Mystery surrounds the sudden appearance of a 60ft (18m) deep hole on farmland in County Durham. A youngster almost fell into the 1m-wide hole at Highfield Farm, near Bishop Middleham, on Bonfire Night.
Some local people believe nearby quarry workings may be the cause - a claim operator Lafarge Aggregates denies. Experts from Durham County Council have been drafted in, but admit that at the moment they are unable to come up with a reason why it has suddenly appeared.
Farmer Billy King said: "We put a rope down with a weight on the bottom and it measured about 60ft deep.
"It's not that wide, but it is quite scary when you look down. It looks more like something you would get if there was an earthquake and the ground opens up."
Horses that usually graze in the field have been moved to safer ground.
Durham County Council surveyors have examined the site, but have so far drawn a blank.
A spokeswoman for Lafarge, which operates a quarry about a mile away from the farm, said: "The area is riddled with old mine workings, there are also two disused quarries as well as an old landfill site within a few hundred yards of the farm.
"All our blasts are monitored by both by the company and by Leeds University and we see absolutely nothing that indicates there is anything wrong with any of those blasts.
"We are confident this has absolutely nothing to do with us."
A spokesman for Durham County Council said: "We are aware of the hole, but do not have any information on the cause of it."
#3
"Farmer Billy King said: "We put a rope down with a weight on the bottom"
if the weight at been at the top would he have been meauring how high the sink hole is?
And just think, these are the same people that bring us Lucas Electric, Prince of Darkness.
Dearman, W. R. & Coffey, J. R. 1981. An engineering zoning map of the Permian Limestones of NE England. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology, London, 14, 4157.
#10
It is obviously a hellmouth - a gateway to the underworld. When legions of demons appear, or even Old Scratch himself, don't say I didn't warn you. And no, I don't know you would tell them apart from the C of E.
#2
Once, to annoy some ignorant MMGW advocates, I proposed that if MMGW became too bad, we could use several nuclear cratering charges to dig a hole adjacent to it, then direct a river down into the hole. All that water hitting all that hot rock would result in an enormous cloud generating machine.
The weird part about it was that half of them thought it was a good idea, except for the nuclear part. Now if there was some way of doing it "naturally"...
#3
Next time, moose, provide this snippet if they use the word "natural":
In 1972, French scientists discovered that several natural concentrations of uranium ore had become critical and flared up some "2 billion" years ago at Oklo, Gabon.
The concentration and configuration of the natural uranium and surrounding materials at that time had been just right to sustain fission.
In fact, the analysis of the nuclear waste in the burned rocks demonstrated that plutonium had also been created. This implies that natural breeder reactors are also possible, raising the possibility of hitherto unappreciated, long-lived heat sources deep in the earth, in the other planets, and inside some of the stars.
#6
I doubt Yellowstone will go in our lifetimes. However, if it does the only thing we can do is get the hell out of the way and hunker down for a long decade afterwards of cold, hunger and war. Civilization will take a long time to recover from it.
Although, on the plus side all the global warming hype and bullshit should go away....
#7
DV, ya'r selfish! It will occur in someone's lifetime, meaning it will sucks just about the same.
It may be my grandgrandchildren. I don't enjoy that thought at all.
#8
I'm not completely selfish. I plan on flying as many celebrities as possible, like Paris Hilton and Rosie Fat Ass to Yellowstone as possible right before it blows as a "save the planet, prevent global warming" fund raiser.
#11
we could use several nuclear cratering charges to dig a hole adjacent to it, then direct a river down into the hole. All that water hitting all that hot rock would result in an enormous cloud generating machine.
The weird part about it was that half of them thought it was a good idea, except for the nuclear part. Now if there was some way of doing it "naturally"...
Mooses good start btw, Please Expound.. we're long overdue for a Moose thesis!
~:)
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
11/09/2007 11:37 Comments ||
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#12
Shame it won't work that way. Two types of volcanic explosions. Nice and easy like Hawaii where lava flows and boomers like Mt. St Helens.
Too much pent up gas (think Al Gore) A yellowstone supereruption may very well be an ELE (Extinction Level Event) happens every 600,000 years or so and we're due...
#14
The hotspot arrived under the Yellowstone area sometime after about 4 million years ago, producing gargantuan eruptions there 2 million, 1.3 million and 642,000 years ago. Statistically we are getting close to an event at Yellowstone. It might be 10,000 years but then it might be 10 or 20
#15
We need a Federal program to combat the effects of Magma Made Global Cooling. Perhaps Ash Caps and Ash credit trading to start reducing the Ash in the atmosphere. Each of us should look to the way we live our lives and reduce the size of our Ash Print so that the species of the planet will be able to survive the oncoming catashtrophe.
