as "island-mountains glacier") ( listen (help·info)) is one of the smaller glaciers of Iceland. It is situated to the north of Skógar and to the west of the larger glacier Mýrdalsjökull.  Easy for them I suppose. I listened four times and am no wiser. But I feel that a volcano under a lessor glacier on an island that can totally shut down air traffic in Europe and disrupt everyone's travel plans deserves some respect. But that is not what this blog is about.

This blog is about what happens after the ash stops spewing -- though volcanologists say they see no end. What will happen if history is any indicator is all the airlines effected by this will claim they are on the verge of bankruptcy. All the countries where they are based will panic about the collapse of an essential transportation/communication (mail) link and bail them out. It is what happened after 9/11 because airplanes were grounded for two weeks.

What should happen is the same amount of money and effort should be expended to lessen the dependency on air traffic. Geologists tell us we have just been through a 200 year period of relative quiet on earthquakes and volcanoes. We have already seen an uptick in quakes and there are here in the United States no fewer than five volcanoes being closely watched especially since recent activity on faults could increase the chances of eruption.

The world needs to stop putting all its eggs in one basket. Coordination of alternate forms of transportation and use of alternate routes needs to be a top priority of the G8.

Not Nice to Abuse Mother Nature

This is a picture of the Rhyolite-Cook Bank a major feature of a ghost town a nice day trip from Las Vegas, Nevada. The town of Rhyolite was a gold boom town that as quickly busted for lack of gold. It existed as a town from 1905 to 1920.

Now it seems that its neighbor, Las Vegas, may well bust for lack of water. One of those little fluff pieces that USA Today and Yahoo News are so fond of doing says that Lake Mead, built to supply water to Las Vegas will be totally dry by 2021. Yahoo Green bemoans this tragic event as the death of a vacation spot. I thought it needed a more extensive treatment especially since wasted water in the west is one of my soap boxes. I just happened to have this map of the Colorado River Basin on hand.

The watershed of the Colorado River covers 242,900 square miles, parts of seven US States and two Mexican States. Not only does it fill Lake Mead but any water that Las Vegas does not take out from that reservoir is then channeled out by Phoenix to turn the desert green. Those two Mexican states are lucky if they get anything which has been a major sticking point in water treaties between Mexico and the United States.

The Colorado River is dammed above Lake Mead by the Glen Canyon Dam which forms Lake Powell. California gets a large amount of its electrical power from the generators in the Glen Canyon Dam. Droughts in the Four Corners area and increased electrical usage in Los Angeles has significantly lowered the level of Lake Powell where water is released on demand to turn on the lights.

Speaking of lights back to Las Vegas where the lights are on because of the Hoover Dam and water released from Lake Mead to create electricity for the city of lights. Oh, and fountains. Fountains upon fountains lit up like day by spot lights in all colors in the city that never sleeps. But what Las Vegas doesn't waste Phoenix will.

Las Vegas, fearing the worst, has started trying to buy up water rights north of it. Nothing new there. Denver, Colorado, which has exhausted the South Platte and is on the wrong side of the mountain for Colorado River water and too far north of the Rio Grande watershed, has been trying to buy up water rights from New Mexico for decades. We even passed a law forbidding transfer of rights between basins.

This is not a matter of global warming or not. It is about the fact that we are a very wasteful species and our populations have been allowed to grow unchecked. And we are not geckos that can collect the early morning dew of the desert on our skins.

Florida Flip Flops

The headline said: The RNC Attacks Florida Flip Flops. That is as clear as a sandy beach any morning during spring break.

I read the headline and figured at first blush we were talking about a conference of podiatrists. The have long held that flip flops are absolutely the worst thing you can do for your feet. Or orthopedic surgeons who maintain that the flip flop and specifically the wedge style are responsible for a bloom of ankle breaks every summer, which no doubt keeps them and physical therapists busy all fall.

