Nature thread ..anyone can post on

[kbit]

This came from a Rig Manager

for Global Marine Drilling

in St. Johns , Newfoundland ..

They actually have to divert the path
of these things away from the rig
by towing them with ships!

Anyway, in this particular case

the water was calm and
the sun was almost directly overhead
so that the diver was able to get into the water
and take this picture.
They estimated the weight at 300,000,000 tons.

[kbit]

Back-garden astronomer uses second-hand telescope (and a lot of patience) to capture stunning images of the stars | Mail Online

[Nicolas11]

Hi,

Some people say that this picture is a hoax ( Global Marine Drilling Iceberg Photo Hoax ) but it remains beautiful anyway.

Nicolas

kbit 

This came from a Rig Manager for Global Marine Drilling in St. Johns , Newfoundland .. They actually have to divert the path of these things away from the rig by towing them with ships! Anyway, in this particular case the water was calm and the sun was almost directly overhead so that the diver was able to get into the water and take this picture. They estimated the weight at 300,000,000 tons.

[JEHs]

Nicolas11 

Hi, Some people say that this picture is a hoax ( Global Marine Drilling Iceberg Photo Hoax ) but it remains beautiful anyway. Nicolas

snopes.com: Newfoundland Iceberg

[kbit]

Nicolas11 

Hi, Some people say that this picture is a hoax ( Global Marine Drilling Iceberg Photo Hoax ) but it remains beautiful anyway. Nicolas

Yep I heard that myself but I like it anyway if for no other reason that it makes me think of all the claims about man made global warming.....

[kbit]

These extraordinary colours filled the night sky above Yorkshire last night as the Northern Lights unfolded over the British Isles. Subtle hues of purple, yellow, orange, and even neon green filled the heavens. The display, normally only visible far further North in the Arctic Circle, has reached so far South because of an unusually powerful solar explosion which sent streams of particles across space to collide with atoms in the upper earth atmosphere


Got this off the Daily Mail...they always have something "cool"

[kbit]

Patrick_Notley.zip

A little more than just nature but .....

[kbit]

Winners of the National Geographic Photo Contest 2011 - In Focus - The Atlantic

[kbit]

Ocean Sky on Vimeo

For some reason when I tried to embed this it says it doesn't exist...just click it, it's worth it

[Big Mike]

kbit 

Ocean Sky on Vimeo For some reason when I tried to embed this it says it doesn't exist...just click it, it's worth it

Works fine for me. Quote my reply to see the code.

Mike

[Lornz]

[zt379]

kbit 

This came from a Rig Manager for Global Marine Drilling in St. Johns , Newfoundland .. They actually have to divert the path of these things away from the rig by towing them with ships! Anyway, in this particular case the water was calm and the sun was almost directly overhead so that the diver was able to get into the water and take this picture. They estimated the weight at 300,000,000 tons.

I've always liked it....

[Private Banker]

This is some pretty amazing slow motion work:

[Private Banker]

Private Banker 

This is some pretty amazing slow motion work:

For some reason the video I posted disappeared but here's another video from the same guy. This is of some guys surfing in Tahiti on one of the biggest swells that has ever been surfed at this spot (Teahupo'o). Surprisingly no one drowned this day but a few people did get hurt:

[kbit]

Private Banker 

For some reason the video I posted disappeared but here's another video from the same guy. This is of some guys surfing in Tahiti on one of the biggest swells that has ever been surfed at this spot (Teahupo'o). Surprisingly no one drowned this day but a few people did get hurt:

Must be a Vimeo thing...Mike did one that disappeared as well....hmmmm....nice vids though PB

[kbit]

The midnight phoenix rises: Biggest solar storms for seven years create spectacular northern lights | Mail Online

[Lornz]

I posted this in my journal, but I think it fits in better here. One of the few joys of living in Norway is the beautiful scenery.

[kbit]

Nasa reveals stunning new hi-def 'Blue Marble' image of our world, as captured by agency's latest satellite | Mail Online

[kbit]

The supposed ‘consensus’ on man-made global warming is facing an inconvenient challenge after the release of new temperature data showing the planet has not warmed for the past 15 years.
The figures suggest that we could even be heading for a mini ice age to rival the 70-year temperature drop that saw frost fairs held on the Thames in the 17th Century.
Based on readings from more than 30,000 measuring stations, the data was issued last week without fanfare by the Met Office and the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit. It confirms that the rising trend in world temperatures ended in 1997.

