Solar Flares and Natural Disasters

Days before last years major earthquake that resulted in the terrible tsunami that hit Japan, the sun was unusually active emitting solar flares. While the link between solar flares and earthquakes are still controversial, I am leaning towards believing in this connection.

Currently the sun is acting up again. "The sun belted out the most powerful type of solar flare Monday night, known as an X-class flare," according to the Washington Post. The report added that "the X-class flare was not directed at Earth. But space weather forecasters caution the very active sunspot region - known as AR1598 - responsible for these flares is slowly rotating towards Earth in the coming days."



Current scientific consensus generally only accuse such solar flares with causing beautiful northern lights, interfering with radio signals and at words messing with electronic devices. While yesterday's solar flare report was not aimed at the earth, the current rotations will put us in the path of these active sun spots within the next few days. If there is a connection between solar activity and natural disasters, particularly earthquakes, and if AR1598 stays active during the coming days -- which it probably will, we ought to see an increase in natural disasters, particularly an increase in earthquake activity in the weeks to come.

SA's Inadequet Disaster Relief Communications

PhysOrg.com

I found this article I read on NEWS24 this morning quite disturbing. During a cyclone most of the emergency numbers were out of order or unmanned. One operator that was on duty did not know what a cyclone is. Cyclone Irina has been credit for a number of deaths already.

What irritates me the most about this is how the ANC provincial government is spinning it: “The KwaZulu-Natal government has done a sterling job by putting all systems in place to swiftly respond to the cyclone. We have no doubt that these measures have helped to save many lives," according to an ANC spokesperson. Good grief! I think that if lives were saved, it probably happened inspite of the ANC, rather than because of it.

I love KwaZulu-Natal. It is one of the few places where I feel at home and where I could root myself; and it is probably because I love Natal so much, that this news bothers me so.

Kim Jong-Il's Death, America and World War III

At noon today the official North Korean news agency announced that the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-Il, has died. The North Korean newscaster was dressed in clothes of morning as she revealed that the “Dear Leader” had died on Saturday, 17 December, due to extreme psychological and physiological fatigue while doing on site inspections—something he was known for doing quite frequently—at 8:30 in the morning. The North Korean newscaster announced that he died of “physical and mental exhaustion.” The exact cause of death is myocardial infarction, a heart attack. This was determined during an autopsy that was performed on Sunday. He was 69 years old (70 years in Korean counting). North Korean citizens broke down weeping at the news, according to pictures from the Chinese news agency. China is North Korea's greatest ally. The funeral is set for next week, the December 28th or 29th.

Although the South Korean government has declared a state of emergency, the second highest security level, I have spent much of my day in the streets of Seoul and can attest that the average South Korean citizen does not seem too concerned. This is in high contrast to how American citizens reacted upon the announcement of the death of their bogeyman, Osama Bin Laden, earlier this year. In South Korea there are no obvious cheering in the streets nor cowering in the corners. People are just going on with life as normal Although online video sites do have news videos about the North Korean leader's death, the news is shared with local entertainment videos of participants in the pop idol show Kpop Star.

Asian markets seem more concerned than South Korean citizen as Asian currencies dropped at the announcement, but Asian markets have always been nervous.

So what can we expect? For the time being, I think, not much. It is very unlikely that there will be any uprising in the North. Since Kim Jong-Il suffered a stroke in 2008, the North Korean regime has been preparing for his eventual death. Also, although he died Saturday already, the party only made the announcement two days later, giving them enough time to prepare for any unwanted reaction from the people. The South Korean government's state of emergency is more for political display than anything else, since it is highly unlikely the North will do anything to stir up further animosity until after its mourning period. Apart from the immediate mourning period, which will last until around Thursday next week, Korean's also have a special mourning ceremony 100 days after the day of death. Furthermore, Kim Il Sung's Centennial is coming up next year. Plans to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea, has been put into motion for quite some time now.

North Korea is practically a cult-state devoted to Kim Il-Sung and his son and successor Kim Jong-Il. Kim Jong-Il's third son Kim Jong-Eun has been groomed as the successor so plans to “enthrone” him will also take up focus. The next couple of months we can expect North Korea to be completely internally focussed with the mourning of Kim Jong-Il, the centennial celebrations of Kim-Il Sung and the successor ceremony of Kim Jong-Eun.

