Guest guest Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 Veganism Animal Rights And More are discussed in this post. The first item: " Veggie Heaven Animal Lovers Vegetarian Dinner and Social Chat " is from: mistyangel2003 AngelButterfly37 AngelButterfly37 AT aol.com Please contact her about it not me Saturday, August 25, 2007, 6:00 PM Where: Veggie-Heaven 1119 Route 46 East Par-Troy Hills Shopping Center Parsippany , NJ 07054 Description: Veggie-Heaven Animal Lovers Vegetarian Dinner & Chat Social Meetup with us at Veggie-Heaven in the Par-Troy Hills Shopping Center which is located at the intersection of route 46 and Beverwyck Rd across from the big yellow Weichert building. The food is great and all Kosher & Vegan delicacies. Vegetarian never tasted so good! RSVP today! RSVP directly to Diana at AngelButterfly37 <AngelButterfly37 Hosts: Diana Christine & William Sevchuk Will be casually chatting about upcoming events such as Fall Wolf Tour, Winter Land Fill Tour & Recycling Situations; Alaskan Wildlife Presentation, Jersey Shore Seal Walk & NYC Seal March as well as encouraging a great time out in this Vegetarian Social. All Welcomed regardless of age or marital status. This is one of the very few times I will be in the Morris County area, so especially for those of you in Morris County who I have not seen in a long time, would love to see you! Truly, Diana Christine 732-764-9073 AngelButterfly37 <AngelButterfly37 AngelButterfly37 AT aol.com --------------------------- For less than 10 people we will order off the menu and split up the bill, but for more than 10 people Pre-Fixed Menu Listed below: (Actually we already have 9 people signed up so far, so probably we will be using the All-You-Can-Eat Pre-Fixed Menu supplied by the restaurant for larger groups.) If we have 10 or more people RSVP for this event then we will have a fixed price family style meal: $20 will include All-You-Can-Eat full meal, tea and tax & tips. Menu Includes: Choice of 1 Soup: either Wonton, Hunan, or Miso Soup 2 Appetizers included Hunan Dumpling & Skian Chinese Pancakes Both will be on the table, so try both! 6 Entrees will be served Family Style on the table. Feel free to try them all and pass them around! Entrees: General Tso Chicken Beef with Black Pepper Sauce Fresh Garden Walnuts Empire Chicken Steaks Vegetable Bundle & Hunan Special Lo Mein Dessert: Orange Slices Extra Cost: $1.30 extra cost for soda, or extra costs for any other beverages besides tea & water. Only Tea & Water are included with this great $20 All-You-Can-Eat price! Info for this event also listed at: http://environment.meetup.com/219 <http://environment.meetup.com/219> end of item from mistyangel2003 AngelButterfly37 AngelButterfly37 AT aol.com Get the average person to stop eating animals and animal products and you can produce a world in which vast numbers of animals are no longer created to satsify the demand for animal centered diets. You can help to save the environment, help people to expand their consciousness about oppression as they end their oppression of animals for food they may end their oppressions of one another and help to create a world in which men and women are equals and food is grown for people not for so called-food animals. You can even cut the funding to petroleum exporting state sponsors of terror by eliminating high energy requiring animal centered diets. By doing so you can stop those who seek to reverse the progress earth has made in attaining women's rights as it is those same petroleum exporting state sponsors of terror who seek to see women confined to their homes as they were under the Taliban, with so-called " morality police " in the streets whipping any unescorted women they found outside their homes. You can emulate PETA's alleged takeover of an old anti-vivisection group by joining environmental and other groups and turning them into vegan advocacy organizations. http://coolcities.us/ is the url for Cool Cities Across America All over America, communities are taking action to help solve global warming. From hybrid vehicle fleets in Charlotte, to green buildings in Austin, and homes powered with renewable energy in Seattle, local governments are moving forward with innovative energy solutions that curb global warming, save taxpayer dollars, and create healthier cities. At a time when the federal government is failing to act, these local leaders are moving America toward a safer and more secure future. So what is a Cool City? These are cities that have made a commitment to stopping global warming by signing the U.S. Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement. The Cool Cities campaign helps cities turn their commitments into action by pushing for smart energy solutions. To find out whether you live in a Cool City, click on your state or search by your city. To get involved with a Cool Cities campaign in your city, network with citizens taking action nationwide, and gain access to campaign resources you can click on the following url: http://www.coolcities.us/user/register I hope that everyone who can will get involved with that campaign. Imagine a world in which Cool Cities pledged not to buy animal products with their city budgets. Imagine a world in which Cool Cities taught their citizens, including their school children how to become vegans and why they should become vegans and stopped feeding animal products to their citizens including their school children. You can help to make that happen if you get involved and talk to and write and call your local city and town and village officials. Imagine the impact vegans and animal rights people could have if we were to pack environmental events and join and take over every so-called environmental group on earth Did you know that to get the amount of energy your body will receive from a can of corn requires about 77 calories of energy input. To get the same amount of energy for your body from steak would require about 21,000 calories of energy input. Every penny you put into the hands of certain petroleum exporting countries whose names are known to everyone puts more arms, including weapons of mass destruction they seek to build, buy, or steal, in the hands of those nations and the terrorist gangs they support whose members seek to destroy America, Israel, and the rest of the civilized world. You can fight back against terrorism and the state sponsors of terrorism that gain their revenues from exporting petroleum by eating directly rather than through animals. Frances Moore Lappe's classic 1970s era book: DIET FOR A SMALL PLANET told us all that it takes on average about 8 to 10 pounds of protein input fed to animals to get one pound of animal protein on the plate. If you are talking about steak it takes 21 pounds of protein fed to animals to get 1 pound of steak protein on the plate. 86% of corn, oats and barley, 90% of non-exported soybeans grown in America have for decades been fed to animals rather than grown for and fed to human beings. Whether you support the struggle against world hunger or the struggle against petroleum exporting state sponsors of terrorism eating low on the food chain helps to make it possible to feed human beings directly and helps take money out of the hands of petroleum exporting state sponsors of terror. Vast numbers of so called " food animals " are raised to satsify demand for animals as food. All of those so-called " food animals " compete with humans for land, food, water and oxygen. The very air we breathe is at stake, as is our planet and all of the life on it. So called " food animals " all produce carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, and other deadly greenhouse gases, contributing to global warming and the Greenhouse Effect. The United Nations FAO, Food and Agriculture Organization's study on this subject makes the message clear. " Meat Contributes to Climate Change, UN Study Confirms by Megan Tady Dec. 7, 2006 – The typical American diet adds significantly to pollution, water scarcity, land degradation and climate change, according to a United Nations report released last week. Written by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),the report is the latest research linking meat-eating with environmental destruction. According to the FAO, the arm of the UN that works on worldwide hunger-defeating initiatives, animal farming presents a " major threat to the environment " with such " deep and wide-ranging " impacts that it should rank as a leading focus for environmental policy. The report calls the livestock sector a " major player " in affecting climate change through greenhouse-gas production. The FAO found that the ranching and slaughter of cows and other animals generates an estimated 18 percent of total human-induced greenhouse-gas emissions globally. Greenhouse gases – such as methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide – are linked to global warming. Livestock emit methane and other greenhouse gasses through excrement and belching. The FAO estimates that cow manure and flatulence generate 30 to 40 percent of total methane emissions from human- influenced activities. As demand for meat grows, the report explains, so does the need for pasture and cropland, making deforestation an additional concern; currently, according to the report, the livestock sector occupies 30 percent of ice-free land on the planet. Extensive grazing also takes a toll on arable land. The livestock sector also contributes to water depletion; currently, the livestock sector accounts for 8 percent of human water use globally. Animal wastes, antibiotics and hormones, as well as chemicals from tanneries and pesticides from feed crops, also contaminate water supplies. Henning Steinfeld, an author of the report, said in a press statement that " urgent action is required to remedy the situation. " While the report gives a global picture of meat production, sustainable-food advocates say the US is leading the world in harmful meat-eating habits and industry practices. From 2000 to 2002, consumers in the United States ate on average approximately 38.5 million tons of meat per year, second only to China, according to the FAO analysis. In those same years, the United Kingdom consumed nearly 5 million tons of meat each year, Brazil nearly 15.5 million tons and Uganda 308,647 tons. North America had one of the highest methane emissions from livestock manure management in the world in 2004, according to the report. Methane is more readily produced when manure is managed in a liquid form, such as in holding tanks or lagoons commonly used in North America. Additionally, the US is a leader in CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuels in the manufacture of nitrogen fertilizer used to grow food for livestock.... Dawn Moncrief, director of ... a national food-education organization, said that not only are US consumers harming the environment through their appetite for meat, but American food choices are being exported to other