Free Republic

Heavenly bodies stir up routine catastrophes March 18 2003 at 01:30PM By Graeme Addison Legend has it that when two people get together and er... bond, the Earth will move – at least in a metaphorical sense. Likewise, it takes two heavenly bodies, an impactor and a target, to come together with Earth-shattering force to form a crater. There’s nothing dreamlike about this: it happens, frequently, throughout the solar system. Impact catastrophes are routine. Just over two-billion years ago, a chunk of asteroid at least the size of Table Mountain struck the landmass that is now South Africa. It hurtled...

A new analysis of the topography of the central Andes shows the uplifting of Earth's second highest continental plateau was driven in part by a huge zone of melted rock in the crust, known as a magma body. The Altiplano-Puna plateau is a high, dry region in the central Andes that includes parts of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile, with vast plains punctuated by spectacular volcanoes. In a study published October 25 in Nature Communications, researchers used remote sensing data and topographic modeling techniques to reveal an enormous dome in the plateau. About 1 kilometer (3,300 feet) high and hundreds of...

Eleven lawmakers backed by liberal advocacy group J Street either voted against or refused to vote in favor of increased funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, which has been a critical life-saver during Hamas’s latest assault on the Jewish state. Congress overwhelmingly approved an emergency increase in funding for Iron Dome this month by a vote of 395 to 8. Three of the eight who voted against the funding increase are J Street-backed lawmakers. Another eight abstained from the pro-Israel vote and also are financially supported by the group. J Street’s political action committee (PAC) has already donated...

You may recall that on Friday, in what would have been a Christmas Miracle were it not several months early, Congress actually got something done. It was the passage of a bill approving $225M in funding for Israel’s Iron Dome defensive missile system. It was quite the bipartisan effort in retrospect, garnering an overwhelming 395 votes in the House with only eight in opposition. One of those eight was Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison, and as The Corner reports, he went out on the weekend gab circuit to explain why he didn’t support the measure. “Because a cease-fire is what we...

At a Seattle city meeting Tuesday night, Amazon presented plans for a futuristic, greenhouse-like sphere of a building in the middle of its new Seattle campus. According to the proposal, the five-story, tri-domed structure will be large enough to accommodate mature trees, allowing employees to “work and socialize in a more natural, park-like setting.” From the plans: In addition to a variety of workplace environments, the facility will incorporate dining, meeting and lounge spaces, as well as a variety of botanical zones modeled on montane ecologies found around the globe.

At least one rocket was fired towards the Israeli resort city of Eilat on Monday night. Sirens were heard throughout the city shortly before 1:00 a.m. Local residents reported hearing explosions following the sirens. The Iron Dome anti-missile system, which was just recently deployed near Eilat, reportedly intercepted the rocket before it could explode in a populated area. There were no reports of damages, but three people suffered shock. Two of them were treated by paramedics and the third was taken to the Yoseftal Hospital in the city. The IDF and the police are searching the area to determine whether...

Under the Dome - Are there any good guys in that town?

During his trip to Israel this month, U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to pay a visit to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, members of his delegation told Israeli government ministry representatives on Monday. According to a high-ranking Israeli official, that stop, scheduled for Friday, March 22, was added to his itinerary only in the past few days. UNESCO recognized the Church of the Nativity as a Palestinian World Heritage Site in June 2012, several months after Palestine became a full-fledged member of the organization. The advance American delegation responsible for organizing President Obama´s visit

One factor Israel may have considered in agreeing to the recent cease fire with Hamas was a possible shortage of Tamir missiles (used by the Iron Dome system to shoot down rockets). The problem was that Israel was not sure how many long (over 20 kilometers) range rockets (that could reach larger urban areas) Hamas had left. Hamas had managed to fire about a thousand rockets in a week, with most of them hitting unoccupied areas, or being intercepted by Tamir missiles. Israeli aircraft had made over a thousand bombing raids on Gaza, hitting hundreds of rocket storage sites. But...

Cameras in place, cue the lights, turn up the mics. And action. Into our view is the most elaborate stage ever seen for a political convention with the enormous Greek columns flanking the stage with two huge video screens displaying colossal images of the Democratic nominee, inevitably our new presidential American idol. Indeed a monumental stage built in the image of ancient times for a Greek God overlooking his sacrificial sheep. The plot thickened from that historic and gluttonous night like a Greek tragedy. Hope and Change is the mantra of the great idol. Yes we can is chanted from...

The videos are on an Israeli Hebrew source. The videos are available to click on. Recent, real time, live fire.

Scientists have created a tadpole that can literally watch what it eats: The tadpole has an eye growing in its gut. Led by developmental biologist Michael Levin of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., the researchers manipulated cells in the tadpole’s gut to take on a specific electrical state. Those cells developed into a fully formed eye. Inducing just the right electrical state in cells can lead to eye growth anywhere on the body, the team reports online December 7 in Development. Bizarre as the experiment sounds, it is a major step toward regenerating complex organs and limbs. One day, Levin...

The Jerusalem Post reports today that the U.S. Army is considering the purchase of Israel’s Iron Dome short-range missile defense system to protect bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iron Dome was developed in response to persistent rocket attacks by the Palestinian Hamas terror group in Gaza, and the Hizbollah terror organization in southern Lebanon, both of which target Israeli civilians. The system was deployed in southern Israel earlier this year, and has been largely successful.

Palestinian terrorists are not happy. Last August, terrorist groups in Gaza thought they had come up with a way to get around the new Israeli Iron Dome anti-rocket system. They thought that all you had to do was fire at least seven rockets simultaneously at the same area being guarded by one Iron Dome battery. Islamic terrorists did this last August. One rocket got through, and killed an Israeli civilian. This “saturation” tactic is a problem with all air defense systems. But the saturation attacks turned out to be no more effective than firing many more rockets over an extended...

At least twelve rockets launched into Israel this morning; Beersheba school hit by Grad; three fired at Ashkelon, one at Beersheba are intercepted; southern Israel hit by nearly 100 Gazan rockets over the weekend. Rocket fire from the Gaza Strip that killed one man over the weekend continued Sunday morning as at least six Grad rockets were fired at Beersheba, one of which hit an empty school building. At least one other of the Grads was intercepted by the Iron Dome rocket defense system. Earlier Sunday morning, four mortar shells landed in the Eshkol Regional Council area and six Kassam...

Attacks continue after Grad rocket directly strikes home in Be'er Sheva on Saturday night, killing one person and seriously wounding four. The escalation in southern Israel continued Sunday morning when six rockets and a barrage of mortars hit near the city of Ashkelon. The Iron Dome system successfully shot down three rockets. Earlier, a Grad rocket directly struck a home in the southern city of Be'er Sheva on Saturday night, killing one person and seriously wounding four. 26 people are being treated for shock.

The Iron Dome defense system intercepted three Grad rockets aimed at Ashkelon Sunday morning as Israel debates how to react to Hamas’ war. The Iron Dome defense system intercepted three Grad rockets aimed at Ashkelon Sunday morning while Israel debates how to react to Hamas’ latest escalation in its war on the country. The new system has proved effective but is far from offering Israelis total protection from missile attacks.

Workers at the Metrodome have intentionally ruptured another panel in the building's damaged roof. Pat Milan, a spokesman for the commission that runs the Dome, says a shotgun slug was fired into the panel because the weight of ice was creating a safety issue. It's the fifth panel that has torn or been torn since a winter storm caused the roof to give way eight days ago.

youtube video showing roof collapsing under weight of snow. (Was Algore in town?)