Chile Earthquake March 11: Aftershock Hit at 7.2-magnitude

Chile suffers another earthquake just weeks after the earthquake that devastated the South American nation struck. The latest earthquake hit at a massive 7.2-magnitude aftershock. Aftershocks are considered not usual following an original earthquake of enormous magnitude, according to scientists. The aftershock struck Chile at approximately 11:40 am local time.

The fact that is was bigger than the original Feb. 27 has the hard hit nation on high alert. This massive quake has even surpassed the magnitude of the earthquake that hit Haiti in January.  A larger magnitude earthquake is not uncommon, suggests Don Blakeman, a geophysicist with the United States Geological Survey. On Feb 27, Chile experienced the world’s largest 8.8-magnitude earthquake to date just off the coast of the Maule region.

Aftershocks are generally part of the process the original earthquake can generate. Typically, aftershocks tend to be of a lesser magnitude and can involve several smaller aftershocks. With an original quake that was more than an 8 in magnitude "we would expect at least a couple of 7's," Blakeman told LiveScience. Aftershocks are the direct result of the fault readjusting after being ruptured in the original temblor. They tend to occur in the nearby zone of the original earthquake.

According to Blakeman, "the bigger the quake, the larger the aftershock zone." The original earthquake rupture zone was 250 miles (400 kilometers) long, "so it's a very big zone," Blakeman added. The recent aftershock struck almost 93 miles (150 km) southwest of Santiago, the capital of Chile. As aftershocks can last for weeks to months, the latest Chile earthquake may not be the last. "It kind of runs in spells," Blakeman said.

Video of the latest 7.2 magnitude Chile Earthquake.

Space station could operate until 2028, says consortium

 

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AFP/NASA/File – In the grasp of the Canadarm2, the cupola was relocated from the forward port to the Earth-facing port …

Thu Mar 11, 2:46 pm ET

PARIS (AFP) – The consortium of agencies building the International Space Station (ISS) wants to see if the orbital outpost can operate until 2028, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Thursday.

"There are no identified technical constraints to continuing ISS operations beyond the current planning horizon of 2015 to at least 2020," it said in a press release after a meeting of ISS partners in Tokyo.

"The partnership is currently working to certify on-orbit elements through 2028," it said.

The Tokyo meeting gathered space agency heads from the United States, which is shouldering the main burden of building the ISS, from Canada, Japan and Russia and as well as from ESA.

Costing a reputed 100 billion dollars, the ISS has been hit by budget overruns and setbacks, including the loss of two of the US space shuttles, used to hoist components into low Earth orbit.

The station is due to be completed this year after a 12-year construction effort.

But its future beyond 2015 has recently been under cloud because of NASA's budget constraints.

That sparked fears within ESA that years of investment will yield little scientific reward before the station is mothballed.

In his draft spending plans for 2011, President Barack Obama pledged to extend the US commitment to the ISS to 2020 or beyond, NASA said in February.

Obama also confirmed the shuttle fleet's phaseout this year, promised help for commercial manned missions in space and dropped the so-called Constellation programme his predecessor George W. Bush announced in 2004 to return Americans to the Moon by 2020.

Endangered listing eyed for US loggerhead turtles

India and Russia Build Ties With Pacts

NEW DELHI — India and Russia signed a series of agreements on nuclear, space and military issues on Friday, after a visit by Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

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• Times Topics: India | Russia

Mr. Putin’s visit, and the warm reception he received here from his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, represent a warming relationship between nations with a long history of friendship that has been challenged by India’s increasingly cozy ties to the United States.

The agreements pave the way to build at least a dozen more Russian nuclear power plants for an energy-starved India, and to funnel more Russian weapons to India’s military.

The countries also reached agreements to work together on space and fertilizer projects, two crucial areas for India, which has sought to send rockets into space even as its farmers, who make up about 70 percent of the population, struggle to coax subsistence from the soil.

As a pioneer of the Non-Aligned Movement, India was officially neutral in the cold war, but in practical terms it had a much closer relationship with the Soviet Union than it did with the United States, a country it viewed warily for ideological and geopolitical reasons.

In a post-cold-war world, India and Russia remain important allies. India buys the vast majority of its weapons from Russia, and has invested in Russian oil and gas in an effort to guarantee supplies to keep its rapidly growing economy going. The countries also make up half of the BRIC Group of rapidly growing economies, along with Brazil and China.