countries. " [The US sets] the example, which a lot of the world is trying to follow, " Moncrief told TNS. " [Meat consumption is] partly being exported by our corporate interests who are pushing it as a lifestyle because they're making money in it. " Often serving as a status symbol, meat is becoming a staple in diets of countries that, prior to industrialization and Western cultural influence, ate far fewer animal products. According to FAO, world meat production is expected to double by 2050. In March 2006, the Department of Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago released a study that compared the differences in greenhouse-gas emissions caused by various plant- and meat-based diets. Researchers found that the difference between a red-meat diet and a vegan diet – in terms of greenhouse-gas emissions – equaled the difference between driving a sedan and driving a sport-utility vehicle. " These results clearly demonstrate the primary effect of one's dietary choices on one's planetary footprint, an effect comparable in magnitude to the car one chooses to drive, " the report concluded. Despite such alarming findings, the FAO report stopped short of suggesting more people adopt plant-based diets; instead it advocated for technological solutions and changes in farming policies. " It's not like [the UN is] going to advocate a vegan diet, but they could say, 'A plant-based diet would get you [closer to sustainability], " Moncreif said. Among the remedies, the UN suggested investing technology that already exists, including soil-conservation methods, feeding methods that reduce livestock's gas emissions, and improved irrigation and manure management systems. Adopting these changes " with a sense of urgency, " wrote the FAO, can " make a very significant contribution to reducing and reversing environmental damage. " The report also noted the economic importance of the livestock sector to global populations; work with livestock contributes 40 percent of global agriculture Gross Domestic Product and employs 1.3 billion people worldwide. But Moncrief said simply altering agriculture practices without changing consumers' food consciousness and habits will not lead to true sustainability, in terms of either environmental health or feeding the growing population. " They talk about the problems, but then they refuse to advocate a reduction of meat as part of the solution, " Moncrief said. " We just think we're going to be able to outsmart our way out of this. " Moncrief said educating consumers about their food choices is essential. " We need to get organizations who are working on food-policy issues, like the UN and the USDA, to at least come out and say, 'Here are the health benefits, here are the environmental benefits' " to reducing meat consumption, Moncrief said. " If we could get these governmental and quasi-governmental agencies to come out and say it, that would be a good first step. " Gidon Eshel, assistant professor of physical oceanography and climate and co-author of the University of Chicago report, echoed Moncrief's concern. Eshel told TNS: " It is probably not a bad idea to suggest unambiguously that if more people used less animal products in their diet than they do today, we [would] be able to sustain a larger number of people on earth for an indefinite period of time, or afford those who are here a better lifestyle. " now for a moment from history The New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS) " On March 20, 1989, Forbes reported: PETA aggressively runs slates of its own people in board elections of rival rights groups. Latest is the successful 1987 " takeover " of the Boston-based New England Anti-Vivisection Society (fund balance, $8 million). The century-old group officially still operates independently, but in reality PETA vegans and allies now control the Society and its spending. " " An April 10, 1987 Boston Globe article explained how PETA did it: The wife of Gary Francione, a PETA executive and a Pennsylvania attorney, walked into the Anti-Vivisection Society's Boston headquarters a few months ago and purchased 300 voting memberships for $3000 in cash. A surge of several hundred applications for voting memberships arrived at the headquarters in bulk March 31. PETA set up the Action Campaign Fund to subsidize or pay full air fare to Boston for an unspecified number of voting activists. And the Boston Herald wrote on April 30, 1987 that Ingrid Newkirk: … sought to fill four open board of directors' seats and four officer's positions with a slate of PETA members and friends. Some locals claimed the election was " stacked " by PETA, who bankrolled the busing of new members to the Boston election meeting from New York, Washington, New Jersey, and New Mexico. Along with PETA founders Ingrid Newkirk and Alex Pacheco, PETA's candidates for NEAVS board membership included Neal Barnard himself. Barnard even co-signed letters with Newkirk and Pacheco, urging NEAVS members to vote for the PETA slate. In 1987, Barnard was elected to NEAVS' board. He and Newkirk remained there for ten years. " Using an animal centered diet requires vast amounts of food grown as feed for animals, of water, or energy, or land, or petroleum based pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, etc. By contrast a vegan, totally vegetarian diet requires far less of all of the above. Will vegans and other vegetarians join with those who want to see petroleum exporting state sponsors of terror lose the revenues they get from the energy used to produce animal centered diets, and with others who support animal rights, the environment, the struggle against world hunger, etc. emulate PETA's alleged tactics describe above by moving to take over environmental and other groups and go beyond those alleged tactics by turning those environmental and other groups into vegetarian and vegan advocacy groups? While I do not agree with everything PETA has ever done I strongly support the PETA call for former Vice President Gore to become a vegan. It would not only be an enormous boost to Al Gore's credibility on Global Warming if he started to walk the talk, it would probably add years to his life as it took inches off his waistline and pounds off his frame. " March 8, 2007 at 8:22 pm · Filed under News, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gases, Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, Methane, Cows, Channel 4, PETA This is not " pick on Al Gore week " for me…I swear, but the article I found today combined some of my favorite topics: Al Gore, extremism, and cow flatulence! Apparently PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has sent correspondence to the former Vice President imploring him to " go veggie " ! The global warming tie-in? Well, at the heart of the argument is that raising cattle for human consumption produces " more greenhouse gases than all of the cars and trucks in the world combined. " This is actual fact, people, like it or not. PETA also maintains that Gore's film, An Inconvenient Truth " has failed to address the fact that the meat industry is the largest contributor to greenhouse-gas emissions. " Also in the letter to Gore, Peta asserted that " Researchers at the University of Chicago have determined that switching to a vegan diet is more effective in countering global warming than switching from a standard American car to a Toyota Prius. " That wouldn't make Toyota very happy. So, if greenhouse gases are where it's at, and we know it is for Mr. Gore, he might take a bit of advice from our friends at PETA and have a veggie burger next time he cooks up a meal in that energy-hogging mansion he resides in. " SOURCE FOR ITEM EXCERPTED FROM IMMEDIATELY ABOVE: http://www.discussglobalwarming.com/blog/category/peta/ Al Gore ignores eating meat global warming Glenn Beck on how Al gore is a hypocrite I used to be very impressed by Al Gore. I share his views on the Greenhouse Effect but I do not believe that he goes far enough. Animals, like humans, consume oxygen and produce Greenhouse Gases like carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, etc. Read the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization FAO report on livestock's footprint and the Greenhouse Effect. Al Gore should, as PETA, a group I differ with on many issues, but not this one: should become a vegan, a total vegetarian, eating no animal products. If Al Gore did that he would really be walking the talk. Beyond this horrid flaw of omission, regarding veganism, total vegetarianism, Al Gore's film " AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH " is flawed in another way. Gore says in the film that there are other things to do in addition to fighting terrorism. Most, not all, but most, terrorism is funded by some member states of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC. The more petroleum based products you use, whether for your car, or for your diet, the more you contribute to the funding of terrorism. It is not only the consumption of the dope sold by terrorists which contributes to terrorism. And yes, you should stop using dope if you are using it to help fight terrorism, and to help your mind and body and the rest of the universe for that matter. Hedonism is not good for you or for any living being. To get a pound of steak protein on your plate 21 pounds of feed grain protein: corn, oats, barley, soy, wheat, etc. etc. etc. are used to fatten that castrated bull called a steer that you eat. On average it takes about 8 to 10 pounds of feed protein fed to so called food animals to get 1 pound of animal protein on your plate. Lots of that is very high energy intensive production using lots of petroleum based fertilizers, pesticides,herbicides, etc. Not to mention vast quantities of water used by the animals and used to irrigate the crops fed to animals. The USA feeds almost all of the the soybeans corn oats and barley it grows to animals rather than to hungry people. Food animals are competitors with humans for oxygen, water, land, energy, and life itself. 