Without Hot Rock Much Of North America Would Be Underwater
Posted on June 26, 2007 at 12:01:04 am
A University of Utah study shows how various regions of North America are kept afloat by heat within Earth's rocky crust, and how much of the continent would sink beneath sea level if not for heat that makes rock buoyant.
Of coastal cities, New York City would sit 1,427 feet under the Atlantic, Boston would be 1,823 feet deep, Miami would reside 2,410 feet undersea, New Orleans would be 2,416 underwater and Los Angeles would rest 3,756 feet beneath the Pacific.
Mile-high Denver's elevation would be 727 feet below sea level and Salt Lake City, now about 4,220 feet, would sit beneath 1,293 feet of water. But high-elevation areas of the Rocky Mountains between Salt Lake and Denver would remain dry land
"If you subtracted the heat that keeps North American elevations high, most of the continent would be below sea level, except the high Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada and the Pacific Northwest west of the Cascade Range," says study co-author Derrick Hasterok, a University of Utah doctoral student in geology and geophysics.
"We have shown for the first time that temperature differences within the Earth's crust and upper mantle explain about half of the elevation of any given place in North America," with most of the rest due to differences in what the rocks are made of, says the other co-author, David Chapman, a professor of geology and geophysics, and dean of the University of Utah Graduate School.
People usually think of elevations being determined by movements of "tectonic plates" of Earth's crust, resulting in volcanism, mountain-building collisions of crustal plates, stretching apart and sinking of inland basins, and sinking or "subduction" of old seafloor. But Hasterok and Chapman say those tectonic forces act through the composition and temperature of rock they move. So as crustal plates collide to form mountains like the Himalayas, the mountains rise because the collision makes less dense crustal rock get thicker and warmer, thus more buoyant.
The study -- published online in the June issue of Journal of Geophysical Research-Solid Earth -- is more than just an entertaining illustration of how continents and mountains like the Rockies are kept afloat partly by heat from Earth's deep interior and heat from radioactive decay of uranium, thorium and potassium in Earth's crust.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Quebec motorists will be required to swap their summer tires for winter ones starting next winter, under a provincial law passed Wednesday.
As of Nov. 15, 2008, drivers will have to equip their vehicles with snow tires from that day each year through to April 15. The province estimates that 90 per cent of vehicles already use snow tires though an estimated 500,000 people rely on all-season tires.
The law makes Quebec the first province to require winter tires.
Jean-Marie de Koninck, who served as the head of a provincial task force on road safety, said the change is expected to help curb winter accidents.
"There's about 10 per cent of the people right now that don't have winter tires on and they're involved in 38 per cent of the accidents on the road in the winter," he said.
Drivers found without the tires will be fined between $200 and $300, though de Koninck acknowledged spotting drivers without winter tires may be difficult for police officers.
As of Nov. 15, 2008, drivers will have to equip their vehicles with snow tires from that day each year through to April 15. The province estimates that 90 per cent of vehicles already use snow tires though an estimated 500,000 people rely on all-season tires.
The law makes Quebec the first province to require winter tires.
Jean-Marie de Koninck, who served as the head of a provincial task force on road safety, said the change is expected to help curb winter accidents.
"There's about 10 per cent of the people right now that don't have winter tires on and they're involved in 38 per cent of the accidents on the road in the winter," he said.
Drivers found without the tires will be fined between $200 and $300, though de Koninck acknowledged spotting drivers without winter tires may be difficult for police officers.
Christian's blog
Couple say son's disappearance has to do with video game
Article
Comments ( 2)
JOSH WINGROVE
With a report from The Canadian Press
October 21, 2008 at 3:55 PM EDT
A Barrie couple believe someone is holding their missing teenaged son against his will, and that his disappearance is linked to a video game.
On Oct. 13, the parents of 15-year-old Brandon Crisp revoked his privileges to play Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, a popular video game to which they say he was addicted. The couple fought with their son that afternoon, though it was far from the first time they'd imposed such a punishment.
"He is obsessed with Call of Duty - it has been a constant battle for the last two years," Angelika Crisp said yesterday. "That's his life right now."
But in an uncharacteristic move, young Brandon got on his bike that Monday, and left home. He hasn't been seen or heard from since, and has now become the subject of a broad police search.