Mr. Putin met with top political and business leaders, speaking to a group of industrialists in Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi via videoconference.

“Cooperation in high-tech is the priority for us,” Mr. Putin told his audience. “The Russian government is ready to directly support this activity, with the help of additional financial assistance.”

Russia is already building two nuclear power plants here, and Friday’s agreement paves the way for a dozen more. The signing of the nuclear agreement with the United States in 2008 made it possible for India to buy civilian nuclear technology despite its refusal to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Since then firms in the United States, Europe and Russia have been vying to get in on lucrative contracts to build plants in the world’s second fastest growing economy.

New Toys made in 2010

In 2010, lots of new games were made and lots of new versions of game were made.  One of them is Monopoly. Hasbro made a new version of Monopoly which you have to build your own game. You will have to join some pieces. (You are allowed to skip some pieces if you want. This version was made to you can also customize your game time limit.)

Obama using ‘bounty hunters’ to root out fraud

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The biggest TV manufacturers are finally starting to reveal prices for their new 3D TV sets, and believe it or not, several of the new sets will actually cost about the same or even a bit less than last year's equivalent 2D models. That said, there's a catch: The active-shutter LCD glasses that you'll need to watch 3D video cost a pretty penny.
Samsung was the first of the big four TV makers to flip its 3D pricing cards over this week; Panasonic is up tomorrow, while Sony and LG will follow in the coming weeks and months.

Samsung's new LED-backlit LCD 3D sets (which start shipping this month) run the gamut from 40 to 55 inches, and they're set to arrive in three separate lines: the "affordable" (well, relatively speaking) LED C7000 series (240Hz refresh rate, Internet widgets, and Ethernet), the mid-range C8000 series (which adds local LED dimming), and the top-of-the-line C9000 line (which comes with its own, snazzy touchscreen remote control).

So, how much are we talking here? Well, expect to spend a whopping $6,999 for the biggest, 55-inch LED C9000, all the way down to $1,999 for the smallest "bargain" set, the 40-inch C7000. (You can check out Samsung's full 3D TV pricing sheet right here.)

Now, as CNET's David Katzmaier points out, those prices are (in general) a few hundred bucks more than the current pricing of last year's equivalent models. For example, Samsung's 2009 46-inch B7000 LCD HDTV is selling on Amazon for about $2,350, or about $250 more than the new, $2,599 46-inch 3D-capable C7000, according to Katzmaier.

That said, keep in mind that the original list price for the 2009 46-inch B7000 was actually $2,999, or about $400 more than this year's new 3D-ready version. And indeed, Amazon has already discounted the new 46-inch C7000 to just $2,339, a tiny bit cheaper than last year's equivalent model.

Of course, we'll have to wait and see how the other big TV manufactures decide to price their 3D TV sets, but if they follow the trend, it may well turn out that you won't be paying much of a premium—if any—for this year's crop of 3D-capable HDTVs, especially once retailers start cutting prices.
BUT ... yep, there's a "but" here ... you will pay a premium for the battery-powered, active-shutter 3D glasses that are required to watch 3D video on Samsung's new sets.

Unlike the disposable 3D glasses you get at most movie theaters, the active-shutter glasses necessary for most 3D TVs work by rapidly opening and closing LCD "shutters" in the left and right lenses, thus ensuring that your left and right eyes are seeing the correct left or right image at precisely the right time. The glasses must also sync themselves with your TV via an infrared sensor.

As I've been warning for months now, these active-shutter 3D glasses won't come cheap, and indeed ... as CNET reports, Samsung will be charging $150 a pair for them. In other words, if you've got a family of four who wants to watch "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" on your new Samsung 3D TV, well ... that'll be $600, please. (And I wouldn't count on Samsung's competitors charging much less.)

Check out this!!

Sorry, I forgot to tell you that I made a blog/website about Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Although Vancouver 2010 is over, you can check out the website. It is olympics2010winter.blogspot.com.

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Do you love Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Harry Potter, Magic Tree House, Capitol Mysteries, Calendar Mysteries, A-Z Mysteries, or any other books?

If you want to send comments about them, just send a comment for me below. You will have to give email, gender, what book you like, the author of the book and your first name. I will try my best to deliver them to the authors. I will email you if that is possible. Maybe if you get a letter back from the author, I will send it to your email address so give a correct email address!!!

