Colossal volcanic eruption could destroy Japan

Japan could be nearly destroyed by a huge volcanic eruption over the next century, putting almost all of the country's 127 million-strong population at high risk, according to a new study. It is not an overstatement to say that a colossal volcanic eruption would leave Japan vanished as a country," Kobe University earth sciences professor Yoshiyuki Tatsumi and associate professor Keiko Suzuki said in a study publicly released in this week. The specialists said they analyzed the scale and frequency of volcanic eruptions in the archipelago nation over the past 120,000 years and considered that the probabilities of a devastating eruption at about 1 % over the next 100 years. The chance of a foremost earthquake striking the city of Kobe within thirty years was projected at about 1 % just a day before a 7.2-magnitude quake demolished the Japanese port city in 1995, killing approximately 6,400 people and injuring almost 4,400 others, the study noted. So, it’d be no wonder if such a colossal eruption occurs at any moment," it added.

The new research comes weeks after Japan's Mount On take erupted without warning kills 57 people and leaving at least six others missing in the country's deadliest volcanic eruption in almost 90 years. The Kobe University researchers said their study was critical since Japan is home to about 7% of the volcanoes that have erupted over the past 10,000 years. A disaster on the southernmost main island of Kyushu, which has been struck by 7 gigantic eruptions over the past 120,000 years, would observe an area with more than seven million people buried by flows of lava and molten rock in just two hours, they said. Volcanic ash would also be carried by westerly winds toward the main island of Honshu, making almost all of the country "unlivable" because it is strangled infrastructure, including important transport systems, they said. It’d be "desperate" trying to save around 120 million living in key cities and towns across Honshu, the study said. This expectation was based on geological findings from the eruption of a gigantic crater, 23 kilometers (14 miles) across, in southern Kyushu around 28,000 years ago. The study also called for new technology to precisely grasp the state of "magma reservoirs" which are feast across the earth's crust in layers a few kilometers deep.

Northern Lights Put On Show, Thanks To Large Solar Flare

The sky danced with bands of green, yellow and other colors last night, as the aurora borealis, or northern lights, dazzled viewers in the upper Northern Hemisphere. The light show was sparked by a powerful solar flare that erupted from the sun Wednesday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center says that while Earth will feel the effects of the large coronal mass ejection through Sunday, it won't bring major communications or electrical problems. If you weren't far enough in the north — or well-rested enough – to see the show, don't worry: stunning images were posted to Twitter and elsewhere. Here's a selection:

Vikings’ Adrian Peterson Booked on Charge of Child Abuse

Adrian Peterson, the star Minnesota Vikings running back charged with child abuse, surrendered to Montgomery County, Tex., authorities early Saturday morning and was freed on $15,000 bond. Peterson flew to Houston on Friday night after practicing with the Vikings earlier in the day. A warrant had been issued for Peterson’s arrest Friday afternoon, one day after he was true-billed indicted, essentially by a Montgomery County grand jury on a single count of injuring a child. The team listed him as inactive for Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots at Minneapolis. It was not directly clear whether Peterson planned to return for the game or remain in the Houston area, where he lives in the off-season. In the N.F.L., inactive players often stand on the sidelines. A Vikings spokesman did not return a phone call. Ray Rice was arraigned on domestic violence charges in May. He was fired by the Baltimore Ravens this week. In a statement, Lt. Brady Fitzgerald of the Montgomery County sheriff’s office confirmed Peterson turned himself in and was released shortly after booking. Peterson, in a gray T-shirt, smiled for his mug shot.A spokeswoman for Rusty Hardin, Peterson’s lawyer, said Hardin had no further comment on the arrest or Peterson’s surrender. On Friday, a Vikings spokesman said the team was gathering information and referred all questions to Hardin.