40% of the world's oxygen is produced by the tiny plant plankton called phytoplantkon in the oceans. These phytoplantkton live with krill, a fish plankton,in a very fragile ecosystem. These days krill are being used as animal feed and pet food. As the krill vanish so will the phytoplankton that produce 40% of earth's oxygen. The phytoplankton are also jeapordized by increased solar ultraviolet radiation breaking through the holes in the ozone layer above the poles. It is estimated that there will be no more fish in the seas by the middle of this century c.e. Those who want to save energy should consider this, it takes about 77 calories of energy input to get the food energy a CAN of corn will give you. That same amount of food energy from steak would require 21,000 calories of energy input. If anyone knows how to reach Al Gore, or any other enviornmentally concerned people, be they Presidential candidates, or not, please reach out to them about how important it is to stop eating animals and animal products if they really want to to consistent about being advocates for our environment and the survival of life on our fragile small planet. In fact Frances Moore Lappe's 1970s book, DIET FOR A SMALL PLANET, ought to be required reading for every environmentalist and Presidential candidate. If you can get hold of it, or other pro- vegetarian material send it to every enviornmentalist and Presidential candidate you can think of, from Al Gore on down or up as the case may be. Please help to bring these truths to Al Gore and others who have so far refused to come to terms with them by taking action and becoming vegans. We do not charge any fees for attending any of our JewishSinglesOfNJ/ JewishSinglesinNJforIsrael/ JewishSinglesFromEverywhere/ events. When we go to restaurants you pay only for what you order plus tax and tip. You never pay us anything. You pay the restaurant directly. You do not have to be a member of any of our to attend any of our events. If you do join our there is no charge to join them and no charge to belong to them. Most Jewish singles events are of course attended primarily, but not exclusively, by Baby Boomers, give or take a few years or so, because Baby Boomers, give or take a few years or so are the largest element in the population as a whole. If you attend we ask that you be Jewish, single and over 21. You do not need a reservation to attend. Just show up. Most lunches, which include entree, and your choice of brown rice or white rice , and soup, are priced UNDER $6 before tax and tip, except on Holidays, when lunch menus are unavailable, but the regular menu, which is also very economical, is available. If turnout is large people are invited to sit with whoever they feel comfortable sitting with, and to table hop if they wish. JewishSinglesOfNJ/ and JewishSinglesinNJforIsrael/ and JewishSinglesFromEverywhere/ invite you to join us at Veggie Heaven, Kosher, Chinese, Totally Vegetarian (Vegan) Restaurant in Parsippany, New Jersey You are invited to join us at Veggie Heaven for our own upcoming events please stay tuned for more information about them and read about them at our Jewish Singles Groups. we are trying to create a veggie world. That means of course getting more people to become aware of the need to go veggie. And what about the veggies who are out there already? Well I want to tell you a personal story about that. My late father was a veggie when he was younger, but he married a carnivore. As a result I was raised as a carnivore, though I can recall my late father eating vegetable plates at diners we would go to so he could get them and eating vegetarian Chinese food at Chinese restuarants we would go to so he could get that food. At long last he finally gave up and ended his vegetarianism. Though he lived to what some consider to be " a ripe old age " I am convinced that had he remained a veggie he would still be alive. He has been dead for some years now. What all of that means of course is that we need to make sure that veggies marry veggies and that they raise their children as veggies. So the need for single veggie organizations is enormous. NJSingleVegetarians/ Subscribe: NJSingleVegetarians- It was certainly good fortune that I became a veggie myself quite awhile ago but many children of these so-called " veg/carnivore " or " mixed-marriages " are not quite so lucky and end up as non- veggies. I am also of course promoting the veggie way of life to others who are not yet veggies. One key group to promote the veggie way of life to is science fiction fans. Why science fiction fans? Well because some science fiction fans actually become science fiction writers. Why science fiction writers then? Well because the way of life that we take for granted here in the so-called " first world " , of industrialized nations is a way of life that not so long ago was considered to be science fiction. It was a science fiction writer: Arthur C. Clarke, who came up with the idea of communications satellites as a science fiction idea. Well they are fiction no more. Nor are communications devices that do not require wires. Remember the " communicators " on StarTrek? Chances are you have a cell phone in your pocket or in your car, or if you don't you know more than one person who does. Once again, fiction no more. Fact. The science fiction fan of today is the science fiction writer of tomorrow. The science fiction story or idea of today is the fact of tomorrow, just as yesterday's science fiction stories and ideas are the facts of today. Another place I am helping to promote the veggie way of life is in the Jewish community. I happen to be Jewish and would want nothing but the best way of life there is for my fellow Jews. Eating animals is not only not good for the animals who are murdered for food, it is not good for the humans who eat them. Being veggie is also very much in the interests of the Jewish community around the world. Producing a pound of steak " protein " on the plate requires up to 21 pounds of so-called " feed " protein from things like the 42% of American wheat production, the 86% of American corn, oats and barley production, the 90% of non-exported soybean production, that goes into the creation of that pound of steak " protein " on the plate of the American animal eater. Producing all of that so-called " feed " requires a lot of energy. More energy is used as petro-chemical based fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, etc. as well as in the transportation of that so-called " feed " , and of the animals themselves, in the disposal of their wastes, in the movement of water to irrigate those crops and to " water " those animals. Many of the energy sources involved are nations around the world that supply arms to terrorists who slaughter Jews in Israel and around the world, as well as other innocents, such as those who were slaughtered on September 11th. 2001. So I am promoting Jewish singles events at veggie establishments to bring the fact of being able to have a veggie meal as a reality to my fellow Jews. I do so periodically at Veggie Heaven, a Kosher Vegan Chinese Restaurant with several locations here in New Jersey. I hope that similar restaurants exist elsewhere that may serve as event locations. Failing that I hope that vegan house parties can be arranged everywhere. If you are Jewish yourself I hope that you will do the same wherever you may be. If you are able to come to some of these events I hope that you will do so. If you live to far away to get to them by all means create them. Create them for your fellow Jews if you are Jewish. Create them for your fellow veggies if you are veggie. Create them for science fiction fans if you want to see science fiction fans become veggie and science fiction ideas created by veggie science fiction writers, all of whom start off as science fiction fans creating the new facts of life on earth as ones which will make it possible for a veggie world to in fact come into being. Will you help in these effforts? We also hope that you will join NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS Please forward this sign up information to everyone who should get it. NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS- NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS/ There is no charge to join NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS Please forward this sign up information to everyone who should get it. NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS- NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS/ or to belong to Please forward this sign up information to everyone who should get it. NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS- NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS/ NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS or to attend any of its events. If you go to a restaurant you pay only for the food that you order plus tax and tip. You never pay NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS Please forward this sign up information to everyone who should get it. NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS- NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS/ anything for any of its events. NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS Please forward this sign up information to everyone who should get it. NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS- NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS/ Wants you! Our Science Fiction group is for everyone 21 or older regardless of background or marital status. Younger fans should find another group. Please introduce yourself when you join and periodically as new members keep joining. We plan to get together at restaurants and to go to movies. We will see them in movie theaters,and, if people are kind enough, on people's home VCRs, or DVD players, for the technologically advanced among us. Buy your own movie tickets. Buy your own meals at Restaurants. Hopefully a typical event would involve going to a Science Fiction Movie and then to a Restaurant to discuss the movie we just saw. Are you a single Science Fiction fan looking for a soulmate? Perhaps you will find that person here. This club is not a New Jersey singles group per se, and is open to anyone over 21, regardless of background or marital status, nonetheless, love is a good thing. In the parts of New Jersey where the science fiction clubs we know of operate there is also a very high percentage of Jewish residents. Many science fiction fans and science fiction writers and even science fiction stars, like Leonard Nimoy, (Mr. Spock), of Star Trek, and William Shatner (Captain Kirk), of Star Trek, also happen to be Jewish. Most science fiction fans I know are single men, and many of them, at least in places like New Jersey, are Jewish. Many science fiction fans in New Jersey also happen to be Jewish. Most science fiction fans are male. For the single Jewish woman in New Jersey joining a science fiction group may be the ideal way to find her ideal man. Unlike most singles events, which tend to be attended by more women than men,most science fiction events are attended by more men than women. If you happen to be Jewish, Single and over 21 Please state that you are Jewish, Single, 21 or over, when you apply to join the Jewish Singles at the websites the urls below will take you to JewishSinglesOfNJ/ JewishSinglesinNJforIsrael/ JewishSinglesFromEverywhere/ One of the biggest complaints heard from many women who attend some singles events is that there are far more women than men in attendance. One of the biggest complaints heard from many men who attend most science fiction events is that there are far more men in attendance than women. Most science fiction fans are male. Many science fiction fans in places like New Jersey are also Jewish. There are science fiction clubs in many places. In New Jersey many science fiction club attendees are single Jewish men. The SCIENCE