That is at least how I see things play out, unless there are any outside interferences and the only powers that could / would cause “interferences” are China who isn't likely to do anything, Japan and Korea who prize stability in the region more than anything else, and the United States. America has its focus divided elsewhere and would rather not thin their attention any more than it has too. In any case, China will not stand idly by if America were to make a move in North Korea. North Korea serves as a strategic buffer between America's heavy presence in South Korea. A move by America on North Korea is too close for comfort for China.

Speaking of the United States and it's divided attentions... Both the USA and Russia have naval air carriers and other military presence in Syrian waters, what can only be described as a under-reported stand-off. China and Russia has blocked United Nations Security Council efforts (i.e. US military) to interfere with Syria. China has announced its allegiance to Iran.

It is well known that America feels the need to invade Iran because of Iran's nuclear ambitions. (That is, at least, the cover story. The truth is more probably America's hunger for oil or using war as a economic stimulus.) However, the American people are waking up to the fraudulent wars their government is waging. Although war is likely, it is unlikely that America will make the first overt move. Instead we are more likely to see them bite at the heels of Iran until Iran gets so irate that it loses its temper and make the first strike. This will, of course, give the Military Industrial Complex that runs the show the excuse to go to war with Iran. For this scenario to play out will require quite a number of months of agitation, so we can probably expect it to happen later, maybe September, October, 2012. That is unless they pull another false flag event like 9/11. With US presidential elections coming up we may first see some “soldiers coming home” rhetoric in action, which was a promise Obama made during his presidential race. Either way, it is plausible for Obama to stay on as president. He has been heeding the commands of his international banker masters quite well. But it doesn't matter. What we can be sure of is that unless Ron Paul or a completely different third party candidate suddenly become exceedingly popular and wins the upcoming election, the banking elite will just replace Obama with one of their cronies—it doesn't matter the party. The Republicans and the Democrats are merely to sides of the same proverbial coin—a two headed party.

Back to the probable war with Iran later next year. Such a war has so many parties involved that it can easily escalate to a global conflict—a Third World War. Unfortunately, with technology as advanced as it is, a Third World War will be a rather messy affair which could easily involve bioweapons and nuclear / hydrogen bombs.

Then, let's not forget the predicted high solar activities predicted for next year. And for those that do not know, sun storms are closely related to natural disasters such as earth quakes and unusual weather here on our planet.

But, in the meantime, enjoy the festive season. It ought not be too volatile. The “fun” is all scheduled for later in 2012.

A Bit of (Creative) Writing About Yellow Dust

I wrote about Yellow Dust yesterday when I explained how radiation from Japan can reach America. The first time, however, I took up the topic of Yellow Dust was for the introduction to a novel I started in 2007. I never finished it, although much of the outline is planned already. It is a project I hope to complete one day. In any case, below is the mentioned introduction.

Image Source

Early spring. China, the Red Dragon, gruntingly wakes from its winter hibernation and starts to clear its throat. It’s been doing so for centuries. Each spring the Red Dragon burps up volumes of yellow dust into the air. Such is the quantity that satellite photos reveal the hairy bank hovering like a demon over all of the Far East. Carried by eastward winds, the bleak breath shadows great parts of China, North and South Korea and Japan. Some years the reptilian wheeze even licks at the shores of North America.
In ages past, the dust dragoon, irritable though it was, was also endured like the annoying ruffling of an older brother his kid sibling. All understood that the Red Dragon’s spawning contributed to the Korean peninsula. Obviously not noticeable in one season, but over centuries these coughs of airborne soil settled on the neck of land, adding, layer by layer, to its girth. And so, the burning eyes and scratchy throats were considered necessary growing pains.
However, the Red Dragon has been ill of late. It turned cyborg. It mechanized. It exchanged its silky scales for factory exhausts. Mixed with industrial pollutants the Red Dragon’s breath had become a nauseating miasma. The once glistening gold from the dragon’s throat had turned rancid. The precious metal powder became heavy metal laden. Now sulphur, soot and ash, carbon monoxide, asbestos, herbicides and other carcinogens cling to the dust and soaks like a deadly smog. Silent and condemning, as if the curse of displeased gods, the yellow dust contaminates the Korean earth. Caught in the foul pant, healthy people gasp asthmatic and sick people die.
Today is such a day. The Red Dragon’s fumes had settled over Seoul, Korea’s capital, like a slab of dehydrated yellow vomit. The weather bureau issued a warning and no one dares outside without masks palmed over mouth and nose.
On this day, with the sun drenched out by a suffocating cloud of mustard, he woke up.
“He” being the main character of our story.