The charges stemmed from Peterson’s disciplining his 4-year-old son in May in Spring, Tex., with a small tree branch, commonly called a switch.CBS Houston, citing law enforcement sources and police reports, said the beating caused cuts and bruises in several areas of the boy’s body, including his back, ankles and legs. Peterson, 29, told the police that the punishment was a “whupping” administered after the boy pushed another of Peterson’s children. At a news conference Saturday, Phil Grant, Montgomery County’s first assistant district attorney, said that while parents were entitled to discipline their children, the grand jury decided what Peterson did “was not reasonable and did not reflect community standards of what was reasonable discipline.” Peterson could face up to two years in jail and a $10,000 fine if convicted, Grant said. The boy’s name has not been released. In an interview with ESPN.com last month, Peterson acknowledged having one child with his wife, Ashley Adrian Jr., age 3 as well as four others who did not live with him. The couple married in July. Another boy, whom Peterson never met, was killed last October in Sioux Falls, S.D., after being assaulted. A man the mother was dating faces murder charges. Peterson’s arrest comes at a time when the N.F.L. is already reeling from criticism for its handling of a domestic violence case involving Ray Rice, the former Baltimore Ravens running back.

Frozen Fruit Machine

Turn frozen fruit and other flavorings into a delicious, healthy soft-serve treat. The unit combines frozen bananas and any additional fruit or chocolate and churns the ingredients to produce a treat with the texture of frozen yogurt, but without the additional fat, sugar, or preservatives.

China wants to build line of high-speed train linking Beijing to USA

hina is planning to build a giant train line linking Beijing to the United States passing through Alaska and Canada. At certain points of the route, the train line will undergo underwater. According to a report in Beijing Times matter, citing an expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the Chinese authorities intend to start the route in northeast China, passing through eastern Siberia, Russia, and across the Bering Strait through a tunnel submerged about 200 km to get to Alaska.

A black hole in space where gravity pulls so much that even light cannot get out.

As seen on Cosmos: A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light cannot get out. The gravity is so robust because matter has been squeezed into a little space. This can occur when a star is dying. Because no light can get out, people can't see black holes. They are invisible. Space telescopes with special tools can help find black holes. The distinctive tools can see how stars that are very adjacent to black holes act in a different way than other stars. Seen here is an artist's drawing of a black hole named Cygnus X-1. It shaped when a large star caved in, and this black hole pulls matter from blue star beside it.

Image Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss

Northern lights may make rare appearance in parts of U.S.

A solar storm may cast colored lights – known as the Aurora Borealis or Northern lights – in the sky over parts of the northern Plains, the Great Lakes region and Northeast on Thursday and Friday, forecasters say.

“It’s a very rare occurrence,” Joe Kunches of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo., told the Los Angeles Times.It may be only be visible for five or 10 minutes, most likely as far south as Colorado, Illinois and Iowa and potentially from Chicago, Boston, Cleveland, Seattle and Des Moines.
MORE: How to see the Northern lights
The time, location and duration of an appearance is a calculated guess. “We really don’t have the ability to say when it comes to forecasting the aurora,” Kunches said.The cause, however, is clear. “Basically, on late Tuesday, there was a strong eruption at the sun that was caused by strong magnetic fields,”  Kunches said. “Part of that eruption was at a cloud, which got blown off.” The eruption shook Earth's magnetic field and expanded the Aurora Borealis south, possibly as far south as Colorado and central Illinois.
MORE: How to see the Northern lights
Kunches likened the eruption to a foul ball at a baseball game.“There is a directional component to it,” he said. “It really matters where you are.”In this case, the cloud – like a foul ball at a baseball game – is “coming our way.” He said best viewing would probably be Thursday around midnight in all regions, weather permitting.Normally, “the Northern lights mostly appear at the very northern or southern latitudes because that’s where the magnetic fields of Earth come through the atmosphere,” Andrew West, a Boston University professor in the department of astronomy, told The Times in an email.
“Following large solar flares where huge amounts of particles are sent into the solar system, we can often see auroras and sometimes at mid-latitudes."Dr. William Paterson of NASA's Department of Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, said that the aurora is visible in these areas “a couple of times a decade.”Back in 2004, Paterson said the Northern lights were visible as far south as Virginia. But the magnitude of this geomagnetic solar storm is hard to predict.“Exactly how dramatic the storm is going to be, we can’t tell,” Paterson said. “But it is within the realm of possibilities that the Northern lights are going to be seen pretty far south.”Kunches said if the storm isn’t as severe as forecasters are predicting, the Northern lights may only make its way to the U.S.-Canada border.The name “aurora borealis” means “dawn of the north.” In Roman myth, Aurora was the goddess of the dawn, according to the Canada-based Northern Lights Centre website.