FICTION ASSOCIATON OF BERGEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY http://www.sfabc.org is open to everyone regardless of marital status or background and is absolutely NOT a singles group nonetheless many single Jewish men attend its many functions. It has existed since 1984 c.e. and was founded by its director, Phil. The club holds a monthly meeting on the Second Saturday night of each month. Phil, is the founder and director of http://www.sfabc.org 201 447-3652 The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County, New Jersey please contact Phil regarding UPCOMING SCIENCE FICTION ASSOCIATION OF BERGEN COUNTY NEW JERSEY EVENTS THE SCIENCE FICTION ASSOCIATION OF BERGEN COUNTY NEW JERSEY http://www.sfabc.org was founded in 1984 by Phil who still is the Director. They have been having monthly meetings on the second Saturday of each month ,usually in the evening, since about 1984. http://www.sfabc.org not affiliated with NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS but highly recommended by NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS CALL PHIL AT 201 447-3652 FOR DETAILS http://www.sfabc.org contact Phil at SFABCPhil SFABCPhil SFABCPhil AT gmail.com please contact Phil, who is the founder and director of the SFABC, the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County, New Jersey, at 201 447-3652 regarding the monthly SFABC meetings and the other SFABC events. The post below Time to Brain Storm is from: NEW_JERSEY_SCIENCE_FICTION_FANS/ Whether it is an 8.0 earthquake in Peru, continuing earthquakes in Utah, a possible volcanic eruption in Alaska which could disrupt air travel for many people, hurricanes, typhoons, or any other disasters, what is clear is that we must use our planetary resources to produce food for people not for animals. We cannot afford to waste land, energy, water, and other resources to produce food that goes through animals for an average return of about an eighth of what the animals are fed in terms of protein. It takes 21 pounds of grain, seed, bean, type proteins, which could and should be grown for people not as livestock feed, to get one pound of steak protein on the plate according to the 1970s classic DIET FOR A SMALL PLANET, by Frances Moore Lappe. We cannot afford to use 21,000 calories of energy to produce steak when the same amount of food energy that takes 21,000 calories to produce as steak can be obtained from a can of corn for 77 calories of energy. Time to Brain Storm Some interesting questions here. We've got questions. Who's got answers? What do you think? Was the star-quake a natural or an artificial event? If natural what caused it? Will more such star-quakes rock the Milky Way again soon? If artificial what caused it? Will more such star-quakes rock the Milky Way again soon? Could it have been an accident? Could it have been an experiment gone wrong? Could it have been warfare? If so was it the first and last shot fired or merely the first of more to come? What do you think? " Huge 'star-quake' rocks Milky Way Astronomers say they have been stunned by the amount of energy released in a star explosion on the far side of our galaxy, 50,000 light-years away. The flash of radiation on 27 December was so powerful that it bounced off the Moon and lit up the Earth's atmosphere. The blast occurred on the surface of an exotic kind of star - a super-magnetic neutron star called SGR 1806-20. If the explosion had been within just 10 light-years, Earth could have suffered a mass extinction, it is said. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event Dr Rob Fender, Southampton University " We figure that it's probably the biggest explosion observed by humans within our galaxy since Johannes Kepler saw his supernova in 1604, " Dr Rob Fender, of Southampton University, UK, told the BBC News website. One calculation has the giant flare on SGR 1806-20 unleashing about 10,000 trillion trillion trillion watts. " This is a once-in-a-lifetime event. We have observed an object only 20km across, on the other side of our galaxy, releasing more energy in a 10th of a second than the Sun emits in 100,000 years, " said Dr Fender. Fast turn The event overwhelmed detectors on space-borne telescopes, such as the recently launched Swift observatory. This facility was put above the Earth to detect and analyse gamma-ray bursts - very intense but fleeting flashes of radiation. The giant flare it and other instruments caught in December has left scientists scrambling for superlatives. Twenty institutes from around the world have joined the investigation and two teams are to report their findings in a forthcoming issue of the journal Nature. The light detected from the giant flare was far brighter in gamma-rays than visible light or X-rays. Research teams say the event can be traced to the magnetar SGR 1806- 20. This remarkable super-dense object is a neutron star - it is composed entirely of neutrons and is the remnant collapsed core of a once giant star. Now, though, this remnant is just 20km across and spins so fast it completes one revolution every 7.5 seconds. " It has this super-strong magnetic field and this produces some kind of structure which has undergone a rearrangement - it's an event that is sometimes characterised as a 'star-quake', a neutron star equivalent of an earthquake, " explained Dr Fender. " It's the only possible way we can think of releasing so much energy. " Continued glow SGR 1806-20 is sited in the southern constellation Sagittarius. Its distance puts it beyond the centre of the Milky Way and a safe distance from Earth. " Had this happened within 10 light-years of us, it would have severely damaged our atmosphere and would possibly have triggered a mass extinction, " said Dr Bryan Gaensler, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who is the lead author on one of the forthcoming Nature papers. " Fortunately there are no magnetars anywhere near us. " The initial burst of high-energy radiation subsided quickly but there continues to be an afterglow at longer radio wavelengths. This radio emission persists as the shockwave from the explosion moves out through space, ploughing through nearby gas and exciting matter to extraordinary energies. " We may go on observing this radio source for much of this year, " Dr Fender said. This work is being done at several centres around the globe, including at the UK's Multi-Element Radio-Linked Interferometer Network (Merlin) and the Joint Institute for VLBI (Very Long Baseline for Interferometry) in Europe - both large networks of linked radio telescopes. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/4278005.stm " Sumatra Quake Shook Entire Earth WASHINGTON, May 19, 2005 December's great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake — the most powerful in more than 40 years and the trigger of a devastating tsunami — shook the ground everywhere on Earth's surface. Weeks later the planet was still trembling. The quake resulted from the longest fault rupture ever observed--720 miles to 780 miles--which spread for 10 minutes, also a record. A typical earthquake's duration would be 30 seconds. The December quake was the first of its size to be measured and studied by the new worldwide array of digital seismic instruments. Those results are starting to come in, with a special section of a half-dozen research papers on the quake appearing in Friday's issue of the journal Science. " This is really a watershed event. We've never had such comprehensive data for a great earthquake because we didn't have the instrumentation to gather it 40 years ago, " said Thorne Lay, professor of Earth sciences and director of the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. " It is nature at its most formidable, " Lay said in a statement. The earthquake and resulting tsunami, which swept across the Indian Ocean, killed more than 176,000 people in 11 countries and left about 50,000 missing and hundreds of thousands homeless. The quake occurred where two of the giant plates that form the surface of the Earth grind together. At that spot the Eurasian plate was being pulled downward by the descending Indo-Australian plate. The quake released the edge of the Eurasian plate, which sprang up, lifting the ocean floor and sending the sea water off in the giant wave that killed so many, the researchers reported. They said the higher sea floor displaced so much water from the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea that sea level worldwide was raised 0.004 inch. " No point on Earth remained undisturbed, " wrote Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado. Indeed, ground movement of as much as 0.4 inch occurred everywhere on Earth's surface, though it was too small to be felt in most areas. And the temblor " delivered a blow to our planet " that was felt for weeks, noted a team of researchers led by Jeffrey Park of Yale University. His group calculated that the quake caused the planet to oscillate like a bell, at periods of about 17 minutes, which they were able to measure for weeks afterward. A similar phenomenon was first noted in the 1960 quake in Chile. The initial Dec. 26 Sumatra quake is estimated to have had a magnitude of 9.1 to 9.3, and a second quake to the south on March 28 registered 8.6. By comparison, the 1960 Chile earthquake was magnitude 9.5 and the 1964 Alaska earthquake was magnitude 9.2. California's 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake had a magnitude of 6.9. Among the other findings reported in the various papers: In Sri Lanka, more than 1,000 miles from the epicenter, the ground moved nearly 4 inches. The rupture spread from south to north, resulting in a Doppler effect in instruments measuring it. Seismometers in Russia recorded the quake at a higher frequency because it was moving toward them, while those in Australia measured a lower frequency as it moved away. When the surface waves from the Sumatra quake reached Alaska they triggered a swarm of 14 local earthquakes in the Mount Wrangell area. " Does anyone think there may have been a connection between the December 2004 quake and the following 2 news items? " Earth's Core Spinning Faster Than Crust In New Research on Earth's Magnetic Field, Scientists Say Core Spins Faster Than Rest of Planet By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID The Associated Press WASHINGTON Aug 26, 2005 c.e.