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Flash 10.1 might not be coming to Android till the second half of the year, but users can sign up to enter the public beta today. Adobe announced in a new blog post that they just started the private betas of Flash 10.1 and AIR 2.0 and they are “looking forward to getting these technologies into your hands as soon as possible.”

There are different sign up pages for Flash Player 10.1 and Adobe AIR 2.0 so go visit each site and get registered. No information was provided on the specific dates of the public betas, but users will be notified via email when they become available.

Related Posts

• Adobe taunts Android fans with another cool Flash 10.1 demo
• Adobe details Flash 10.1 installations
• Video of Nexus One running Adobe Flash
• Flash 10.1 coming to Android in 2H 2010
• Adobe responds to leaked ROMs and Flash 10.1 battery concerns

Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, in an interview with FOX Business, has revealed that flash 10.1 support for WebOS and BlackBerry phones would arrive slightly later than expected in the second half of 2010. More »

Introduction

This instructional resource set has been developed to meet the current Virginia Department of Education’s Standards of Learning (SOL); specifically, third grade mathematics SOL 3.5 and 3.6 which cover fractions.

List of Five Recommended Fraction Books

1. 

The Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Fractions Book by Jerry Pallotta and illustrated by Rob Bolster

Published in New York, New York by Scholastic Inc. 

What a delicious way to get students excited about learning fractions.  Even if there may be a limitation on the use of an actual candy bar, the book supplies a reproducible picture of a candy bar.  It is wonderful manipulative showing different types of fractions – down to one-twelfth.  It is an introductory book that can lead to mixed number fractions, reducing fractions, decimals, and percentages.
2. 

Funny & Fabulous Fractions Stories by Dan Greenberg and illustrated by Rob Bolster

Published in New York, New York by Scholastic Inc.

Everyone loves to laugh and have fun.  Why not make a difficult subject interesting.  The humorous stories and pictures draw in the students with stories of detectives and adventures (and others) while covering recognizing fractions, reducing fractions, finding equivalent fractions, and adding and subtracting fractions (with like and unlike denominators).

3.

Apple Fractions by Jerry Pallotta and illustrated by Rob Bolster

Published in New York, New York by Scholastic Inc. 

This book is a nice departure from the use of a pizzas and one that incorporates learning about some fruits (apples, oranges, and pears) and a small introduction to plant pollination.  It begins with a whole apple and progresses through halves, thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths, sevenths, eighths, ninths, and tenths with the help of little elves – emphasizing sharing and equal parts.

4.

Piece=Part=Portion by Scott Gifford and photographs by Shmuel Thaler 

Published in New York, New York by Tricycle Press

This is a great book for visual learners beyond the introductory stage.  It is the English and Spanish edition.  It has wonderful pictures that include the three different ways to write a portion: fraction, decimal, and percent.  In this book, the author uses some example involving currency (one-fourth of a dollar).

5.

The Wishing Club by Donna Jo Napoli and illustrated by Anne Curry

Published in New York, New York by Henry Holt and Company LLC

Fractions are learned through problem solving.  The children are trying to figure out why they are only receiving a portion of the wish made on a star.  Each child wants to receive her or his whole wish.  Together, they try to think of wish that will result in a whole thing.

List of Five Recommended Web Sites for Students

1.  Mini Printable Fraction Books
     http://www.enchantedlearning.com/math/fractions/

This website begins with an overview with menu options that run the gammit of fractions.  It supplies information from the introductory knowledge and concepts to multiplication and division.  However, I choose this web site for the printable worksheets and books.

2. Third Grade Math Practice (see section on Fractions)    

http://www.ixl.com/math/grade/third/ A review of fractions is given as the first choice.  In total, twelve sections are available to the student to practice their knowledge content and understanding.  Use of whole and sets are displayed as a group of items with different colors, geometry shapes with portions in color, and points on a number line.  If a question is answered incorrectly, the results will state as such and give an explanation.  This is a good simulation of testing a student can use at home or as a work station in class.  There is no time constraint and the student can learn at there own pace.

3. 

