Europe's Spaceport

Photo: ESA

The European Space Agency (ESA) is one of my favorite news groups that I receive notices on. I thought I'd explain a little more about the agency because the aspect I find most interesting is the space port they have established in the northeast of South America in French Guiana, an overseas department of France. In detail, this is an excellent decision to put launch pads on the edge of the Amazon. Without those details many are left wondering why.

The ESA's website has a great, detailed explanation on their projects and people. French Guiana is located almost on the equator which reduces fuel during liftoff and provides a prime orbit for their payloads. So, be sure to check out (ESA's) Europe's Spaceport

'Jolted' Fish Gave Early Warning Of Hawaii Quake & Hawaii sinking

Fish in a lagoon at a Hawaiian resort began to jump out the water like they were being jolted with electricity minutes before a 6.6 magnitude earthquake rattled the islands, causing blackouts and landslides, according to Local 6's Erik von Ancken, who is vacationing in the area.

Von Ancken said he was on a beach during a visit to the islands over the weekend when he noticed the fish.

"The fish started to jump out of the water in a lagoon, like jump out of the water like a jolt," Local 6's Erik von Ancken said. "Obviously, they sensed it before we did and then everything started shaking."

The quake hit at 7:07 a.m. local time Sunday, 10 miles north-northwest of Kailua-Kona, a town on the west coast of Hawaii Island, also known as the Big Island, said Don Blakeman of the National Earthquake Information Center, part of the U.S. Geological Survey.

... continue article

also, check out this article on Hawaii's Big Island sinking very slowly

Balcony Shark Hunter

ROBBIE Hughes says people are genuinely shocked upon hearing he reels in man-eating sharks from his balcony six floors above a Gold Coast lake.

Not so much shocked at the bizarre nature of his fishing habits but more surprised at how many sharks are found in Gold Coast canals and rivers.

Mr Hughes, 26, fishes for bull sharks off his Varsity Lakes apartment balcony above Lake Orr in between watching television and playing video games.

He uses a boat rod to reel the sharks up to the carpark level of the apartment block before his friend David Rolando races downstairs to hook them with a gaff.

...continue article

Virtual Nintendo Entertainment System with 395 Games!

Virtual Nintendo Entertainment System with 395 Games!

Attention! If you've got java you can run the Virtual Nintendo Entertainment System. Carry on.

French hottie sings

French hottie sings

Do it for the Children!

C'mon! Do it for the Children! http://www.cafepress.com/doitforthe

GIS SITES Presents WEEKEND UPDATE

Some goings on in the world:

• Discovery Video to Round Out Google Earth
• GIS Firm Puts Monroe on the Map
• Nevada Irrigation District turns to GIS for mapping
• World BuyOwner.Com Integrates Google Earth Satellite Software to View Homes
• Saturn's Rings Show Evidence Of A Modern-Day Collision
• (AZTEC) Monolith Perhaps Largest Found in Mexico

Group sues Santa Clara County over access to digital mapping data

not Santa Clara

Group sues Santa Clara County over access to digital mapping data

An open-government group sued Santa Clara County on Wednesday seeking to break up what it called a "government monopoly" on the county's digital mapping data.

The California First Amendment Coalition accuses the county of violating the state Public Records Act by charging hefty fees to access the so-called "base map" of the county's geographic information system, or GIS. Santa Clara claims the data is copyrighted and proprietary. (continue article)

Embarrassing...

In an embarrassing situation, the Buffalo Sabres forgot to call each other to see what they were supposed to wear that night.

Hubble's New Images - Galaxy caught in the making

New Hubble images have provided a dramatic glimpse of a large massive galaxy under assembly as smaller galaxies merge. This provides the best demonstration so far that large massive galaxies form by merging smaller ones.

This formation process has commonly been thought to be the way galaxies grew in the young Universe. New Hubble observations of the radio galaxy MRC 1138-262, nicknamed the 'Spiderweb Galaxy', have shown dozens of star-forming satellite galaxies in the actual process of merging.

