Flipping Sun. Mount Rokatenda. “Plant Internet”. Jenny McCarthy on Vaccines. Did the Former President Need a Stent? Electric Starter. Double Eagle II. Turkish Quake.

 

For “Summary Saturday”, News, Some Old, Some New, and some that you might not have seen:

Sun's magnetic field about to flip, causing "ripple effect"

“You won't be able to see it, but it might affect the Earth's climate -- the sun's magnetic field is going through a big change.

According to NASA, measurements taken from its supported observatories suggest that the sun's magnetic field is about to flip. But don't panic. This event happens approximately every 11 years.

"It looks like we're no more than 3 to 4 months away from a complete field reversal," solar physicist Todd Hoeksema, director of Stanford University's Wilcox Solar Observatory, said in a statement. "This change will have ripple effects throughout the solar system."

An artist's rendering of the sun's poles, which will change when its magnetic field flips.  / NASA

The sun's north and south poles are already beginning to change. Stanford solar physicist Phil Scherrer likens the change to the motion of a wave.

"The sun's polar magnetic fields weaken, go to zero, and then emerge again with the opposite polarity. This is a regular part of the solar cycle,"Scherrer said.

An artist's concept of the heliospheric current sheet, which becomes more wavy when the sun's magnetic field flips. / NASA

The part of the sun's magnetic field that's set to shift is often called the "current sheet." It's the surface that juts out from the sun's equator, which carries a small electrical current. The amperage flow of this region is about 10,000 kilometers thick and billions of kilometers wide.

As the sun's magnetic field begins to flip, the current sheet becomes wavy. Earth will dip in and out of the current sheet, as it orbits the sun. Researchers say the sun's magnetic field flipping could affect anything from the Earth's cloudiness or climate in and around the planet.

Cosmic rays, which are high-energy particles hurtling through space, nearly at light speeds, will also be affected. The current sheet acts like a shield to these rays. During the polarity switch, the wavy sheet becomes a better barrier against these particles.

Scherrer says the sun's two hemispheres are already out of sync, and that the sun's north pole has already started to change, while the south is playing catch-up.”  From: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57597396/suns-magnetic-field-about-to-flip-causing-ripple-effect/

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Evacuations from Indonesian island after deadly volcanic eruption

Posted Mon Aug 12, 2013

Photo: Hundreds have been relocated after Mount Rokatenda's eruption. (AFP)

Related Story: Volcano eruption in Indonesia kills six

“Indonesian rescuers battled to evacuate thousands from an island where a volcanic eruption killed six people, with the volcano still spewing out rocks and ash at "dangerous levels".

Mount Rokatenda, on tiny Palue island in East Nusa Tenggara province, was sending large clouds of red-hot ash up to 600 metres into the air.

"The activity ... remains high and at dangerous levels. There are no signs it will stop erupting any time soon," Surono, an official from the state vulcanology agency, said.

On Saturday the volcano threw rocks and ash 1.2 miles into the sky and sent torrents of molten lava onto a beach, killing three adults and three children as they slept.

Activity had been increasing at Rokatenda, one of numerous active volcanoes in the vast Indonesian archipelago, since October and there had been a series of small eruptions before Saturday.”  More at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-12/evacuations-from-indonesian-island-after-deadly-volcanic-erupti/4879378

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Scientists Discover That Plants Communicate via Symbiotic Root Fungi

“Human arrogance has always assumed we are evolutionarily superior to plants, but it appears that modern science may be the antidote to this egocentric view.

British researchers have discovered plants have a highly complex underground communication network, formed by a type of fungi called mycorrhizae.

Mycorrhizae attach to the roots of plants, sending out fine thread-like filaments to the roots of other plants and forming an underground web that can stretch dozens of meters in a virtual “plant Internet”.

These filaments not only increase nutrient uptake 100 to 1,000 times, but also serve as an early warning system to connected plants so they can build up their defenses when a threat presents itself.

They grew sets of broad bean plants, allowing some to develop mycorrhizal nets, but preventing them in others.  They also eliminated the plants’ normal through-the-air communication by covering the plants with bags. Then they infested some of the plants with aphids. The results were remarkable.

The aphid-infested plants were able to signal the other plants, connected through mycorrhizae, of an imminent attack—giving them a “heads up” and affording them time to mount their own chemical defenses in order to prevent infestation.

In this case, the alerted bean plants deployed aphid-repelling chemicals and other chemicals that attract wasps, which are aphids’ natural predators. The bean plants that were not connected received no such warning and became easy prey for the pesky insects.