A painting, dated 1684, by Abraham Hondius depicts one of many frost fairs on the River Thames during the mini ice age

Meanwhile, leading climate scientists yesterday told The Mail on Sunday that, after emitting unusually high levels of energy throughout the 20th Century, the sun is now heading towards a ‘grand minimum’ in its output, threatening cold summers, bitter winters and a shortening of the season available for growing food.
Solar output goes through 11-year cycles, with high numbers of sunspots seen at their peak.
We are now at what should be the peak of what scientists call ‘Cycle 24’ – which is why last week’s solar storm resulted in sightings of the aurora borealis further south than usual. But sunspot numbers are running at less than half those seen during cycle peaks in the 20th Century.
Analysis by experts at NASA and the University of Arizona – derived from magnetic-field measurements 120,000 miles beneath the sun’s surface – suggest that Cycle 25, whose peak is due in 2022, will be a great deal weaker still.



More...

• Hotter summers 'may kill 5,900 every year', warns first national risk assessment of climate change

According to a paper issued last week by the Met Office, there is a 92 per cent chance that both Cycle 25 and those taking place in the following decades will be as weak as, or weaker than, the ‘Dalton minimum’ of 1790 to 1830. In this period, named after the meteorologist John Dalton, average temperatures in parts of Europe fell by 2C.
However, it is also possible that the new solar energy slump could be as deep as the ‘Maunder minimum’ (after astronomer Edward Maunder), between 1645 and 1715 in the coldest part of the ‘Little Ice Age’ when, as well as the Thames frost fairs, the canals of Holland froze solid.


Yet, in its paper, the Met Office claimed that the consequences now would be negligible – because the impact of the sun on climate is far less than man-made carbon dioxide. Although the sun’s output is likely to decrease until 2100, ‘This would only cause a reduction in global temperatures of 0.08C.’ Peter Stott, one of the authors, said: ‘Our findings suggest a reduction of solar activity to levels not seen in hundreds of years would be insufficient to offset the dominant influence of greenhouse gases.’
These findings are fiercely disputed by other solar experts.
‘World temperatures may end up a lot cooler than now for 50 years or more,’ said Henrik Svensmark, director of the Center for Sun-Climate Research at Denmark’s National Space Institute. ‘It will take a long battle to convince some climate scientists that the sun is important. It may well be that the sun is going to demonstrate this on its own, without the need for their help.’
He pointed out that, in claiming the effect of the solar minimum would be small, the Met Office was relying on the same computer models that are being undermined by the current pause in global-warming.
CO2 levels have continued to rise without interruption and, in 2007, the Met Office claimed that global warming was about to ‘come roaring back’. It said that between 2004 and 2014 there would be an overall increase of 0.3C. In 2009, it predicted that at least three of the years 2009 to 2014 would break the previous temperature record set in 1998.


So far there is no sign of any of this happening. But yesterday a Met Office spokesman insisted its models were still valid.
‘The ten-year projection remains groundbreaking science. The period for the original projection is not over yet,’ he said.
Dr Nicola Scafetta, of Duke University in North Carolina, is the author of several papers that argue the Met Office climate models show there should have been ‘steady warming from 2000 until now’.
‘If temperatures continue to stay flat or start to cool again, the divergence between the models and recorded data will eventually become so great that the whole scientific community will question the current theories,’ he said.
He believes that as the Met Office model attaches much greater significance to CO2 than to the sun, it was bound to conclude that there would not be cooling. ‘The real issue is whether the model itself is accurate,’ Dr Scafetta said. Meanwhile, one of America’s most eminent climate experts, Professor Judith Curry of the Georgia Institute of Technology, said she found the Met Office’s confident prediction of a ‘negligible’ impact difficult to understand.
‘The responsible thing to do would be to accept the fact that the models may have severe shortcomings when it comes to the influence of the sun,’ said Professor Curry. As for the warming pause, she said that many scientists ‘are not surprised’.