In nature spiders earn our respect by constructing fascinating, well-organised webs in all shapes and sizes. But the beauty masks a cruel, fatal trap. Analogously, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has found a large galaxy 10.6 thousand million light-years away from Earth that is stuffing itself with smaller galaxies caught like flies in a web of gravity. The galaxy is so far away that astronomers . . . (continue Article)

Cancun back a year after Hurricane Wilma

Using similar techniques to those in Dubai to build the Palms Islands, Cancun has finished rebuilding the coral white sand beaches of its shores. Using sand from as much as 20 miles offshore, ships pumped the new shoreline to replace almost all of the loss due to Hurricane Wilma. It's been a success and quick recovery with an added bonus - the shores are now bigger than before.

Read Cancun back a year after Hurricane Wilma

GIS SITES -- Secrets to talking to live operator

GET HUMAN & NO PHONE TREES

Here's a couple of websites for whenever you call your cable or phone company and get carpal tunnel from hitting buttons for 20 minutes just to talk to an operator to fix the bill they screwed up.

GETHUMAN is an online database of company secrets to avoid those menus and go directly to a human agent. Their list includes all the utility companies as well as credit cards and insurance groups.

Another site that's popped up is NoPhoneTrees which does similar work but also takes it up one notch and does most of the work for you than transfer the call back to your number. Nice.

African Dust Storms Stifle Hurricanes

Here's a great article about Hurrican formation and the cycles of dust storms in the Sahara Desert. Here's a sample

"Westward swirling clouds of dust from the Sahara Desert might be putting a damper on Atlantic Ocean hurricanes, a new study suggests.

Researchers analyzing satellite data from the past 25 years found that during years when the dust storms rose up, fewer hurricanes swept across the Atlantic, while periods of low dust storm activity were followed by more intense hurricane activity. Hurricanes are fueled by heat and moisture, and it's thought the dust storms help muffle the storms before they fully develop. By doing so, however, the dust storms could shift a hurricane's direction further to ...(continue article)"

The David Zucker Albright Ad

Wow!

This is screaming through the web thanks to Drudge, so give it a whirl.

GIS PILOT

Blogger's being a touch difficult lately, which is nothing unusual. So, if you need access to the GIS LINKS head to my other site GIS PILOT for all the same and more GIS links to online GIS data, downloads, and links.

TEXAS GIS Links added

Thanks for the tip from Justin at www.gis-geoblog.blogspot.com for the City of Longview, TX GIS link and the The Columbia Regional Geospatial Service Center (The Columbia Center).

Niau atoll Satellite Image

The Niau atoll, located in the central South Pacific Ocean, is highlighted in this Proba image. Niau is one of nearly 80 coral reef atolls that forms the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia. The Tuamotu is the largest chain of atolls in the world, stretching some 2000 kilometres, and has a total land area of 850 square kilometres.

The Tuamotu Archipelago, first discovered by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, is divided into nine groups, with Niau belonging to the Centre West Group. The archipelago was dubbed the ‘Dangerous Archipelago’ a couple hundred years ago because a high number of ships wrecked on its reefs and atolls. The coral reefs have formed atop a volcanic mountain range that spanned the area two to three million years ago. The islands produce pearl shell and copra (the dried meat of coconuts from which coconut oil is extracted).

Niau, 8 km in diameter and 8 m high, lies near the west end of the archipelago some 250 km east-northeast of Tahiti. As seen in the image, Niau is comprised of a completely enclosed 3.3-square-km lagoon. The narrow strip of land surrounding the lagoon is . . . (continue ESA article) <

NASA Data Captures El Niño's Return In The Pacific

NASA Data Captures El Niño's Return In The Pacific

NASA satellite data indicates El Niño has returned to the tropical Pacific Ocean, although in a relatively weak condition that may not persist and is currently much less intense than the last major El Niño episode in 1997-1998.

Over the past several weeks, NASA's Aqua and Jason satellites have observed a general warming of ocean temperatures and a rise in sea surface heights in the central and eastern Pacific along the equator, both indicators of El Niño development.

"The present conditions indicate that the intensity of this El Niño is too weak to have a major influence on current weather patterns," said Bill Patzert, oceanographer and climatologist at the NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "But, if the ocean waters continue to warm and spread eastward, this event . . . (continue article)