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HERMANN MISSOURI OKTOBERFEST 2010
HERMANN MISSOURI OKTOBERFEST 2010 - CLICK ON PHOTO FOR THIS YEARS SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
William Booth Washington Post
June 7, 2011
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For the drug cartel boss who has everything, the latest piece of military hardware is a tank. Today’s competitive crime mafias in Mexico are no longer satisfied with bazookas or rocket-propelled grenades or land mines. The Mexican military has discovered that gangsters south of the Texas border are building armored assault vehicles, with gun turrets, inch-thick armor plates, firing ports and bullet-proof glass.
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June 7, 2011
by Frank Tennant
Chief of Police, City of Hermann
As we approach summer this year it’s almost certain that we’ll have those high temperatures and high humidity days, but this summer it appears we’ll also have to contend with the rising water. The Missouri River is expected to reach record levels in some areas of the Midwest. There are very many variables to account for in predicting future floods. The heavy winter and spring rains in the northern most portion of the Missouri River Basin have already caused the reservoirs in the north to become filled to capacity and mandated the Army Corps of Engineers to increase the release flow. This additional water stresses levees all the way down to the mouth of the river at the Mississippi. The Army Corps of Engineers began the additional releases during the first of this month and will continue throughout the summer.
Flood stage in Hermann is 21 feet. According to the State Emergency Management Agency and the National Weather Service predict that the water level could reach 6 to 12 feet above flood stage based upon average summer precipitation. That equates to 27 to 33 feet. For comparison, the 1993 and 1995 floods crested at almost 37 feet and most recently, September 2008 when it reached a level of 31.34 feet. Locally, Frene Creek backs up into Lions Field on Mozart Street and begins to flood around 25 feet followed by Gutenberg Street between E 3rd Street and E 4th Street at about 26 feet. The upper level of Riverfront Park begins to flood around 29 feet.
As of today, the level in Hermann is 23.2 feet and predicted to recede over the next 7 days to a little under 22 feet. Water levels in Gasconade, Chamois, Jefferson City and Booneville also fall and level out near flood stage over the next seven days. However, water level at points between Booneville and Kansas City begin a slow rise about June 11th and 12th and should be expected to begin rising again in our immediate area a couple of days after that.
Many of us were not in Hermann in 1993 and 1995 and there have been many changes in our city since that time so we should try to compare then with now. The closest level in recent history was 2008 when it reached a level of 31.34 and except for a few minor problems it was more of a nuisance than anything. It is certain that the water is coming this summer beginning in the next couple weeks and most likely will be with us at some level until late August or early September. The city has sand and sand bags stockpiled and will be able to acquire more from SEMA should we need it. I personally monitor the water level and predictions several times a day and will continue to do so for the duration of the summer.
Flood safety and guidelines:
* Avoid standing on top of steep cut banks along the shoreline. Riverbanks can be unstable and prone to undermining erosion, bank sloughing, and mini landslides that can wash a person into the current.
* Do not allow children to play in flood waters. Waters can be contaminated and, in some places, hidden holes, debris, and washouts lie under the surface.
* Do not walk through moving water; six inches of moving water can make you fall. If you have to walk in water, walk where the water is not moving. Use a stick to check the firmness of the ground in front of you.
* Do not drive through a flooded area. During floods more people drown in their cars than anywhere else. If you come upon a road barrier, turn around and go another way. If you must drive down a shallow water covered street, drive slowly and be courteous. Vehicles will cause a wave of water that can cause further damage to property. Six inches of water will reach the bottom of most passenger cars causing loss of control and possible stalling. A foot of water will float many vehicles. Two feet of rushing water can carry away most vehicles including sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and pick-ups.
* Stay away from power lines and electrical wire. The number two flood killer after drowning is electrocution. Electrical current can travel through water. Report downed power lines to the Power Company or local authorities immediately.
* Watch for animals – especially snakes. Small animals may have been flooded from of their homes and may seek shelter in yours. Be aware they are just as scared of you as you are of them. You could use a pole or stick to poke and turn items over to scare away small animals.