She argued it is becoming evident that factors other than CO2 play an important role in rising or falling warmth, such as the 60-year water temperature cycles in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
‘They have insufficiently been appreciated in terms of global climate,’ said Prof Curry. When both oceans were cold in the past, such as from 1940 to 1970, the climate cooled. The Pacific cycle ‘flipped’ back from warm to cold mode in 2008 and the Atlantic is also thought likely to flip in the next few years .
Pal Brekke, senior adviser at the Norwegian Space Centre, said some scientists found the importance of water cycles difficult to accept, because doing so means admitting that the oceans – not CO2 – caused much of the global warming between 1970 and 1997.
The same goes for the impact of the sun – which was highly active for much of the 20th Century.
‘Nature is about to carry out a very interesting experiment,’ he said. ‘Ten or 15 years from now, we will be able to determine much better whether the warming of the late 20th Century really was caused by man-made CO2, or by natural variability.’
Meanwhile, since the end of last year, world temperatures have fallen by more than half a degree, as the cold ‘La Nina’ effect has re-emerged in the South Pacific.
‘We’re now well into the second decade of the pause,’ said Benny Peiser, director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation. ‘If we don’t see convincing evidence of global warming by 2015, it will start to become clear whether the models are bunk. And, if they are, the implications for some scientists could be very serious.’



Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2093264/Forget-global-warming--Cycle-25-need-worry-NASA-scientists-right-Thames-freezing-again.html#ixzz1ks5ZFxbk

[kbit]

Northern Lights: Breathtaking images of the aurora borealis over the Arctic circle | Mail Online

[kbit]

[kbit]

Spinning through the skies: The cosmic ballet of the stars captured by an amateur photographer with a warm coat | Mail Online

[zt379]