This finding has profound implications for how we grow our food, as we may be able to include “sacrificial plants” marked for pest infestation so that the network can warn, and thereby arm, the rest of the crop.

You can use commercially grown mycorrhizae in your own ecofriendly garden to boost its nutrient value and overall health, as long as you remember a few basic principles”  Complete article at: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/08/10/mycorrhizae-plant-communication.aspx

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The Witch Hunt of Jenny McCarthy for Talking About Vaccines

“Jenny McCarthy was recently called a “blonde idiot” and “a threat to the survival of mankind” in mainstream media article for speaking out about her son’s vaccine reaction, as ABC TV executives back Barbara Walters hire of McCarthy for daytime talk show "The View".

Medical literature spanning a century, documents the fact that vaccines can cause: brain inflammation, chronic nervous system dysfunction, seizures, arthritis, vaccine strain viral infection, shock and “unusual shock-like state,” and death.

It was fascinating to watch the well-orchestrated response by online mainstream media, which took on the frenzy of an old fashioned witch hunt to burn a heretic at the stake.”  More at: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/08/06/jenny-mccarthy-vaccine-talk.aspx

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Jenny McCarthy talks to CNN on how she cured her son’s Autism caused by unsafe vaccinations

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Witch Hunting of Jenny McCarthy for Vaccine Talking

“View selected media reports highlighting journalistic bias against Jenny McCarthy for voicing vaccine safety concerns. NVIC's Barbara Loe Fisher's commentary reveals journalistic bias about vaccines in the media.”

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Robert Kennedy - Vaccine Autism Cover-up

“The truth about the vaccines connection with autism cover-up.”

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Did the Former President Really Need a Stent?

“Former President George W. Bush had a stent placed in one of his arteries to prevent a heart attack. I've been told I need a stent. Do they really help?”

According to news reports, former President George W. Bush had a stent placed in one of his coronary arteries to help keep it open after removal of a blockage that was discovered during his annual physical exam.  Bush was released from the hospital just one day after the stent insertion and planned to resume a "normal schedule" the day after his release, according to the New York Times.

Stents are small mesh tubes made of metal or fabric that are placed in narrowed or weakened arteries during angioplasty, a procedure used to restore blood flow to the heart. Some stents (called drug-eluting stents) are coated with medication that is slowly released. The overall goal is to help lessen the risk of chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart through a partially blocked coronary artery. Heart attacks occur when blood flow to a portion of the heart is completely cut off.

Your question as to whether or not stents do any good is a challenging one. A recent analysis published in 2012 included data on 7,229 patients who were followed for four years. The researchers found that stenting was no better than standard medical care for patients with stable coronary artery disease, defined as chest pain (angina) that occurs after exercise or emotional stress but generally not at other times.

Study co-author David Brown, M.D., of Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York, told the New York Times after the analysis was published that (at the time) more than half of patients with stable coronary artery disease get stents even before a trial of drug treatment. He said he believes the reason for this is financial, because "in many hospitals, the cardiac service line generates 40 percent of the total hospital revenue, so there's incredible pressure to do more procedures."  More at: http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA401345/Did-the-Former-President-Really-Need-a-Stent.html
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On This Day:

Charles Kettering receives patent for electric self-starter, Aug 17, 1915:

“Charles F. Kettering, co-founder of Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (DELCO) in Dayton, Ohio, is issued U.S. Patent No. 1,150,523 for his "engine-starting device"--the first electric ignition device for automobiles--on August 17, 1915.

In the early years of the automobile, drivers used iron hand cranks to start the internal combustion process that powered the engines on their cars. In addition to requiring great hand and arm strength, this system was not without certain risks: If the driver forgot to turn his ignition off before turning the crank, the car could backfire or roll forward, as at the time most vehicles had no brakes. Clearly a better system was needed, and in 1911 Cadillac head Henry M. Leland gave Charles Kettering the task of developing one.

Before founding DELCO with his partner Edward Deeds in 1909, Kettering had worked at the National Cash Register Company, where he helped develop the first electric cash register. He drew on this experience when approaching his work with automobiles. Just as the touch of a button had started a motor that opened the drawer of the cash register, Kettering would eventually use a key to turn on his self-starting motor. The self-starter was introduced in the 1912 Cadillac, patented by Kettering in 1915, and by the 1920s would come standard on nearly every new automobile. By making cars easier and safer to operate, especially for women, the self-starting engine caused a huge jump in sales, and helped foster a fast-growing automobile culture in America.”

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From me:  My 1935 Austin had a metal crank for emergencies. I think the 1994 968M Zaporozhets had to be the very last passenger car, anywhere, with a crank start feature. 

