Huge ice shelf breaks into the Arctic Ocean

By CHARMAINE NORONHA
The Associated Press

TORONTO -- A chunk of ice shelf nearly the size of Manhattan has broken away from Ellesmere Island in Canada's northern Arctic, another dramatic indication of how warmer temperatures are changing the polar frontier, scientists said last week.

Derek Mueller, an Arctic ice shelf specialist at Trent University in Ontario, said the 4,500-year-old Markham Ice Shelf separated in early August and the 19-square-mile shelf is now adrift in the Arctic Ocean.

"The Markham Ice Shelf was a big surprise because it suddenly disappeared. We went under cloud for a bit during our research and when the weather cleared up, all of a sudden there was no more ice shelf. It was a shocking event that underscores the rapidity of changes taking place in the Arctic," said Mueller.

Mueller also said that two large sections of ice detached from the Serson Ice Shelf, shrinking that ice feature by 47 square miles -- or 60 percent -- and that the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf has also continued to break up, losing an additional eight square miles.

Mueller reported last month that seven square miles of the 170-square-mile and 130-feet-thick Ward Hunt shelf had broken off.

This comes on the heels of unusual cracks in a northern Greenland glacier, rapid melting of a southern Greenland glacier, and a near record loss for Arctic sea ice this summer. And earlier this year a 160-square mile chunk of an Antarctic ice shelf disintegrated.

"Reduced sea ice conditions and unusually high air temperatures have facilitated the ice shelf losses this summer," said Luke Copland, director of the Laboratory for Cryospheric Research at the University of Ottawa. "And extensive new cracks across remaining parts of the largest remaining ice shelf, the Ward Hunt, mean that it will continue to disintegrate in the coming years."

Formed by accumulating snow and freezing meltwater, ice shelves are large platforms of thick, ancient sea ice that float on the ocean's surface but are connected to land.

Ellesmere Island was once entirely ringed by a single enormous ice shelf that broke up in the early 1900s. All that is left today are the four much smaller shelves that together cover little more than 299 square miles.

Martin Jeffries of the U.S. National Science Foundation and University of Alaska Fairbanks said in a statement that the summer's ice shelf loss is equivalent to over three times the area of Manhattan, totaling 82 square miles -- losses that have reduced Arctic Ocean ice cover to its second-biggest retreat since satellite measurements began 30 years ago.

"These changes are irreversible under the present climate and indicate that the environmental conditions that have kept these ice shelves in balance for thousands of years are no longer present," said Mueller.

During the last century, when ice shelves would break off, thick sea ice would eventually reform in their place.

"But today, warmer temperatures and a changing climate mean there's no hope for regrowth. A scary scenario," said Mueller.

The loss of these ice shelves means that rare ecosystems that depend on them are on the brink of extinction, said Warwick Vincent, director of Laval University's Centre for Northern Studies and a researcher in the program ArcticNet.

"The Markham Ice Shelf had half the biomass for the entire Canadian Arctic Ice Shelf ecosystem as a habitat for cold, tolerant microbial life; algae that sit on top of the ice shelf and photosynthesis like plants would. Now that it's disappeared, we're looking at ecosystems on the verge of extinction,' said Mueller.

Along with decimating ecosystems, drifting ice shelves and warmer temperatures that will cause further melting ice pose a hazard to populated shipping routes in the Arctic region -- a phenomenon that Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper seems to welcome.

Harper announced recently that he plans to expand exploration of the region's known oil and mineral deposits, a possibility that has become more evident as a result of melting sea ice. Harper also said Canada would toughen reporting requirements for ships entering its waters in the Far North, where some territorial claims are disputed by the United States and other countries.


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New single 'Degenerator'

The first single off our upcoming new album 'Illuminus' is available for FREE download at www.azumuth.com!

Check out a review of it from Radioindy:

"Degenerator - EP" by Azumuth (Hard Rock/Metal/Punk Artist from Victoria, Australia)

The "Degenerator - EP" by Azumuth is an excellent hard rock album which features multiple creative takes on their song "Degenerator." This compilation is recommended for fans of Faith No More, Evanescence, and early System of a Down. Azumuth's powerful hard rock vocals are belted out to the heavens on this album. "Degenerator (Voodoo Doll Mix)" is an interesting electronic/techno remix of the single which is similar to some of the heavier tracks by New World Order, Chemical Brothers, and at times even a little like Linkin Park. The EP is an interesting experiment in production and its effect on the overall sound, mood and genre of a song. Furthermore, the EP shows that a well-written song, with a nice build to a powerful and memorable chorus, can work well in many different subgenres. Be sure to check this one out if you are a fan of hard rock songs with a catchy chorus.