kbit 

The supposed ‘consensus’ on man-made global warming is facing an inconvenient challenge after the release of new temperature data showing the planet has not warmed for the past 15 years. The figures suggest that we could even be heading for a mini ice age to rival the 70-year temperature drop that saw frost fairs held on the Thames in the 17th Century. Based on readings from more than 30,000 measuring stations, the data was issued last week without fanfare by the Met Office and the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit. It confirms that the rising trend in world temperatures ended in 1997. A painting, dated 1684, by Abraham Hondius depicts one of many frost fairs on the River Thames during the mini ice age Meanwhile, leading climate scientists yesterday told The Mail on Sunday that, after emitting unusually high levels of energy throughout the 20th Century, the sun is now heading towards a ‘grand minimum’ in its output, threatening cold summers, bitter winters and a shortening of the season available for growing food. Solar output goes through 11-year cycles, with high numbers of sunspots seen at their peak. We are now at what should be the peak of what scientists call ‘Cycle 24’ – which is why last week’s solar storm resulted in sightings of the aurora borealis further south than usual. But sunspot numbers are running at less than half those seen during cycle peaks in the 20th Century. Analysis by experts at NASA and the University of Arizona – derived from magnetic-field measurements 120,000 miles beneath the sun’s surface – suggest that Cycle 25, whose peak is due in 2022, will be a great deal weaker still. More... Hotter summers 'may kill 5,900 every year', warns first national risk assessment of climate change According to a paper issued last week by the Met Office, there is a 92 per cent chance that both Cycle 25 and those taking place in the following decades will be as weak as, or weaker than, the ‘Dalton minimum’ of 1790 to 1830. In this period, named after the meteorologist John Dalton, average temperatures in parts of Europe fell by 2C. However, it is also possible that the new solar energy slump could be as deep as the ‘Maunder minimum’ (after astronomer Edward Maunder), between 1645 and 1715 in the coldest part of the ‘Little Ice Age’ when, as well as the Thames frost fairs, the canals of Holland froze solid. Yet, in its paper, the Met Office claimed that the consequences now would be negligible – because the impact of the sun on climate is far less than man-made carbon dioxide. Although the sun’s output is likely to decrease until 2100, ‘This would only cause a reduction in global temperatures of 0.08C.’ Peter Stott, one of the authors, said: ‘Our findings suggest a reduction of solar activity to levels not seen in hundreds of years would be insufficient to offset the dominant influence of greenhouse gases.’ These findings are fiercely disputed by other solar experts. ‘World temperatures may end up a lot cooler than now for 50 years or more,’ said Henrik Svensmark, director of the Center for Sun-Climate Research at Denmark’s National Space Institute. ‘It will take a long battle to convince some climate scientists that the sun is important. It may well be that the sun is going to demonstrate this on its own, without the need for their help.’ He pointed out that, in claiming the effect of the solar minimum would be small, the Met Office was relying on the same computer models that are being undermined by the current pause in global-warming. CO2 levels have continued to rise without interruption and, in 2007, the Met Office claimed that global warming was about to ‘come roaring back’. It said that between 2004 and 2014 there would be an overall increase of 0.3C. In 2009, it predicted that at least three of the years 2009 to 2014 would break the previous temperature record set in 1998. So far there is no sign of any of this happening. But yesterday a Met Office spokesman insisted its models were still valid. ‘The ten-year projection remains groundbreaking science. The period for the original projection is not over yet,’ he said. Dr Nicola Scafetta, of Duke University in North Carolina, is the author of several papers that argue the Met Office climate models show there should have been ‘steady warming from 2000 until now’. ‘If temperatures continue to stay flat or start to cool again, the divergence between the models and recorded data will eventually become so great that the whole scientific community will question the current theories,’ he said. He believes that as the Met Office model attaches much greater significance to CO2 than to the sun, it was bound to conclude that there would not be cooling. ‘The real issue is whether the model itself is accurate,’ Dr Scafetta said. Meanwhile, one of America’s most eminent climate experts, Professor Judith Curry of the Georgia Institute of Technology, said she found the Met Office’s confident prediction of a ‘negligible’ impact difficult to understand. ‘The responsible thing to do would be to accept the fact that the models may have severe shortcomings when it comes to the influence of the sun,’ said Professor Curry. As for the warming pause, she said that many scientists ‘are not surprised’. She argued it is becoming evident that factors other than CO2 play an important role in rising or falling warmth, such as the 60-year water temperature cycles in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. ‘They have insufficiently been appreciated in terms of global climate,’ said Prof Curry. When both oceans were cold in the past, such as from 1940 to 1970, the climate cooled. The Pacific cycle ‘flipped’ back from warm to cold mode in 2008 and the Atlantic is also thought likely to flip in the next few years . Pal Brekke, senior adviser at the Norwegian Space Centre, said some scientists found the importance of water cycles difficult to accept, because doing so means admitting that the oceans – not CO2 – caused much of the global warming between 1970 and 1997. The same goes for the impact of the sun – which was highly active for much of the 20th Century. ‘Nature is about to carry out a very interesting experiment,’ he said. ‘Ten or 15 years from now, we will be able to determine much better whether the warming of the late 20th Century really was caused by man-made CO2, or by natural variability.’ Meanwhile, since the end of last year, world temperatures have fallen by more than half a degree, as the cold ‘La Nina’ effect has re-emerged in the South Pacific. ‘We’re now well into the second decade of the pause,’ said Benny Peiser, director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation. ‘If we don’t see convincing evidence of global warming by 2015, it will start to become clear whether the models are bunk. And, if they are, the implications for some scientists could be very serious.’ Read more: Forget global warming - it's Cycle 25 we need to worry about (and if NASA scientists are right the Thames will be freezing over again) | Mail Online

‘It will take a long battle to convince some climate scientists that the sun is important.............."

this line from the above article does make me chuckle.
I feel like I've just heard a Tommy Cooper joke. No make that Frank Spencer..

[zt379]

You're turn to walk the dog honey...

[kbit]

A galaxy not so far away: Salt Lake City photographer captures spectacular images of our own Milky Way arched over the pillars and canyons of Utah | Mail Online

[Beljevina]

Arguably some of the nicest pictures, using nothing but photographs and LRTimelapse. Called Timelapse Croatia.

[kbit]

AstronautSunitaWilliamsPicsofEarth.zip

[GridKing]

[Big Mike]

Quoting 

Featuring an original score by Bear McCreary (Battlestar Galactica, The Walking Dead, Eureka, etc) bearmccreary.com Thanks to Bear for taking the time to do this! Watch in HD dakotalapse.com/?p=944 for more info and digital download. There is a 23 minute extended cut, available for digital download here dakotalapse.com/?p=877 The feature is 23+ minutes of Milky Way, Aurora and other night timelapse, it has 2 original scores by Simon Wilkinson thebluemask.com , as well as some from his royalty free collection.