Then after a couple more sips of coffee I got that this is the Republican National Committee that was running adds exposing Florida flip floppers. I flash back to the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. It certainly can be said that Florida's vote count flip flopped daily. And in 2004 it seemed Republicans could use no other words in reference to Presidential candidate Kerry. But no it seems the reference is is regard to members of the Republican party that abandoned the party line and voted on the health care bill. Clearly they should have! All those youthful uninsured wearing those dangerous flip flops are going to need medical insurance to cover the expensive orthopedic procedures this fall. You have to consider your voters.

Meanwhile the snow is melting and I am collecting items to go in the Moab, Utah bags. The wedge flip flops are staying home. The hiking sandals and boots are going. The Bass flip flops that hurt my toes are going in the sack of no longer wanted items I am taking to the thrift store. Too bad I cannot put the RNC in the same trash bag.

Bondage Gate

I was taking a few days off from the reading of news for Lent. It was so boring. Everyone spewing hate over the passage of the health care reform bills. Except for Sarah Palin being hired to host a Discovery Channel program about wildlife. That was rather interesting: she kills wildlife and she is unable to put a complete sentence together. But it took only three minutes to be fulling informed on that.

I wanted something uplifting and more in the spirit of Easter. So I missed the breaking of Bondage-Gate. Hey, what could be more in celebration of the torture and Crucifixion of their savior than the Republican National Committee visiting a west Hollywood bondage club and putting it on the expense account? How very far they have fallen. Weren't the they moral majority in the days of Nixon? But then we know his history and fall from grace.

 The best part of this whole scandal is it clearly defines how Republicans feel about women's rights. As Palin defines how they feel about preservation of wildlife when she shoots wolves from an airplane. Know a member of the RNC? Send them some rope as an Easter gift. Maybe they will hang themselves with it.

Not Over Until the Fat Lady Sings

They say it is never over until the fat lady sings. I think Joe DiMaggio said it first. But like Dirty Harry and "Make my day" it has been said by so many people since does it matter?

The health care reform bill - or should I say the silly and often irrational fight against it - has gone on for so very long that I had almost forgotten about it until I was reminded this Sunday by a friend it was coming up for a final vote. President Obama is planning a signing party for today. Then he goes on the road to sell what it is that has been passed. McCain is launching a national campaign for its repeal already and asking for $25 donations from everyone that doesn't want access to health care? I am a little unclear on the concept. Another friend of mine into holistic medicine (as am I) is protesting the new bill because it will not cover acupuncture and herbal remedies. Hard to find insurance not that does.

Amendments to this very new bill loom in the wings already. It was a pass what you can and then modify as able effort. But we are no longer the only developed country in the world without open access to health care and insurance. The mere outlawing of exclusion for pre-existing conditions makes it worth the fight. But clearly the fight is not over.

A friend of mine noted recently that the world seems to be speeding up with all the technology and communication available but when it comes to laws and legal matters the wheels grind ever so slowly. I maintain something needs to be done. My relative small legal issue in the scheme of things has lingered on for two and a half years and already taken a full day in district court and likely to take another. And then there is the judge's time in considering the matter after both sides rest. My legal aid council figures roughly $50,000 spent to defend me against my house being taken from me. I estimate that opposing council has billed $36,000 to his client for an original $21,600 lien with no back up proof that has already been amended to $14,000 by the plaintiff because of an accounting error.

I believe that now we are on the road to a reformed health care and health insurance system we need to work on reform of litigation. Our legal system is almost as screwed up as the health insurance industry. It is just that people don't die waiting for decisions from judges like they do HMO's. A book I was reading about a murder in Victorian England has the accused tried and hung within three months. Average wait on death row in America today is 9 to 15 years.

On other news there is an extreme Cabernet shortage because of the Chilean earth quake, sharks lost their bid before the UN to be protected (did a legal shark plead their case?), and a Nazi man in Germany was convicted for 1944 murders. Now there is a legal case that has taken forever.  And Google China has decided to leave the Chinese mainland and relocate in Hong Kong. Fear of reprisal?