-Heidi & the RadioIndy.com Review Team

Dark Figure Haunts Visitors To Oxford Castle

A photograph, which has captured a dark figure taken in the foreboding underground Crypt at Oxford Castle Unlocked, has revealed the paranormal does exist and confirms beliefs that the Castle is haunted. The photograph was taken on Friday 16 May by a member of the public at a ghost hunt organised by Fright Nights, the UK’s leading ghost hunt specialist.
The brave ghost hunter, who was alone in the Crypt at the time, took the photograph with his digital camera. Keiron Brown from Alton in Hampshire was astonished to see the dark shadow of a figure at the end of the corridor leading into the Crypt when he looked at the images on his computer after the event.
The astounding photograph has since been analysed by experts at Fright Nights and at Oxford Castle Unlocked. Martin Jeffrey, Director of Fright Nights stated. We were amazed by this photograph. Our analysts have shown that the figure is jet black and unusually not lit up by the flash, whereas the side walls and the wall behind it have visible lighting caused by the flash.
We can also confirm that the figure is facing the camera and seems to have some form of hood, head dress or blindfold. We know that the Crypt was used for the storing of criminals especially those waiting execution, so the figure fits perfectly within the history of the Castle. Fright Nights were granted exclusive use of Oxford Castle Unlocked in which to hold overnight paranormal investigations for the public since early 2007. The visitor attraction is thought to be one of the most haunted buildings in the country.
Throughout its dark history, the Castle has served time as a royal residence, a centre of justice and as the county Gaol, hidden from public view behind impenetrable 5 metre high stones walls until its closure in 1996. Martin continued, “This photograph tops off a fantastic eighteen months of ghost hunting events at Oxford Castle Unlocked. We have had continual paranormal activity throughout the Castle that has inspired attendees to return over and over again.

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Azumuth

Hey here’s a review of my first CD ‘Azumuth’, from Radioindy, check it out:

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“Azumuth” by Azumuth (Hard Rock/Metal/Punk Artist from Australia)

“Azumuth” is the self-titled full-length debut from Australian hard rock/alt-metal band Azumuth. Azumuth is the brainchild of singer/songwriter Aidan Dickens, whose soaring vocals and vocal diversity fuel the entire album and well-complement the heavy backing arrangements. The great guitar and drum work and varying methods of creating ambience combined with Dickens’ diverse and all-out vocals sounds like a combination of Thursday, Thrice, System of a Down, and Faith No More. Dickens’ lyrics are intelligent and meaningful, the songs melodic, and the choruses extremely catchy and memorable, since Dickens never fails to let it all out on the choruses. “Azumuth” is well-produced, sounds polished, and is ready for alternative radio play. “Ends of the Earth” is a mood-setting track with a nice arrangement, great lyrics, and group vocals with an overall sound similar to Thursday. “Disarray” is a great System of a Down-esque track with heavy drums, heavier distortion, and quick lyrical delivery from Dickens. “Azumuth” is a great full-length debut from Aidan Dickens and Azumuth and is as worthy of breaking through to the mainstream as the groups that clearly influenced them. Fans of hard rock and alt-metal should definitely pick this one up.

-Chris & the RadioIndy.com Review Team

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Black Eyed Kids: Another Look

Here's an awesome blog that although very speculative, is frightening none the less. If I saw one of these kids on my doorstep I'd probably shit my daks!

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It’s early evening and you’re home alone. The doorbell rings, and you trot down the hall wondering who it could be.


You open the door and find two children standing on the stoop. They are strangers to you, both boys in their early teens, dressed normally in sneakers, jeans, and hoodies. You suddenly feel frightened for no discernible reason.


The taller – and presumably older – boy asks to use your telephone, and has a perfectly good explanation. He is well-mannered, polite, and speaks exceptionally well for a child his age. You’d be letting them in out of the cold .. if not for that fear.


Your mind seeks desperately for a good reason not to let them in, even as you ask yourself why you are afraid. After a few moments, you come up with a good lie and tell them your phone isn't working, but you could bring them your cell phone to use ...


The taller boy interrupts you and changes his tune. "Can we use your restroom?" he asks suddenly. "Please, it's cold out here. We need to come IN and use your bathroom."