Mike

[GridKing]

Little Friends Lifestyle Pet Photography by Seth Casteel - Los Angeles Pet Photography, Chicago Pet Photography, Los Angeles Dog Photography, Chicago Dog Photography, Underwater Dog Photography, Diving Dogs

Dogs Underwater slideshow

[kbit]

Yosemite waterfall turns to 'flowing lava' in rare February spectacle caught on camera | Mail Online


From the link: (there is more there)

[kbit]

Earth, solar wind and fire: Northern lights and molten lava come together in landscape that could be out of this world | Mail Online

One from the link:

[zt379]

The persons who are working on
The upper most Girders can see the
"ROTATION OF THE EARTH"
The Highest Human Position In The World

Babu Sassi, a fearless young man from southern India ,
is the cult hero of Dubai 's army of construction workers.


Known as the "Indian on top of the world",
Babu is the crane operator at the world's tallest building, the 819-meter Burj Dubai.

His office, the cramped crane cab perched on top of the Burj, is also his home.
It takes too long to come down to the ground each day to make it worthwhile -
although, when the building is completed, its elevators will be the world's fastest.

Stories about his daily brush with death are discussed in revered terms by Dubai 's workers.
Some say he has been up there for more than a year,
others whisper that he's paid 30,000 dirhams ($8,168) a month
compared with the average wage of 800 dirhams a month.

But everyone agrees, he's worth it -
because nobody else would have the courage to do the job!

[kbit]

The River Tree: Amazing aerial pictures show Iceland¿s amazing natural beauty | Mail Online

[Cashish]

CHRIST STATUE RIO DE JANEIRO BRAZIL




The 710 meter mountain of Corcovado is crowned by the statue of Christ the Redeemer

This is a link to one of those "world's largest photo" contenders, I think it's incredible.

Rio de Janeiro view from Corcovado - Christ The Redeemer Rio de Janeiro - photo panoramique

[Cashish]

zt379 

But everyone agrees, he's worth it - because nobody else would have the courage to do the job!

I'm afraid of heights, camera shots from helicopters looking down on cities in movies makes my heart skip a beat (or two), I've attempted to watch Avatar three times, with no success. I achieved a goal of mine to visit our (U.S.) tallest buildings in Chicago and New York. I often tell people, "I don't like being this tall!"

[kbit]

Doggy and the Deer, They are best friends

[kbit]

[kbit]

Aurora borealis: Images of solar flares and northern lights taken during solar storms | Mail Online

[Sunil P]

[yt] [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG2eGVt6v2o&list=FLQJYIjeexJtOGMzkqfbEUAg&index=2&feature=plpp_video]
[/yt]


Paradise on Earth....beyond words.

[Beljevina]

A short Tourist film for Croatia, with cellist Ana Rucner playing Ode To Joy in nature settings. The clip won Das Goldene Stadttor at the current Berlin Tourist Fair, the world's leading travel trade show: Croatia's Ode to Joy wins 'Tourism Oscar' in Berlin

[Big Mike]

Most astounding fact about the Universe, according to Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

Mike

[Sunil P]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

[kbit]

A kingfisher shows a blatant disregard for the rules as it is caught sitting on a 'no fishing' sign with a fish in its beak. The rebellious bird swooped down to perch on the sign with a mouth full of fish and appeared to be reading the warning. The moment was captured by photographer Dean Mason from Bournemouth

[Lornz]

[kbit]

Natl_Geographic_winners.zip

[kbit]

Volcanic ash rained around photographer Patrick Taschler as he captured an unforgettable image of a volcanic eruption in Ecuador.
Tungurahua - which means 'Throat of Fire' in the indigenous Quechua language - has been active since 1999 but began erupting violently late last year, sending red-hot clouds of gas up into the atmosphere.
The photograph of the peak shows a cloud of volcanic ash erupting through the clouds. It was captured by Taschler in 2006, and posted on Nasa's Astronomy Picture of the Day site.

[Lornz]

[Lornz]

[kbit]

kevin mcneal's Photostream

nice slide show

[kbit]

[kbit]

A Russian research ship has spotted an extremely rare white adult orca, or killer whale, off the coast of Kamchatka for the first time in history. The reason for the whale's unusual pigmentation is as yet unexplained.
*The scientists identified the whale by his pure white fin, swimming together with his pod, or family, all of which have the standard black and white coloration.
He has been given the nickname Iceberg, and appears to be behaving normally.
"Iceberg seems to be fully socialized; we know that these fish-eating orcas stay with their mothers for life, and as far as we can see he's right behind his mother with presumably his brothers next to him," said Dr. Erich Hoyt, who co-leads the scientific group that spotted the mammal.


