Avid sky-gazers who had assembled at vantage positions across the country tonight watched this year’s first and “deepest” penumbral lunar eclipse.
Parts of western and southern India witnessed the eclipse when the moon was rising while the rest of the country saw the total duration of the eclipse, NGO Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (S.P.A.C.E.) Director C B Devgun told agencies.
Eastern Canada and US, however, missed the eclipse, while people in Alaska, Hawaii, Australia and East Asia saw the entire eclipse, he said.
A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth is in a direct line between the sun and the moon and the shadow of the earth falls on the Moon, Devgun said, adding a penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when moon passes through penumbra, the lighter part of the earth’s shadow.
The lighter part of Earth’s shadow is called the “penumbra” and the totally dark part is called the “umbra”.
Greenpeace Japan has said the focus of its anti-whaling campaign is shifting from active protesting to dialogue, stating that it will not be sending a ship to the Antarctic Sea this season.
The move not only marks a departure for the conservation group as it has sent such a ship for the past three years but also comes on the heels of the prosecution of two Greenpeace activists over a whale meat-related scandal.
“The main reason we’ve decided not to send a ship is that we are seeing positive changes in Japan, with more people opposing whaling in the Southern Ocean,” Greenpeace campaigner Frode Pleym told a press conference in Tokyo on Friday.
The group also said it has documented enough evidence of Japan’s whaling activities over the years as it sent ships to the ocean a total of nine times. “We’ve thus decided to focus our activities in Tokyo,” where Japan’s whaling policies are made, said Wakao Hanaoka of Greenpeace Japan.
The group will seek to reach the Japanese public through dialogue and lobbying in the Diet and elsewhere in order to achieve an end to whaling by the Japanese government, it said.
Pleym was careful to note that the group is also eager to cultivate a different image among the Japanese public — not just as an anti-whaling campaigner but also as a crusader on such issues as food safety, genetically modified food and climate change.
“We would like to show the true face of Greenpeace. We are so much more also,” he said.
Rajendra Kumar Pachauri has been elected chairman of the UN body Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for a second term.
The election was by “acclamation” at the IPCC plenary session in Geneva Tuesday night, a spokesperson of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) said here Wednesday. TERI is the New Delhi-based think tank that Pachauri also heads.
Pachauri’s election to the head of the body that shared last year’s Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore was a foregone conclusion, as there was no other candidate in the fray since he agreed a few months back to stand for a second term.
Pachauri has been the chairman of IPCC since 2002. His second term is for five years.
The IPCC - an amalgamation of over 2,500 scientists from all over the world - has been providing the scientific information and analysis of climate change. Its seminal fourth report that was published in 2007 brought the danger of climate change to the global public consciousness more urgently than had happened before.
An abandoned baby whale which touched hearts around the world by trying to suckle from a yacht it thought was its mother was put to death near Sydney Harbor on Friday to spare it further suffering.Aboriginal “whale whisperers” and weeping protesters failed to save the stricken calf, with Australian rangers destroying the animal with a fatal dose of anesthetic.
The humpback whale, nicknamed “Colin” but later found to be female, was discovered at the weekend attempting to suckle from a moored yacht at Sydney’s Pittwater Bay after being abandoned by its mother off Australia’s east coast.
After a six-day effort to lead the calf back to open sea and re-unite it with other migrating humpbacks, rangers and scientists decided that it would be more humane to destroy the whale.
A vet report and blood tests on Thursday revealed the two-ton calf, believed to be only two to three weeks old, was in poor condition and probably had only hours to live. It was suffering from shark bite wounds and breathing difficulties.
“Everyone is very connected to this animal and it is a very emotional decision,” state Parks Service chief Sally Barnes told Australian radio on Friday. “I’ve taken the decision that I don’t want to prolong the agony of this animal,” she said.
The whale’s struggle to survive captivated Australians, who strongly oppose Japanese “scientific” whale killing and flock to sea on whale-sighting tours during the giant mammals’ annual Antarctic migration and breeding season in Australian waters.
A handful of outraged animal rights protesters who staged an overnight vigil in Sydney said the calf’s drawn-out death, over 10 minutes after anesthetic was injected, had brought scenes akin to the yearly Japanese Southern Ocean slaughter to Australian doorsteps.