#17
I say, "Give it a try" at the least, you'll get more sane TV commentators.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/09/2007 20:46 Comments ||
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#18
Whudda frickin' snarkfest!
I've got reservations next July at Old Faithful Inn.
Good on you, Beavis. As America's first National Parkthank you, Teddy Rooseveltthis incredible bit of wilderness is one of America's crown jewels.
Interesting counter-intuitive ecological sidebar:
Reintroduction of Wolves into Yellowstone Improves Trout Population
In a very satisfying scenario, it turns out that the resurgent wolf population capably moderates overabundant caribou herds. Hokay, so WTF does this have to do with fish?
It turns out that trout rely upon shady uneroded streambeds for their spawning grounds. By naturally thinning the local caribou population there was less browsing upon tender streamside willow buds. This, consequently, provided not only increased shade but soil stabilization for riparian locales and thereby assisted formation of ideal trout spawning sites.
Rank this in with the "unintened consequences" category. As someone who owns a wolf hybrid, I could not be more happy about this outcome.
A LEADING authority of Saudi Arabia's hardline school of Islam has condemned camel beauty contests as evil, saying those involved should seek repentance in God.
Camel pageants have become major events in the desert kingdom in recent years as tribes hold ever larger competitions, with bigger prizes and wider publicity. Delicate females or strapping males which attract the right attention during a show can sell for more than a million riyals (about $267,000). Sponsors spent 10 million riyals on prizes for one competition this year.
Everyone must repent of these acts from which no good can come because of its evils, and they should beg forgiveness from God, said a fatwa, or religious ruling, issued this week by Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Barrak and a lesser-known sheikh. Millions of riyals are spent on buying camels just to feel proud and not for the reasons God created camels, like for food, drink, riding and work, he said, attacking the contests as a backward tribal custom from pre-Islamic Arabia.
Commentators have pointed to camel contests as a sign of increasing tribal pride, seen as a threat to stability in the kingdom established by the Saudi royal family in 1932.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/09/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
"Stop this unseemly frivolity!"
Well, Soddy lads see nothing else than black sacks all day long, so what he expects if they can behold a warm blooded critter?
#3
(meanwhile, back behind the palace stables, this song in the background, shadows flickering from a latern, the moon in wane on the blue cold desert sand)
Oh yeah, spit on me again. Naughty naughty camel showing your lady lumps. And you big boy, so strapping. Come here, make me proud.
During the last war to end wars Im conscious that I made little or no contribution. This time I am determined to play as much of a part as the powers-that-be allow me
writing to Winston Churchill in 1939
If I ran away and refused to have anything to do with the war and lived comfortably in Hollywood . . . I should be ashamed to the end of my days
to his mother, Violet, in 1941
I snooped around a good deal and flapped my ears . . . The Nazi propaganda . . . is very strong but is falling on the stoniest of stony ground
reporting from Switzerland in 1938 to Sir Robert Vansittart, of the Foreign Office
The pre-war past died on the day when Mr Neville Chamberlain returned with such gay insouciance
writing in 1938
I have encountered a number of people who appear sceptical of Britains ability to . . . overcome the extreme challenges we presently face. I have tried to convince them that, though we may inhabit a small island, we never have been or ever shall be a small people
assessing the mood in Hollywood in 1940
I am a trifle saddened by the behaviour of many of my actor countrymen of military age who scuttled off with such inelegant haste
on British actors who were perceived to have betrayed their country by going to America
#4
Britian has sunk down a ways since I was there. You have to read the comments and suggested slogans in this Times solicitation of 5 Words to Describe Britishness.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
11/09/2007 10:18 Comments ||
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In the ongoing saga of whether or not taxpayers will ever have to cough up $1 million for a museum honoring Woodstock, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer has brought this long, strange trip to an end.
Goddamn him! I had a concession at the Wavy Gravy pavillion greased!
Schumer called Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to pledge to him that the money laid out in a labor spending bill will never be used for the "hippie museum."
I understand the Country Joe exhibit was, like, awsome, if you were smoking the right stuff. My source told me they actually had two of the original Fish.
"I trust him. This isn't a partisan issue. My goal is just to fix the problems," Coburn said. Coburn, who had originally engineered a ban on the museum funds last month, had been adamant the Labor-Health and Human Services spending bill be more clear about the use of undesignated taxpayer money and was planning to propose a vote to change the bill's language to make sure that it could never be used on the Woodstock museum. Due to Senate rules, Coburn would have needed a two-thirds majority or 67 if all 100 members vote a tall order for eliminating a potential "technicality," sources say.
