Google Says Gmail Attack Focused on Iranian Targets

Google said late Sunday that an attack mounted against its Gmail service targeted users primarily located in Iran, although the company has taken steps to block further interception attempts.

Hurricane Prompts AT&T, Verizon to Safeguard Wireless Networks

U.S. wireless telephone companies said they are preparing for Hurricane Irene a day after regulators expressed concern that clogged mobile-phone networks slowed emergency calls after this week’s earthquake in Virginia.

Nigeria U.N. office hit by huge bomb

A large explosion struck the United Nations' main office in Nigeria's capital Friday, flattening one wing of the building.

What If Warm Weather Is Causing Wars?

Tempers flaring during heat waves is nothing new, but what does that scale across populations? Can unusually warm weather help cause wars?

Steve Jobs Steps Down as CEO of Apple Inc

Steve Jobs has stepped down as CEO of Apple

The 10 Strangest Things You Can Do With a Smartphone

There’s no question that smartphones are practical tools. With apps that let you do everything from transfer money to find directions, they’re fast becoming indispensable to many Americans. And this is just the beginning: According to a survey published last week, so far only 35 percent of us own one.

Ring of Antimatter Found in Earth's Orbit

The earth has a ring of antimatter encircling it

A 5.9 magnitude earthquake jolted the East Coast, rattling people from Martha's Vineyard to Washington, D.C. to North Carolina, prompting the evacuation of Congressional buildings, slowing rail and air traffic, and taking two nuclear reactors offline.

The earthquake sent people pouring out of office buildings, hospitals, the Pentagon and the State Department. The pillars of the capitol in Washington, D.C. shook. Alarms sounded in the FBI and Department of Justice buildings, and some flooding was reported on an upper floor of the Pentagon as a result of the quake.

Parks and sidewalks in Washington were packed with people who fled their buildings. Police on horseback are keeping people a safe distance from getting too close to the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial.

Officials are inspecting Congressional buildings before members of Congress and their staff can return to their offices.

The quake was felt as far north as New Hampshire and in Martha's Vineyard where President Obama and his family are vacationing. It was felt as far south as South Carolina.

No significant damage or fatalities have been reported. Some injuries have been reported in Washington D.C., the fire department spokesman told the Associated Press. In New York City, the fire department said that they are receiving a surge in calls but have had no serious building damage reported.

Authorities in New York and Washington said cell phone traffic was so heavy that it hampered their ability to respond to emergencies.

The epicenter of the quake was near Mineral, Va., 39 miles from Richmond, Va., and 85 miles from the nation's capital. The quake was .6 miles deep.

According to convertalot.com, a web site which compiles measurements and calculators for a variety of statistics, the magnitude 5.9 earthquake released energy equivalent to the explosion of 10,676 tons of TNT.

The epicenter of the quake is very close to two Dominion Power nuclear power plants, North Anna 1 and 2.

Rare 5.9 East Coast Earthquake

Elizabeth Stuckle, spokesperson for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said that the reactors were "automatically and safely shut down." The plant declared an "unusual event" which is the lowest category of four emergency classifications. Back-up generators automatically kicked in to keep the reactors cool, the NRC said.

Nine other nuclear plants on the East coast declared an "unusual event," but were none shut down.

The East Coast gets earthquakes from time to time, but rarely of a magnitude to make skyscrapers sway.

Paul Segall, a Stanford geophysicist who studies the structure and development of earthquake faults, called today's shaker "a significant earthquake for that part of the world. It could do significant damage."

"I can't remember an event that large on the East Coast," he said.

The tremblor affected travel in the region.

Amtrak said it was running at reduced speed and was checking tracks and terminals for damage. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority said the Metro is moving at 15 miles per hour as inspectors check all tracks.

Officials at Reagan National Airport in Washington and JFK International Airport in New York temporarily halted flights and the control towers at Reagan, JFK and Newark International airports was temporarily evacuated. The delay will cause slow air traffic throughout the region, the Federal Aviation Administration warned.

A woman who works at Mineral Barber Shop in Mineral, Va. said that the inside of her shop is a mess but there doesn't appear to be any major damage outside the town square.

People in the New York Times building on 42nd street in Manhattan said they felt the entire building shift, and watched office furniture move. As the tall buildings in New York swayed, people ran out into the street.

The New York City Criminal Court in lower Manhattan was also evacuated.

The earthquake felt along the eastern corridor follows an earthquake felt Monday in Colorado. That 5.3 magnitude earthquake struck near Trinidad, Colorado.

The United States' Geological Survey said that earthquakes have been felt in the central Virginia area since 1774.

I will continue to post updates as news comes in.  If anyone has any details about the quakes, please feel free to share them.

On the Flimsy Nature of Money

I was reading the Economist today when I was granted a flash, a fleeting glimpse, at insight into the tenuousness hold on reality that we give money.

Hurricane Irene gets stronger, projected as Category 4

A strengthening Hurricane Irene is expected to near the Southeast Florida coast early Friday morning, and a chunk of Broward and Palm Beach counties remain in the storm’s projected path.