As new coach of the Redskins, Jay Gruden faces a very tall order

1) Statistically, there is a very good chance you will eventually be fired.And, 2) Remember in the Ashburn press room Thursday night, before the pizza you so graciously bought the media arrived, when I asked if you had ever watched, “Good Will Hunting”? Yeah? And you replied, “Yes, I have.”Well, it’s one of my all-time favorites because it distills an unvarnished realness that a man of solid Gruden stock like yourself might appreciate. Especially the scene at the end, when Matt Damon’s character is brought to inconsolable tears by his vulnerable, tough-guy therapist, who finally opens the gusher with four simple words: It’s not your fault.

In this drama, where you have signed on for five years to boldly go where no coach — not even Joe Gibbs — has gone before under Daniel Snyder, you need to hear those four words. You need to hear them before the cycle begins anew, before unbridled optimism turns to constant concern and constant concern turns to moments of resignation and moments of resignation turn to, “Why did I take this damn job?”And like Robin Williams in the film, on your most deflating day, I will tell you like I did Thursday night: It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault, Jay.If you become the eighth straight coach in the Snyder era not to finish your contract, you will not leave Washington a worse coach than you were before you got here. If you don’t hoist the Lombardi Trophy with this franchise, it will likely have nothing to do with your ability to prepare or lead or get the best out of your men. You probably won’t be done in by a better scheme or a more capable coaching staff.

You will simply be caught up in a vortex of an owner and a management structure that really, sincerely wants to win but still hasn’t shown it knows how,

Dan means well; he really does. But almost unconsciously he could soon make you compromise your values and beliefs about this game in ways you can’t imagine.It might be as simple as you spending an inordinate amount of time in his office each week, explaining every move to him. It might be taking the player’s side in a dispute that undermines your authority. It might be strongly recommending that you and Bruce trade for a player you really have major questions about. He won’t just come out and say, “If you don’t take Albert Haynesworth you’re fired.” No. It’s much more subtler than that. He’ll say, “Look, I’m ready to pony up to get this guy. If we don’t get him, you better hope he doesn’t have an MVP season or that’s going to look real bad on your staff.”

That really happened.

In time, you will learn to pick your battles. But at some juncture you might also look the other way when your authority on a personnel matter is challenged, because that’s what you’ll feel you need to do to survive.

And, one night a couple of years from now, when things are not going well and you can’t tell the world about the way you feel undermined, you will invariably call your brother, Jon, and recall how simple football was when all you had to worry about was game-planning for the monster on the other side of the line each weekend.

But this is a new day, a good day for you and your family.Your name helped, but your credentials — paying your dues for 17 years in three pro leagues – hopefully got this job more than being the brother of a man who won a Super Bowl 12 years ago.Being a former quarterback of renown at Louisville and a legend in the Arena League, you still intuitively know what’s going through Robert Griffin III’s mind, based solely on the shared past of being a star at the most important position on the field.Your first order of business is every new coach’s first order of business in this town — clean up the mess that came before you, bond with the quarterback.

Just remember it’s a foundational issue — deeper and more multi-layered than even the best refurbishing expert can comprehend. It goes back more than a decade. Marty Schottenheimer, Mike Shanahan, Gibbs and others who were very fine coaches tried mightily but simply couldn’t get it done. You’re younger and hungrier than all of them, teeming with the same I-can-be-the-guy belief they had the day they took the job.