Photo from Russian Orcas Homepage
Iceberg is assumed to be at least 15 years old, judging from the size and shape of his fin. Killer whales, or orcas, can live up to 80 years, though most live around half that time.
Young white orcas have been seen in the wild, but never an adult.
Scientists may conduct a biopsy – extracting a small piece of meat from the whale to find out his genetic make-up – but for now will continue tracking Iceberg’s pod, and simply observing him.
"If we can get a full close-up of the eyes and they are pink, it would confirm Iceberg is an albino, but we don't know much about albinism in orcas," Hoyt said.

Photo from Russian Orcas Homepage

Photo from Russian Orcas Homepage

VIDEO in link: First-ever adult albino killer whale spotted in wild (PHOTOS, VIDEO) — RT

[Big Mike]

Mike

[kbit]

Big Mike 

Mike

@Big Mike, for some reason this video is not working/playing for me....I tried it on two different browsers and still nothing.

[Big Mike]

kbit 

@Big Mike, for some reason this video is not working/playing for me....I tried it on two different browsers and still nothing.

Works great here with Chrome and Firefox. Is a stunning video, highly recommended.

A reminder - the ISS is orbiting at 18,000 mph, and makes one orbit about every ~90 minutes.

Mike

[kbit]

Big Mike 

Works great here with Chrome and Firefox. Is a stunning video, highly recommended. A reminder - the ISS is orbiting at 18,000 mph, and makes one orbit about every ~90 minutes. Mike

@Big Mike, I tried it on firefox and in fact am still using it and shut it down and restarted and still nothing......
Actually it's just a black window right now....

[Big Mike]

kbit 

@Big Mike, I tried it on firefox and in fact am still using it and shut it down and restarted and still nothing...... Actually it's just a black window right now....

Here is the direct link:

Timelapse: EARTHEREAL on Vimeo

Maybe someone else can confirm it is/is not working.

Mike

[kbit]

Big Mike 

Here is the direct link: Timelapse: EARTHEREAL on Vimeo Maybe someone else can confirm it is/is not working. Mike

I guess I will try to reboot my computer....doesn't even work at the link on either browser for some reason.

[Lornz]

Big Mike 

Here is the direct link: Timelapse: EARTHEREAL on Vimeo Maybe someone else can confirm it is/is not working. Mike

It's working for me....

Stunning footage!

[kbit]

Works now after rebooting...thanks Mike

[Lornz]

I found some new avatars for you, @Big Mike

Amazing 17 Photos Of Dogs Underwater

[Big Mike]

kbit 

Works now after rebooting...thanks Mike

Inspiring video, yes? I love that kinda stuff. I even downloaded the mp3 of that song (legally distributed under creative commons license).

Mike

[Big Mike]

Mike

[Big Mike]

On April 23/24, 2012 Earth experienced a G=3 geomagnetic storm. The Kp index, a measure of magnetic field, peaked at 6.33 out of a maximum of 9. The result of this disturbance created this Aurora event.

It was a beautiful spring night on the Alberta prairies. Temperatures were steady at 16 deg C with very light winds. As you can see there was some cloud cover, but I was able to get far enough away from it to still get a great view of the show.



Mike

[kbit]

"The Wave" is a surreal-looking rock formation on the slopes of the Coyote Buttes in Arizona.

While it's not the toughest place in the world to reach, very few people ever get to see it since the government seriously limits the number of people who can hike there each day.

20 permits are handed out daily—10 to people who register for an online lottery four months in advance, and 10 to walk-ins.
.
More pics at: Hiking The Wave, Coyote Buttes, Arizona - Business Insider

[Sunil P]

lots of symbolism here.

[kbit]

Hanging in space, our beautiful blue planet has never been seen more clearly.

This is Planet Earth, seen from 36,000km above the surface, with the rich deep blues of the sea contrasting with the sharp outlines of land, as white clouds scurry across the skies.

The image was taken by the Electro-L, Russia's latest weather satellite, and unlike other images of our planet, it was taken in one single shot, at a massive resolution of 121million megapixels.