— The giant iron ball at the center of the Earth appears to be spinning a bit faster than the rest of the planet. The solid core that measures about 1,500 miles in diameter is spinning about one-quarter to one-half degree faster, per year, than the rest of the world, scientists from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign report in Friday's issue of the journal Science. The spin of the Earth's core is an important part of the dynamo that created the planet's magnetic field, and researcher Xiaodong Song said he believes magnetic interaction is responsible for the different rates of spin. The faster spin of the core was proposed in 1996 by two of the current study's authors, Paul Richards of Lamont-Doherty and Song, now an associate professor at Illinois. The researchers studied the travel times of earthquake waves through the Earth, analyzing what are called couplets. Those are earthquakes that originate within a half-mile or so of one another but at different times. They analyzed 30 quakes occurring in the South Atlantic and measured at 58 seismic stations in Alaska and found differences in the travel times and shape of the waves, indicating differences in the core as the waves passed through the center of the Earth. Analyzing those differences, they calculated that the core is spinning slightly faster than the rest of the planet and is a bit lumpy. That solid inner core is surrounded by a fluid outer core about 4,200 miles across. Since the planet is divided into 360 degrees of longitude, a core spinning one-quarter to one-half degree faster than the outer surface could take between 700 and 1,400 years to get one full revolution ahead. But Song said in a telephone interview that he expected that rate to vary over time and sometimes the core might be spinning slower than the rest of the planet. " What we see right now is a snapshot of a long time process between the magnetic field and the inner core, " he said. " I do expect to see this rate change with time. " I wonder if the story above or the stories below may have had something to do with the December 2004 quake? " Swift's First Burst Pinpointed Summary - (Feb 14, 2005) Astronomers from Carnegie and Caltech have pinpointed the exact location of the first gamma-ray burst detected by NASA's Swift observatory on December 23, 2004. The team used the telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile to watch the fading afterglow of the explosion in the constellation of Puppis. Three more bursts were detected in January, and they have also been studied by various telescopes around the world. Researchers are hoping they can use these intense explosions as a kind of flashlight, to illuminate distant objects which are normally too dark to study. Full Story - Cosmic gamma-ray bursts produce more energy in the blink of an eye, than the Sun will release in its entire lifetime. These short-lived explosions appear to be the death throes of massive stars, and, many scientists believe, mark the birth of black holes. Testing these ideas has been difficult, however, because the bursts fade so quickly and rapid action is required. Now a team of Carnegie and Caltech astronomers, led by Carnegie-Princeton and Hubble fellow Edo Berger, has made crucial strides toward answering these cosmic quandaries. The team was able to discover and study burst afterglows thanks to the exquisite performance of NASA's new Swift satellite and rapid follow-up with telescopes in both the southern and northern hemispheres. " I'm thrilled, " said Berger. " We've shown that we can chase the Swift bursts at a moment's notice, even right before Christmas! This is a great sign of exciting advances down the road. " The discoveries herald a new era in the study of gamma-ray bursts, hundreds of which are expected to be discovered and scrutinized in the next several years. The Swift satellite detected the first of the four bursts on December 23, 2004, in the constellation Puppis, and Carnegie astronomers used telescopes at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile to pinpoint the visual afterglow within several hours. This was the first burst detected solely by the new Swift satellite to be pinpointed with sufficient accuracy to study the remains. The next three bursts came in quick succession between January 17 and 26 and were immediately pinpointed by a team of Carnegie and Caltech astronomers using the Palomar Mountain 200-inch Hale telescope in California and the Keck Observatory 10-meter telescopes in Hawaii. " The Las Campanas telescopes are ideal for their flexibility to follow up targets like gamma-ray bursts, which quickly fade out of view, " said Carnegie Observatories director Wendy Freedman. " This is a wonderful example of science that comes from the synergy between telescopes on the ground and in space, and between public and private observatories. " Because Swift allows a response to new gamma-ray bursts within minutes, astronomers hope to use the intense light from gamma-ray bursts as cosmic " flashlights. " They plan to use the bright visual afterglows to trace the formation of the first galaxies, only a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, and the composition of the gas that permeates the universe. " This is much like using a flashlight to study the contents of a dark room, " said Berger. " But because the flashlight is on for only a few hours, we have to act quickly. " " Swift's rapid response is opening a new window on the universe. I can't wait to see what we catch, " remarked Neil Gehrels of Goddard Space Flight Center, principal investigator for Swift. Swift, launched on November 20, 2004, is the most sensitive gamma-ray burst satellite to date, and the first to have X-ray and optical telescopes on-board, allowing it to relay very accurate and rapid positions to astronomers on the ground. The satellite is a collaboration between NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Penn State University, Leicester University and the Mullard Space Science Laboratory (both in England), and the Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera in Italy. In the next few years the Swift satellite is expected to find several hundred gamma-ray bursts. Follow-up observations on-board Swift and using telescopes on the ground should move us a few steps closer to answering some of the most fundamental puzzles in astronomy, such as the birth of black holes, the first stars, and the first galaxies. The team that identified and studied the afterglows of the first Swift bursts—in addition to Berger, Freedman and Gehrels—includes Mario Hamuy, Wojtek Krzeminski, and Eric Persson from Carnegie Observatories, Shri Kulkarni, Derek Fox, Alicia Soderberg, and Brad Cenko from Caltech, Dale Frail from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Paul Price from the University of Hawaii, Eric Murphy from Yale University, and Swift team members David Burrows, John Nousek, and Joanne Hill from Penn State University, Scott Barthelmy from Goddard Space Flight Center, and Alberto Moretti from Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera. " the galaxy our little planet is in is called The Milky Way, roughly speaking the Milky Way Galaxy is said to be about 100,000 light years from end to end. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. A light year equals the distance light would travel in one year. It is about 90 million miles or about 8 light minutes from the Sun to the Earth. To reach escape velocity from the earth you need to be going about 25,000 miles per hour. Downtown Milky Way, the core of our galaxy, is very crowded to stars and planets and most likely all sorts of life. The earth is located near the edge of the Milky Way galaxy. A long long way from Downtown Milky Way. If you were to set off for our earth from the center of our galaxy some 50,000 light years away you would have to be going very very fast to get here in anything approaching a reasonable amount of time. You might decide to put yourself in stasis, but who would wake you up? We hope your Starship would have enough energy to get here, and to wake you up. How would that work? Would you use a famous ramscoop hydrogen gathering device like those discussed by famous Science Fiction writer Larry Niven? Would you use the famous Star Trek Warp Drive? How about the wormholes used in Farscape and StarGate SG1? What about that wormhole located near that planet on that later than Next Gen Star Trek series which reminded some of us of Bonanza, as opposed to Wagon Train? What's your idea of how a Star Ship could work to facilitate intra- galactic travel in our galaxy? How about inter-galactic travel? If you thought the distance from Downtowm Milky Way to our little part of the universe, about 50,000 light years, was far, consider this: " Distance to the Nearest Galaxy Shu, Frank H. The Physical University: An Introduction to Astronomy. California: University Science Books, 1982: 291. " The modern value for this distance is 2 million light years away, which places it well outside the confines of the Milky Way. " 2 million light years (Andromeda). " Wow! better pack more than a lunch for that trip. What about the Andromeda TV series? Any fans here? I loved it. How about you? " World Book Encyclopedia. New York: World Book, 1998: 8-9. " People in the Northern Hemisphere can see the Andromeda Galaxy, which is about 2 million light years away. " 2 million light years (Andromeda) " Probably won't be home for supper if we ship out for Andromeda this afternoon. " Jastrow, Robert. Red Giants and White Dwarfs. New York: Norton, 1990: 236. " The nearest galaxy of comparable size to our own is the Great Nebula in Andromeda, located approximately 2 million light years away from us " 2 million light years (Andromeda) " Yup, the nearest galaxy turns out to be far far away. At light speed anyway. And at warp factor what? How long would it take Voyager to get home from the famous quadrant it got sent to? At what speed? What about something closer? Well.... " Moche, Dinah L. Astronomy. New York: Wiley, 1996: 154. " The Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud are held by a force of gravity at a distance of about 169,000 light years and 210,000 light years away, respectively. " 169,000 light years (Large Magellanic Cloud) 210,000 light years (Small Magellanic Cloud) " Quite a hike, even for The Borg I would think.... What do you think? Brightest Galactic Flash Ever Detected Hits Earth (2/19/2005 9:53:52 PM) phenon writes " On December 27th scientists detected the largest cosmic blast to strike the Earth, actually altering the earths ionosphere briefly. MSNBC reports (along with Space.com), that this event happened from a magnetar 50,000 light years away from us, and if it had happened from a distance of 10 light years away, we would be talking about mass extinction here on earth. The cosmic ray blast was measured at 10,000 trillion trillion trillion watts of power! " Cosmic Explosion Among the Brightest in Recorded History 02.18.05 Scientists have detected a flash of light from across the Galaxy so powerful that it bounced off the Moon and lit up the Earth's upper atmosphere. The flash was brighter than anything ever detected from beyond our Solar System and lasted over a tenth of a second. NASA and European satellites and many radio telescopes detected the flash and its aftermath on December 27, 2004. Two science teams report about this event at a special press event today at NASA headquarters. A multitude of papers are planned for publication. Image/animation above: Image 1: Artist conception of the December 