The Case of the Mysterious Fraction Thieves Web-Quest     

http://questgarden.com/100/03/5/100407161220/

I designed this Web Quest to reinforce the contents of the Virginia Department of Education’s Standard of Learning 3.5 Number and Number Sense – Fractions.  It begins with the following introduction: There have been several thefts in Whole Town and Part City.  The two of you have been assigned as the detectives on the case of The Mysterious Fraction Thieves.  You’ll have two days to solve the crime.

4.  Fraction Model I     

http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=11 This fraction model allows the student to choose between the visual representation of a circle, square, or set.  The student can manipulate the slider bar controlling the numerator number and the slider bar controlling the denominator bar.  As the numerator and denominator are changed, the portion symbols for fraction, decimal and percent change.  The student gets a view of future math knowledge that builds on fractions.5. Fraction Games    http://visualfractions.com/Games.htmGrampy and Grammy play hide and seek on a number line.  The student watches as either Grampy or Gram go hide.  One game gives the denominator and asks the student for figure out the numerator by locating Grampy behind a row of hedges.  A second game asks the student to find Grammy but asks for both the numerator and denominator.  The third games requires the student to take pieces of a cookie (fractions) and make whole cookies for Grampy.  The last three games deal with weighing the Gregs (black jelly bean characters).  These games deal with grams and decimals.  All of the games have helpful hints (too large, too small, hot, cold, higher, or lower) to get the student to right answer.

Suntech MsK BIPV modules (PDF).

Cloud computing — where mega-data centers serve up webmail, search results, unified communications, or computing and storage for a fee — is top of mind for enterprise CIOs these days. Ultimately, however, the future of cloud adoption will depend less on the technology involved and more on strategic and economic factors.

On the one hand, Nick Carr, author of “The Big Switch,” posits that all computing will move to the cloud, just as electricity — another essential utility — did a century ago. As Carr explains, enterprises in the early industrial age grew productivity by utilizing locally generated mechanical power from steam engines and waterwheels, delivered over the local area networks of the time: belts and gears. As the age of electricity dawned, these were upgraded to premises-based electrical generators — so-called dynamos — which then “moved to the cloud” as power generation shifted to hyper-scale, location-independent, metered, pay-per-use, on-demand services: electric utilities. Carr’s prediction appears to be unfolding, given that some of the largest cloud service providers have already surpassed the billion dollar-milestone.

On the other hand, at least one tech industry luminary has called the cloud “complete gibberish,” and one well-respected consulting group is claiming that the cloud has risen to a “peak of inflated expectations” while another has found real adoption of infrastructure-as-a-service to be lower than expected. And Carr himself does admit that “all historical models and analogies have their limits.”

So will enterprise cloud computing represent The Big Switch, a dimmer switch or a little niche? At the GigaOM Network’s annual Structure conference in June, I’ll be moderating a distinguished panel that will look at this issue in depth, consisting of Will Forrest, a partner at McKinsey & Company and author of the provocative report “Clearing the Air on Cloud Computing;” James Staten, principal analyst at Forrester Research and specialist in public and private cloud computing; and John Hagel, director and co-chairman of Deloitte Consulting’s Center for the Edge, author and World Economic Forum fellow. We may not all agree, but the discussion should be enlightening, since ultimately, enterprise decisions and architectures will be based on a few key factors:

Drivers and Barriers: These can include enhanced flexibility and agility from on-demand, scalable resources; reduced total cost via optimal hybrid solutions; accelerated time-to-market via ready-to-ware applications and innovation platforms; application architecture constraints and requirements; security and more.

Development and Deployment Options: Solutions can be built in-house from scratch; use pre-built software on owned, dedicated infrastructure; go all cloud; be outsourced or be the result of a combination of such approaches.

Metrics and Models: A true apples-to-apples comparison of financials, risk, compliance, customer experience and competitiveness is tricky, because among the factors that need to be taken into account are the roles of sunk costs and depreciated assets, migration costs, marginal capital investments or ancillary costs required to implement and transition to robust solutions, power, cooling, space, management, administration, certification and training. Stair-step effects — where provisioning of new capacity is done in large blocks which at first are underutilized, or the need for one additional quantum of compute capacity drives construction of an entire new data center — complicate things further.