* The Missouri River has been closed to recreational boating until further notice. Missouri Water Patrol and Coast Guard will be strictly enforcing the prohibition.
* Do not drive around barricades that are blocking city streets. Violators may be cited by local police.
* Situational Awareness: please keep abreast of the latest news, visit your local news outlet for safety and news updates. Please follow the safety and precautionary guidelines.
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Coronal mass ejection as viewed by the Solar Dynamics Observatory on June 7, 2011. CREDIT: NASA/SDO _________________________________________________________________________
Sun Unleashes 'Spectacular' & Powerful Eruption
by Tariq Malik, SPACE.com Managing Editor
Date: 07 June 2011
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The sun unleashed a massive solar storm today (June 7) in a dazzling eruption that kicked up a vast cloud of magnetic plasma that appeared to rain back down over half of the sun's entire surface, NASA scientists say.
The solar storm hit its peak at about 2:41 a.m. EDT (0641 GMT), but the actual flare extended over a three-hour period, said C. Alex Young, a solar astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center who runs a website called The Sun Today, in a video describing the event.
"The sun produced a quite spectacular prominence eruption that had a solar flare and high-energy particles associated with it, but I've just never seen material released like this before," Young said. "It looks like somebody just kicked a giant clod of dirt into the air and then it fell back down." Huge sun Eruption June 7, 2011
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NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft caught high-definition video of the flare in different wavelengths. The event registered as a Class M-2 solar flare, which is a medium-class sun storm that should not pose a danger to satellites or infrastructure on Earth.
An alert by the NOAA-operated Space Weather Prediction Center stated that the solar flare could create a strong geomagnetic storm on Wednesday (June 9) from the event's coronal mass ejection (CME), an explosion of charged particles triggered by the flare. Geomagnetic storms can lead to stronger than normal displays of Earth's auroras, also known as the northern and southern lights.
"It's nothing we really have to worry about," Young said in his video. "It's just really, really beautiful."
The coronal mass ejection is directed at Earth and moving at about 3.1 million mph (5 million kph), SDO mission scientists said in a statement.
"Due to its angle, however, effects on Earth should be fairly small. Nevertheless, it may generate space weather effects here on Earth in a few days," they added.
In the SDO videos, the solar flare erupts from the lower right of the sun and triggers the intense coronal mass ejection, which blows plasma and particles high up into the sun's corona — its outer atmosphere — with some raining back down.
SDO mission scientists said the flare kicked up relatively cool gas and material.
"It is somewhat unique because at many places in the eruption there seems to be even cooler material —at temperatures less than 80,000 Kelvin," SDO scientists explained.
A temperature of 80,000 Kelvin is about 143,540 degrees Fahrenheit (nearly 79,727 degrees Celsius). The sun's corona typically has temperatures ranging from 900,000 degrees F (500,000 degrees C) to 10.8 million degrees F (6 million degrees C). It can reach tens of millions of degrees when a solar flare occurs.
The sun is currently going through an active period in it is 11-year solar weather cycle. The current cycle is called solar cycle 24.
Several NASA spacecraft are keeping constant watch on the sun for flares and CMEs, and serve as an early-warning system for major space weather events.
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(Chesterfield, MO) -- The Army Corps of Engineers is predicting more levee failures that could put some Missouri towns underwater for months.
Upstream towns from Jefferson City to Hermann and Washington, Missouri could be inundated.
In St. Louis County, officials say the mammoth Monarch levee protecting the Chesterfield Valley will hold.
But critics say these mega-levees only make things worse, especially given the size of the flood that's rolling down the Missouri.
"It's definitely going to be a major flood. If we can keep the rainfall down, we won't set any records, that's the good news," says Jim Kramper of the National Weather Service. "And if we get rainfall? The potential is there, with that much water already in the river, we start getting a lot of rainfall in the Missouri basin, this could become a really serious situation.."
When the old levee failed in 1993, the Chesterfield Valley was under 15 feet of water.
18 years and millions of dollars later, the levee is bigger and stronger.