“It was absolutely disgusting. They have towed him behind the boat, scenes reminiscent of what we’ve seen the Japanese fishing trawlers do. He was clearly still alive, he was clearly moving, the line was thrashing,” said boat captain Alexander Littingham, from Devine Marine Group.
Littingham and other activists tried to block the whale’s destruction with a state Supreme Court legal injunction but were too slow to save the animal. Some watchers shouted “murderer” as vets and scientists prepared to move in, watched by police.
“I don’t understand why they didn’t let it die quietly. It was obviously distressed. I’m 41 years old and almost collapsed,” onlooker Michael Brown told News Ltd.
SCIENTIFIC DEBATE
Scientists debated for almost a week over whether the whale could be saved, pointing out that migrating whale pods passing Sydney’s beaches were unlikely to adopt a strange calf.
“It would face a higher predation pressure from sharks. There is absolutely no information to suggest another humpback whale female would be available or wanting to adopt it,” Southern Cross University Whale Research Centre Director Peter Harrison said.
Other whale researchers accused rescuers of interfering in a natural process and said the calf’s mother had probably abandoned it because it had some genetic abnormality.
“It does happen from time to time that calfs, especially those born so far south of the birthing grounds will not make it,” Will Ford, a spokesman for the whale watching industry in Sydney, said on Thursday.
The saga spread around the world via the Internet, with chat rooms and forums abuzz with opinions on how the whale’s fate should have been handled.
After destroying the whale, rangers dragged the carcass by boat to a nearby beach and covered it with a tarpaulin and a tent ahead of an autopsy at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo to determine what may have caused the calf’s mother to abandon it.
An Aboriginal “whale whisperer” was brought to the bay from South Australia to “talk” to the stricken calf, which responded by nudging its head momentarily clear of the water after being stroked on the back and sung ancient indigenous songs.
“He heard me singing and came over. I looked at him and he was full of life. He had a few scratches and cuts on him and I was a bit worried about his eyes. All he needed is a mother’s milk,” whisperer Bunna Lawrie told the Sydney Morning Herald, pleading with authorities for a change of heart.
On Monday a team of workers towed the private yacht out to sea to try to lure the calf into deeper water, hoping that it would find its mother or another passing whale pod, but it was spotted close to the beach at Pittwater again on Tuesday.
I’ve heard that people say it will be global warming… what reasons have you heard?
That’s nothing more than people allowing themselves to get caught up in the mysticism of ancient tribal folklore. The whole concept derives from the Mayan calendar ending on December 21, 2012 even with no real reason for why it ends. Don’t worry too much about it. I wouldn’t put too much faith in a prediction of the end of world from a culture that couldn’t even predict their own demise hundreds of years prior.
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This has been going on for years, I can remember predictions that the world was going to end in 1980, and then again in 1988, and then again in 2000, it seem that there will always be someone wanting to predict the end of the world, perhaps in the hope that one day they would be able to say i told you so.
However if you really believed that the world was going to end in 2012, or even 2009, what would you do differently?
and if there was some way that you could change it, they don’t you think that you should be doing that anyway?
The biggest nuke in the world would make a big hole in the ice cap for about 40 miles across. There would be a region of shatter ice a few miles beyond.
It would not MELT the ice cap.
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No. This isn’t hard to calculate. The largest nuclear bomb contemplated is about 100 megatons or 2.5 x 10^17 Joules. Divide that by the heat of fusion of water 3.3 x 10^5 J/kg and you can melt about 10^12 kg of ice. One square kilometer of ice 10 meters thick is 10^7 m^3 and would have a mass of about 10^10 kg, so you could melt an area about 10 km x 10 km. This is much smaller than the amount of ice at the north pole.
Hey I’m really interested in wildlife biology, and I’m wondering if you come into direct contact with animals frequently with that job. What I really want to do is something like breeding endangered species, and releasing them back out into the wild, but I don’t know what thats called. And I don’t want to be stuck in a lab all the time or indoors a lot, I want to be in direct contact with the animals at most times… anyone know what this is called??