His emphasis on the word IN inexplicably alarms you, and you only manage to shake your head and mumble something about your cell phone.


"We need to come IN," says the taller boy again, and as he looks up into your face you suddenly notice that his eyes are all black. Not just black pupils, but solid black with no whites. It's like looking into nothingness where his eyes should be. Your fear turns to terror, and although the boys have done nothing overtly threatening, you are suddenly, irrationally convinced that your life is in danger. "Please let us in," the shorter boy speaks finally, and when he looks up at you, his eyes are black too.


"No!" you manage to choke out, surprised that you can say anything at all, and you slam the door in their faces and lock it. After a few minutes you regain your composure and fetch your cell phone. Reviewing the incident in your mind, you can't understand the fear that overwhelmed you and you resolve to quit acting like an idiot. Cell phone in hand, you open the front door, but the boys are gone. You walk out to the street thinking they can't have gone far, but there's no sign of them anywhere.


You've just had an archetypal experience of Black-Eyed Kids, or BEKs. Most are boys, and most are reported to be in their early to mid teens, dressed normally and unremarkable except for their adult speech and black eyes. They always ask to get IN - into the car, into the house, into wherever you are, and they often get increasingly insistent and demanding when it seems that they are going to be denied entry. And they are always accompanied by fear, a fear so strong that witnesses describe it as dread or terror and say that they felt that their very lives were in danger.



Of all the people who have reported seeing BEKs, only one actually let them in - to use the phone - and he subsequently retreated in terror to another room and locked himself in. Sometime later, he says, he dared to open the door. Finding the area vacant, he ran for the back door and went to a friend's house. When he returned to his house with the friend, it was empty.




What do BEKs want? We don't know. No one has come forward to tell a story of letting them in and letting them do what they wanted to. We don't know if this is because it hasn't happened, or because anyone who let them in isn't around to tell the tale.


I think we can safely hypothesize that BEKs aren't really children; although there are a few diseases that can turn a human's eyes black and black contacts exist, neither explains the terror that is felt in the presence of these "children" even before the black eyes are noticed.


I suspect that BEKs appear as children because they want to be trusted; they attempt to appeal to human compassion and the natural desire to help a child. The average person is much more likely to let a strange child into their house than a strange adult. If we theorize that BEKs appear as children because they want to appear as children, we must then ask ourselves: why the black eyes? why the fear? Both seem counterproductive to the goal of the targeted person letting them in.


I have a theory; a hypothesis, and although I am going out on the proverbial limb here, I hope that you will stay with me and that it will make sense when I am done.


BEKs have a common feature with another entity that is often reported in the modern world: "grey" aliens. There is little difference between the large black eyes of the typical grey and the eyes of a BEK; some witnesses of BEKs also note that their eyes seem to be "too big" as well as being all-black. Greys are usually reported as being 4 - 5 feet tall, or about the same size as a young boy.


Suppose that the entities we see as Greys or BEKs are actually among us more often than we would like to think, in the guise of ordinary children. Many abductees of greys have stated that greys are telepathic, can project images into the human mind, and/or seem to be able to control a person's mind and body. If they can control our minds, perhaps we see what they want us to see when we look at them. No one pays much attention to an adolescent - especially a boy - loitering on the street, in a park, or in a playground. What better guise for hiding in plain sight?


Suppose that encounters with BEKs - and Greys - are what happen when the mind control fails, or when they drop the disguise because it is no longer needed. Suppose the fear can be felt only when the mind control isn't working, and this is why BEKs become agitated and demanding when it appears that you aren't accepting them for what they appear to be - they know something is wrong, and try harder.


In spite of witness reports of feeling that their lives are in danger, the purpose of BEK encounters may be something less nefarious than exterminating the target. Perhaps they need to see the inside of the house to get a visual referent for some form of teleportation, or perhaps they need to plant some type of receiver inside the house in order to gain access later. If this is the case, there may be people who have let children into their houses to use the phone, or the bathroom, or get a drink of water, who never realized that their guests weren't ordinary children. I wish that I could ask abductees if they had recently let any children they didn't know into their house. Abductees often state that the Greys just "appear" in their bedroom, or in their house, and lack of an obvious means of entrance is one of the things that often makes these experiences difficult to believe.