I’m rooting for you because I have a hunch you’re the kind of plain-spoken, authentic person needed to make fans believe.It’s a heck of a task. Not the fixing the roster part. But actually changing a culture, not just saying a culture is changed. f it happens and you’re the last coach on the field at the end of the season with the confetti coming down, you’ll not only be the man who restored the franchise to prominence; you’ll be the first coach to give Daniel Snyder the one thing money can’t buy: the utter, complete adoration of the fans.But if it doesn’t happen, chances are forces beyond your control will have been the reason. 

Winter Solstice

In astronomy, the solstice is either of the two times a year when the Sun is at its greatest distance from the celestial equator, the great circle on the celestial sphere that is on the same plane as the earth's equator. In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice occurs either December 21 or 22, when the sun shines directly over the tropic of Capricorn; the summer solstice occurs either June 20 or 21, when the sun shines directly over the tropic of Cancer. In the Southern Hemisphere, the winter and summer solstices are reversed.

Reason for the Seasons

The reason for the different seasons at opposite times of the year in the two hemispheres is that while the earth rotates about the sun, it also spins on its axis, which is tilted some 23.5 degrees towards the plane of its rotation. Because of this tilt, the Northern Hemisphere receives less direct sunlight (creating winter) while the Southern Hemisphere receives more direct sunlight (creating summer). As the Earth continues its orbit the hemisphere that is angled closest to the sun changes and the seasons are reversed.

Longest Night of the Year

The winter solstice marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year. The sun appears at its lowest point in the sky, and its noontime elevation appears to be the same for several days before and after the solstice. Hence the origin of the word solstice, which comes from Latin solstitium, from sol, "sun" and -stitium, "a stoppage." Following the winter solstice, the days begin to grow longer and the nights shorter.

Numbers announced for $636 million Mega Millions jackpot

This holiday season just got a lot merrier for at least two insanely lucky people.Two tickets matched the winning numbers in Tuesday night's $636 million Mega Millions jackpot -- splitting the second-largest prize in U.S. history.

One winning ticket was sold in Atlanta, and the other was sold in San Jose, California, lottery officials said.

The winning numbers were 8, 14, 17, 20 and 39, with a Megaball of 7. Twenty ticket holders will win $1 million after matching all the numbers except the Megaball.Strong sales boosted the jackpot to $636 million from the previous estimate of $586 million, lottery officials announced late Tuesday morning. That's tantalizingly close to the U.S. record -- a $656 million Mega Millions jackpot split by three winning tickets in March 2012.

This jackpot was so large in part because Mega Millions became tougher to win. The prize rises with each miss, and no one had won it since organizers increased the pool of numbers to choose from -- making astronomical odds even longer -- in October. The winning tickets were sold at Jenny's Gift Shop in a San Jose strip mall and a Gateway Newstand in the lobby of an office building near Atlanta's Buckhead area, lottery officials said.

In Florida, $8,000 worth of tickets were sold every minute from 9 to 10 a.m. Tuesday, CNN affiliate WFTS reported, citing lottery officials. Mega Millions tickets go for $1 each, though buyers choose to pay an additional $1 for the Megaplier option, which could multiply lesser, non-jackpot winning prizes.Before the drawing, a lottery player in the Bronx joked Tuesday that the jackpot wouldn't change his life.

"It would just change my vocabulary. I would say, 'I quit' (my job)," he told CNN affiliate News 12 of New York on Tuesday morning in the Bronx's Hunts Point neighborhood. At Bunny's Superette in Manchester, New Hampshire, a clerk told CNN affiliate WMUR that Mega Millions sales were brisk Tuesday -- she'd gone through four rolls of ticket paper by noon.

