Robber fly - Nature photographer Thomas Shahan specializes in amazing portraits of tiny insects. It isn't easy. Shahan says that this Robber Fly (Holcocephala fusca), for instance, is "skittish" and doesn't like its picture taken.

Nature by Numbers (Video)

"The Greater Akashic System" – July 15, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) (Subjects: Lightworkers, Intent, To meet God, Past lives, Universe/Galaxy, Earth, Pleiadians, Souls Reincarnate, Invention: Measure Quantum state in 3D, Recalibrates, Multi-Dimensional/Divine, Akashic System to change to new system, Before religion changed the system, DNA, Old system react to Karma, New system react to intent now for next life, Animals (around humans) reincarnate again, This Animal want to come back to the same human, Akashic Inheritance, Reincarnate as Family, Other Planets, Global Unity … etc.)

Question: Dear Kryon: I live in Spain. I am sorry if I will ask you a question you might have already answered, but the translations of your books are very slow and I might not have gathered all information you have already given. I am quite concerned about abandoned animals. It seems that many people buy animals for their children and as soon as they grow, they set them out somewhere. Recently I had the occasion to see a small kitten in the middle of the street. I did not immediately react, since I could have stopped and taken it, without getting out of the car. So, I went on and at the first occasion I could turn, I went back to see if I could take the kitten, but it was to late, somebody had already killed it. This happened some month ago, but I still feel very sorry for that kitten. I just would like to know, what kind of entity are these animals and how does this fit in our world. Are these entities which choose this kind of life, like we do choose our kind of Human life? I see so many abandoned animals and every time I see one, my heart aches... I would like to know more about them.

Answer: Dear one, indeed the answer has been given, but let us give it again so you all understand. Animals are here on earth for three (3) reasons.

(1) The balance of biological life. . . the circle of energy that is needed for you to exist in what you call "nature."

(2) To be harvested. Yes, it's true. Many exist for your sustenance, and this is appropriate. It is a harmony between Human and animal, and always has. Remember the buffalo that willingly came into the indigenous tribes to be sacrificed when called? These are stories that you should examine again. The inappropriateness of today's culture is how these precious creatures are treated. Did you know that if there was an honoring ceremony at their death, they would nourish you better? Did you know that there is ceremony that could benefit all of humanity in this way. Perhaps it's time you saw it.

(3) To be loved and to love. For many cultures, animals serve as surrogate children, loved and taken care of. It gives Humans a chance to show compassion when they need it, and to have unconditional love when they need it. This is extremely important to many, and provides balance and centering for many.

Do animals know all this? At a basic level, they do. Not in the way you "know," but in a cellular awareness they understand that they are here in service to planet earth. If you honor them in all three instances, then balance will be the result. Your feelings about their treatment is important. Temper your reactions with the spiritual logic of their appropriateness and their service to humanity. Honor them in all three cases.

Dian Fossey's birthday celebrated with a Google doodle

Dian Fossey's birthday celebrated with a Google doodle
American zoologist played by Sigourney Weaver in the film Gorillas in the Mist would have been 82 on Thursday (16 January 2014)

Monday, December 21, 2009

Indonesia's next big quake due under Mentawais

In Sumatra, Waiting for Big One to Hit in Next ‘30 Seconds to 30 Years’


Reuters, by Michael Perry, Mon Dec 21, 2009 5:47am IST


Scientists say a tsunami similar to the one that devastated Aceh in 2004 could strike Sumatra again in the next 40 years. (Reuters Photo/Steve Crisp)


SYDNEY (Reuters) - A massive undersea earthquake is long overdue beneath the Mentawai islands in Indonesia and could trigger another deadly tsunami, say scientists mapping one of the world's most quake-prone zones.


Unlike the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed around 226,000 people, this tsunami is expected to be smaller but may be very deadly as it would hit Sumatra's densely populated coast.


"The size of the tsunami may not be as big, but the problem is the size of the population is about three times as great as Aceh," Kerry Sieh, director of the Singapore-based Earth Observatory, told Reuters.


A major quake measuring around 8.6 magnitude is expected beneath Siberut Island, along the Sunda megathrust, where the Indo-Australian tectonic plate butts up against the Eurasian plate -- one of the world's most active fault lines.


Exactly when the big quake will strike is not known.