Ms. Crisp and her husband, Steve, believe the game is both the reason their son left, and why he hasn't returned.
"We feel he's been recruited by someone [to play Call of Duty] andlured in by the promise of money. We just pray that it's not a pedophile or someone using it to lure kids in," Mr. Crisp told The Globe and Mail yesterday. "We have no idea, but it's the only conclusion that makes any sense - that this is where he's at. That he's in this game somewhere."
Call of Duty is played on several gaming systems (the young Mr. Crisp owned an Xbox) and can be played online against other players worldwide. Ms. Crisp said she would wake up in the middle of the night and hear her son speaking to other players using his in-game microphone.
Investigators have searched Brandon's Xbox for possible leads, but came up empty, Barrie police Sergeant Dave Goodbrand said. There has been no recent activity on the teen's online Xbox account, which would track if he'd been logged into the game since last week.
There are a handful of professional video gaming circuits in North America that pay thousands of dollars to quick-thumbed gamers. Mr. Crisp said a fraudulent promise of such an opportunity could easily lead his son to run away.
"That would definitely lure my son in," Mr. Crisp said.
Police said yesterday the mountain bike Brandon left home with was found abandoned in a ditch near Shanty Bay, about four kilometres from the Crisp family home. Police searched that area yesterday for clues, but found none.
The missing teen had also earlier asked his mother for directions to nearby Oro-Medonte Township because he knows people who live in the area. So far, there have been few leads, and police acknowledge time isn't on their side.
"Every day another door closes that was available," Sgt. Goodbrand said. "He's had no contact with his friends and the weather is changing. Every day, this becomes more and more of a concern, so you have to ramp [the search] up."
"Most 15-year-olds who run away return within 24 hours," he added.
The panicked parents have had little sleep since their son left, with the phone and doorbell "ringing every five minutes," Mr. Crisp said. They'll be back at Shanty Bay today, and hope one phone call will soon bring good news of their son's whereabouts.
Summary: This kid was not just playing Call Of Duty 4 he was addicted.
His parents told him to stop playing but the chid got angry.
The next morning he got on his bike and left and they never saw him since.
Usually the kids comeback in twenty four hours but he did not.
Questions
1. would you run away
2.are you addicted to games
3.dou you play Call Of Duty 4
link to course
back then people did not have technology to create addictive games
Article
Comments ( 2)
JOSH WINGROVE
With a report from The Canadian Press
October 21, 2008 at 3:55 PM EDT
A Barrie couple believe someone is holding their missing teenaged son against his will, and that his disappearance is linked to a video game.
On Oct. 13, the parents of 15-year-old Brandon Crisp revoked his privileges to play Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, a popular video game to which they say he was addicted. The couple fought with their son that afternoon, though it was far from the first time they'd imposed such a punishment.
"He is obsessed with Call of Duty - it has been a constant battle for the last two years," Angelika Crisp said yesterday. "That's his life right now."
But in an uncharacteristic move, young Brandon got on his bike that Monday, and left home. He hasn't been seen or heard from since, and has now become the subject of a broad police search.
Ms. Crisp and her husband, Steve, believe the game is both the reason their son left, and why he hasn't returned.
"We feel he's been recruited by someone [to play Call of Duty] andlured in by the promise of money. We just pray that it's not a pedophile or someone using it to lure kids in," Mr. Crisp told The Globe and Mail yesterday. "We have no idea, but it's the only conclusion that makes any sense - that this is where he's at. That he's in this game somewhere."
Call of Duty is played on several gaming systems (the young Mr. Crisp owned an Xbox) and can be played online against other players worldwide. Ms. Crisp said she would wake up in the middle of the night and hear her son speaking to other players using his in-game microphone.
Investigators have searched Brandon's Xbox for possible leads, but came up empty, Barrie police Sergeant Dave Goodbrand said. There has been no recent activity on the teen's online Xbox account, which would track if he'd been logged into the game since last week.
There are a handful of professional video gaming circuits in North America that pay thousands of dollars to quick-thumbed gamers. Mr. Crisp said a fraudulent promise of such an opportunity could easily lead his son to run away.