Why Korea Was Spared from the Tsunami on March 11

A Map of South Korea and North Korea (yellow
and green) and Japan (orange) on the right / east.

It's best to watch the video clip full screen.

The video clip shows how the tsunami originated just on the east of Japan from where it swept in concentric circles throughout the North Pacific Ocean. The Japanese islands acted as an ideal buffer, shielding Korea from the tsunami. Notice in the video that the East Sea, aka the Sea of Japan (the sea between Japan and Korea), stays a bright clear blue, instead of the dark rippling blue that indicates the tsunami's turbulence. The Japanese islands that slope south-east of Korea effectively deflected the waves away from Korea. One can see the ripplings just touching the southern tip of the Korean peninsula, but with hardly any effect.

In a post I wrote last year November I explained why South Korea is actually quite safe as far as natural disasters are concerned and why Japan is so prone to get major earthquakes. You can read that post here.

The New York Times has a nice visual explanation of the earthquake and tsunami that you can see here.

Another Week

Another week has come to and end, another week ahead. Last Sunday I taught a Parkour workshop again. I enjoyed the group of people that attended, from various countries. They members also learned the techniques with a fair amount of ease, and after only about 30 minutes they were able to do a basic run.




On Thursday night last week the senior students, for whom the current semester is their final one, organized a banquet in honour of the teachers. In Korea senior students host such a banquet to thank their lecturers for what they have done for them during their years at university. As a teacher I can only say that it is a much appreciated gesture. This was the first such a banquet I've attended, and was definitely the best one so far. We were taken to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Kangnam, which included an excellent buffet.

There are only two weeks of classes remaining at the university where I work, which means that we are very focussed on finish the material in time. Of course this means that I've started doing lots of grading in order to finish the assignments and class tests before the final exams start December 13.
Saturday night I met up with a dance instructor focussing on Jazz and contemporary dance. We had a very interesting conversation, mostly comparing the similarities between dance and the martial arts. I learned a lot.

Today (Sunday), I attended a Taekkyeon tournament (as a spectator). Although I have seen Taekkyeon tournaments online, todays one was the first time for me to see in person. Most of the events were group events, with five members per group. If a fighter wins his bout, he stays on to fight the next challenger from the opposing group. In one of the sets, a girl stepped up and won against all the members of the opposing team. She was quite good. Of course, I enjoyed the adults fights much better, as they used much more intriguing techniques. I took my video camera with and will put together a video once I have time.

The tournament ended around 7PM, it was supposed to end at 5PM. Starving by then two of my fellow Taekkyeon mates and I went to Itaewon for dinner. We had fabulous Thai food, including tongue smackingly good Thai deserts. While having dinner it started to snow.

By the time I headed home it was snowing quite hard. At first I was tempted to take a taxi from the subway station to my house so that I do not have to walk to far, but then I decided to rather take the bus and enjoy the fifteen minute walk in the snow to my apartment. Although I've experienced it now for a number of years, snow is still a novelty to me—I grew up in Africa, after all. That white blanket that covers everything is to me a beautiful spectacle year after year.

Today America and South Korea performed their joint naval exercises in the West Sea; the largest ever naval drills.I guess they were pretty intimidating as North Korea didn't react much. Then again, there is still a couple of days to go as the naval exercises are planned to continue till Wednesday.

Natural Disasters and Other Calamities

My friend from Mjix sent me a link to the map below depicting natural disaster hot zones around the world.

You can see a big version of the image above here. A look at Korea on the map would suggest that Korea is part of a hot zone. (You don't know where Korea is? Shame on you. It the peninsula that protrudes from China on the east, with the Japanese islands cupping it on the right. You are not to sure where China and Japan are either?! . . .  Now that is sad. Well, they, including Mongolia, are all part of the "Far East." See a map here.)