A quick review of recent news

I have a headline mind. I first noticed this in college when I would sneak off from the dorm with faked parental permission and then imagine disaster: College Coed found in Juarez Jail: Mother said she thought daughter was safe at college.

There does not seem much in my life that I can not reduce to a banner headline with caption.  And it appears that our busy lives means that even the news media is following my example.

• Dems start countdown toward health care vote
• Stevens considers retiring from Supreme Court
• Sandbags delivered ahead of expected Fargo flood
• Woman, son missing after van found on Wash. beach
• 2 wolves blamed in Alaska teacher's death killed
• Army drops bayonets, busts abs in training revamp
• Toyota dismisses Calif. man's runaway Prius report

I really have only a few questions I would like answered on these headlines: Is ex-governor, Sarah Palin, the one that shot the two wolves? And can spring be far behind if Fargo is already ordering sandbags? I already know that John Paul Stevens is the associate justice of the Supremes believed to be the leader of the liberal wing of the court. So retiring with a liberal president in office is a good move. And of course health care will be a fight to the wire because all people voting yea or nay have it already.

I am not interested enough in the missing woman and son on the Washington beach to follow the story further. They probably did something incredibly stupid. If further abandoned vans on beaches prove a serial killer in the area I may backtrack to this on Google. And of course, Toyota dismisses the California man's runaway Prius report. They are into denial, denial, denial. One of the amazing things about the disaster in Kansas City in the early 1980's when the Hyatt walkways fell and killed and maimed hundreds is that Hallmark, owner of the hotel, admitted guilt immediately. I guess those days are over. On to the Exxon Valdiz manner of handling things: Oil, what oil.

And the days of bayonets are gone too with the cavalry sword and horse. I suppose the Kevlar vest made them rather inefficient. And they don't mount well on the standard issue AK47's these days. Still a sad moment. But what is this about bust abs? Poorly written headline in my opinion. Probably just trying to lure in the entertainment news crowd with thoughts of Madonna.

 And that my friends is an in depth look at the news of the day. Go back to Facebook and enjoy yourself with who just planted potatoes in Farmtown.

What if this gets worse?

Geologists and vulcanologists say we have gone through a 200 year period of relative calm on earth. So calm in fact that some have theorized that the earth was going through a cooling down and settling in.

Others have studied the records laid down in layers of earth and sediment and warned that it is cyclic and the calm will soon be over. To bolster this argument monitoring of activity around the Pacific Rim would indicate things are already "heating up."

I have a friend that volunteers for the Red Cross and gets sent to places requiring aid following a disaster. She has been in the disaster counseling team following two hurricanes, dodged being sent to Haiti because of the unrest, and fully expected to go to Hawaii if the tsunami from the Chile earthquake had materialized as expected. She may yet be called up for Chile but they seem to be doing a pretty good job for themselves.

But disaster rescue and relief teams are finite. Due to the post traumatic stress they suffer their deployments are short and there is a lag time before redeployment. Stock piled relief supplies are also finite. And in this world economy giving of money or goods to non-profit relief organizations is down. How many more disasters can the world respond to in a given year? What if the Chile earthquake had spawned the tsunamis predicted? There would have been multiple "Thailands" out there for the world to deal with on top of the earthquake relief, especially if Chile had been as needy as Haiti.

I believe it is time for all of us to individually take responsibility for our own relief. We all need to have emergency supplies and be prepared for evacuation. Living in the mountains it has been a concern of mine since I lived on the front line of the Hondo fire for 22 days following the human initiation 13 years ago this May 5th. I keep enough food in the pantry and freezer winters to again be cut off from supplies by 6 feet of snow in 24 hours. If you live on the gulf or eastern coasts of the United States now is time to check those hurricane emergency supplies and evac routes.

And California, Oregon and Washington are on the Pacific rim. What if the Chilean earthquake had triggered the precarious San Andres fault, or triggered Mammoth Mountain to erupt, or just those tsunamis? Are you prepared to be your own disaster relief?