"That would definitely lure my son in," Mr. Crisp said.
Police said yesterday the mountain bike Brandon left home with was found abandoned in a ditch near Shanty Bay, about four kilometres from the Crisp family home. Police searched that area yesterday for clues, but found none.
The missing teen had also earlier asked his mother for directions to nearby Oro-Medonte Township because he knows people who live in the area. So far, there have been few leads, and police acknowledge time isn't on their side.
"Every day another door closes that was available," Sgt. Goodbrand said. "He's had no contact with his friends and the weather is changing. Every day, this becomes more and more of a concern, so you have to ramp [the search] up."
"Most 15-year-olds who run away return within 24 hours," he added.
The panicked parents have had little sleep since their son left, with the phone and doorbell "ringing every five minutes," Mr. Crisp said. They'll be back at Shanty Bay today, and hope one phone call will soon bring good news of their son's whereabouts.
Summary: This kid was not just playing Call Of Duty 4 he was addicted.
His parents told him to stop playing but the chid got angry.
The next morning he got on his bike and left and they never saw him since.
Usually the kids comeback in twenty four hours but he did not.
Questions
1. would you run away
2.are you addicted to games
3.dou you play Call Of Duty 4
link to course
back then people did not have technology to create addictive games
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Tabloid slams Starbucks for wasting water
Starbucks has built its name around being environmentally sound and culturally sensitive.
But a British tabloid newspaper has labelled the coffee empire "the great drain robber'' for wasting one of the earth's most precious resources - water.
The Sun claims that world-wide, the coffee giant is wasting 23 million litres of clean water a day.
That's enough to fill an Olympic sized swimming pool every 83 minutes.
Such wasteful ways have created an Internet backlash all over the globe.
That's because every time a Starbucks barista makes a latte, a dirty spoon is put into a dipping well, which is attached to a tap that runs constantly.
"It's just nobody's thinking about it,'' said a Vancouver woman, who spoke to CTV. "You are just waiting for your drink, you're watching the water going down."
CTV News went to a local Starbucks outlet on Vancouver's Robson Street and found that the tap is always on, except overnight.
In a written statement, the company admitted it's an issue that needs immediate attention.
Starbucks says it keeps the water running for health reasons because it's the best way of keeping spoons clean.
But environmentalists like Eric Lorenz of the Sierra Club say that's ridiculous.
"Is this an essential service? is it a hospital?" Lorenz said. " And hey, have [they] no other method for cleaning their utensils? And I have to say I don't think it is,'' he said. "It's for your four dollar latte.''
Starbucks is trying to find an alternative. While it does so, it need only look across the street where CTV found a local mom and pop shop where Nick Allan makes lattes by pouring steamed milk right from the jug. He doesn't use a spoon.
Meanwhile environmentalists want the big kid on the block -- in this case Starbucks -- to lead by example and make headlines about how it conserves water.
But a British tabloid newspaper has labelled the coffee empire "the great drain robber'' for wasting one of the earth's most precious resources - water.
The Sun claims that world-wide, the coffee giant is wasting 23 million litres of clean water a day.
That's enough to fill an Olympic sized swimming pool every 83 minutes.
Such wasteful ways have created an Internet backlash all over the globe.
That's because every time a Starbucks barista makes a latte, a dirty spoon is put into a dipping well, which is attached to a tap that runs constantly.
"It's just nobody's thinking about it,'' said a Vancouver woman, who spoke to CTV. "You are just waiting for your drink, you're watching the water going down."
CTV News went to a local Starbucks outlet on Vancouver's Robson Street and found that the tap is always on, except overnight.
In a written statement, the company admitted it's an issue that needs immediate attention.
Starbucks says it keeps the water running for health reasons because it's the best way of keeping spoons clean.
But environmentalists like Eric Lorenz of the Sierra Club say that's ridiculous.
"Is this an essential service? is it a hospital?" Lorenz said. " And hey, have [they] no other method for cleaning their utensils? And I have to say I don't think it is,'' he said. "It's for your four dollar latte.''
Starbucks is trying to find an alternative. While it does so, it need only look across the street where CTV found a local mom and pop shop where Nick Allan makes lattes by pouring steamed milk right from the jug. He doesn't use a spoon.