Korea is actually quite safe as far as natural disasters go. There are no significant earthquakes plaguing Korea; it is Japan that suffer from those. Not only is Japan directly over the Sagami Trough (#25 on the map), an oceanic trench that is known for around 7.9 scale quakes, Japan has also a number of temperamental volcanoes. (South) Korea's only volcano is Halla Mountain, generally considered dormant with its last eruption in 1007. Mount Halla is on Jeju Island, so an eruption there, while serious, will not affect mainland Korea that much. Now, Mount Baekdu which borders North Korea and China is another story. Signs indicate that it is ready to blow and it is suggested that it will be more devastating than when Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted and darkened big parts of Europe for days. I've been hoping to visit Mount Baekdu, but since trees started to die there because of volcanic gasses, I don't think it is safe to visit it any time soon.

The only natural disaster that does seem to hit South Korea on occasion are floods during the monsoon season and the occasional typhoon, but South Korea seems quite capable of handling these.

South Africa seems like one of the best places to live as far as natural disasters go. Southern Africa do not suffer much from serious natural disasters, except an occasional drought, which are usually not as severe as far as droughts can go in other places, like droughts in Eastern Africa (#37 on the map).

But then, who needs natural disasters if an HIV/AIDS pandemic and violent crimes kills people annually at equal staggering rates? Seen in this light, South Korea is still much safer to live. Or is it?

Safety in South Korea is relative, of course. The DMZ, the border between South Korea and North Korea, is the heaviest military fortified border on the planet. And this coming Sunday's activities in the disputed West Sea (Yellow Sea) may be as cataclysmic as Mount Baekdu erupting.

Typhoon Kompasu Coming for Korea

The video above shows Typhoon Kompasu as it made landfall over Okinawa, Japan, yesterday.

Kompasu is heading for Seoul, but is expected to have lost much of its initial streagth and may only be a level two storm by the time it hits us later today. However, its effects are already felt. Subway Line 1 is down -- the weather is suspected. This means that many students won't be able to get to the morning classes on time.

How will this affect my Poetry Class? If there are fewer students for the class at 10am this morning, some students may assume that the class will not continue in which case they may decide to drop this class and enroll for other classes to fill up their required credits. Is it the weather that will be the deciding factor as to whether I'll teach this class this semester? How poetic!

Lente bloeisels / Cherry Blossoms

March Snow II

March Snow I

Eerste sneeu

Dit het begin om liggies te sneeu. Die vlokkies bitterklein en smelt met kontak. Nietemin, dit is sneeu en veroorsaak 'n subtiele opgewondenheid in my. Ek hou van sneeu. Dis die kraakvarsheid daarvan, vermoed ek. Of die blote andersheid. Ek het allermins in die Transvaal groot geword en het net een of twee keer as kind sneeu beleef.

Vanoggend toe ek die woonstel verlaat was dit -4° C. Tans sê Yahoo! se weerkanaal dat dit 4° C is en dat dit môre weer gaan warmer word.

En kouer...

Vandag was tot so koud as -7°C! Ek sit in my koue kantoor. Die verhittingstelsel in die gebou is net aan vir 'n paar uur in die oggend. Van môre af behoort dit weer bietjie warmer te wees vir 'n paar dae. Die weërvoorspellers sê dat die dagtemperatuur teen Saterdag by 'n warm 11°C kan draai.

Dit lyk darem of my vyf plantjies in my kantoor dit nog oorleef. Die plante buite was almal stokstyf gefries vanoggend.

My keelseer was weg vanoggend, maar dis stadig besig om weer terug te kom.

Ek gaan nou gou oppak en dan na die Engelse Departement toe gaan om fotostate te maak van 'n vraestel (my "Presentation Class" skryf eksamen môre), en daarna gaan ek huistoe. Ek dink ek sal 'n verwarmer vir my kantoor moet koop...

Byna bibberbewend koud (was dit nie vir ondervloerse verhitting nie)

Vandag is tussen 1°C en -4°C in Seoul. More lyk nie veel beter nie en teen Donderdag mag dit moontlik al 'n bietjie sneeu.

My broeke is almal dun en geensins opgewasse teen die Koreaanse koue nie. Boonop het ek 'n verkoue opgedoen. Sedert gistermiddag het ek 'n keelseer en laasnag het dit so erg geraak dat ek êrens in die middernagtelike ure 'n groot pot water op die stoof gaan sit het met bloekomolie daarin om my woonstel te stoom. Gelukkig het ek vandag eers om 12:00 klas gehad, gevolglik kon ek laat slaap. Ek hoop vannag gaan beter gaan.

Ek het besluit om nie vanaand na my krygskunsklasse te gaan nie. Dalk kry ek dit reg om vroeër aan die slaap te raak.