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – As recovery efforts continue in Joplin, Attorney General Chris Koster is working with banks and other financial institutions to ensure that tornado victims don’t become financial victims as well.
On Monday, Koster held a meeting with the leaders of 14 of the nation’s largest financial institutions to discuss measures to assist Joplin homeowners. Collectively, the banks and lenders cover 95 percent of mortgages in the Joplin area.
The attorney general said most banks have policies in place that would allow for mortgage payments to be deferred up to 100 days and prevent disaster related payment lapses from negatively impacting credit scores. He said the state will undertake a public education campaign to help homeowners take advantage of such programs. Click Here to Read More.
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A hot, dry week in most of Missouri gave farmers the perfect opportunity to get into their fields. The Missouri ag. statistics office reports much of the state’s soil has dried out enough to allow producers to work on planting soybeans and cutting hay, and to finish up their corn planting for the spring. Some ground was even being worked in the southeast Missouri flood zone where the statistics office says most of the ground has dried. Statewide, subsoil moisture was rated 2 percent short, 90 percent adequate and 8 percent surplus…with surplus moisture down 20 percent from May 1. Soybean planting jumped 23 percent for the week up to 59 percent for the spring, only about two days behind normal. Corn is now about 98 percent planted, a little behind schedule, but what is planted is emerging about four days ahead of normal. Winter wheat is turning color a little ahead of schedule, but things don’t look good for the winter wheat harvest in southeast Missouri, where some of the crop was lost to flooding, and of the wheat there is, 54 percent is rated in the poor to very poor category in the southeast region.
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- After a spate of discouraging economic reports, President Barack Obama insisted Tuesday he's not afraid of the country slipping into a double-dip recession. But at the same time he displayed some impatience that the pace of the recovery has "got to accelerate."
"Obviously, we're experiencing some headwinds," Obama said at a joint news conference with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He said it was unclear whether the latest unemployment report, which showed a slowdown in job growth, was a one-month disappointment or part of a longer trend.
But Obama said his administration was taking a range of steps to boost the economy, and that the nation is bound for long-term economic growth.
"We are on the path of a recovery but it's got to accelerate," he said.
Taking note that economic turmoil has roiled both sides of the Atlantic, Obama added: "Recovery from that kind of body blow takes time."
"Our task is to not panic, not overreact."
The economy is the overarching issue as Obama heads into a 2012 re-election campaign, and a Washington Post-ABC News poll released Tuesday found that disapproval with how Obama is handling the economy and the deficit has reached a new high.
Mindful of that sentiment, Obama tried to project both confidence and empathy for those still feeling economic pain: "I'm not concerned about a double dip recession. I am concerned about the fact that the recovery that we're on is not producing jobs as quickly as I want it to happen."
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#1 During the 23 months of the “Obama recovery”, an average of about 23,000 jobs a month have been created. It takes somewhere in the neighborhood of 150,000 jobs a month just to keep up with population growth. So shouldn’t we hold off a bit before we declare the economic crisis to be over? #2 During the “recession”, somewhere between 6.3 million and 7.5 million jobs were lost. During the “Obama recovery”, approximately 535,000 jobs have been added. When will the rest of the jobs finally come back? #3 Of the 535,000 jobs that have been created during the “Obama recovery”, only about 35,000 of them are permanent full-time jobs. Today, “low income jobs” account for 41 percent of all jobs in the United States. If our economy is recovering, then why can’t it produce large numbers of good jobs that will enable people to provide for their families? #4 Agricultural commodities have been absolutely soaring this decade. The combined price of cotton, wheat, gasoline and hogs is now more than 3 times higher than it was back in 2002. So how in the world can the Federal Reserve claim that inflation has been at minimal levels all this time? #5 Back in 2008, banks had a total of 27 billion dollars in excess reserves at the Fed. Today, banks have a total of approximately 1.5 trillion dollars in excess reserves at the Fed. So what is going to happen when all of this money eventually hits the economy?…. #6 If the U.S. economy is recovering, then why are shipments by U.S. factories still substantially below 2008 levels? READ MORE STORY LINK:
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Science has come galloping up wagging its finger and telling us all to stop believing, because it already knows what "Bio Station Alpha" is.