Meanwhile environmentalists want the big kid on the block -- in this case Starbucks -- to lead by example and make headlines about how it conserves water.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Food bank struggles to stock shelves
RICHARD LAUTENS/TORONTO STAR
Lilly, a volunteer, arranges food at the Daily Bread Food Bank, Oct. 7, 2008. The food bank is in the middle of its fall food drive, but its shelves are still quite sparse.
document.
Daily Bread hopes donations increase in fall drive's final week
Oct 08, 2008 04:30 AM
Debra Black Staff Reporter
Toronto's Daily Bread Food Bank is short hundreds of thousands of pounds and dollars in its annual fall drive to fill the shelves of food banks across the GTA.
"It's extremely slow right now," said Gail Nyberg, the food bank's executive director. "We just did a count last night. We're at 110,000 pounds of food – or about 50,000 kilograms – and $98,000 in donations."
That's about 15 per cent down from the same time last year, Nyberg said. The shelves at the Daily Bread Food Bank are looking a little sparse, but Nyberg hopes the next seven days will turn things around. "This is our big week. Between today and next Monday are the biggest times of the year for us in terms of bringing in food and money. But we have a long way to go."
The food bank wants to raise 500,000 pounds of food and $500,000 in cash donations this fall. Many of its clients are what Nyberg describes as the working poor. Twenty-eight per cent of food bank users are in families where at least one person is working.
With the uncertain economic times, Nyberg is forecasting that this winter the number of working poor using the food bank will increase dramatically given the increased cost of daily expenses such as food, gas and home heating.
The shrinking job market will also play a critical role, she said. Many residents of the GTA who made $25 an hour in manufacturing jobs are now out of work and have turned to the service sector for employment. But jobs in that sector pay substantially lower at about $10 to $12 an hour. Those are the people whom Nyberg believes will increasingly turn to food banks this winter.
According to the Daily Bread's research, across the GTA there were 952,000 visits to food banks for food last year.
The fall food drive kicked off on Sept. 27 and runs until Oct. 17. Financial donations can be made online at dailybread.ca or by calling 416-203-0050. Food donations can be dropped off at any fire hall, Loblaws or Real Canadian Superstore.
RICHARD LAUTENS/TORONTO STAR
Lilly, a volunteer, arranges food at the Daily Bread Food Bank, Oct. 7, 2008. The food bank is in the middle of its fall food drive, but its shelves are still quite sparse.
document.
Daily Bread hopes donations increase in fall drive's final week
Oct 08, 2008 04:30 AM
Debra Black Staff Reporter
Toronto's Daily Bread Food Bank is short hundreds of thousands of pounds and dollars in its annual fall drive to fill the shelves of food banks across the GTA.
"It's extremely slow right now," said Gail Nyberg, the food bank's executive director. "We just did a count last night. We're at 110,000 pounds of food – or about 50,000 kilograms – and $98,000 in donations."
That's about 15 per cent down from the same time last year, Nyberg said. The shelves at the Daily Bread Food Bank are looking a little sparse, but Nyberg hopes the next seven days will turn things around. "This is our big week. Between today and next Monday are the biggest times of the year for us in terms of bringing in food and money. But we have a long way to go."
The food bank wants to raise 500,000 pounds of food and $500,000 in cash donations this fall. Many of its clients are what Nyberg describes as the working poor. Twenty-eight per cent of food bank users are in families where at least one person is working.
With the uncertain economic times, Nyberg is forecasting that this winter the number of working poor using the food bank will increase dramatically given the increased cost of daily expenses such as food, gas and home heating.
The shrinking job market will also play a critical role, she said. Many residents of the GTA who made $25 an hour in manufacturing jobs are now out of work and have turned to the service sector for employment. But jobs in that sector pay substantially lower at about $10 to $12 an hour. Those are the people whom Nyberg believes will increasingly turn to food banks this winter.
According to the Daily Bread's research, across the GTA there were 952,000 visits to food banks for food last year.
The fall food drive kicked off on Sept. 27 and runs until Oct. 17. Financial donations can be made online at dailybread.ca or by calling 416-203-0050. Food donations can be dropped off at any fire hall, Loblaws or Real Canadian Superstore.
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