27, 2004 gamma ray flare expanding from SGR 1806-20 and impacting Earth's atmosphere. Click on image to view animation (no audio). Credit: NASA The scientists said the light came from a " giant flare " on the surface of an exotic neutron star, called a magnetar. The apparent magnitude was brighter than a full moon and all historical star explosions. The light was brightest in the gamma-ray energy range, far more energetic than visible light or X-rays and invisible to our eyes. Such a close and powerful eruption raises the question of whether an even larger influx of gamma rays, disturbing the atmosphere, was responsible for one of the mass extinctions known to have occurred on Earth hundreds of millions of years ago. Also, if giant flares can be this powerful, then some gamma-ray bursts (thought to be very distant black-hole-forming star explosions) could actually be from neutron star eruptions in nearby galaxies. Image/animation above: Image 2: An artist conception of the SGR 1806- 20 magnetar including magnetic field lines. After the initial flash, smaller pulsations in the data suggest hot spots on the rotating magnetar's surface. The data also shows no change in the magentar's rotation after the initial flash. Click on image to view animation (no audio). Credit: NASA NASA's newly launched Swift satellite and the NSF-funded Very Large Array (VLA) were two of many observatories that observed the event, arising from neutron star SGR 1806-20, about 50,000 light years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius. " This might be a once-in-a-lifetime event for astronomers, as well as for the neutron star, " said Dr. David Palmer of Los Alamos National Laboratory, lead author on a paper describing the Swift observation. " We know of only two other giant flares in the past 35 years, and this December event was one hundred times more powerful. " Image/animation above: Image 3: Radio data shows a very active area around SGR1806-20. The Very Large Array radio telescope observed ejected material from this Magnetar as it flew out into interstellar space. These observations in the radio wavelength start about 7 days after the flare and continue for 20 days. They show SGR1806-20 dimming in the radio spectrum. Click on image to view animation (no audio). Credit: NRAO/CfA/Gaensler & Univ. of Hawaii. Dr. Bryan Gaensler of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., is lead author on a report describing the VLA observation, which tracked the ejected material as it flew out into interstellar space. Other key scientific teams are associated with radio telescopes in Australia, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, India and the United States, as well as with NASA's High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI). A neutron star is the core remains of a star once several times more massive than our Sun. When such stars deplete their nuclear fuel, they explode -- an event called a supernova. The remaining core is dense, fast-spinning, highly magnetic, and only about 15 miles in diameter. Millions of neutron stars fill our Milky Way galaxy. Image/animation above: Image 4: SGR-1806 is an ultra-magnetic neutron star, called a magnetar, located about 50,000 light years away from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius. Click on image to view animation (no audio). Credit: NASA Scientists have discovered about a dozen ultrahigh-magnetic neutron stars, called magnetars. The magnetic field around a magnetar is about 1,000 trillion gauss, strong enough to strip information from a credit card at a distance halfway to the moon. (Ordinary neutron stars measure a mere trillion gauss; the Earth's magnetic field is about 0.5 gauss.) Four of these magnetars are also called soft gamma repeaters, or SGRs, because they flare up randomly and release gamma rays. Such episodes release about 10^30 to 10^35 watts for about a second, or up to millions of times more energy than our Sun. For a tenth of a second, the giant flare on SGR 1806-20 unleashed energy at a rate of about 10^40 watts. The total energy produced was more than the Sun emits in 150,000 years. Image/animation above: Image 5: Swift is a first-of-its-kind multi- wavelength observatory dedicated to the study of gamma ray burst (GRB) science. Its three instruments will work together to observe GRBs and afterglows in the gamma ray, X-ray, ultraviolet, and optical wavebands. Swift is designed to solve the 35-year-old mystery of the origin of gamma-ray bursts. Scientists believe GRB are the birth cries of black holes. Click on image to view animation (no audio). Credit: NASA " The next biggest flare ever seen from any soft gamma repeater was peanuts compared to this incredible December 27 event, " said Gaensler. " Had this happened within 10 light years of us, it would have severely damaged our atmosphere. Fortunately, all the magnetars we know of are much farther away than this. " A scientific debate raged in the 1980s over whether gamma-ray bursts were star explosions from beyond our Galaxy or eruptions on nearby neutron stars. By the late 1990s it became clear that gamma-ray bursts did indeed originate very far away and that SGRs were a different phenomenon. But the extraordinary giant flare on SGR 1806- 20 reopens the debate, according to Dr. Chryssa Kouveliotou of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, who coordinated the multiwavelength observations. Image/animation above: Image 6: NASA's Swift satellite was successfully launched Saturday, November 20, 2004 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Click on image to view animation. Credit: NASA A sizeable percentage of " short " gamma-ray bursts, less than two seconds, could be SGR flares, she said. These would come from galaxies within about a 100 million light years from Earth. (Long gamma-ray bursts appear to be black-hole-forming star explosions billions of light years away.) " An answer to the 'short' gamma-ray burst mystery could come any day now that Swift is in orbit " , said Swift lead scientist Neil Gehrels. " Swift saw this event after only about a month on the job. " Image left: High resolution, wide-field image of the area around SGR1806-20 as seen in radio wavelength, without a location arrow. Credit: University of Hawaii. Image right: A high resolution, wide- field image of the area around SGR1806-20 as seen in radio wavelength. SGR1806-20 can not be seen in this image generated from earlier radio data taken when SGR1806-20 was " radio quiet. " The arrow locates the position of SGR1806-20 within the image. Credit: University of Hawaii. Scientists around the world have been following the December 27 event. RHESSI detected gamma rays and X-rays from the flare. Drs. Kevin Hurley and Steven Boggs of the University of California, Berkeley, are leading the effort to analyze these data. Dr. Robert Duncan of the University of Texas at Austin and Dr. Christopher Thompson at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (University of Toronto) are the leading experts on magnetars, and they are investigating the " short duration " gamma-ray burst relationship. Brian Cameron, a graduate student at Caltech under the tutorage of Prof. Shri Kulkarni, leads a second scientific paper based on VLA data. Amateur astronomers detected the disturbance in the Earth's ionosphere and relayed this information through the American Association of Variable Star Observers (http://www.aavso.org). Image above: SGR 1806-20 is a " magnetar " : a rapidly spinning neutron star that not only has an incredible density, trillions of times greater than than ordinary matter, but an incredibly strong magnetic field. Tens of thousands of years ago, a " starquake " fractured the magnetar's surface. The result was an explosive release of energy, which sent a pulse of gamma rays racing across the cosmos at the speed of light. Behind them came the explosion's fireball, expanding in a lopsided fashion at roughly one-third the speed of light. The gamma rays swept past the Earth on December 27, 2004, when they were detected by NASA's Swift satellite. That initial signal faded away within minutes. But then came a steady stream of radio waves from the fireball. Astronomers rushed to ground-based radio telescopes such as NSF's Very Large Array outside Socorro, New Mexico, where they have been studying the information-rich signal ever since. Click on image to view animation (no audio). Credit: NSF Other observatories and scientific representatives include: Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, Netherlands -- Prof. Ralph Wijers http://www.astron.nl/p/observing.htm Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST), Australia -- Prof. Dick Hunstead http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/astrop/most/ Australia Telescope Compact Array -- Prof. Bryan Gaensler http://www.narrabri.atnf.csiro.au/ Parkes radio telescope, Australia -- Dr. Maura McLaughlin http://www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au/ Greenbank Radio Telescope, West Virginia -- Dr. Maura McLaughlin http://www.gb.nrao.edu/ Very Long Baseline Array, USA -- Dr. Mike Garrett http://www.vlba.nrao.edu/ Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN), UK -- Dr. Rob Fender http://www.merlin.ac.uk/ Additional information about magentars and soft gamma ray repeaters can be found at Dr. Robert Duncan's web site located at the University of Texas at Austin: http://solomon.as.utexas.edu/~duncan/magnetar.html High Resolution Images: + Animation 1 still - beginning of the animation + Animation 1 still - end of animation + Animation 2 -- 1st still + Animation 2 -- 2nd still + Animation 4 still + Swift Spacecraft + SGR 1806-20 (no arrow) + SGR 1806-20 (with arrow) Christopher Wanjek Goddard Space Flight Center I found this next piece at:Gamma Ray Bursts, Earthquakes, and Galactic Gravity Waves Caused by a Stellar Explosion 45,000 Light Years Away? Sound Crazy? Read Carefully Below. ... ( Originally, it had been thought to be 45,000 light years from us. ...www.etheric.com/GalacticCenter/GRB.html I do not know anything the source of the piece Was the December 26, 2004 Indonesian Earthquake and Tsunami Caused by a Stellar Explosion 45,000 Light Years Away? Sound Crazy? Read Carefully Below. (Originally posted February 20, 2005) Gamma Ray Bursts, Gravity Waves, and Earthquakes On December 26, 2004 a magnitude 9.3 earthquake occurred in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Sumatra in Malaysia. It caused a powerful tsunami which devastated coastal regions of many countries leaving over 240,000 people either dead or missing. It was the worst tsunami to affect this area since the 1883 explosion of Krakatao. The earthquake that produced it was so strong that it exceeded by a factor of 10 the next most powerful earthquake to occur anywhere in the past 25 years. • Indonesian 9.3 Richter earthquake: December 26, 2004 at 00 hours 58 minutes (Universal Time) It is then with some alarm that we learn that just 