According to Senate sources on Wednesday, Republicans were seeing tie-dyed red because of what they say was a backdoor attempt to maintain a provision originally sponsored by Schumer and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton to funnel $1 million to the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, and more specifically to the Woodstock Museum.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/09/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Many hippies are museums on their own, no other is needed.
#3
Well since they don't mention anyting about returning the money to the taxpayers, how about sending it this way. We could use an ultra modern machining shop museum and wildlife preserve.
#5
Hey, government sponsered museums are hotter than chorizo right now.
Demonstrations of how ultra-modern machinary would produce products. Those products could then be sold out of the gift shop or shipped across country - proudly made in USA by indiginous population of 'the country of flyover'. As a bonus, an adjacent nature reserve where the deer and antelope can play - golf! No to birdfeeders though, they seem to attract too much gunfire...
KOLKATA: An unsigned article published in a Left-sponsored Bengali magazine has prompted the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government to ban its autumn number.
This despite the fact that it includes an article by Left Front chairman Biman Bose and a couple of front-ranking CPM leaders such as former school education minister Kanti Biswas and MLA Deblina Hembram. There is also an article by Sudhir Mridha in defence of the chief minister's industrialisation programme.
This apart, two CPM ministers Subhas Chakraborty and Debesh Das have wished all success to the magazine: Pathasanket 1414.
The controversial article, Taslima Prasange Bangladesher Bharatiya Rashtradut, Pradhan Mantri O Moulabadider Prasange, makes out a case for writer Taslima Nasreen, who has come under fire from religious fundamentalists and Bangladesh government that has banished her from her homeland.
The article argues that Taslima's hitting out at fundamentalist sentiments from scientific outlook cannot be treated as an offence under Section 295(3) of the Bangladesh Criminal Procedure Code.
While doing so, the article takes out a leaf from Osman Gani's book Mahamanabi to establish how blind some of the episodes related to the life of Prophet Mohammed are. Whatever the logic, the writer makes a vitriolic attack on the Prophet over his marital life, sending shock waves among the Muslim community.
A copy of the article also reached the corridors of power and the government acted promptly on grounds that it contains all the elements that might be construed as an assault on Islam.
The writer probably anticipated all this, which is why he made a passing reference to the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei who was put behind the bars at a ripe age because he refuted the Church's view that the sun moves round the earth.
Idris Ali of the All India Minority Forum took strong exception to the article. "I am amazed at the audacity of the writer. How dare he write such things against the Prophet? I also can't understand how such an outrageous piece could come out in a magazine sponsored by senior Left leaders and ministers," Ali said.
He, however, welcomed the government's decision to ban the autumn issue of the magazine, but said hundreds of copies have already reached the readers. "The government has to seize all the copies."
Posted by: john frum ||
11/09/2007 09:24 ||
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#1
It doesn't actually mention what she said.
Not that that matters...
#1
Brazil currently has proven oil reserves of 14 billion barrels, over half of which have been discovered in the past five years.
In between this one statement, and the fact that they "found" a 5-8 Billion barrel reserve yesterday puts lie to the theory that "we're running out of oil." We're not running out, it's just becoming more and more expensive to get it out of the ground. Off shore South American finds could go a long way toward stabilizing any hurricane effects we feel here domestically. Sure, Brazil is not real close to Chavez's "proven reserves" yet, but just stumbling upon over 14 BILLION barrels just in the last 5 years is fairly remarkable! We're just heading off-shore now, is all.
Posted by: BA ||
11/09/2007 14:55 Comments ||
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#2
That's more light oil that 'ugos got for sure.
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
11/09/2007 15:11 Comments ||
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#3
REDDIT Science > Brazil's new discovery roughly equivalent to 100 day's US consumption???
An extensive mapping program launched by the LAPD's anti-terrorism bureau to identify Muslim enclaves across the city sparked outrage Thursday from some Islamic groups and civil libertarians, who denounced the effort as an exercise in racial and religious profiling.
Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Michael P. Downing, who heads the bureau, defended the undertaking as a way to help Muslim communities avoid the influence of those who would radicalize Islamic residents and advocate "violent, ideologically-based extremism." "We are seeking to identify at-risk communities," Downing said in an interview Thursday evening. "We are looking for communities and enclaves based on risk factors that are likely to become isolated. . . . We want to know where the Pakistanis, Iranians and Chechens are so we can reach out to those communities." Downing added that the Muslim Public Affairs Council has embraced the vaguely defined program "in concept." The group's executive director, Salam Al-Marayati, said Thursday that it wanted to know more about the plan and had a meeting set with the LAPD next week. "We will work with the LAPD and give them input, while at the same time making sure that people's civil liberties are protected," said Al-Marayati, who commended Downing for being "very forthright in his engagement with the Muslim community."
