Editorial
Has the 21st Century destroyed Darwin's Theory of Evolution forever? Why isn't our world a teeming oasis full of shiny happy people and sparkling healthy wildlife?
Climate Crisis
Climate Crisis: Record warm and record snow in the same day Anchorage: Unprecedented Pink Salmon pre-spawning die-offs: Record-breaking heat Aus: Record rain Mumbai
A weekend of intense heat in Western Australia has seen 36 locations, including Perth, record their warmest November day on record and now the hot air mass is on its way to the eastern states.
Monthly Report
September 2019: Record-busting Cat 5 Hurricane Dorian. Forgotten Sept 11 Hurricane Erin: Historic wildfires: Typhoons and a rush of major quakes!
As we headed into September, four potential tropical depressions were forming in the Atlantic and the Gulf with Hurricane Dorian becoming the multi record-breaker. The record-busting Cat 5 Hurricane was confirmed as the second-strongest Atlantic storm on record with top sustained winds of 185 mph and gusts hitting 220 mph (350 KMH). At this point, Miami was warned of a possible storm surge that could push destructive waves higher than many roofs in the islands as Dorian approached. the Bahamas. Full Story
Volcanoes
Japan's colossus, the Sakurajima volcano spews smoke and ash 5.5 km (3.4 miles) high with the biggest eruption in more than three years
The Sakurajima volcano shot smoke and ash miles into the sky on Friday in its biggest eruption in more than three years, Kyodo News reported.
Major quakes
A powerful magnitude 7.4 quake reduced to a magnitude 7.1 by USGS has rocked Indonesia with authorities issuing a tsunami alert
Apparently, the tsunami alert panicked locals to flee to higher ground, there are no reports of casualties or damage so far.
Today's quake was the 7th of November and the 122nd major quake, (M6 or higher) of 2019, at the same time of the year in 2018, 113 major quakes had been reported, in 2017, just 92, 2017 had the lowest number of major quakes recorded this century with just 111.
Extreme Weather
Hurricanes and cyclones
Two million evacuated as Cyclone Bulbul smashes into the Bay Of Bengal while Vietnam prepares for Tropical Storm Nakri landfall tonight
According to Reuters, several coastal districts were expected to register wind speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour (74.5 miles per hour) and heavy or very heavy rainfall, the Bangladesh Meteorological Department said in its latest forecast. It said low-lying areas and islands were likely to see storm surges between five and seven feet (1.5-2.1 meters) higher than normal maximum tide levels.
Spaceweather
A mag 6.3 in the Atlantic could be a precursor to heavy seismic and volcanic activity after a cavernous hole on our sun spews solar wind toward earth's magnetosphere
We can expect more major seismic activity in the coming days as a massive coronal hole is spewing huge amounts of solar wind toward the Earth's magnetosphere from our sun causing geomatic storms which are known to cause seismic and volcanic activity.
This hole (properly called a "coronal hole") is an old friend. It has been spinning around with the sun for more than 4 months, strobing Earth with solar wind at approximately 26-day intervals.
Manmade disasters
Just this week, The Big Wobble reported on the millions of small dead sea birds which are been reported dead annually since 2015. This year the Short-tailed Shearwaters are dying in record amounts but in recent years puffins, murres, and auklets have been dying in unprecedented numbers thought to be due to starvation due to lack of fish along the Westcoast, however, the Alaskan problem pales into significance after a new report was released this week. Full story Dr Ken Rosenberg from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the American Bird Conservancy was the first to "run the numbers" on bird populations. "We knew some species were declining," he told BBC News, "but we thought that, while rare birds were disappearing, the more generalist birds - and those better adapted to human landscapes - would be filling in the gaps."
Climate Change
The 2020s are set to be an economic and social upheaval: Europe losing 1000 small farms a day: America's 2019 crop failure is a "disaster": Asia millions of pigs slaughtered
A crisis is emerging across three continents as extreme weather conditions and disease are beginning to bite the farming industry and world banks warning the 2020s are set to be a decade of dramatic economic and social upheaval as another billion mouths will need to be fed. Meanwhile, Europe loses 1000 small farms a day, due to a crop decline in replanting leading to price rises. Officials are using the word 'disaster' to describe the widespread crop failures happening all over America. In Asia pork prices this year have almost doubled after a quarter of the pig population has been slaughtered due to swine fever.
Disease
20 Congolese boys were tested for Ebola in Texas back in April as ISIS armed militias are killing health care workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo
The UN health agency yesterday identified a 5-year-old Congolese boy as the first confirmed case of Ebola in Uganda.
Despite numerous previous alerts in Uganda, this is the first instance in which the virus has been identified outside DRC during what has become the worst-ever outbreak in its history.
Animal Die-Offs
Monday, 18 November 2019 "It's the tip of the iceberg" Thousands of short-tailed shearwaters migrating from Alaska have been washing up on Sydney's iconic beaches but death rate of Alaskan seabirds is unprecedented
Thousands of short-tailed shearwaters migrating from Alaska have been washing up on Sydney's iconic beaches, with who knows how many more dying out at sea in what could be confirmation of incredible fish shortages in the Pacific Ocean. The corpses have been spotted at several shorelines including Bondi, Manly and Cronulla. The birds are migrating back to southern Australia to breed after spending the summer in Alaska. But, according to experts, a higher number than usual are dying on the way due to a lack of food. The birds need to be at full strength to make the 14,000km trip over the Pacific but the krill and other fish they feed on have apparently dwindled due to sea temperatures rising.
Environment
Highly toxic metals like arsenic, selenium, copper, and DBT is creating a major public health concern as California's Salton Sea has become an environmental disaster
Wildfires
Hellfire! Australia's worst bushfire season ever with summer hardly started: Fire conditions expected throughout the summer months of December, January and February
According to Reuters, two people have died, five are missing and at least 150 homes have been destroyed as bushfires rage across eastern Australia, authorities said on Saturday. The New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS) confirmed two people had been killed by a fire near Glen Innes, more than 550 km (340 miles) north of Sydney.
Photo of the day
Picture of the day: Very tame Blackbird lays two beautiful blue eggs just 1 meter above our dining table
Earlier this month we noticed a female Blackbird hanging around under our conservatory in the back garden.
She was incredibly tame and totally unfazed by being around humans and we soon realised she was building a nest just 1 meter above our dining table, see picture below.
She soon delivered two beautiful blue eggs.
She stayed with us for a week or so sitting in her nest while we all went about our business and she was obviously very comfortable living among us.
Unfortunately one morning we came downstairs to see our lady friend in her nest with broken eggshells and behaving in a distressed manner, we think the nest was attacked by Magpies earlier that morning.
She is still to be found in our garden however and she is still very tame.