44.6 hours later gamma ray telescopes orbiting the Earth picked up the arrival of the brightest gamma ray burst ever recorded! • Gamma ray burst arrival: December 27, 2004 at 21 hours 36 minutes (Universal Time) This gamma ray blast was 100 times more intense than any burst that had been previously recorded, equaling the brightness of the full Moon, but radiating most of its energy at gamma ray wavelengths. Gamma ray counts spiked to a maximum in 1.5 seconds and then declined over a 5 minute period with 7.57 second pulsations. The blast temporarily changed the shape the Earth's ionosphere, distorting the transmission of long-wavelength radio signals. See stories on Space.com, BBC News, NY TImes. Artists conception, courtesy of NASA It was determined that the burst originated from the soft gamma ray repeater star, SGR 1806-20, a neutron star 20 kilometers in diameter which rotates once every 7.5 seconds, matching the GRB pulsation period. SGR 1806-20 is located about 10 degrees northeast of the Galactic center and about 20,000 to 32,000 light years from us, or about as far away as the Galactic center. (Originally, it had been thought to be 45,000 light years from us. but new results place it closer.) The outburst released more energy in a tenth of a second than the Sun emits in 100,000 years. Other gamma ray bursts have been detected whose explosions were intrinsically more powerful than this one at the source of the explosion, but since those explosions originated in other galaxies tens of thousands of times more distant, the bursts were not nearly as bright when they reached our solar system. What makes the December 27th gamma ray burst unique is that it is the first time that a burst this bright has been observed, one that also happens to originate from within our own Galaxy. Astronomers have theorized that gamma ray bursts might travel in association with gravity wave bursts. In the course of their flight through space, gamma rays would be deflected by gravitational fields and would be scattered by dust and cosmic ray particles they encountered, so they would be expected to travel slightly slower than their associated gravity wave burst which would pass through space unimpeded. After a 45,000 year light-speed journey, a gamma ray burst arrival delay of 44.6 hours would not be unexpected. It amounts to a delay of just one part in 9 million. So if the gravity wave traveled at the speed of light ©, the gamma ray burst would have averaged a speed of 0.99999989 c, just 0.11 millionths slower. There is also the possibility that at the beginning of its journey the gravity wave may have had a superluminal speed; see textbox below. Artist's conception, courtesy of NASA The 9.3 Richter earthquake was ten times stronger than any other earthquake during the past 25 years, and was followed just 44.6 hours later on December 27th by a very intense gamma ray burst, which was 100 fold brighter than any other in the past 25 year history of gamma ray observation. It seems difficult to pass off the temporal proximity of these two Class I events as being just a matter of coincidence. A time period of 25 years compared to a time separation of 44.6 hours amounts to a time ratio of about 5000:1. For two such unique events to have such a close time proximity is highly improbable if they are not somehow related. But, as mentioned above, gravity waves would very likely be associated with gamma ray bursts, and they would be expected to precede them. Many have inquired if there might be a connection between these two events (e.g., see the Space.com article). Not thinking of the gravity wave connection, astronomers have been reluctant to admit there might be a connection since they know of no mechanism by which gamma rays by themselves could trigger earthquakes. They admit that the December 27th gamma ray burst had slightly affected the ionization state of the Earth's atmosphere, but this by itself should not have caused earthquakes. However, if a longitudinal gravity potential wave pulse were to accompany a gamma ray burst, the mystery becomes resolved. The connection between earthquakes and gamma ray bursts now becomes plausible. In his 1983 Ph.D. dissertation, Paul LaViolette called attention to terrestrial dangers of Galactic core explosions, pointing out that the arrival of the cosmic ray superwave they produced would be signaled by a high intensity gamma ray burst which would also generate EMP effects (e.g., see Page 3). He also noted that a strong gravity wave might be expected to travel forward at the forefront of this superwave and might be the first indication of a superwave's arrival. He pointed out that such gravity waves could induce substantial tidal forces on the Earth during their passage which could induce earthquakes and cause polar axis torquing effects. [Please note, the gravity potential gradient associated with a stellar explosion or core explosion would drop off in intensity inversely with distance traveled (according to 1/r), and would not drop off as the inverse cube of distance as some have claimed on the internet. That is, it does not have a force-distance dependence similar to the lunar tidal force. So the impact would be quite significant. The mathematics are worked out in the above reference.] In his book Earth Under Fire (as well as in his dissertation), LaViolette presents evidence showing that the superwave that passed through the solar system around 14,200 years ago had triggered supernova explosions as it swept through the Galaxy. Among these were the Vela and Crab supernova explosions whose explosion dates align with this superwave event horizon. He points out that these explosions could be explained if a gravity wave accompanied this superwave, it could have produced tidal forces which could have triggered unstable stars to explode as it passed through. He wrote at a time when gamma ray bursts had just begun to be discovered, and when no one was concerned with them as potential terrestrial hazards. In recent years scientific opinion has come around to adopt LaViolette's concern, as can be seen in news articles discussing the SGR 1806-20 gamma ray outburst, e.g., see Space.com news story. They note that if this gamma ray burst had been as close as 10 light years it would have completely destroyed the ozone layer. By comparison, the Galactic superwaves LaViolette has postulated to have been generated as a result of an outburst of our Galaxy's core and to have impacted the Solar system during the last ice age would have impacted the solar system with a cosmic ray electron volley having an energy intensity 100 times greater than this hypothetical 10 light year distant stellar gamma ray burst. In comparision, SGR 1806-20 has been estimated to have a stellar progenitor mass of 150 solar masses, whereas our Galactic core has a mass of 2.6 million solar masses. In its present active phase, SGR 1806-20 is estimated to have a luminosity 40 million times that of the Sun, whereas during its active phase the Galactic center could reach luminosities of 400 trillion times that of the Sun. So it is understandable that if the Galactic center were to erupt, it would produce a gamma ray burst and a gravity wave far more intense than the outburst from this star. If anything, the December 27, 2004 gamma ray burst shows us that we do not live in a peaceful celestial environment. And if the December 26th earthquake was in fact part of this same celestial event, we see that this stellar eruption has claimed many lives. For this reason, it is important that we prepare for the possibility of even stronger events in the future, the arrival of superwaves issuing from the core of our Galaxy. Like the December 26th earthquake and the December 27th gamma ray burst, the next superwave will arrive unexpectedly. It will take us by surprise. Before After It would have been possible to determine whether a Galactic gravity wave had indeed immediately preceded the December 26th earthquake by examining data from gravity wave telescopes. Since seismic waves from the Indonesian earthquake would have taken some time to propagate through the Earth to these gravity wave antenna, their signature could be distinguished from the gravity wave coming from SGR 1806-20. However, the major gravity wave telescopes were unfortunately not on line at that time. LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravity Wave Observatory), which consists of two correlated telescopes, one in Washington state and one in Louisiana, each having a four kilometer long laser interferometer beam path, was in the process of being made operational and unfortunately was not collecting data at that time. We sent an email to the staff of the TAMA gravity wave antenna in Japan. Dr. Takahashi, who is responsible for the detector, replied that their telescope was unfortunately not operating during that week since they were making modifications at that time. So at present the gravity wave hypothesis remains neither confirmed nor disproven. Superwave Monitoring Center Those interested in monitoring earthquake, gamma ray burst, cosmic ray background activity, and gravity wave bursts may try the following websites: • Current earthquakes: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.html • Past earthquakes: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/activity/past.htmlpast.html • Gamma ray bursts: http://grad40.as.utexas.edu/grblog.php?author=D.