Trends: Differences between enterprise and cloud cost structures will shift over time based on competitive intensity, scale economies and learning curve effects, as well as technology and best practices diffusion. There is a widespread belief that larger cloud providers have dramatic scale economies, but these may be illusory or unsustainable, since the same building blocks — servers, storage, automation tools, even containerized data centers — and potentially the same options (such as optimal site location) may be available to both enterprises and cloud providers.

Demand: Variable and unpredictable customer demand — due to macroeconomic factors, bullwhip effects in the supply chain, and fads and floods — impact the total cost/benefit equation, while the bottom-line benefits of pay-per-use services vary based on demand curve differences.

Consider all of these factors together. Nick Carr’s predictions will likely be realized in cases where a public cloud offers compelling cost advantages, enhanced flexibility, improved user experience and reduced risk. On the other hand, if there is a high degree of technology diffusion for cloud enablers such as service automation management, limited cost differentials between “make” and “buy,” and relatively flat demand, one might project a preference for internal solutions, comprising virtualized, automated, standardized enterprise data centers.

It may be overly simplistic to conclude that IT will recapitulate the path of the last century of electricity; its evolution is likely to be more far more nuanced. Which is why it’s important to understand the types of models that have already been proven in the competitive marketplace of evolving cloud offers — and the underlying factors that have caused these successes — in order to see more clearly what the future may hold. Hope to see you at Structure 2010.

Two vulcanologists published a paper in 2008 suggesting that as climate change continues, the next decades could see more volcanic activity in regions such as Iceland that are now under ice.

Climate change could spark off more volcanic eruptions in the now frozen volcanic rim regions, Alaska, Patagonia and Antarctica and Iceland says Dr Carolina Pagli,  at Leeds University; one of the authors of the research. As ice melts above volcanic rocks they are able to expand to turn into magma more readily as pressure from above is reduced.

Global warming melts ice and this can influence magmatic systems, says Dr Freysteinn Sigmundsson, the paper’s other author, at the Nordic Volcanological Centre at the University of Iceland.  “Our work suggests that eventually there will be either somewhat larger eruptions or more frequent eruptions in Iceland in coming decades.” (more…)

Palm has let us know via its Facebook Page that the next version of the Facebook app, which is being developed by the Developer Relations team, should be available in the App Catalog sometime next week.  Facebook for webOS 1.2 will bring enhancements such as notifications(!), the ability to play Facebook video, keyboard shortcuts, speed enhancements and more.  As usual, those looking to stay on the bleeding edge can get in on the action before the updated app hits the Catalog by downloading the beta version.

Thanks to KBLOM for the tip!

I’ve only had the iPad since launch day, but I have logged hundreds of hours on the little slate. I have been exploring the device and its capabilities, along with determining how to best use its strengths. There have been reports from some iPad owners concerning problems with Wi-Fi connectivity, especially with some routers and mobile modems. I have seen those problems first-hand, and I have tested the iPad extensively to isolate Wi-Fi connectivity problems. I have determined the problems can be minimized with just a few simple steps. Note that I am not addressing the problems that have been reported by some universities that have prohibited the iPad from use on their networks.

The first problem I had with Wi-Fi on the iPad was exposed while using it with the Sprint Overdrive 3G/4G modem. This modem connects to the Sprint network and dishes the connectivity out over Wi-Fi. This would be the perfect solution for using the iPad over Wi-Fi to get mobile broadband connectivity. What I was immediately confronted with was the iPad was constantly disconnecting from the Sprint connection, and often having trouble reconnecting. The session would be working as it should and the iPad would suddenly disconnect and then I would have no connectivity at all.

I researched this and tested it and came to the conclusion that the iPad has a tendency to let the Wi-Fi connection go dormant very quickly. A brief lull in data transmission results in the iPad shutting the Wi-Fi down. This is probably by design and likely is an attempt to save on battery life, something the iPad is very good at doing. Unfortunately, while the iPad should automatically reconnect to the Wi-Fi network after such a dormancy, it wasn’t able to using the Sprint Overdrive modem.

