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Link post: link provided to the thread in the FR chat section, where interested readers can view the images and post any commentary: Geology Pictures of the Week, October 24-31, 2004: Ghostly Gas, Bone Dry, Black Dragon's Caldron

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- U.S. journalists face an ethical conundrum this political season: If they attend one of the pro-John Kerry concerts headlined by Bruce Springsteen, are they breaching industry ethics? Springsteen, who has demonstrated his political agenda in many cases through such songs as "Born in the USA" and "My Hometown," has prompted a wide debate in the newspaper industry. This fall, Springsteen is headlining a series of concerts in the swing states to raise money for anti-President Bush ads. The nation's editors are divided on the issue, but many say they are discouraging their colleagues from going...

As the spring thaw softens ground that has been frozen hard as granite by the long Alaska winter, cemeteries start burying people who died during the past seven months. Since October, when digging became next to impossible, many of Alaska's dead have been in storage. Now, families are finally able to inter their loved ones in a somber Far North rite of spring. "It's around Memorial Day when we go down 6 feet," said David Erickson, cemetery manager of Northern Lights Mortuary and Memorial Park in Fairbanks. "We'll start earlier for infants and urns." Burials started May 3 at Birch...

I know a place in the Mojave Desert where there are rocks in the shape of Billy Martin. I visit the rocks every year to commemorate the return of spring. It makes perfect sense to me that the rocks are in the desert and not a mountain range or forest because the gone-but-not-forgotten Yankee manager was a kind of dugout djinn, an electrical force who materialized to kick funny dust in the other guy's face and then vanished until he had to do it again. Where did he go since we last saw him? Where all legends go — back...

Just a FRiendly Reminder. This weekend, we turn our clock one hour ahead to take advantage of Daylight Savings time. Those of you in Arizona, Hawaii, and most of Indiana, never mind.

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2004 March 20 Equinox + 1 Credit & Copyright: Joe Orman Explanation: Twice a year, at the Spring and Fall equinox, the Sun rises due east. In an emphatic demonstration of this celestial alignment, photographer Joe Orman recorded this inspiring image of the Sun rising exactly along the east-west oriented Western Canal, in Tempe,Arizona, USA. But he waited until March 21st, one day after the northern Spring equinox...

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- So much has changed since they completed their epic American League Championship Series of last October. The result is that what was already the fiercest of rivalries has gotten even juicier. The Red Sox, smarting from that devastating Game 7 loss in the Bronx, beat the Yankees to Curt Schilling. The Yankees, after watching the Red Sox relinquish their quest to bring Alex Rodriguez to Boston, gleefully scooped the megastar up in a February blockbuster for Alfonso Soriano. Those were just the jackhammer blows that the ancient rivals -- who meet Sunday afternoon in an exhibition...

On Friday morning, 7:30 a.m., February 2, Ohio's official groundhog, Buckeye Chuck of Marion, stepped out of his lair in snowy, overcast weather. He did not see his shadow. According to legend, Ohioans can expect an early spring. The first day of Spring, March 20, is 46 days from February 2. The groundhog, also referred to as a woodchuck or whistle-pig, is a rodent related to ground squirrels and prairie dogs. It's stout-bodied, weighing up to 14 pounds, with reddish-brown or brown fur and black feet. While on average, groundhogs live for two years, some live for five or six....

<p>Besides strongly encouraging Punxsutawney Groundhog Day visitors to dress as warmly as possible, the Big Flake Maker of the Groundhog Club wants them to understand something else: "It's supposed to be silly."</p> <p>Despite the eccentricity of thousands gathering on a rural wooded hillside in the early-morning hours of a cold winter day, Inner Circle member Mike Johnston said he and the other 15 voting members take their jobs seriously, but with sly humor.</p>

<p>Before humans used chlorophyll and carotenoids to explain fall leaves, they drew on a mother's grief over the kidnapping of her daughter or the persistence of a group of bear hunters to account for the spectacle of summer green giving way to autumn's fiery blaze.</p>

