Volcanic Eruption Spotted From Space

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured a breathtaking image of a massive volcanic eruption that occurred over the weekend. The amazing photograph was snapped on Saturday morning when the ISS passed over the uninhabited volcanic island Raikoke as it rumbled to life and unleashed an enormous plume of ash and smoke into the sky. According to a post from NASA, volcanic monitoring stations measure the height of the plume to be around 8 to 10 miles.

Thanks to the remarkable timing of the flyover, the astronauts were able to capture the eruption as it was seemingly nearing its peak, taking on an eerie mushroom cloud-like shape. The space agency explained that the top of the plume is known as the ‘umbrella region’ and consists of dense ash rife with “sharp fragments of rock and volcanic glass.” Noting the curious rings which formed at the base of the plume, NASA suggested that those features are probably water vapor clouds.

Raikoke (Russian: Райкоке, Japanese: 雷公計島), also spelled Raykoke, is as of 2019 an uninhabited volcanic island near the centre of the Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean, 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) across Golovnin Strait from Matua. Its name is derived from the Ainu language, from “hellmouth”.

 

 

DON’T WATCH ALONE: THE ‘DON’TS’ RATHER THAN THE ‘DO’S’ OF MOVIE POSTERS

Dangerous Minds

‘Don’t Look in the Basement’ (1973)

These movies have a clue in their title. You could say the whole fricken plot’s in the title. Don’t Go in the AtticDon’t Look in the BasementDon’t Answer the Phone, you know the kinda thing. Don’t do any of these things OR ELSE! You know it’s gonna end up bad. And that’s part of the attraction.

Most movies with a big ol’ Don’t in their title promise a gory flick featuring some dumb numb nuts sophomore who ignores the advice on the poster ends up kebabbed by nightfall. The idea is simple—stick to the rules or end up dead. It’s a well-worn trope: the myth of Eve and the apple, or Bluebeard’s latest squeeze snooping in the closets, or the enquiring Pandora opening that goddam box of hers. Hindsight’s great but not when you’re dead—for Pete’s sake just don’t do it.

And that’s all part of the thrill—waiting to see what happens when someone answers the call from Mr. Slice ‘n’ Dice or goes out into the woods one moonlit night in their scanties (as you do…) never to return. These are tales to make us aware of possible dangers no matter how bizarre. To make us feel protective, and vow never to be oh, so dumb. Yet, somehow they can seem like fears from an age when things were, shall we say, more straightforward and death wasn’t just one disgruntled shooter or suicide vest away. Horror movies can’t compete with real life horror—but that kinda takes all the fun away. Here, with the emphasis on fun and cheap thrills, is a selection of all the things you really don’t want to do…or maybe, just maybe, you do…?

‘Don’t Go In the House’ (1979)

‘Don’t Go in the Attic’ (2010)

‘Don’t Open the Window’ (1974)

‘Don’t Go Near the Park’ (1981)

‘Don’t Go in the Woods’ (1981)

‘Don’t Fuck in the Woods’ (2016)

Don’t Let Him In’ (2011)

‘Don’t Let Them In’ (2015)

‘Don’t Answer the Phone’ (1980)

‘Don’t Hang Up’ (2016)

‘Don’t Knock Twice’ (2016)

‘Don’t Look Up’ (2009)

‘Don’t Blink’ (2014)

‘Don’t Speak’ (2015)

‘Don’t Click’ (2012)

‘Please Don’t Eat My Mother’ (1973)

‘Don’t Let the Riverbeast Get You’ (2012)

 

Fire Glass

Fire glass is tempered glass manufactured as a medium to retain and direct heat in fireplaces and gas fire pits. Fire glass does not burn, but retains heat and refracts light as a result of burning gas. Fire glass, like artificial logs and stones, is additionally used to obscure the gas plumbing inherent in gas fireplaces or stoves.

 

A vast assortment of fire glass shapes, sizes and colors are available to match a wide variety of contemporary décors. During the manufacturing process, sheets of glass are tempered to withstand heat. This process prevents the glass from “popping” when used in a fire and negates the threat of sparking seen in traditional wood-burning fireplaces or fire features. These tempered sheets of glass are then shattered. and professionally packaged. Although a variety of fire glass types exist, variations are purely aesthetic, and all varieties serve the same purpose within a fire feature.

 

Fire glass leaves no trace of ash, soot, grease or discernible odor when used as a medium. Flames produced using natural gas do not produce any smoke, produce less toxic gases and leave no trace of residual pollutants such as tar within the home. The combination is considered an eco-friendly burning solution. Additionally, fire glass is often made from recycled glass, making for a “green” fire media option.