I didn’t have this reconnect problem with any other router or network, just the Sprint Overdrive connection. That led me to do some investigation, and I determined that the Sprint Overdrive was using 64-bit WEP encryption for security on the Wi-Fi network connection. The iPad can handle this fine, but it was different than the newer (and better) WPA2 encryption used on all the other networks I use that had no problem reconnecting with the iPad.

I changed the Sprint Overdrive settings to WPA2, and the reconnect issue disappeared. Apparently the iPad was failing to reconnect properly over the WEP encryption, but it has no problem with WPA2. This matches what I see on other modems and routers, so I recommend changing it if you are having a similar problem with your iPad dropping connections and failing to renegotiate a reconnection. It’s easy to do and it worked for me; I haven’t seen a single failure to reconnect since making this change, and using two different Sprint Overdrive units.

The other problem I have encountered has to do with the Wi-Fi radio in the iPad. Let me set the scene for how I discovered this problem and the solution. The big comfy easy chair in my living room is as far from the router in my office as can be. The chair is right on the fringe of the range the router can dish out Wi-Fi, and out of all the mobile devices I have tested I’ve seen several that cannot see the network at all. Some get intermittent signal from the chair, and others none at all. It comes down to how powerful the Wi-Fi radio is in the given device, as that determines if it can see the network consistently.

The iPad is one of those devices that is right on the fringe of the ability to see the router from this spot in the house. This led me to do extensive testing to determine what factors under my control could minimize the bad signal strength the iPad reported, and thus get better bandwidth. In normal circumstances the iPad shows at most one bar on the Wi-Fi signal meter, and it occasionally drops the connection entirely.

My testing indicated that when I hold the iPad in portrait orientation in my two hands, like a book, the signal drops immediately. I can set the iPad in my lap with no hands holding it on the sides, and the signal meter immediately jumps to over 50% and the bandwidth increases accordingly. I verified this by running speed tests in a number of configurations. I can consistently set the iPad in my lap with no hands holding it, fire up the speed test, and see outstanding connection speeds from this remote location. If I do the same while holding it as a book, the speeds are abysmal, if the network is available at all.

I can run the speed test with the iPad in my lap, and after it starts running with fast connection speed I can pick it up and watch the speed drop to near nothing immediately. There is no question in my mind that holding the iPad in the hands interferes with the internal Wi-Fi radio somehow, and setting the device down is a simple solution. It is important to note that it is only holding the iPad in portrait mode that interferes with Wi-Fi. I can hold it in both hands in landscape orientation and the signal strength is not impaired. I’m not sure where in the iPad the Wi-Fi is physically located, but it must be near one of the sides in portrait orientation.

The iPad is a very small, slim gadget, and it doesn’t surprise me that Apple used what looks to be a low-power Wi-Fi radio. The point is now that you know how to maximize the network performance with the radio, you will get better results as I do.

So to recap, change your router settings to WPA2 if possible. This will minimize any problems the iPad has reconnecting after going dormant. How you hold the iPad can interfere with the Wi-Fi radio in fringe areas. If your signal strength goes really low and speed suffers, try setting the iPad down. You may see the signal meter jump back up, along with the connection speed.

Related content on GigaOM Pro (subscription required):

Hot Topic: Apple’s iPad

Dawn Crawford describes this moment in Versailles as a personal favorite… Submit your photograph or artwork to the Science of Kissing Gallery and remember to include relevant links.

In an effort to recognize the changes in the social media space, I’ve started this post series (see archives) to both track and congratulate folks who get promoted, move, or accept new exciting positions. Please help me congratulate the following folks:

Also, my submission form has changed to a new URL, the former Google form was giving me problems, so please use this one going forward.  Lots of movement in the social business category, including a few key hires at firms that get the social business landscape and quite a few submissions continuing to come in on the form.