For those that believe US amateur astronomer David Martines, Bio Station Alpha is some kind of building on Mars made up of cylinders and appears to be painted red, white and blue.
He saw it on Google Earth's Mars explorer and his video of the discovery is about to hit the one million mark on YouTube.
The object, according to Mr Martines, is "about 700 feet long and 150 feet wide".
"It's very unusual in that it's quite large," he said yesterday.
"It could be a power station or it could be a biological containment or it could be a glorified garage. I hope it's not a weapon."
According to a planetary geologist at the Lunar and Planetary Lab at the University of Arizona, it isn't.
Alfred McEwen, who is also the director of the Planetary Imaging Research Laboratory and therefore should know a bit about this type of thing, says it's a — wait for it — glitch.
"It looks like a linear streak artifact produced by a cosmic ray," he told Space.com, probably somewhat gleefully.
Cosmic energy from the stars can interfere with a camera's image sensor, depositing electric charges in pixels. If it hits at the right angle, it can affect several pixels in a row, forming a bright streak.
When it's converted to a JPEG, it smears out and looks pixellated.
Kind of like "cylinders".
Ah. Boo.
But if you want to get angry at someone, save it for Google. According to Mr McEwen, they should know this and identify the source of such images — which could come from any number of orbiters or telescopes — for the rest of us trying to solve the mysteries of the universe.
"I can't tell whether this image was taken by Viking or what," he told Space.com.
"The people at Google need to document what the heck they're doing."
_________________________________________________________________________ Is Bio Station Alpha proof of life on Mars? news.com.au
June 06, 2011
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. AN American armchair astronomer claims he has found evidence of, well, something on Mars.
David Martines' YouTube video is heading for viral status after he uploaded a flyby of Google Earth's Mars explorer zooming in on a white, cylindrical shaped object.
The object, according to Mr Martines, is "about 700 feet long and 150 feet wide".
He's calling it "Bio Station Alpha, because I'm just assuming that something lives in it or has lived in it".
"It's very unusual in that it's quite large, it's over 700 feet long and 150 feet wide, it looks like it's a cylinder or made up of cylinders," he says.
"It could be a power station or it could be a biological containment or it could be a glorified garage - hope it's not a weapon.
"Whoever put it up there had a purpose I'm sure. I couldn't imagine what the purpose was. I couldn't imagine why anybody would want to live on Mars."
But who's responsible? Mr Marines says it's unlikely to be NASA.
"I don't know if they could pull off such a project without all the people seeing all the material going up there," he says.
"I sort of doubt NASA has anything to do with this. I don't know if NASA even knows about this."
Mr Martines is seeking help finding a higher resolution image, if it exists.
He claims the coordinates of Bio Station Alpha are 71 49'19.73"N 29 33'06.53"W and that anyone who has downloaded the Google Earth software can see it.
Sceptics are lining up to shoot down Mr Martines' theory, which has been likened to the infamous "Face on Mars" hysteria, which turned out to be an unusual angle of a rock formation.
The first of the Bio Station Mars parodies have also already hit YouTube, starting with Ski Station Beta.
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A Wendy's restaurant is surrounded by a temporary berm Monday June 6, 2011 in Hamburg, Iowa. The southwest Iowa town is under a mandatory evacuation order as the Missouri River continues to rise. (Photo/Dave Weaver)
Associated Press June 6, 2011
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Crews scrambled Monday to protect a southwest Iowa town from the swollen Missouri River, but local officials said it's unclear whether they'll be able to prevent the river from leaving the community under several feet of water for weeks.
If efforts to pile massive sandbags on a faltering levee and build a secondary barrier fail, part of Hamburg could be under as much as 8 feet of water for a month or more, Fire Chief Dan Sturm said. Flooding along the river this summer _ expected to break decades-old records _ will test the system of levees, dams and flood walls like never before.
"We're working against the clock," Sturm said Monday as many residents were packing up their homes and heading out of town. "There's a chance we can save ourselves from the worst of it. We just need some time. But if water gets in here, it's going to be here for a while."