My Austin was ‘born’ on 17th. August, 1935, the same date and year that I was!  It was given to my brother when I immigrated from England to the USA.

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Balloon crosses the Atlantic, Aug 17, 1978:

“The Double Eagle II completes the first transatlantic balloon flight when it lands in a barley field near Paris, 137 hours after lifting off from Preque Isle, Maine. The helium-filled balloon was piloted by Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, and Larry Newman and flew 3,233 miles in the six-day odyssey. 

The 11-story, helium-filled balloon made good progress during the first four days, and the three pilots survived on hot dogs and canned sardines. The only real trouble of the trip occurred on August 16, when atmospheric conditions forced the Double Eagle II to drop from 20,000 feet to a dangerous 4,000 feet. They jettisoned ballast material and soon rose to a safe height again. That night, they reached the coast of Ireland and on August 17 flew across England en route to their destination of Le Bourget field in Paris, site of Charles Lindbergh's landing after flying solo in a plane across the Atlantic in 1927. Over southern England, their wives flew close enough to the balloon in a private plane to blow kisses at their husbands.

Blown slightly off course toward the end of the journey, they touched down just before dusk on August 17 near the hamlet of Miserey, about 50 miles west of Paris. Their 137-hour flight set new endurance and distance records. The Americans were greeted by family members and jubilant French spectators who followed their balloon by car.”

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Deadly earthquake strikes Turkey, Aug 17, 1999:

“On this day in 1999, an earthquake in northwestern Turkey kills more than 17,000 people and leaves more than 250,000 homeless. The immense disaster exposed serious problems with government and building contractors in Turkey.

The Northern Anatolian fault runs parallel to the south shore of the Black Sea in northern Turkey. It is on a small plate, 10 miles beneath the surface, between the Arabian and African plates. Tremors struck the area in 1942 and 1944, but in the years afterward it became the most populated region in the country, home to upwards of 20 million people.

At 3:02 a.m. on August 17, a 7.4-magnitude quake struck, centered in Izmit, a coastal town not far from Istanbul. The quake devastated a large area, bringing down an estimated 40,000 homes and other buildings and igniting a terrible fire at an oil refinery in Bursa. In Yalova, 90 percent of the houses were demolished and, in Golcuk, hundreds of soldiers were trapped in the rubble of an army building. Bridges collapsed and roads were buried.

Compounding the tragedy, the Turkish government was not well-prepared for the disaster. Many people were trapped under collapsed buildings and homes, and the government was unable to send any rescue crews for days. Israel sent the first major rescue team; many other nations followed. With the Turkish government slow to respond, thousands of volunteers from other parts of the country flooded the area as they heard about people begging in the streets for help in saving their trapped relatives. Unfortunately, this may have caused more problems than it solved, as the extra traffic clogged available roads, making it difficult for experts to reach the affected areas. Still, survivors were pulled out for days after the earthquake. A 95-year-old woman was rescued by Austrian workers four days later. The last survivor was pulled out from the rubble six days after the disaster.

The earthquake also exposed serious problems with the building industry in Turkey. Many of the region's newer buildings collapsed in an instant when the quake struck. It was revealed that, in many building projects, cheap iron rods had been used and there was too much sand mixed in the concrete, resulting in structural instability. It became clear that building regulations had not been enforced. In response, contractors, engineers and building owners were arrested throughout the area. Veli Grocer, a contractor in Yalova, had his house burned down by angry victims and was eventually forced to flee from the country.

All told, more than 17,000 people were killed and damages totaled $6.5 billion, making it one of the most devastating earthquakes of the 20th century.”

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Yesterday:

Jay called me, and then Muffie’s ‘Dad’, to remind me that it was time for Maddie and Muffie to have their Revolution to prevent fleas, mites, heartworms, etc.  Misty and I went down there, and had our walk.

Ray was ready to start work when Misty and I returned. I put pieces of tape every 5’ on a 21’ length of rope, and laid it out on the ground to see where the carport posts will be.  I found out where I will have to park my van to avoid the driver’s door hitting a post.  The carport will need to be forward of where we had planned. So then, I made sure it would not obstruct the view from the living room.

As Ray was going to prime the rafters on the screen porch while I am church today, we got the pressure washer going.  Some of the rafters were used, they came off my old RVport, so they needed to be cleaned before priming.  Still don’t have anyone to install the roofing on the porches.

After he had cleaned the rafters, he washed more of the algae off Pugsy the vintage motor home, and then off my Class B+.  I was raking up pine needles and getting them on the burn pile.  Then the rains came, so the screen porch will be too wet to prime or paint today.