[kbit]

There are some other pictures at: The light show: Photographer spends his nights capturing the wonders of the Aurora Borealis | Mail Online

[kbit]

The beautiful monsters of the deep: The jellyfish in Norway which look more like aliens than sea-dwellers | Mail Online

[kbit]

A timelapse of Planet Earth from Electro-L, a geostationary satellite orbiting 40000km above the Earth. The satellite creates a 121 megapixel image every 30 minutes with four visible and infrared light wavelengths. The infrared light appears orange in these images, and shows vegetation.

[Lornz]

kbit 

The beautiful monsters of the deep: The jellyfish in Norway which look more like aliens than sea-dwellers | Mail Online

Did you think of me when you read it?

By the way, his name is oddly fitting for is work. It's only an "e" shy of being perfect, really. Reke = shrimp, dal = valley.

[kbit]

Lornz 

Did you think of me when you read it? By the way, his name is oddly fitting for is work. It's only an "e" shy of being perfect, really. Reke = shrimp, dal = valley.

Yeah, actually you did come to mind....

[kbit]

Nasa's | Mail Online

Click on link for video...sorry couldn't find it on youtube or something embedable here.

[kbit]

[Lornz]

The sun has never looked more beautiful, but that kayaker is fucking insane!

[kbit]

See more at: When clouds play tricks with your mind, forming UFO shapes which startle and confuse | Mail Online

[kbit]

[kbit]

We filmed and photographed the 2012 Peregrine falcon banding on top of the clock tower at The University of Toledo. People from The Ohio Department of Natural Resource's Division of Wildlife visit every year to temporarily remove the falcon chicks from the nesting box, take blood samples and attach permanent numbered bands to their legs for tracking and future identification.

[kbit]

[zt379]

Posted this in the Song thread but thought it would fit in here.
Some nice fast filming through seasons etc...(and at the very end)
Can't get over those ducks..

Song is by Enigma "Child In Us"

Sanskrit Chant honors 'Lakshmi',
the Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity........

"Prasanna Vadanaam.
Saubhaagyadaam Bhaagyadaam.
Hastaabhyaam Abhayapradaam.
Maniganai naa naavidhai Bhuushhitaam".

Translated:
"I salute the Goddess, who is of smiling face, bestow-er of all fortunes
whose hands are ready to rescue anyone from fear
who is adorned by various ornaments with precious stones,
who showers boons fulfilling the ambitions of Her devotees"

[kbit]

More at: Inside the stunning waves of Hawaii: Pair of photographers capture the setting sun sparkling through the crystal waters | Mail Online

[Rachel]

5 Million Farmers Sue Monsanto for $7.7 Billion | NationofChange

Posting this link in this thread because Monsanto is one of the most corrupt Corporations.
Polluting the environment and the human race with their GMO seeds and Roundup pesticide.

If you want to become more informed about GMO's and how they can negatively affect your health, check out:
https://seedsofdeception.com/

Removing GMO's from my diet was one of the things, I had to do, to overcome the basal cell cancers I had. The GMO's were feeding them to grow. When I was going through the healing cycle by mistake I ate some healt food Ketchup which had Canola Oil, which if it isn't organic, it is GMO. My basal cells flared up. Another time, I ate some corn that wasn't organic. All corn if it isn't organic is GMO and the basal cells flared up again.

Anyway, you might find this article above interesting from to view points:
1. How you can protect your health and your environment
2. As a trader, as this news hits the public, Monsanto might be a good short.

Enjoy,

Rachel

[zt379]

SunAeon

[kbit]

No one knows why they do it. Yet each fall, thousands of starlings dance in the twilight above England and Scotland . The birds gather in shape-shifting flocks called murmurations, having migrated in the millions from Russia and Scandinavia to escape winter's frigid bite. Scientists aren't sure how they do it, either. The starlings' murmurations are manifestations of swarm intelligence, which in different contexts is practiced by schools of fish, swarms of bees and colonies of ants. As far as I am aware, even complex algorithmic models haven't yet explained the starlings' aerobatics, which rely on the tiny birds' quicksilver reaction time of under 100 milliseconds to avoid aerial collisions-and predators-in the giant flock.
Two young ladies were out for a late afternoon canoe ride and fortunately one of them remembered to bring her video camera. What they saw was a wonderful murmuration display, caught in the short video . Watch the variation of color and intensity of the patterns that the birds make in proximity to one other. And take a look at the girl in the bow of the canoe watching the aerial display.