% 20Gotz • Cosmic ray radiation intensity: http://cr0.izmiran.rssi.ru/mosc/main.htm • Gravity wave bursts (LIGO site: no posted data, just posted papers): http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/ and http://www.ligo.org/results/ • Listing of various relevant events: http://www.earthchangestv.com The December 27th GRB was not accompanied by any rise in the cosmic ray background, indicating that if it was accompanied by cosmic rays their intensity was unable to exceed the relatively constant extragalactic background flux arriving from distant galaxies. A Galactic superwave, on the other hand, would most likely produce a substantial rise in these levels. Note that almost two months passed before the December 27th gamma ray burst found its way into news media stories. If unusually intense activity were to occur in the near future as the beginning stages of a superwave arrival, it is hoped that scientists will not keep this knowledge to themselves but rather allow the global news media to disseminate the story quickly to inform the world. A Superluminal Gravity Wave? Experiments carried out by Eugene Podkletnov show that a shock front outburst produces a longitudinal gravitational wave that travels forward with the burst. He has found that this gravity wave pulse has a speed in excess of 64 times the speed of light (personal communication). Also Guy Obolensky has produced spark discharge electric potential shock fronts and observed them to propagate forward at speeds as high as 10 times the speed of light. Observations suggest that the gravity wave from an expanding stellar explosion will decrease its superluminal speed and eventually approach the speed of light as the shock front expands. But meanwhile, the gravity wave will have obtained a headstart over the electromagnetic wave radiation component traveling in its wake (light waves, gamma rays, etc.). So one would expect that the gravity wave from such an outburst (and its resultant earthquake activity) would precede the gamma ray burst component. Others Coming to the Same Conclusion Dr. LaViolette posted the above page on February 20, 2005 having learned about the December 2004 gamma ray burst on the day before and at that time realized that it must have been associated with the Malaysian tsunami. On February 21st Lazarus Long also posted a similar idea on a news group. Lazarus Long Posted: Feb 21 2005-21:23 I just thought I should put this on this thread for the record. A very interesting event occurred almost simultaneously with the Tsunami event but it appears few have noticed but this gamma ray burst almost coincided with the tectonic event (it was slightly afterward) here on Earth. I am curious if what we witnessed was a gravitational bow wave effect that preceded the actual gamma radiation as a shock-wave. Just coincidence? Could be but.... Remember the distance traveled was 50,000 lt yrs. This could be evidence to verify the critical aspects of quantum gravitational theory as a mountain of data was collected. My suspicion is that a type of Huygens Gravitational Wave effect may have preceded the actual EM *flash* by many hours or it might simply reflect the period of compression and gravitational displacement within the Neutron Stars' power surge that preceded the actual EM emission. Apparently the entire solar system was shaking from the event, in fact the entire galaxy is apparently experiencing a kind of gravitational oscillation (vibration) as this wave propagates. What if we are seeing an event that can be quantified to be slightly faster than light and being propagated just ahead of it? While the flash was noticed after the tectonic event locally it is entirely conceivable that the actual gravitation shock wave struck earlier and while no one to date has related the two events I am curious if we may also be seeing evidence of how cosmic scale events could interfere with planetary tectonics by introducing a trigger force sufficient to release the pent up energy that already exists internally within the planet. I am curious if the relationship of gravity and the event can be measured precisely in relation to the actual EM radiation emitted that we may have sufficient data and measures to test quantum gravitational theory against, which are analogous to how the Michaelson Morley experiment was used to verify Relativity Theory. ===================== end of that piece here's another one: Solar Flares on Steroids Solar flares that scorch Earth's atmosphere are commonplace. But scientists have discovered a few each year that are not like the others: they come from stars thousands of light years away. September 12, 2003: On August 24, 1998, there was an explosion on the sun as powerful as a hundred million hydrogen bombs. Earth- orbiting satellites registered a surge of x-rays. Minutes later they were pelted by fast-moving solar protons. Our planet's magnetic field recoiled from the onslaught, and ham radio operators experienced a strong shortwave blackout. None of these things made headlines. The explosion was an " X-class " solar flare, and during years around solar maximum, such as 1998, such flares are commonplace. They happen every few days or weeks. The Aug. 24th event was powerful, yet typical. Right: A solar flare blasts hot gas away from the limb of the Sun. A few days later--no surprise--another blast wave swept past Earth. Satellites registered a surge of x-rays and gamma-rays. Hams experienced another blackout. It seemed like another X-class solar flare. Except for one thing: this flare didn't come from the sun. It came from outer space. " The source of the blast was SGR 1900+14, a neutron star about 45,000 light years away, " says NASA astronomer Pete Woods. " It was the strongest burst of cosmic x-rays and gamma rays we've ever recorded. " SGR 1900+14 is a special kind of neutron star called a magnetar. " Magnetars have the strongest magnetic fields in the universe: a million billion (1015) gauss, " he says. For comparison, the magnetic field of the sun is less than 10 gauss in most places, and about 1000 gauss near sunspots. Magnetism and solar flares go together. On the sun, flares happen when magnetic fields above sunspots become twisted and stretched. They're like rubber bands pulled too tightly. Snap! They recoil with explosive results. Physicists call this " magnetic reconnection. " Physicist Maxim Lyutikov of McGill University thinks the same thing happens on magnetars. " I imagine that the atmosphere of a magnetar is similar to the solar corona--filled with plasma and complicated magnetic fields, " he says. " Reconnection on the sun is often caused by a plasma instability called the 'tearing mode.' Detailed calculations show that a similar instability may develop in the strongly magnetized plasma of a magnetar. " Left: An artist's concept of a magnetar outburst. The red loops trace the star's intense magnetic field. Reconnection events on the sun emit as much as 1032 ergs of energy. Flares from magnetars are about a million million times stronger, ~1044 ergs, befitting their more intense magnetic fields. " They're solar flares on steroids, " quips Woods. When the blast wave from SGR 1900+14 arrived on August 27, 1998, it hit the night side of our planet--something flares from the sun never do--and scorched Earth's upper atmosphere. The radiation broke apart atoms and molecules into charged ions. Ions interact with radio signals, either absorbing or reflecting them, so radio listeners knew something had happened. For instance, a registered nurse in Seattle was driving home from work at 2:00 a.m. listening to a local program on her car radio. The station faded--a blackout--and was moments later replaced by country music from Omaha, Nebraska. On the US east coast, where dawn was breaking at the time, hams chatting locally suddenly picked up voice transmissions from distant parts of Canada. Strange. These propagation effects, so much like those experienced during ordinary solar flares, quickly subsided. No harm was done. Nevertheless, the event made a deep impression on astronomers. From halfway across the galaxy, SGR 1900+14 had " touched " our planet. It happens more often than most people know. Since 1998, Earth has experienced " about 10 similar ionization events, " says Umran Inan of Stanford University. " Five of them were caused by SGR 1900+14, and the rest from unknown sources. " Inan leads the Very Low Frequency (VLF) Research Group at Stanford University. He and his colleagues operate a network of low-frequency radio stations in North America and Antarctica. When Earth gets hit by ionizing radiation, the network records telltale changes in radio propagation. " We saw the blast from SGR 1900+14 in 1998--it was very clear, " he says. Right: Stanford University's network of VLF receivers registered a fadeout of 21.4 kHz signals on August 27, 1998, when the magnetar burst reached Earth. The shaded area denotes the part of our planet illuminated by the burst. [more] " Many things can change the ionization of Earth's atmosphere, " adds Inan. " Lightning can do it. So can sudden bursts of auroras at high latitudes. " But these things cause local ionization. Solar flares, on the other hand, have global effects, ionizing the top of Earth's entire dayside atmosphere. Flares from magnetars can ionize the nightside, too. These signatures--nightside vs. dayside, global vs. local--help Inan identify the source of the ionization. His " unknown sources " are probably magnetars not yet discovered by astronomers. " The best way to pinpoint a magnetar, " says Woods, " is to catch it when it's bursting--but that's not easy because the bursts are unpredictable and brief. Oftentimes they come and go in less than one- tenth of a second. " To date only ten of these stars are known. Many more await discovery, he believes. Above: The distribution of magnetar candidates along the Milky Way. The red dot below the plane of the galaxy is located in the Large Magellanic cloud. Image credit: Rob Duncan. Finding them is the job of the Interplanetary Network (IPN)--a flotilla of spacecraft scattered around the solar system. Members include Ulysses, 2001 Mars Odyssey, RHESSI and others. None of these missions are dedicated to magnetar research, but each one carries a gamma-ray or x-ray detector--usually for some unrelated purpose. The detector on 2001 Mars Odyssey, for instance, is used to hunt for subsurface ice on Mars. Catching magnetars is a bonus. Here's how it works: When a wave of radiation sweeps through the solar system, it hits the different spacecraft at slightly different times. Astronomers can figure out where the burst came from by comparing the arrival times. " It's simple triangulation, " says Kevin Hurley of UC Berkeley who leads the effort. " The Ulysses spacecraft is particularly important because of its long looping orbit around the Sun. Ulysses' great distance from the other spacecraft makes the triangulation precise. " " Each year we pinpoint dozens of magnetar outbursts this way, " he says. Most are from already-known objects like SGR 1900+14, but sometimes a new magnetar reveals itself. (Note: the majority of the bursts detected by the IPN are faint; only the strongest few ionize Earth's atmosphere.) As soon as the Interplanetary Network locates a burster, the coordinates are emailed to astronomers around the world so they can observe the magnetar using their own telescopes on the ground. NASA missions such as the Chandra X-ray observatory and the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer sometimes join the effort, too. Magnetar candidates attract the attention of dozens of observatories. That's understandable. " From a physics point of view, " notes Woods, " the energy reservoir in the magnetosphere and crusts of magnetars is 10 to 100 times bigger than the energy released during the August 27, 1998, outburst. So there is the potential for much higher-energy events. It's a good idea to keep an eye on these things. " And an ear. The next time you're driving home in the middle of the night and, unexpectedly, a country tune blares out of your radio, you might wonder ... did a magnetar do that? The cosmos is full of the strangest surprises. I found the piece above at Solar Flares on Steroids .... like the others: they come from stars thousands of light years away. ... 14, a neutron star about 45,000 light years away, " says NASA astronomer Pete Woods. ...science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/12sep_magnetars.htm? list955064 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.