I work as a wildlife biologist that specializes in ornithology, so I do get to handle wild birds and baby chicks in the nest etc. I also get to handle reptiles, amphibians, fish, bats, and small mammals. I come in close contact with coyotes, bobcat, deer, wild pigs, etc. while out working, but I do not specifically study those animals. Depending on what animals you study and what you are studying about them will determine if you will be interacting with them. If you do radio tracking, you would have to trap the animal to putt the tracking device on them, or if you are banding birds, you would capture them to band them. If you want to breed endangered species..basically only zoos do this type of work, or a few animal sancuaries that are located in the country of origin where that specific endangered species comes from. You might want to look into being a wildlife or field biologist (meaning you will spend most of your time outdoors as I do). To do this career, you will need a MINIMUM of a Bachelor of Science degree.
me: wildlife/field biologist that mainly studies endangered birds.
If so, what items do you normally recycle? I have always recycled cans and bottles, but I am really wanting to start recycling any items that are recyclable.
Basically most recycle facilities recycle by number… there is triangle on the container and most places can handle number 1 or 2 plastics. Look for your number “before” you buy so you’ll know that you can recycle.
The whole key minimizing impact is to stop buying single use items. Only buy things that you can recycle or reuse! If your facilities don’t recycle what your store sells, complain to the store and the manufacturer and don’t buy it. Take responsibility for the item from purchase to reuse or recycle.
Checking out your local facility by phone and inquire which recycle numbers that they handle… Also ask about motor oils, special days for small appliances, computers and especially how to handle small batteries and old batteries and tires.
They should have flat box recycle and newspaper, magazine, clear, green etc which you are likely familiar with. It’s very unfortunate that fast food places use Number 5 and such because many places cannot recycle those.
Place large appliances like stoves in the local free-cycles because people make a living collecting scrap metal and you will just make their day with one of these! Let these people take your cans while you are at it since that means less time to recycle facility for you and more for the scrap metal guy!
There may also be a free-cycle outdoor wood burner guy or gal who will take any and all scrap wood to heat his home and water.
Free-cycle as much as you can! Shop at Goodwill for nice long lasting durable items… I just bought a nice percolator (now back in style) for like $3! I added a GE switch to the plug end (for like less than $3) it becomes just like a $50 machine!
Recycle clothes at Goodwill and also buy there, quality stuff… those old styles just keep coming back and no one will be able to buy an outfit like it.. how’s that for fashion!
We go to the recycle place to obtain newspapers and paper FROM the recycle place for our farm. We also grab newspaper coupons which we promptly give away to the local coupon swap.
We have a small farm of quail within the city and our dogs eat just about any and all of the unusable waste from the farm… Quail poop? We use all our leaves for quail bedding which is then composted with other non-edible table scraps.
What goes to the curb at my house and farm is the newspaper that lines the dog shed and the related dog poop conveniently wrapped in the paper bags that the quail feed comes in. I save the string on the bags for craft projects.
Payment for trash pickup in the city is mandatory.
Jars we get from “free” coupon or very cheap offers are used to sell home-made feed or home-made all quail meat dog and cat food to our customers.
We recycle/reuse rain water for the garden and use our personal wash water for first rinse on quail pens and equipment.
Laundry soap containers? I make my own laundry soap in a reusable 5 gallon drywall compound bucket… If I get a coupon for “free” laundry soap, I save the empty container and refill with my own laundry soap to sell to customers inquiring at the farmers market.
Many cans are cleaned and reused to hold feed and depending on what was in it.. water for chickens etc.
Unrecyclable plastic wrap and wax paper, etc can go to our local cheese maker every week at the market who has an outdoor furnace that triple cycles the plastic burn gas until barely anything but water and carbon and heat for hot water comes from the outdoor burner.
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yes I recycle just about everything. Some things can be reused by others so I sell that on or donate it. It saves a lot of money if you recycle some things like printer-ink carrtridges, the more you get the same one refilled the cheaper your annual ink bill is.
I recycle:
Newspapers and cardboard as plant mulch.
other paper I recycle
tins
bottles
clothes
shoes
books
cds
household furniture
I donate old magazines to hospital waiting rooms
donate your old mobile to charity
plastics - mostly I avoid buying them, if I have to I use them and reuse them for years
old carpets I use as plant mulch
branches and scrap wood
metal (worth a bob nowadays ask at your scrap yard)
old glasses are recycled by optician
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The two biggest components of household waste are paper and food/yard waste. If you compost your food/yard waste and recycle or compost your paper, you will reduce your trash by more than half (on average). Remember, composting is just nutrient recycling.
