useful

We live on a sphere of extremes and oddities. In fact it’s not really a sphere, but it is a wild planet, mottled with deadly volcanoes, rattled by killer earthquakes, drenched in disastrous deluges. But do you know which were the worst?
Some of Earth’s valleys dip below sea level. Mountains soar into thin air. Can you name the lowest spot? The tallest peak? Do you know how far it is to the center of the planet or what’s there? (more…)

June means the start of the Atlantic Hurricane Season. The Atlantic Basin is relatively quiet at this time. If there is going to be any development this time of year you would look in the Gulf of Mexico eastward to near the Bahamas and the western Caribbean. No immediate development is likely just an area to watch next several days for possible enhanced rainfall Florida Panhandle to southern Alabama and southern Georgia. Meanwhile, weak low pressure south of Mexico in the eastern Pacific with disorganized showers and thunderstorms is not expected to develop or organize. (more…)

Air France Flight 447 vanished in a zone of ferocious weather over the Atlantic Ocean known as the birthplace of some of the world’s strongest storms — just as the plane was encountering a 400-mile-long maze of lightning, hail, driving rain and fierce 100-mph updrafts. (more…)

President Barack Obama discussed the quest for Middle East peace and Iran’s disputed nuclear ambitions with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday before delivering a dose of “truth-telling” about the often fraught relations between Americans and Muslims.
Aides said Obama’s long-promised speech to a vast, electronically linked-in global audience would blend hopeful words about mutual understanding with carefully chosen language on Iraq, Afghanistan and the Israeli-Palestinian standoff, plus blunt talk about the need for Muslims to embrace democracy, women’s rights and economic opportunity. (more…)

A list of the named crew and passengers aboard Air France Flight 447, which crashed in the Atlantic Ocean en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris carrying 228 people: (more…)

A 12-mile oil slick near where an Air France jet crashed Monday into the Atlantic Ocean indicates the plane likely didn’t break up until it hit the water, Brazil’s defense minister said Wednesday.
Image released by the Brazilian Air Force shows oil slicks in the water near a debris site. (more…)

Air France has told families of passengers aboard Flight 447 to abandon any hope of survivors. (more…)