Recent UFO Encounters With Navy Pilots Occurred Constantly Across Multiple Squadrons

The War Zone

One of the biggest questions surrounding the most recent known spate of UFO encounters with U.S. Navy pilots—those that occurred off the southeastern seaboard of the United States between 2014 and early 2015—pertains to how persistent they actually were. We know Super Hornet aircrews from Strike Fighter Squadron 11 (VFA-11), the Red Rippers, detected unknown objects multiple times on radar and one aircrew even had a close encounter visually with one of them, but what about the rest of the many Hornet squadrons based at Naval Air Station Oceana, not to mention the E-2 Hawkeye squadrons from nearby NAS Norfolk? We have the answer to this question and it is remarkable.

A source with knowledge of the events has made it clear to The War Zone that presence of the mysterious objects in the restricted training airspace off America’s east coast was so pervasive that it was largely common knowledge among local flying units. They noted that the majority of the Super Hornet squadrons equipped with AN/APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars—you can read all about this technology and how it was key in detecting these objects in our exclusive piece on the subject—at the time were having the same experiences, as well as the crews flying the new E-2D Hawkeye with its incredibly powerful AN/APY-9 radar suite. It literally became such a common and near everyday occurrence that Naval Aviators and Naval Flight Officers from the base would talk about it informally with regularity.

The E-2D Hawkeye is one of the most capable aerial surveillance platforms ever created.

But that doesn’t mean formal action wasn’t taken. Beyond filing an official safety report after one of the jets almost hit one of the unidentified objects—described eerily as a translucent sphere with a cube structure suspended inside of it—Notices To Airman (NOTAMs) were posted regarding the dangers potentially posed by unknown aerial vehicles flying in the same military operating areas that aircraft from NAS Oceana frequented for training. This action was taken by the base’s command leadership as they couldn’t figure out how else to address the bizarre issue and its perceived threat to their aircrews’ safety.

We have since filed Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests for copies of these NOTAMs, as well as documents regarding how the decision to file the NOTAMs was made at the command level.

Another burning question surrounding these events pertains to whether or not additional visual encounters occurred beyond the one near miss with the Super Hornet and the ‘cube inside an orb’ object. Our source tells us that there were many more, and yes, they all resulted in the exact same description of the object. So, we are talking about a uniform set of very strange looking objects here that were spotted on radar, by infrared targeting pods, and by the naked eye, frequently over 2014 and the first part of 2015 above the waters off America’s southeastern coastline.

As we noted in our last piece on the subject, these encounters dropped off to the point they were described as fleeting and inconclusive at best once VFA-11 and its carrier air wing went on cruise to the Middle East in early Spring of 2015. In addition, we know that the carrier strike group and its aircraft were equipped with key new sensor fusion technologies for that deployment, a fact that is eerily similar to the circumstances surrounding the now famous ‘Tic Tac’ incident nearly a decade earlier. All of which makes these objects’ presence during the time leading up to that deployment that much more curious.

Yet at the same time, the fact that the volume of these recent encounters seems much greater and spread over a much larger period of time versus the infamous incident in 2004 is puzzling. And none of this even addresses the very peculiar physical appearance of these objects, but we have another report on that subject that will be filed in the very near future.

Still, at least we now have a much better sense of how widespread these encounters were and the cultural impact that they had on the Navy’s east coast master fighter jet base. This also underscores just how taboo this topic was to military aviators. The fact that these types of events could have been so pervasive, yet kept so hushed-up outside of Navy tactical aircraft aircrew circles, is telling in itself and provides good evidence as to why the Navy had to officially change is procedures for its personnel reporting such strange incidents.

All this comes as Congress is taking a high-interest in the subject as of late, with multiple briefings being given to key lawmakers with the military’s top witnesses.

Whatever the case may be, we are definitely entering into uncharted territory when it comes to this long shunned and abused topic. What exactly that will mean when it comes to actually getting to the truth of the matter remains to be understood.

 

A Cataclysmic Comedy Riot

That Darn Cat! is a 1965 American Walt Disney Productions thriller comedy film directed by Robert Stevenson and starring Hayley Mills (in her last of the six films she made for the Walt Disney Studios) and Dean Jones (starring in his first film for Disney) in a story about bank robbers, a kidnapping and a mischievous cat. The film was based on the 1963 novel Undercover Cat by Gordon and Mildred Gordon. The title song was written by the Sherman Brothers and sung by Bobby Darin. The 1997 remake includes a cameo appearance by Dean Jones.