Beyond that, remember to recycle old clothing and fabric. There are usually drop-off bins in your town, or thrift stores will take direct donations. Your donations will help charity, reduce virgin fiber use, and clothe the poor here and abroad.
Also, recycling all electronics is very important. Most electronics contain toxic metals and chemicals, as well as industrially valuable metals like copper and gold.
edit: Sparhawk- do you have any numbers to justify that statement? Without a context of location, material, source, etc., it’s just not true. Steel, copper, and many other metals are far more energy efficient to recycle than to produce new. Depending on the quality of the paper, area of the country, and many other factors, paper can also save many resources.
Yes, glass and plastic recycling may consume more energy to recycle, again depending on the situation.
i bought a desktop A/C that uses ice but it only cools my face, i have one sliding door window across from my door and i might buy a box fan to circulate the air, is their a certain way to position the box fan to get colder air in my room? should i face the box fan toward the window to let the heat go out? or out the door?
It depends on whether the rest of the house is hot or cool.
if the house is cool then face to fan out,.
if the house is hot face the fan in.
if the sliding door open onto a covered patio with a cement slab, you can wet the cement and that will cool the air from the out side.
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Usually the best way to cool a room is with cross ventilation. You need an entrance and an exit. It is best to place the fan at the exit facing out so you are pushing the warmer air out and drawing the cooler air in.
You may also want to look around your room to see if you have any unnecessary heat generators. You can change lights to CFL or LED they are cooler than incandescent or halogens. TV’s, computers, monitors and refrigerators all generate a lot of heat when they are on, so turn them off when you aren’t using them, and place them near the exit, so their hot air is drawn out before they heat the air in the room.
Could it replace natural gas for heating, for electricity production? Could it be cheaper than natural gas? Coal? Petroleum? I know it is dangerous in cars but the same odor they put in natural gas they could add to the hydrogen to make it a little safer for the home. And what about electric companies that use natural gas to produce electricity could they use hydrogen? Would it, could it be cheaper?
Hydrogen can be generated from natural gas with approximately 80% efficiency, or other hydrocarbons to a varying degree of efficiency. The hydrocarbon conversion method releases greenhouse gases.
Biohydrogen can be produced in an algae bioreactor. In the late 1990s it was discovered that if the algae is deprived of sulfur it will switch from the production of oxygen, i.e. normal photosynthesis, to the production of hydrogen.
Production is now economically feasible by trespassing the 7-10 percent energy efficiency (the conversion of sunlight into hydrogen) barrier.
Other methods include Electrolysis and Thermochemical production, but these require high energy input which increases cost. Although, in 2003, steam reforming of natural gas yielded hydrogen at $1.40/kg but as gas prices increase, so does the cost of the Hydrogen/kg.
Although if the electricity required for room temperature electrolysis was produced from renewable energy, this would reduce costs and the carbon footprint of production.
Hydrogen combustion in a conventional engine would produce very high levels of NO.
However, for a project in Abu-Dhabi Hydrogen gas is going to be used to fuel gas turbines and generate 420MW of low-carbon electricity. The CO2 from the reaction is going to be pumped into a producing oil field to maintain pressure, currently natural gas is used, with CO2 replacing this, the natural gas may be exported or used elsewhere.
Enjoy the link.
Almost all hydrogen produced today is made FROM natural gas. That hydrogen is more expensive than natural gas, because of the work to make it added to the cost of the gas. Making hydrogen any other way, including by electrolysis of water, is even more expensive. And hydrogen is harder to store and transport than natural gas. So I can’t see hydrogen ever being cheaper than natural gas, as long there is any natural gas left in the ground to tap. Even after that, the main component of natural gas, methane, is produced by all kinds of organic matter decaying. You can collect it from sewage treatment plants and land fills. And that is being done today. So natural gas or methane is just a way better fuel, except for special cases like rockets where the low molecular weight of H2 is enough of an advantage to outweigh its many disadvantages.
Parts of western and southern India witnessed the eclipse when the moon was rising while the rest of the country saw the total duration of the eclipse, NGO Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (S.P.A.C.E.) Director C B Devgun told agencies.