I don't know why this isn't embedding...link:

[Big Mike]

Manhattan



Mike

[kbit]

Volcanic lightning is seen over the Puyehue volcano, over 500 miles south of Santiago, Chile, Sunday June 5, 2011. Authorities have evacuated about 600 people in the nearby area. The volcano was calm on Sunday, one day after raining down ash and forcing thousands to flee, although the cloud of soot it had belched out still darkened skies as far away as Argentina.



More at: Volcano lightning | Photo Gallery - Yahoo! News

[Big Mike]

Really great pictures of the Sun.



Mike

[kbit]

At midnight, all around was dark, but each crash of the waves at a famous surfing beach created an eerie blue flash - caught on camera by a photographer who had a camera ready to capture the strange phenomenon.

Steve Skinner visited the beach especially for the sight, caused by algae in the water at Swami's.

When the waves crash it causes the algae to give off a flash of blue light - called bioluminescence - as the millions of organisms are disturbed.



More at:
California dreaming? Waves at popular surfer beach glow bright blue at midnight | Mail Online

[Beljevina]

National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest 2012

The 24th annual National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest has just wrapped up, and judges will soon be selecting the winners -- but voting for the Viewer's Choice award is open until Friday, July 20, at 9 a.m. National Geographic was kind enough to allow me to share some of these amazing entries with you here, gathered from four categories: Travel Portraits, Outdoor Scenes, Sense of Place, and Spontaneous Moments. [40 photos]

Some great ones below, and all 40 found here: National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest 2012 - In Focus - The Atlantic

[zt379]

A Flight Through the Universe, by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

This animated flight through the universe was made by Miguel Aragon of Johns Hopkins University with Mark Subbarao of the Adler Planetarium and Alex Szalay of Johns Hopkins.
There are close to 400,000 galaxies in the animation, with images of the actual galaxies in these positions (or in some cases their near cousins in type) derived from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7.

Apparently we're the only ones to see this....
It's just us then in all of this..! (lol)

[kbit]

More at: Wonders of the underworld: Explorer captures ¿cave cathedrals¿ in all their ancient glory | Mail Online

[Rad4633]

Canyon-Red Rock

[Rad4633]

after a stressful week trading, fly out to your own lake getaway-soothing for the mind and soul

[zt379]

solar eruption



"It is hard to easily judge the size of this 3D event with a 2D image at this angle, but this filament is probably on the order of 30 Earths across, 300,000 kilometers or 186,000 miles," explained C. Alex Young, a solar physicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "When the filament expanded into space it quickly became more extended leaving the sun as a CME many solar diameters across, many millions of kilometers or miles."

"This "long filament of solar material," as NASA calls it, was spotted tearing away from the Sun at upwards of 900 miles per second. Yes, per second; this CME, as is typical of super-hot plasma filaments that are flung from the sun, was hauling serious ass. It was also freaking enormous — plenty big enough to wrap itself around the Earth a few times — not to mention a few other planets — and still have some plasma left over:"
From:
This solar eruption video will straight up melt your face it's so awesome

[Big Mike]

Mike

[Big Mike]

Mike

[kbit]

[StockHunter]

Cool thread!

Last month scouting for bucks:

[Big Mike]

Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Matt Damon, co-founder of Water.org, and Gary White, co-founder and chief executive officer, talk about their nonprofit organization's efforts to provide access to "clean water and sanitation for everyone on Earth in our lifetime." They spoke with Bloomberg News reporter Amanda Gordon in New York on Sept. 20. (Source: Bloomberg)

Bloomberg Video

Mike

[kbit]

One of the coolest stories from last week (September 18, 2012) introduced the world to what many are now calling an underwater crop circle. Of course, these sea floor circles have nothing to do with crops, but they are intricate circles,

reminiscent of the elaborate crop circles that sometimes turn up in farmers’ fields. Japanese photographer Yoji Ookata captured the photos below while on a dive near Amami Oshima at the southern tip of Japan . He said the rippling geometric sand patterns are nearly six feet in diameter and almost 80 feet below sea level.






Puffer fish at work making a circle.