April 25, 2006
Cyclone Monica degrades
To give you some idea of the amount of area Monica can sprawl over without actually hitting anyone: The Northern Territory has a phenomenally low population density, withabout 1/6th of Australia's total size (135 million hectares, or 333 million acres) and with a population of 201,000 or so - which comes to about 1650 acres per person.
April 25 (Bloomberg) -- Tropical Cyclone Monica, the fifth major storm to hit north Australia this year, maintained its track toward the south of the city of Darwin after being downgraded four levels of intensity to a category one storm.
It did smash its was through Maningrida (pop 2600) as a category 5, causing damage and, thankfully, no injuries.
Monica is travelling further south and more inland than original tracking projections indicated, weakening as it goes, and is still expected to cause widespread flooding in low areas. She will hit the Timor Sea shortly and is expected to regain strength.
Scrawled illegibly by Meathe at 11:11 AM
April 24, 2006
Monica is one big angry storm.
Based on the most recent Darwin Regional Forecast Centre advisory, Tropical Cyclone Monica is a category 5 with sustained central winds of 350kph (217mph). Going by the satelite image, it spans 6' longitude. Some quick pencil and paper work to account for the curvature of the earth gives an approximate diameter of 647km (402 miles).
According to Stormtrack, if the satellite estimations are accurate (and they may be overestimating by a little bit), it is the most violent storm ever recorded. Anywhere. Currently, it looks like it will sweep through mostly unpopulated areas, then slam into the sea-level coastal city of Darwin, as seen below.
Scrawled illegibly by Meathe at 10:26 AM
September 02, 2005
Whole lotta shakin' goin' on
From the US Geological survey, a record of yesterday's larger (magnitude 3+) seismic activity in California. Actaully, all of these are within 3 miles of Obsidian Butte.
Update time = Fri Sep 2 12:32:20 PDT 2005
| Magnitude | Date/Time |
| 3.4 | 2005/09/01 23:44:28 |
| 3.3 | 2005/09/01 20:55:41 |
| 3.3 | 2005/09/01 20:54:52 |
| 3.1 | 2005/09/01 20:50:18 |
| 3.1 | 2005/09/01 20:50:14 |
| 3.2 | 2005/09/01 20:46:48 |
| 3.7 | 2005/09/01 19:46:35 |
| 3.0 | 2005/09/01 18:38:18 |
| 3.8 | 2005/09/01 18:30:32 |
| 5.1 | 2005/09/01 18:27:19 |
| 4.5 | 2005/09/01 18:27:18 |
| 3.0 | 2005/09/01 18:23:43 |
| 3.0 | 2005/09/01 08:22:45 |
| 3.2 | 2005/09/01 07:06:31 |
| 4.4 | 2005/09/01 06:50:20 |
| 3.7 | 2005/09/01 06:50:09 |
| 3.6 | 2005/09/01 06:48:25 |
| 3.1 | 2005/09/01 01:24:27 |
Scrawled illegibly by Meathe at 03:42 PM
August 04, 2005
Hell is...
It has been remarked that hell is other people. This is broadly true, however should be refined to:
Hell is other people in a train with dysfunctional airconditioning during a hot and humid summer, at peak hour.
Whilst it doesn't have the same lyrical qualities, the heat, stench, plaintive hues and cries produces a certain infernal atmoshpere. But then these are all minor complaints.
Hell is taking the train to work this thursday morning in London.
Please, let it be uneventful.
Scrawled illegibly by Meathe at 09:34 AM