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Great earthquakes occur once a year, on average. The largest recorded earthquake was the Great Chilean Earthquake of May 22, 1960 which had a magnitude (M_W) of 9.5.^[6]

The following table lists the approximate energy equivalents in terms of TNT explosive force^[7] - though note that the energy here is that of theunderground energy release (i.e. a small atomic bomb blast will not simply cause light shaking of indoor items) rather than the overground energy release. Most energy from an earthquake is not transmitted to and through the surface; instead, it dissipates into the crust and other subsurface structures.

Richter Approximate Magnitude	Approximate TNT for Seismic Energy Yield	Joule equivalent	Example
0.0	1 kg (2.2 lb)	4.2 MJ
0.5	5.6 kg (12.4 lb)	23.5 MJ	Large hand grenade
1.0	32 kg (70 lb)	132.3 MJ	Construction site blast
1.5	178 kg (392 lb)	744.0 MJ	WWII conventional bombs
2.0	1 metric ton	4.18 GJ	Late WWII conventional bombs
2.5	5.6 metric tons	23.5 GJ	WWII blockbuster bomb
3.0	31.6 metric tons	132.3 GJ	Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb
3.5	178 metric tons	747.6 GJ	Chernobyl nuclear disaster, 1986
4.0	1 kiloton	4.18 TJ	Small atomic bomb
4.5	5.6 kilotons	23.5 TJ
5.0	31.6 kilotons	134.4 TJ	Nagasaki atomic bomb (actual seismic yield was negligible since it detonated in the atmosphere) Lincolnshire earthquake (UK), 2008
5.5	178 kilotons	747.6 TJ	Little Skull Mtn. earthquake (NV, USA), 1992 Alum Rock earthquake (CA, USA), 2007 2008 Chino Hills earthquake (Los Angeles, USA)
6.0	1 megaton	4.18 PJ	Double Spring Flat earthquake (NV, USA), 1994
6.5	5.6 megatons	23.5 PJ	Caracas (Venezuela), 1967 Rhodes (Greece), 2008 Eureka Earthquake (Humboldt County CA, USA), 2010
6.7	11.2 megatons	46.9 PJ	Northridge earthquake (CA, USA), 1994
6.9	22.4 megatons	93.7 PJ	San Francisco Bay Area earthquake (CA, USA), 1989
7.0	31.6 megatons	132.3 PJ	Java earthquake (Indonesia), 2009 2010 Haiti Earthquake
7.1	44.7 megatons	186.9 PJ	Energy released is equivalent to that of Tsar Bomba (50 megatons, 210 PJ), the largest thermonuclear weapon ever tested 1944 San Juan earthquake
7.5	178 megatons	744.0 PJ	Kashmir earthquake (Pakistan), 2005 Antofagasta earthquake (Chile), 2007
7.8	501 megatons	2.10 EJ	Tangshan earthquake (China), 1976 Hawke's Bay earthquake (New Zealand), 1931)
8.0	1 gigaton	4.18 EJ	San Francisco earthquake (CA, USA), 1906 Queen Charlotte earthquake (BC, Canada), 1949 México City earthquake (Mexico), 1985 Gujarat earthquake (India), 2001 Chincha Alta earthquake (Peru), 2007 Sichuan earthquake (China), 2008 1894 San Juan earthquake
8.5	5.6 gigatons	23.5 EJ	Toba eruption[citation needed] 75,000 years ago; the largest known volcanic event Sumatra earthquake (Indonesia), 2007
8.8	15.8 gigatons	66.3 EJ	Chile earthquake, 2010
9.0	31.6 gigatons	132.3 EJ	Lisbon Earthquake (Lisbon, Portugal), All Saints Day, 1755
9.2	63.1 gigatons	264.0 EJ	Anchorage earthquake (AK, USA), 1964
9.3	89.1 gigatons	372.9 EJ	Indian Ocean earthquake, 2004
9.5	178 gigatons	744.0 EJ	Valdivia earthquake (Chile), 1960
10.0	1 teraton	4.18 ZJ	Never recorded by humans
13.0	108 megatons	372.9 ZJ	Yucatán Peninsula impact (causing Chicxulub crater) 65 Ma ago (108 megatons = 100 teratons; almost 5x1030 ergs = 500 ZJ).[8][9][10][11][12]