The startling black eyes and the feeling of terror make no sense if they are viewed as being deliberate, but if considered as being accidental, and what happens when the encounter isn't going as planned, they make more sense. Perhaps the eyes are the most difficult part of the entity to mask; don't we say that our eyes are the "windows to our soul?" When the mind control is ineffective, the witness begins to feel terror and see through the disguise; the black eyes convince him that something is terribly wrong and, whatever the intended purpose of the encounter was, it fails.

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Is the Earth Quarantined???

Check this out, it's a bit far fetched but interesting nonetheless:
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Why haven't we met aliens yet? And why aren't we sending rockets all over the solar system? There is only one plausible explanation. Earth is being quarantined! A combination of higher alien civilizations and our own Earth-based military forces are working together to keep the Earth contained and neutralized. The reasons why they would do this are obvious, but where is the evidence? Below, we've got enough truly true facts to get your conspiracy engines revved up to maximum.

1. We have been located in a backwater part of the galactic rim.
To keep Earth inhabitants away from the rest of the universe community, our planet was stuck way out in the boondocks at the rim of a second-rate galaxy. Obviously only a higher alien intelligence could have done this, to prevent humans from leaking out everywhere and finding all the cool shit in the universe.

2. Space debris is a shield to keep us from hearing alien broadcasts.
You've heard that there are thousands of pieces of space junk orbiting Earth, posing a danger to orbiting spacecraft and creating a haze of garbage around the planet. Recently the Chinese government created infinitely more space trash by shooting one of its satellites, scattering its shattered body into orbit. What could be the possible reason for leaving all this junk in orbit, instead of cleaning it up? Obviously, our governments are using the junk as a deflection shield to prevent alien messages and craft from getting through. And this suits the aliens just fine, since they're quarantining us anyway.

3. Space-based weapons prevent aliens from wanting to bond with us.
According to Alfred Webre, a Canadian futurist and author of the recent book Exopolitics:

Star Wars and the militarization of space is part of the information war against the integration with Universe society. Star Wars is an "inside code word" for this war among the military planners. The issue is whether our space technology will be in accord with Universal principles, or controlled by a military empire. The USA will ultimately suffer ignominious defeat by Universe society should it persist as a space military power.

Well, that pretty much covers it.

4. JPL scientists who are in on the quarantine efforts helped perpetuate the myths that were reported in Wired about how we could "never achieve interstellar travel."
Why don't they want us to believe in interstellar travel? Why? These are space scientists, dammit — doesn't it strike you as odd that they are saying we shouldn't go to space?

5. NASA's launch of a suborbital rocket fails.
Today NASA launched a suborbital rocket, but had to shoot it out of the sky due to alleged "launch failure." Really? Could this actually be an effort to discourage suborbital rockets, which might break through the space debris and catch sight of the Universe society? As one blogger points out, NASA already knows about aliens. Thus, they're the perfect organization to make it seem as if there were "problems" on a rocket that was about to run into alien vessels.



6. Large Hadron Collider.
Seriously — need we say more? Any alien civilization worth its salt would know that when we start beaming subatomic particles through that giant, Swiss magnetic loop that the Terrible Events are about to begin. Stay the hell away from Earth when that happens.

7. Project Bluebook closed.
In the 1950s and 60s, the Air Force created Project Bluebook, an investigative project to figure out what all those UFOs were. Despite the fact that people continue to see UFOs every day, the project was shut down in 1969. Why? Was that the year that the government learned about the Quarantine and decided to pull the wool over our eyes?

8. Twelve missions to Mars failed en route to the planet.
Sure we have some satellites orbiting Mars now, and three robots on the surface doing measurements. But they're only in the quarantined areas. Whenever a satellite or spacecraft has tried to go near certain off-limits parts of the planet, they've mysteriously disappeared. Traces of them are never found again, even by the satellites that are supposedly photographing the planet in such minute detail that they can see this hunk of ice.

9. Global warming makes planet more comfortable for everybody.
Little-discussed fact about global warming: It will make all the least-inhabitable regions of the planet into a tropical paradise. Climate change is basically a massive, multinational conspiracy to get everyone so comfy on Earth that they never want to go to ultra-cold Mars or the even colder reaches of deep space. It's good when people believe they actually CHOSE to be quarantined, isn't it?

10. Fly Me to the Moon
This movie about flies stowing away on a moon rocket was actually a government-sponsored plot to make traveling offworld seem so awful that nobody would ever want to do it again.

