A tsunami of New Yorkers head for the highlands.: Would the evacuation be this organized?
Courtesy Pabo76What say we take a breather from all the bleak and uncertain flu news and turn our collective attention to the possibility of a tsunami washing away the East Coast of the USA? Fortunately no such threat is on the horizon at the present moment but scientists have found evidence they say indicates a large tsunami hit areas of New York and New Jersey some 2300 years ago.
The evidence includes large gravel, wood deposits, and marine fossils found in core samples across the region dating to 300BC, and suggests some sort of violent event took place in the region. The size and condition of some of the deposits point to strong reworking of material rather than just a single violent storm. The wave is estimated to have been 9 to 12 feet in height with the velocity of the water estimated at about a meter per second. If a similar tsunami hit Manhattan today no doubt there’d be big trouble.
But Atlantic tsunamis are rare events. Unlike the Pacific and Indian oceans where tectonic plates are colliding and earthquakes are more common, the plates along the Atlantic ridge are spreading apart. That’s not to say an Atlantic tsunami isn’t possible today. In 1929, a tsunami swept into the coast of Newfoundland killing more than two dozen people. The cause was a massive underwater landslide triggered by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake on the Grand Banks.
But neither an earthquake nor a submarine slump may have been involved in the 300BC tsunami. Recent research indicates an asteroid impact somewhere off the Atlantic coast dating to about the same time. Ejecta found in the local sediments such as spherules, shocked quartz, and nanodiamonds could only have been created under extreme temperatures and pressures produced by an extraterrestrial. No crater has been located as of yet but the scientists continue searching.
LINKS
BBC ancient tsunami story
More about the 300BC tsunami
East Coast tsunami threat considered in 2004
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Going green: When the New Year's Ball drops on Times Square next week, the new unit will be much more energy efficient, using the same amount of power as it takes to operate 10 toasters. This blue color is one of 16 million hues that the ball will be able to transmit
Courtesy Times Square AllianceWhat’s the first thing that pops into your head at the stroke of midnight that starts a new year? Probably not saving energy or Al Gore. But if you’re watching the Times Square ball drop on New Year’s Eve next week, you just might more environmentally in tune than most New Years'.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the landmark ball drop and a new ball – the LED Crystal Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball – will makes its debut when descending at 1 Times Square.
The new ball uses LED light effects and will be twice as bright as the previous ball, created especially to celebrate the change of the millennium. While that’s all noticeable, what you won’t see is that a lot less electricity will be firing up that ball. It will take the same amount of juice as it takes to power ten toasters to light up the New Year’s sky over New York.
For those of you really wanting to know how this works, the ball is made of 9,576 LEDS, which replace the 600 incandescent and halogen bulbs of the old ball. And it’s capable of creating more than 16 million varieties of color and billions of patterns.
You can’t wait until New Year’s Eve to see this new, spectacular ball? Here is a link to video of the ball in all its new glory as it was unveiled earlier this fall.
Cleaning up: A ladybug has its eyes on an aphid that it could likely snarf up and eat. A company called Planet Natural is providing ladybugs as a natural alternative to insecticides in getting rid of insect pests. (Flickr photo by teece)Just yesterday when I arrived home, there were a ton of ladybugs all over the front door. Little did I know they might be hanging around for more than the scenery.
A New York City apartment complex has turned to the little critters to tackle a big clean-up project on the 80-acre complex. It’s shipped in nearly three-quarters of a million ladybugs to eat other bugs that are destroying the ornamental landscaping features of the property.
The bugs come from Montana and have a big hunger for aphids and mites, insects that live and devour plants and flowers. The building complex owner is trying this natural solution to the problem in lieu of using chemical insecticides.
The natural method also helps to keep “the good guys,” other non-destructive bugs, around while chemical applications kill pretty much all of the insects in the area.
The apartment complex purchased the lady bugs from a business called Planet Natural. You can get a box of 2,000 ladybugs for $16.50.
On average, each ladybug can clear an area measuring about 19 inches square, eating about 50 nuisance bugs a day plus any eggs they may have also laid in the area. The commercial cleaners are also a different strain of ladybug than the Asian ladybugs that have become a common, swarming presence in urban areas.
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