"We say most likely in the next few decades. Thirty seconds to 30 years, somewhere in there," said Sieh, who has studied geological records showing that for the past 700 years, major quakes have occurred along the Sunda megathrust every 200 years.


There have been three major quake cycles: the late 1300s, the 1600s, and between 1797 and 1833.


"The timing between those three sequences is about two centuries," said Sieh, adding a section of the megathrust under Siberut has not ruptured for 200 years, so it is due to slip and cause a major quake.


SUPERQUAKE CYCLES


The Sunda megathrust extends from Myanmar in the north and sweeps in a southeast arc through Sumatra, Java and toward Timor.


The northern 1,600 km (1,000 mile) section of the fault, from Myanmar to Aceh, ruptured in 2004 sending the deadly Boxing Bay tsunami out into the Indian Ocean.


"The Boxing Bay quake reset the (super earthquake) cycle for that segment of the fault," Mike Sandiford at the School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia, told Reuters.


"The fault slipped up to 20 meters (60 feet) and that is like several hundred years of plate convergence. It should take several hundred years, if not longer, to accumulate the stress in the system to rupture on that particular strand."


The Sunda megathrust is made up of three distinct sections.


In March 2005, a powerful quake hit the second section near Nias island, causing more than 11-meter (33-feet) deformations beneath the island.


In 2007, an 8.4 and a 7.8 earthquake hit the southern end of the third section, the "Mentawais Patch," but not the northern part of the "Mentawais Patch."


"Now we have another 300 km that has not yet failed. It hasn't failed since 1797," Sieh said.


The 2009 Padang earthquake on September 30, while large has not relieved any pressure beneath the Mentawais, as it resulted not from a rupture of the megathrust, but was on a deeper fault.


"It may have potentially loaded that segment that has not ruptured for long time. It may have taken us closer to the big failure," said Sandiford.


"Because that (pressure) has not been released in the Padang region, we know the stress has been building and it must eventually be released. The sort of stress which ultimately led to the big rupture at the northern end of Sumatra on Boxing Day."


QUAKE SCENARIOS


One reason the Sunda megathrust generates major quakes is because it has very long fault planes that can slip as one. But because it bends as it runs south through Indonesia, scientists believe big quakes are limited to each section of the megathrust.


Sandiford says a 30-km (18-mile) fault could generate a maximum 7 magnitude quake, a 300-km (190-mile) fault a maximum 8 magnitude, and a 1,000-km (62-mile) fault a maximum 9. The 2004 quake was over a fault some 1,600 km (1,000 mile) long.


"The Boxing Day earthquake was huge. We have only had three or four of those quakes in the last 100 years or so," he said.


Singapore's Sieh paints two scenarios for the next big quake. The first is an 8.6 quake on the northern section of the "Mentawais Patch."


"There is only one piece of data that tells us it last broke in 1797. If we are wrong, it may be that the last event was the 1680s. If that is the case, we could have a significantly greater uplift and significantly larger tsunami," he said.


Recent studies by Sieh suggest a second scenario, where another big quake could occur along the same section of the megathrust that caused the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.


While the middle of this section ruptured up to 25 meters (76 feet) in 2004, the lower part only slipped 10 meters (30 feet), leaving hundreds of years of stress still to be released.


"We are wondering whether there could be another big earthquake down in the south end of the 2004 section, which could break sometime in the next few decades as well," Sieh said.


The Mentawais fault line runs under the sea and any major quake is expected to rupture the ocean floor causing a tsunami.


In 2004 the quake spread a tsunami across the Indian Ocean to India and Africa. A tsunami generated from a Mentawais quake would send a wave southwest out into the empty Indian Ocean.


But the wave would also hit Sumatra's densely populated coast between Padang and Bengkulu, although the Mentawais island chain would help dissipate the wave's energy before it hit shore.


Scientists say there is little data linking a major quake with Indonesia's super volcanoes, like Sumatra's Lake Toba, saying a volcano must be ready to erupt in the first place.


Toba erupted around 74,000 years ago in what is believed to be the largest volcanic eruption in the last 2 million years.


Some scientists suggest the mega eruption may have accelerated a glacial shift in climate, by spewing 2,800 cubic kms of debris into the atmosphere, dramatically dropping the earth's surface temperature and sparking an ice age.


(Editing by Bill Tarrant)


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