In the face of such compelling evidence, you cannot deny the TRUTH. Somebody — or something — doesn't want us to leave the planet. We're being . . . quarantined!!!

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Sex for stuff

While she was studying in Brazil during college, the one thing Stephanie Gerson longed to do before leaving was spend time in the thick of the Amazon rain forest. Unfortunately, she couldn't find a tour that would take her past the forest's edge.
Survey at college finds 27 percent of men and 14 percent of women willing to trade favors or gifts for sex.

Survey at college finds 27 percent of men and 14 percent of women willing to trade favors or gifts for sex.

So, when a college-aged busboy at a resort she was visiting began flirting with her, she asked him if he thought a tourist could survive alone in the jungle.

"He laughed and told me I was nuts," says Gerson, 27, who works part-time in online marketing for a chocolate company in San Francisco.

Then he told her that he'd grown up in the jungle in a nearby indigenous community. That was all Gerson needed to hear. Although she wasn't attracted to the guy, Gerson flirted right back in the hopes that he would be her jungle tour guide. It worked. The busboy wormed his way out of work, and the two headed into the rain forest.

"It was amazing," Gerson says of her adventure in 2000. "We built our homes out of palm leaves, I saw animals I'd never seen before, he taught me the medicinal properties of all the plants, we picked fruit off the trees, we swam with and ate piranhas. And, of course, we had sex ... for almost two weeks."

Body currency system

Gerson never felt sleazy or uncomfortable with her unspoken arrangement with the busboy.

"It was a good barter both ways," she says. "I got to stay in the jungle, and he got to have sex with a cute, young American girl."

Such trades aren't so unusual. Throughout history, humans have used their bodies to get what they want -- from ancient Egyptian ruler Cleopatra, who cemented her power through liaisons with Roman rulers Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, to the man and woman who were arrested at a Fort Wright, Kentucky, motel in late June for allegedly swapping sex for gasoline. Regardless of our motivation, scientists say we're hardwired to use our bodies as a bargaining chip.

A recent study of 475 University of Michigan undergraduates ages 17 to 26 found that 27 percent of the men and 14 percent of the women who weren't in a committed relationship had offered someone favors or gifts -- help prepping for a test, laundry washing, tickets to a college football game -- in exchange for sex. On the flip side, 5 percent of the men surveyed and 9 percent of the women said they'd attempted to trade sex for such freebies.

And although they weren't hard up for resources, the students surveyed "recognized the value of this socioeconomic currency system," says Daniel Kruger, research scientist at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, who published his findings in the April issue of "Evolutionary Psychology."

"It's more about getting what you want than getting what you need," he says. "Unless you think everyone needs a $200 Louis Vuitton bag."

The handyman hookup

But unattached coeds aren't the only ones who barter with their bodies. Some professionals will attest that their skills are, well, sexy.

"Women are turned on just by the simple idea of their guy getting off his ass and doing something for them," says Rocky Fino, author of "Will Cook for Sex: A Guy's Guide to Cooking."

It works both ways, he adds.

"Give it to me first thing in the morning, and I'll play [handyman] all day," says Fino, a 39-year-old father of two and part-time construction worker.

Ben Corbett, a 39-year-old contractor from Boulder, Colorado, credits his tool belt with prompting the barrage of come-ons he fields from female clients -- most of them married -- on a regular basis.

"It starts with the flirting, and it just progresses," says Corbett, who has run a construction and remodeling business for 20 years. "They'll touch my hand, and there's all this physical contact. Or they'll run around in their pajamas."

"Once," he says, "I was painting the hallway right outside a client's bedroom, and she was lying on her bed like a girl at a slumber party with her legs up and her arms crossed and her head resting on them, asking me if I had a girlfriend.

"It's all about the fantasy of being taken by the rough-hewn construction guy," muses Corbett, who, despite the temptation, has avoided getting sexually involved with his clientele for fear of jeopardizing his business.

It's the biology, stupid

Call it crass, sexist or gender stereotyping all you want, but there are thousands of years of biological programming at work here, says Dr. Chris Fariello, director of the Institute for Sex Therapy at the Council for Relationships, a nonprofit relationship-counseling group based in Philadelphia.

Plain and simple, a partner who provides more resources -- wealth, shelter, home repairs -- is seen as more attractive and stands to reap more sexual rewards.

Or, as Fariello puts it, "I don't get anybody in my office who says, 'My husband sits on the couch all day and eats bonbons, and I want to have sex with him all the time.'"