CALIFORNIA —A Sacramento City College student photographer who was arrested while covering an anti-war protest in San Francisco is no longer facing charges by the district attorney. Nick Varanelli, a photographer for The Express student newspaper, was arrested during March anti-war protests in downtown San Francisco. Varanelli said the San Francisco Police Department did not accept his newspaper-issued press pass and arrested him along with 2,300 other people. He was charged with rioting and blocking traffic and detained for eight hours, he said. A hearing was set for June 18, but just days before Varanelli was supposed to appear in...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 June 13 Neptune: Still Springtime After All These Years Credit: L. Sromovsky and P. Fry (Univ. Wisconsin - Madison) et al., NASA Explanation: In the 1960s spring came to the southern hemisphere of Neptune, the Solar System's outermost gas giant planet. Of course, since Neptune orbits the Sun once every 165 earth-years, it's still spring for southern Neptune, where each season lasts over four decades. Astronomers have...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 April 22 Springtime on Mars Credit: MSSS, JPL, NASA Explanation: Vast canyons, towering volcanoes, sprawling fields of ice, deep craters, and high clouds can all be seen in this image of the Solar System's fourth planet: Mars. The orbiting robot Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft took the above mosaic of images as springtime dawned in Northern Mars in 2002 May. Sprawled across the image bottom is Valles Marineris,...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. Well, it's safe to say Groundhog Day was certainly eventful, but I sincerely hope I never have to suffer like Bill Murry and repeat the day again. We set off around 6 p.m. Saturday to witness the famous rodent tell us whether he can see his shadow. We arrived in Punxsutawney expecting outdoor concerts, throbbing streets and lots of people generally having fun and generally getting drunk. What we found was a McDonalds, two car parks and the third largest armed force presence outside of the Middle East and L.A. The...

Britain like 'a coiled spring' January 24 2003 at 01:38PM London - British society is "like a coiled spring" over the issue of asylum seekers, said Home Secretary David Blunkett on Friday, adding that he is worried about people "taking the law into their own hands". Blunkett's comments, published in the left-wing weekly New Statesman, came as a racist party took a local authority seat - its fifth so far - in a by-election in northern England. "I'm worried about tension and frustration spilling over into the disintegration of community relations and social cohesion. I'm worried about people taking the...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 December 24 Spring Dust Storms at the North Pole of Mars Credit: MSSS, JPL, NASA Explanation: Spring reached the north pole of Mars in May, and brought with it the usual dust storms. As the north polar cap begins to thaw, a temperature difference occurs between the cold frost region and recently thawed surface, resulting in swirling winds between the adjacent regions. In the above image mosaic...

U.S. EXPERIENCES FIRST COOLER-THAN-AVERAGE MONTH SINCE MARCH 2001; GLOBAL TEMPERATURE FOR MARCH WARMEST ON RECORD April 12, 2002 — Arctic air brought in by the jet stream in March kept temperatures relatively low throughout the United States, making it the first cooler-than-average month since March 2001. However, it was the warmest March for the globe since reliable records began in 1880, according to NOAA scientists. (Click image for NOAA's March 2002 statewide temperature ranks.) Although temperatures throughout a large part of the United States and Canada were cooler than average in March, warmer than average temperatures were widespread across...

Hi folks. Spring is finally here after a long, icky winter. Time to lighten up a bit! So, here are a few "Spring Is Here" haiku: Spring is here at last! Grass grows green where dog poop thaws Mower tune-up time! Mower needs new plug, Water in gas tank must go No compression! Dang. The old Briggs is dead. Trip to saw and mower shop A manly pleasure. Checkbook is empty All hail the brand new Toro The grass will tremble. Gas tank is top't off Mower starts on the first pull Now the rain has come.

What's Hot Gardeners, Start Your Tomatoes! Even in mild years like this one, winter seems to drag on forever in the U.S. Upper Midwest, and spring can't come too soon. Just ask the gardeners of Illinois, who use just about every contrivance (the "Wall-O-Water" is not an adult toy!) to get their tomatoes in the ground as early as possible. But spring is springing sooner, says Indiana University's Scott Robeson. About one week's worth, in fact. Robeson looked at long-term records from Illinois and found that the last spring freeze is occurring about a week earlier, averaged across the state,...

Nearly all Japan basking in record temperatures A record spell of warm weather has spread to nearly all parts of Japan, with temperatures rising to levels usually seen in April, May or early summer, and cherry blossoms are already out in central Tokyo -- the earliest time on record. Officials at the Japan Meteorological Agency agree that it is rare for such high temperatures to occur across the country. In the Kanto area, the Somei-Yoshino flowering cherry trees are already in blossom. The agency officially confirmed that the trees were in flower in central Tokyo on Saturday, 12 days earlier...