One player there, Armand Lesage, said he'd like to use the jackpot to escape snowy New Hampshire for a warm vacation. But he'd also share with his large family."My mother had 19 of us, and that is a big family, and 14 are still living," he told WMUR.The chance of winning -- never particularly bright -- got worse in late October, when Mega Millions increased the drawing's pool of numbers. The odds of hitting the jackpot, which were 1 in 176 million, are now 1 in 259 million.You have more than 1,000 times better chance of an asteroid or comet killing you -- and that's using the longest estimated odds for the celestial bodies -- according to Tulane University."Winning the Mega Millions is akin to getting struck by lightning at the same time you're being eaten by a shark," said Todd Northrop, founder of Lotterypost.com.$800 million in lottery prizes unclaimed

Previously, lottery players chose five numbers, ranging from 1 to 56. It's now 1 to 75. But the sixth, gold ball has fewer numbers from which to choose, as the pool decreased from 46 to 15.Mega Millions tickets are sold in 43 states -- all but Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming -- plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Who Is the Best Scientist of All Time?

An online ranking that compares the performance of academics across all fields found that Karl Marx is the most influential scholar and Edward Witten is the most influential scientist Is theoretical physicist Ed Witten more influential in his field than the biologist Solomon Snyder is among life scientists? And how do their records of scholarly impact measure up against those of past greats such as Karl Marx among historians and economists, or Sigmund Freud among psychologists? Performance metrics based on values such as citation rates are heavily biased by field, so most measurement experts shy away from interdisciplinary comparisons. The average biochemist, for example, will always score more highly than the average mathematician, because biochemistry attracts more citations.

But researchers at IUB (Indiana University Bloomington) think that they have worked out the best way of correcting this disciplinary bias. And they are publishing their scores online, for the first time letting academics compare rankings across all fields.Their provisional (and constantly updated) ranking of nearly 35,000 researchers relies on queries made through Google Scholar to normalize the popular metric known as the h-index (a scientist with an h-index of 20 has published at least 20 papers with at least 20 citations each, so the measure takes into account quantity and popularity of research). It found that as of 5 November, the most influential scholar was Karl Marx in history, ahead of Sigmund Freud in psychology. Number three was Edward Witten, a physicist at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. The ranking appears on the website Scholarometer, developed by Filippo Menczer, an informatician at Indiana University Bloomington, and his colleagues Jasleen Kaur and Filippo Radicchi.Universal metrics “We think there is a hunger for this. Our colleagues use Google Scholar all the time, and yet it only shows the h-index," says Menczer. "We are constantly asking ‘how do we evaluate people in a discipline we don’t understand?’”

In October, Menczer's team published a paper arguing that the best statistical way to remove disciplinary bias is to divide a researcher’s h-index by the average of their scholarly field. Using this correction, Marx scores more than 22 times the average h-index of other scholars in history (but 11 times that of the average economist). Witten has more than 13 times the average physicist, and so on. The effect is to ensure that those in, say, the top 5% of their discipline also appear in the top 5% of all scholars. The idea is not new. Metrics experts have invented numerous methods to solve bias, often using averages based on age, journal and scholarly field. Normalized measures are available from commercial information firms such as Thomson Reuters.

First time for everything
But Scholarometer pushes boundaries in two ways. Most importantly, its normalized scores are freely accessible, unlike those of most sites. Thomson Reuters analyses are based on proprietary databases and cannot be made public. Another site, Publish or Perish, does return a variety of age and field-normalized metrics from public queries to Google Scholar — but only to one individual at a time. The problem is that Google Scholar blocks automated computer programs that hit it with multiple queries, making it impossible to collate scores.

The Indiana team’s solution is to create an automated program that does not query Google Scholar itself, but rather scrapes the results of individual Google Scholar queries placed through a Scholarometer browser extension. Over years, they have built up a dynamic public database, with h-indices constantly revised as new Google Scholar queries come in. Menczer says that an age-corrected h-index that allows comparison of scholars at different career stages may follow.

Karl Marx is the most influential scholar ever, according to a discipline-corrected ranking system

Original Article At
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