The earthen levee that guards an area of farmland and small towns between Omaha, Neb., and Kansas City has been partially breached in at least two places south of the Iowa-Missouri border. And emergency management officials expect new breaches in the coming days as the river rises.
That means Hamburg could be only the first of many communities to get hit.
The last time the Missouri River crested at levels predicted for this summer happened in 1952, before most of the major dams along the river were built. And the flooding is expected to last into mid-August.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be releasing more water than it ever has from the dams by mid-June, meaning there likely will be other levee problems like the ones near Hamburg, said Kevin Grode with the corps' water management office.
"With these high flows, there's the possibility of more levee breaches," Grode said.
Officials also predict that the water will get high enough to flow over at least 11 levees in the area near Hamburg in the corners of southeast Nebraska, southwest Iowa and northwest Missouri.
The Army Corps of Engineers began building a secondary flood wall to protect low-lying areas of Hamburg because it expects the northernmost breach of the floodwall, which is 5 miles southwest of town, to fully give way at some point.
That breach constituted a 10- to 15-foot-wide section of the levee collapsing in on itself on Sunday, said Kim Thomas, the head of the corps' emergency management office in Omaha, Neb. The corps evacuated its personnel from the area, and the Iowa National Guard used a helicopter to drop 22 half-ton sandbags on the weakened section, stabilizing it temporarily.
Although Hamburg is upriver, a full breach of that section of levee would cause floodwater to flow northward over the flat terrain and threaten the town's low-lying southern neighborhoods.
About half of Hamburg's roughly 1,100 residents were ordered Sunday to leave their homes within 24 hours, and that process should be completed by Monday evening, said John Benson, a spokesman for Iowa's department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
Just across the state line in Missouri, several residents of Atchison County were also ordered to leave.
In a worst-case scenario, corps projections show that the volume of water released upstream during a levee break could leave 8 feet to 10 feet of standing water in the southern part of Hamburg. The area includes manufacturing and agricultural businesses. Water could reach the fire station and city hall, but it likely wouldn't reach the northern part of town where most residents live.
Sturm said such a scenario "would be a calamity" for the town and officials are trying to contain as much water as possible.
"We're going to hope for the best and see what happens," Sturm said. "I don't want to admit defeat until I see that water coming into town."
Large sections of town sat empty Monday as crews scrambled to erect the western levee against the Missouri River. Local officials patrolled a levee along the Nishna River to the east, fearful that another few inches of rain would cause it to break and inundate the town.
Several residents voiced anger at the corps for not starting the water release sooner to spread the water release out over time.
"Talk about dropping the ball," said Terry Rutledge, who owns a car dealership and strip club in town. "They should have started making a move on this a long time ago, and they didn't. They've really blown it."
Rutledge and several employees spent Monday morning piling couches, chairs, air compressors and a refrigerator onto a truck to move to his home in nearby Nebraska City. Rutledge said he has invited more than a dozen residents to stay with him if their homes suffer damage.
Corps officials said they understood residents' frustrations. Omaha district commander Col. Bob Ruch said the corps was following its policies and trying to protect lives and minimize damage. He said the corps has been working to raise the levee near Hamburg another 5 feet to help protect the town.
An earlier breach of the levee near Rock Port, 15 miles south of Hamburg, caused a leak that shot water like a "like a small geyser," said Gen. Derek Hill, head of the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Crews stabilized the partial breach, the corps said.
Officials are also concerned about a section of a levee on the river's western banks, near Brownville, Neb., and crews are trying to determine the extent of possible damage there, the corps said.
In South Dakota, the corps began construction of a backup levee Sunday to protect the town of Dakota Dunes. Corps engineer LeeJay Templeton said the 1.4-mile long secondary levee is slated to be completed by Thursday, and some of the town's 2,500 residents have evacuated ahead of the planned crest.
The river is expected to crest at least 5 feet above flood stage in most of Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, but the water level could be higher if more rain falls.
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Associated Press writers Josh Funk in Omaha, Neb., and Chris Blank in Jefferson City, Mo., contributed to this report.
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