• Bruce Tempkin, top blogger at Forrester and Analyst departs Forrester, you can find his blog announcement. I’ve admired Bruce’s commitment and quality of work as a fellow colleague, and wish him luck on his next ventures. He really is one of the Star Analysts out there, be sure to connect with him and clinch his sage advice early before he gets totally booked.
• Dr Natalie Petouhoff “Dr Nat”, is a former colleague at Forrester covering the customer experience and knows the Social CRM landscape and social support. She’s also moved on, you can find her blog, and you should connect with her as she launches her consulting career.
• Dion Hinchcliffe joins the Dachis Group, one of the leading consulting firms that gets social business. The Dachis Group is poised to become the next system integrator vendor and consulting firm, and I expect them to give the ‘big’ consulting firms a run for their money as they continue to hire talent, thought leaders, and stay nimble and flexible.
• Steve Gillmor, famed Techcrunch IT editor (and former colleague of mine at PodTech) joins Salesforce in the strategy team. This is an extremely smart move for Benioff as Salesforce knows success of the chatter and appxchange platform is to connect with the web startups. Steve is a direct and indirect influencer over the startup ecosystem and this lays a big bridge down for Salesforce to take marketshare in the developer ecosystem.
• Mona Nomura joins MySpace as a social media marketing manager, her online presence will match with the youthful and active MySpace community, a key hire in the regrowth and build of MySpace.
• Sanjay Dholakia former CMO at Lithium is now heading up Crowd Factory as the CEO, I’ve worked closely with Sanjay and am looking forward to see the next successes he does in the future.
• Uwe Hook launches BatesHook focusing on business transformation agency by integrating Social Media initiatives.
• Maria Ogneva joins Biz360 as Director of Social Media Propel and manage online buzz for Biz360, a social media monitoring and measurement platform.
• Greg Hollings joins FreshNetworks as Head of Community Management Manages and heads up the community management team at busy social media agency.
• Glenn Conradt joins CoreMedia as Vice President of North American Marketing, Sales and Operations.
• Dean McBeth joins Wieden + Kennedy as the Old Spice Community Manager focused on using social media to maximize the positive perception of the brand and the effectiveness of campaigns.
• Ryan Turner joins ZAAZ as Director, Social Media Lead the social media practice at ZAAZ, part of the WPP network.
• Brett Goodwin joins MyWebGrocer as Senior Account Director focused on sales.
• Sabrina Suares joins MyWebGrocer as Director, Eastern Sales
• Talented Bob Garfield joins Fizz as Consultant in Residence, I look forward to the work he does, find his announcement blog post.
• Ben Grossman joins Oxford Communications as Interactive Strategist Launch concerted social communications group and serve as interactive strategy lead for digital projects from an integrated standpoint.
• Ariel Sasso joins DataXu as Marketing Communications Manager Growing DataXu’s reputation and presence with integrated marketing, communications and social media initiatives.
• Tom Edwards joins Red Urban as VP, Digital Strategy & Emerging Technology Digital & Social Media Strategy

How to connect with others (or get a job):
Several people have been hired because of this blog post series, here’s how you can too:

Submit an announcement
If you know folks that are moving up in the social media industry, submit to this form

Seeking Social Media Professionals?
If you’re seeking to connect with community advocates and community managers there are few resources

This list, which started with just 8 names continues to grow as folks submit to it. List of Social Computing Strategists and Community Managers for Enterprise Corporations 2008 –Social Media Professionals.

Job Resources in the Social Media and Web Industry

Web Strategy Jobs powered by Job o Matic (Post a job there and be seen by these blog readers, these affiliate fees pay for my hosting)

Read Write Web keeps announcements flowing at Jobwire, although is broader than just social media jobs

Facebook group for community manager group in Facebook

Jake McKee’s community portal for jobs

Chris Heuer’s Social Media Jobs

SimplyHired aggregates job listings, as does Indeed

ForumOne Jobs for Social Media and Community

Teresa has a few jobs, some around community

New Media hire has an extensive job database

Social Media Headhunter

Social media jobs

Jobs in social media

Altimeter Group’s list of social media consultants and agencies

Social Media Strategists and Community Managers for 2010

Hiring? Leave a comment
If you’re seeking candidates in the social media industry, many of them are within arms reach, feel free to leave a link to a job description (but not the whole job description, please)

What you are looking at here is a very rare automobile. So rare in fact that just 860 of them ever made it to the United States. Back in the early 2000’s the Germans began having their version of a muscle car war. Horsepower ratings were going up and people wanted the biggest guns they could find. It started with BMW, and their stellar E39 M5 super sedan. This car came out in Europe in 1999 and set the world on its ear when BMW announce that it produced 400 HP / 396 LB.TQ. – back then those were huge numbers. It did 0-60 in under 5 seconds and only came in a manual… this car was downright cool.