Others condemned the project, however.
"We certainly reject this idea completely," said Shakeel Syed, executive director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California. "This stems basically from this presumption that there is homogenized Muslim terrorism that exists among us." Syed said he is a member of Police Chief William J. Bratton's forum of religious advisors, but had not been told of the community mapping program. "This came as a jolt to me," Syed said. Hussam Ayloush, who leads the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the mapping "basically turns the LAPD officers into religious political analysts, while their role is to fight crime and enforce the laws."
The American Civil Liberties Union and some community groups sent a letter Thursday to Downing expressing "grave concerns" about the program and asking for a meeting. "The mapping of Muslim communities . . . seems premised on the faulty notion that Muslims are more likely to commit violent acts than people of other faiths," the letter states. ACLU Executive Director Ramona Ripston compared the program to the Red Scare of the 1950s and said: "This is nothing short of racial profiling."
But Al-Marayati said he believed that Downing was working in good faith. "He is well-known in the Muslim community," he said. "He's been in a number of mosques and been very forthright in his engagement with the Muslim community."
#1
God darn it! They know where every other ethnic, religious, and social community is.... Policing is their frickin job!!! So it is ok to know where jews, gays, blacks, chinese, japanese, africans, hmong hill people, white trash trailer parks, budhists, movie stars, zoroastrians, jedi, and every other community live, but now it is impermissible to soil the muslim conciousness by simply taking note of the location of their own ethnic community?
Posted by: Mark E. ||
11/09/2007 16:27 Comments ||
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#2
"The mapping of Muslim communities . . . seems premised on the faulty notion that Muslims are more likely to commit violent acts than people of other faiths,"
Apparently the ACLU doesn't read the news.
"racial profiling"
This race card is getting worn at the edges. "Muslim" is not a race any more than "Roman Catholic" is a race.
#3
Agreed Darrell. I'm not an English master by any means but wouldn't 'Ethnocide' be more appropriate (but not really exact)? Wikipedia, "...used to describe the destruction of a culture of a people."
Since cultures can be changed, admiting that Islam is a culture implies that it could be changed or challenged, which seems to be an inflexable notion to the muslims steering the wheel. And there is the more emotive reason for calling its practice a race rather than a way of living.
Certainly Law Enforcement should start checking out certain bakeries (I know, Oakland is not LA), if they could get used to croissants over donuts (/cop profile ;) )
#4
They should have phrased it differently. They want to map in order to better protect Muslims from hate crimes. Of course they would mean from committing hate crimes, but they dont' need to say that.
#2
INteresting graphic in the link, using the CH-47 Chinook, the Premier HEAVY LIFT chopper in the civilian inventory ( the CH-53E beats it, but that is military only.)
Along the lines of gerbil swarming, has anyone seen the Family Feud episode where the question is, "What do you know about Al Gore?"
The 3 strike answers:
He is a Republican
He wrote a book (I guess nobody read it)
He is from Arkansas
To steal, the other family answered: he was vice-president. Remaining answers: he invented the internet, he has gained a lot of weight.
I would not have won the faceoff with my answer: manbearpig
just a smattering of the dreck David Elliott (of the San Diego Union Trib) pushes as a movie review. I'll pass on this one, in fact I usually pass on anything "Brokeback Boy" recommends...and so does most of the rest of America, judging from box office numbers. Local idiot, but I'm sure you all have the same in your 'burgs...
Historians will long debate Jimmy Carter's presidency (1977-1981), and the blog-bog fever ticks will long despise him.
But already there is virtual consensus that Carter is our greatest ex-president *barf* . This might might not change even if Bill Clinton returns to the White House as Mrs. President's helpful, uh, adviser.
Not even barnstormer Bill can match the range of activities shown in Jonathan Demme's fond but not mushy documentary, Jimmy Carter, Man From Plains. Carter's 82, out of the White House more than 25 years and fully entitled to a long drink or two on the 19th hole, but here he is:
Helping build a house in ravaged New Orleans, one of many Habitat sites he helped fashion; trading smart quips with Jay Leno; presiding at his do-good Carter Center in Atlanta; smiling at an Israeli reporter who looks eager to eat him; surveying his family's farm; swimming, almost daily; answering endless mail; showing zeal for a neighbor's fried chicken; endlessly traveling, carrying his own bags; delivering sermons in church; visiting foreign lands and (so he tells us) reading the Bible before bed in Spanish with wife Rosalynn truth be told, his Spanish accent is pretty bad.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/09/2007 11:20 ||
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notice he left off the part about shooting the cat....