At 8 a.m., the National Hurricane Center reported that Irene had sustained winds near 100 mph as it lashed the northern coast of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The Category 2 storm continued to move north-northwest at 10 mph and is expected to make a turn toward the northwest on Wednesday, thrashing the central Bahamas.

Forecasters issued a hurricane watch for the northern coast of Haiti from Le Mole St. Nicholas eastward to the border. Turks and Caucos Islands, the Bahamas and the rest of Haiti are under a hurricane warning.

Over the next few days, forecasters expect the storm to grow more dangerous and damaging, as it intensifies into a major Category 3 hurricane by Thursday afternoon.

At that point, the official forecast track would put Irene — potentially churning 115 mph winds — near Andros Island and about 130 miles southeast of Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Winds extend up to 50 miles outward from the core. The storm could increase to Category 4 strength by Friday.

On Monday, Irene had began to ease away from the northwestern Caribbean, leaving nearly one million people in the dark in Puerto Rico, a billionaire’s mansion torched by lightning in the British Virgin Islands and fears of a dark night of drenching rain and floods across Hispaniola.

Unfortunately, that appeared to be only a warm-up for worse.

South Florida remained in the cone of probability, though trends in computer models suggested the thereat was lessening here and increasing for the Carolinas.

Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the hurricane center, said Irene’s projected path paralleling the Florida coast meant that a slight wobble or delay in an expected northward turn could push the powerful core from offshore onto a densely developed shoreline.

“The stakes are high because it would take just a slight shift in the track to the left to make a dramatic change in the impact of the storm in a hugely populated area,’’ he said.

The impact could be serious wherever Irene makes landfall. With little but warm water and favorable winds in its path, forecasters expected the storm to steadily intensify. Along with gusts and heavy rains, Irene also will be pushing a five- to eight-foot storm surge into the southeastern Bahamas that could reach seven to 11 feet by the time it reaches the Central Bahamas.

Even as a tropical storm, Irene proved damaging. There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries in the northwestern Caribbean, but its passage across Puerto Rico plunged half the island into darkness.

Things began returning to normal in Puerto Rico late in the day, with San Juan’s major shopping mall reopening, but dozens of roads remained impassable and several communities were flooded or cut off. At least three rivers had burst their banks. The Plata River was most worrisome, authorities said.

“As long as it is still raining in the mountains, we’re still worried,” Gov. Luis Fortuño told El Nuevo Día newspaper.

Puerto Rico Emergency operations director Mauricio Rivera told The Miami Herald that by late Monday afternoon, more than half the island still had no electricity and 28 percent of the population was without running water. The island of Vieques remained completely without power.

“I call what we had an ‘almost-hurricane,’ ” Rivera said. “It brought a lot of rain, a lot of wind, and quite a few electrical poles fell and so did trees. The situation is returning to normal. It’s raining, but mostly just drizzling.’’

Still, callers bombarded local radio stations with complaints, reiterating that the island would not be prepared for a stronger storm.

“Every time two drops fall, we’re left without electricity,” a caller told Radio Isla. “And I’m talking about Guaynabo City, not some rural countryside.”

South Florida airports reported 26 cancellations due to the hurricane.

In the British Virgin Islands, billionaire Richard Branson, the flamboyant owner of Virgin Air, reported that his luxury home went up in flames during Irene’s passage, forcing actress Kate Winslet and about 20 other guests to flee.

Branson, reported the blaze and posted photos on his personal blog, citing a lightning strike as the tropical storm raked Necker Island around 4 a.m. Monday. None of the 20 guests were hurt, he said, and Winslet, an Oscar-winner who became a star with her appearance in the 1997 movie Titanic, pitched in to help his 90-year-old mother evacuate.

Though Irene’s jog northwest put its strongest winds and heaviest rains off the coast of Hispaniola, the Dominican Republic and Haiti still were bracing for heavy rains along the north region, with three to six inches projected and more in spots, but also hoping that Irene’s jog north would limit potentially deadly flooding and mudslides.

In Haiti, the greatest threat wasn’t in the capital city filled with some 600,000 earthquake refugees but in the northern region where past storms have triggered flooding and mudslides that have killed thousands.

"In the coming days, we can have flooding throughout Haiti," Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, the head of the Civil Protection Department said.

"Let’s fight so we can save lives. Let’s take precautions."

Flooding also could worsen the country’s cholera epidemic, which has already left 6,000 Haitians dead.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/23/2371014_p2/hurricane-irene-lashing-northern.html#ixzz1Vr4Nnv6e

Tobacco Companies Sue over Graphic Warning Labels

Faced with putting graphic anti-smoking images on their packs and cartons, tobacco companies have filed suit to overturn the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) new requirements on the marketing of cigarettes.

London Rioting

British Home Secretary Theresa May says the number of people arrested in rioting in London has reached 215.

May says 27 people have been charged so far in the unrest and looting that has stretched over three days. Police said 35 police officers were injured.

Historic Downgrade of US

If you haven't heard, Standard & Poor's (S&P) downgraded the US's credit rating for the first time ever from AAA to AA+ last week.  What does this really mean though?