Next up was Mercedes flying brick, the 2002 E55 AMG. Here too was another super sedan that put out 349 HP from it’s SOHC 5.4-liter V8. It was a bit more boxy than the BMW and unlike the M5, it only came with a 5-speed automatic transmission. No manual was ever offered. Both sedans were electronically limited to a top speed of 155 mph. Which was kind of a drag for anyone who wanted to really check out their uncorked potential.

Then Audi showed up to the party and decided to throw a monkey wrench into the machine in the form of their amazing RS6. The standard S6 from Audi was already an amazing performance car, but by releasing the new RS, Audi brought the super sedan wars home and pissed off a lot of M5 and E55 owners in the process. The RS6 was released in 2002 and right out of the box it was meant to put the hurt on its German brothers.

The Audi, in it’s own subtle way had some big advantages over the BMW and Mercedes. First off, it launched like no other car of the day thanks to Audi’s amazing AWD system. Secondly it was fast… like really fast. Audi decided to take the amazing 4.2-liter V8 they had in the S6 and slap two turbos on it. This bumped output from 340 HP to 450 HP with a torque rating of 415 LB.FT. Numbers higher than both the Bimmer and the Benz. Audi did limited the top speed, but it was “limited” at 167 mph, not 155 mph. This was a nice touch and gave full on bragging rights to any and all RS6 owners.

If there was one down side to the RS6 it had to be the price, as manufactures retail was over $80,000.00. This was 5K more than the BMW and almost 10K more than the Benz. The 2002-2004 Audi RS6 is one of those cars that only enthusiasts really know about. It’s a rare bird that is, to this day feared at stop lights everywhere. It’s also a car that I have never had the opportunity of driving, which for me is quite aggravating. One day though maybe my chance will come and I’ll be able to give you guys a full review of one of my favorite four door hammers.

Scientists in Spain and Germany are working on a new material that could set the refrigeration industry back 80 years – in a good way, that is.  As reported by Science Daily, instead of fluorinated gasses the new material is a solid, like the familiar old blocks of ice from a bygone era only in a high tech form for the sustainable new millenium.

The push to find alternatives to fluorinated gasses (HFCs) is urgent, because they have been identified as a group of particularly powerful and long lasting greenhouse gasses that contribute to global warming.  Mechanical refrigeration will enter more households as the world’s population grows and more regions adopt modern technology, so the potential market for a non-polluting alternative to HFC’s is enormous.

(more…)

Whoever thought that the ash crisis would be over by today at some point was wrong.

RyanAir just announced the following:

Ryanair, today (Sun 18th April) confirmed that based on current meteorological forecasts, and the continuing emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere over Iceland, it has decided to cancel all scheduled flights to/from the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Holland, France, Germany, Poland and the Baltic States until 1300hrs on Wed 21 April.  Ryanair flights from Spain, the Canary and Baleric islands, the south of Italy (including Pisa, Rome, Sardinia and Sicily), Malta and North Africa will continue to operate just domestic and southbound routes.  This advice is based on the current stable weather trends which continue to blow potentially dangerous volcanic ash across the British Isles, Scandinavia and Europe.

Found via the indispensible @ashalerts.

Join the conversation about this story »

Later this June, well-known lens manufacturer Carl Zeiss will begin offering a line of Compact Prime CP.2 lenses with the discerning HDSLR filmmaker in mind. More »

While it is early in the morning in Europe the following picture shows the impact of the volcano in Iceland on European air traffic (as of Thursday), if you compare Northern (none) and Southern (60) European flights. The blue crosses are airports. The volcano has already had a stunning impact on Europe, although articles about it are already dropping below the lead headlines.