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/09/2007 11:33 Comments ||
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#2
Rated R (anti-Semitism, violence against animals, lust in the heart)
Posted by: Mike ||
11/09/2007 11:52 Comments ||
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#3
Me givum Big Chief new Indian name - "Swims With Rabbits"...
#4
"Virtual consensus", ya say?
Are we supposed to take your word on that, movie dork, because I'm one "blog-bog fever tick" who would like to see your evidence.
#7
heh, Jimmy's defining moment in History will be the Swamp Wabbit incident!
as Presidential figure he was peevishly small man with an even smaller character. [lots of proofs]
He can't stand sharing the limelight with most first rate public figures. He knows he's inferior, that's why he Loves his Dictators, side by side they make him look good.
Jimmy Carter as President is a niggardly character IMO, as a peanut farmer he would have been just fine, the office is to great for most mortals.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
11/09/2007 12:28 Comments ||
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#8
Wow, this guy's Boston Globe material. Too bad it's going broke...
Rosalynn, maybe our top former first lady since Eleanor Roosevelt, except (possibly) Mrs. Clinton...
Though he lost the image duel to Ronald Reagan in 1980...
Professor Alan Dershowitz of Harvard, a man who tends to confuse his ego with the Mosaic burning bush, tried to bait Carter into a debate at Brandeis. Carter said no, not from fear but on the sensible grounds that Brandeis could provide its own Socrates.
Then with his smiling but sad-eyed blend of teach, preach and gentle admonition he won over the students. They found not just a former president, but a good and even great man.
#9
OK, let's compile a quick list of his incredible screw ups , achievements "accomplishments" as President:
The "Malaise" speech, and asking for full cabinet resigations
Inflation
Loosing Iran
Allowing invasion of Afghanistan
Hostages
Failed hostage rescue attempt
Giving in to the USSR, surrender in Central and South America
Camp David
Creation of both the Dept of Energy, Dept. of Education, and dept. of HHS
Panama Canal giveback
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)
Amnesty for Viet Nam draft dodgers
B1 Bomber cancellation
etc.!
And that is just a quick list off the top of my head from during his presidency....
Posted by: Mark E. ||
11/09/2007 14:46 Comments ||
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#10
Oh and one other thing:
He's a SQUID!!!!
GO ARMY!! BEAT NAVY!!
Posted by: Mark E. ||
11/09/2007 14:54 Comments ||
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#11
Mark, take that back! he's an Academy Ring Knocker, and not worthy of being called a squid. no sailor i ever served with ever wanted anything do to with that peanut farmer.
besides he is a sewer pipe ring knocker.(submariner)
#13
LOL! I always say I went to "the trade school" as my friends at VMI called it... And wearing rings can get your finger pulled off.... HA!
How can that fool come from an academy and be so anti-military? I don't get it.
Fool is precisely what he is.
Posted by: Mark E. ||
11/09/2007 15:47 Comments ||
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#14
In Carter's defense, unlike Bill Clinton Jimbo didn't point a finger while wilfully lying to the Nation, nor admitted to twice being POTUS by election fraud. Among other thingys, CLINTONISM > NO MATTER WHAT CRIME(S) OR OTHER MALICE(S) AFORETHOUGHT IS COMMITTED ANDOR ADMITTED BY ANY MAJOR POL LEADER, SAID LEADER CANNOT BE PUNISHED EVER BY ANYONE FOR ANYTHING. IOW, ELITIST GOVERNMENT-WIDE "LEGAL ANARCHY/FRAUD" + NEPOTIST-MAFIA STATE-GOVERNING AUTHORITY, the benefits and advantages, etc of which DO NOT APPLY TO THE [Peonist]MAINSTREAM/ORDINARY MASSES. Medievalist Lord-Servant, Master-Slave/Peonage = LEFTISM-COMMUNISM-GOVTISM!?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Mystery surrounds the sudden appearance of a 60ft (18m) deep hole on farmland in County Durham. A youngster almost fell into the 1m-wide hole at Highfield Farm, near Bishop Middleham, on Bonfire Night. 
A LEADING authority of Saudi Arabia's hardline school of Islam has condemned camel beauty contests as evil, saying those involved should seek repentance in God.
In the ongoing saga of whether or not taxpayers will ever have to cough up $1 million for a museum honoring Woodstock, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer has brought this long, strange trip to an end.