There is a thought that the plume may last another five days, and even though the cloud is largely invisible to those who are being impacted by it, the damage by neglecting these precautions could be severe. And given that the British election is on May 6th, the impact of a sustained eruption on the debates in the UK, and the result may go beyond just limiting the travel of those who would campaign, to become more dominant with the length of the flight curtailments and the responses to help resolve what are likely to be growing transportation problems.

The presence of sulphur dioxide is already obvious to local residents, though there don’t appear to be any concerns over its toxicity. This is the toxicity information given by gasdetection.com:

WITH ACUTE EXPOSURE, 5 PPM CAUSES DRYNESS OF NOSE & THROAT AND A MEASUREABLE INCR IN RESISTANCE TO BRONCHIAL AIR FLOW; 6 TO 8 PPM CAUSES A DECR IN TIDAL RESP VOLUME. SNEEZING, COUGH & EYE IRRITATION OCCUR AT 10 PPM; 20 PPM CAUSED BRONCHOSPASM; 50 PPM CAUSES EXTREME DISCOMFORT BUT NO INJURY IN LESS THAN A 30-MIN EXPOSURE … 1000 PPM CAUSES DEATH IN FROM 10 MIN TO SEVERAL HR BY RESP DEPRESSION.

The larger eruptions of Katla, have ejected up to 1.5 x 10^9 cu m of material with a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of up to 5. For comparison Mt Pinatubo in 1991 ejected 1.1 x 10^10 cu m with a VEI of 6.

The Times has an interesting graphic that shows some of the concerns and I am going to use a bit of it to show that the problem may be a little bigger than even the article suggests.

To begin with recognize that Iceland is at the intersection of different plates that together form the shell of the planet. Whereas in some parts of the world these plates are pushing together and riding over each other, in this part of the world they are tending more to separate, so that the magma, on which the plates ride, can make its way up along the joint planes and erupt at the surface.

Map of Iceland showing major volcanoes (The Times of London)

Now what the picture is concerned about is that generally when Eyjaflallajokull erupts so does Kalta, which is right next door. But Katla is a larger system and the eruption is generally much more severe.

Unfortunately what has also to be considered is that there are a whole line of craters, not shown on this map, between Katla and Vatnajokull, which are also a worry. Laki, an even greater threat than Katla, lies along this line.

Iceland’s Laki volcano erupted in 1783, freeing gases that turned into smog. The smog floated across the Jet Stream, changing weather patterns. Many died from gas poisoning in the British Isles. Crop production fell in western Europe. Famine spread. . . . . . .

The winter of 1784 was also one of the longest and coldest on record in North America. New England reported a record stretch of below-zero temperatures and New Jersey reported record snow accumulation. The Mississippi River also reportedly froze in New Orleans.

It is at the orange flag in this picture.

(Google Earth)

There is a line of eruption calderas from Katla up to Laki, which is up around Skaftareldar.
The 3.5 earthquake I wrote about on Bit Tooth Energy lies beyond Laki on the line from Eyjaflallajokull, and was centered further north in the Vatnajokull. Some have blamed the weather created by the eight-month eruption of Laki as a possible contributory cause to the French Revolution.

An eruption of that length, ejecting as much material as it may into the atmosphere, would have consequences that go beyond just the ability to survive the noxious gaseous clouds.

The impact of the dust is shown in this picture from the British Met Office, which shows that plume reaching down past Scotland:

Dust cloud passing Scotland (Met Office)

And the consequent distribution at different levels of the atmosphere.

High and low level ash distribution (Met Office via the Guardian)

The agriculture of Europe would be damaged by a prolonged eruption with this distribution, and with it the possible production of biodiesel. Consider that the growth of rapeseed (canola) around the world has been steadily rising over the past few years.

With European countries sitting just behind the leaders.

Somewhere over 4 million metric tons of the crop currently goes to producing biodiesel, mainly in Europe. (Heading up towards 100,000 bd). Losing a year of that crop (and large scale volcanic activity can have an impact for over four years on the climate and the ground chemistry), particularly given the current possible approach of the peaking of conventional oil production, could have an unanticipated impact on overall liquid fuel availability and price.

Unfortunately rapeseed is only one of the crops that will be affected, and the significant drop in crop yields does not appear to be getting much attention yet.

Beyond that, there should be a little concern for the wind turbines that are now dotted over the horizon. The concern is with the speed at which the tips travel through the air. The air, that looks clean, will contain small particles of very sharp glass and other volcanic ejecta, that are the primary cause for the grounding of aircraft across Europe. While the aircraft can see very sudden loss in engine power, because of the high speeds with which they encounter the clouds, and the volumes of debris sucked into engines that then fail. (There are also video explanations.)

Wind wing tip speeds have been projected to be in the range from 264 ft/sec to 326 ft/sec. At impact speeds over 120 ft/sec the particles from the eruption will start to erode the blades of the turbine. If the eruption continues for weeks, and the turbines rotate in that atmosphere (which looks clear to normal vision) then they will lose surface quality, and perhaps the particles will enter into the generators (as they do on aircraft) doing significant damage.

Thus, beyond the initial inconvenience of the loss of a way to fly (bearing in mind I am supposed to fly to Europe myself soon), there are the longer concerns over both the crops this summer and for the next four, and for the longer term health of the turbines. All in all it is a reminder that there is never a time that Nature, with a little nudge, cannot remind us of the risks of complacency.

Join the conversation about this story »

Last Sunday’s post “What are your favorite climate and energy soundbites? drew dozens of comments that are a must read for anyone who speaks on this subject.  I will definitely use and/or adapt some of those suggestions.

Now I’m looking for something a little more specific — pithy metaphors and jokes, maybe two sentences at most.

Metaphors are the Rolls Royce of figures. Or, to put it more aptly, metaphors are the Toyota Prius of figures because a metaphor is a hybrid, connecting two dissimilar things to achieve a unique turn of phrase.

Aristotle wrote in Poetics, “To be a master of metaphor is a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies intuitive perception of the similarity in dissimilars” (see “How to be as persuasive as Lincoln, 3“).

A 2005 study on “Presidential Leadership and Charisma: The Effects of Metaphor” examined the use of metaphors in the first-term inaugural addresses of three dozen presidents who had been independently rated for charisma. The remarkable conclusion:

Charismatic presidents used nearly twice as many metaphors (adjusted for speech length) than non-charismatic presidents.

Additionally, when students were asked to read a random group of inaugural addresses and highlight the passages they viewed as most inspiring, “even those presidents who did not appear to be charismatic were still perceived to be more inspiring when they used metaphors.”

One of the comments in the earlier post by Dan Miller of Climate Place offered this metaphor:

“If your child has cancer, you’re going to take him or her to a pediatric oncologist, not a dentist or an ophthalmologist. And if the oncologist says your child needs treatment, you’re not going to withhold it because the doctor is only 95% certain of the diagnosis or the fact that the doctor will earn money from providing the treatment. The climate scientists are the experts that are telling us we need to take action now. To withhold treatment is to endanger the future of our children.”

It’s not bad, but from my perspective it’s too long and too quantitative — and possible too strong — to be effective as a metaphor in most situation.  I’d go with something more like, “When your child has a severe fever, you take him to a pediatrician, not a dentist or optometrist.”  And you can take that metaphor many places depending on the situation.

I’m certainly open to an extended metaphor.  It is, after all, How Lincoln framed his picture-perfect Gettysburg Address.  They are, however, much tougher to do well and much more likely to run amomk.

Also, I’d love a good joke or two.  I’m looking for stuff that can be used in a short speech or possibly even an interview or possibly a comeback in a FoxNews interview situation (though something friendly enough that one would get invited back).

I’m looking for material that covers not just climate change, but oil and clean energy and even the politics of this issue.

Related Posts:

• The rhetoric gap: Can Obama give ‘em Hell (and High Water) before it’s too late?

Lynne Kiesling

I’m overly eager for the new album from The National, so much so that when I looked at the release date I paid attention to the day and not the month. Doh! So now I have to wait until MAY 11, grrrr. Two other great bands, LCD Soundsystem and Band of Horses, have albums coming out on May 18. Mid-May will be a deluge of great new music! But can I make the two new National tracks I’ve got quell my anticipation?

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