WEEKEND SKY SHOW

I saw this last night, believe me the picture doesn't do it justice!
This weekend's triangular conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the crescent Moon was just as good as advertised. On the beach at Edgecomb Pond in Bolton Landing, New York, amateur astronomer John Cordiale found the bright threesome surrounded by a 22o ice halo:
"I was photographing the alignment when high thin clouds rolled in," says Cordiale. "They threatened to ruin the view, but then this halo encircled Jupiter, Venus and the Moon, framing them perfectly."
As the week unfolds, the Moon will leave Jupiter and Venus behind, but the show isn't over. The two planets are converging for a close encounter on March 12th and 13th--an event so nice it has been described in a NASA news release. Until then, browse the images below.
More images here 

Siberian earthquake and mysterious blasts in the Kemerovo Region reminiscent of the 30 June 1908 Tunguska Event

I can't confirm or deny this, however the 6:8 magnitude did happen and I read reports last week of mysterious blasts/booms in the region.....
An unsettling report prepared by Viktor Seleznyov, director of the Geophysical Institute at the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS), on the 6.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the Tyva Republic in Russia’s East Siberia earlier today warns that more seismic activity should be expected within the coming weeks and that this event is part of an ever increasing body of evidence pointing to a “rapid” shifting in our Earth’s magnetic poles.
Director Seleznyov, and other SB RAS scientists, have been increasingly concerned over the past fortnight about this region after the 9 February and 12 February “mysterious blasts” in the Kemerovo Region reminiscent of the 30 June 1908 Tunguska Event that remains the largest explosion of its type in modern times that for over a century has yet to be fully explained.
The “common linkage” between these mysterious explosions and increasing seismic events in Siberia, this report says, is due to the rapid shifting of our Earth’s magnetic North Pole that has doubled in the last 50 years, and in the 1990s “picked up speed in a big way,” bolting north–northwest into the Arctic Ocean at more than 55 kilometers per year.
To the most immediate effect upon our Earth due to this “magnetic pole anomaly,” this report continues, has been the “strange disruption” of the jet stream over the Northern Hemisphere that on the North American side has produced the driest and warmest winter weather in recorded history, but on the European side has caused record-setting cold and snow that has claimed over 650 lives.
Full story here

Hawaii: Big Island Mystery Booms Amid Earthquake Swarm + Police Scanner Audio

""We haven't seen event rates this high or this size of earthquakes become this large since 2006," said Wes Thelen, the US Geological Survey's Seismic Network Director.
The USGS's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory recorded over 60 earthquakes (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Maps/special/Hawaii_eqs.php) strong enough to be located beneath Kilauea, over a dozen of which were greater than a magnitude 2.0; the largest was a magnitude 3.2 earthquake.
"We are still seeing increased rates of seismisity in that area. We just had a magnitude 2.4 come through during the course of this call," Thelen said.
Previous earthquake "swarms" have occurred at this same spot near the boundary between Mauna Loa and Kilauea Volcanos in 1990, 1993, 1997 and 2006.
The USGS received about ten reports from residents who felt Wednesday's swarm.
"I was at home on my computer at about 8:40 and coincidentally I was blogging about the earthquakes that were happening throughout that time, all of a sudden a loud boom and a half-second later, my house shook," said Pahoa resident Damon Tucker.
Damon Tucker was about 30 miles away in Pahoa. However, he's never heard an explosion before an earthquake. He was told Hawaii County Civil Defense said the "boom" cannot be explained."
Video here 

Police break up Orlando Nike rush!

More than 100 police officers, some in riot gear, broke up a Florida crowd after shoppers waiting for new Nike shoe rushed towards the store.
Authorities say there were no injuries or arrests, but the midnight shoe release was cancelled.
In the state of Maryland, one person was arrested for disorderly conduct as a crowd waited outside a Nike outlet.
The $220 (£139) limited-edition shoe was released on the eve of the NBA All-Star basketball in Orlando, Florida.
Helicopter spotlight As crowds gathered on Thursday night, officials from the Florida Sheriff's Office, the Orlando Police Department and Florida Highway Patrol told them to wait in a car park opposite the shop.
Eventually one person ran towards the Foot Locker store, prompting others to follow, the Orlando Sentinel newspaper reported.
Police used shields to push back the crowd and more officers arrived with riot gear, some on motorcycles or on horseback. A helicopter with a spotlight was also called in.
The disturbance is not the first time a high-profile retail event has ended in unrest.
There were multiple disturbances across the US in December as shoppers lined up for a new version of the Nike Air Jordan shoe.
On Black Friday, the day after the US holiday of Thanksgiving, the start of the US holiday shopping season was marred by shootings and pepper-sprayings as bargain-hunters stampeded stores.
More here 

US: Mystery Grows As More Livestock Dies In Maury County

Tennessee -- Horses are dying and now cattle as well and detectives in Maury County have been at a loss to explain how or why it is happening. First, seven seemingly healthy horses turned up dead last week at a Hampshire farm in Maury County. The state performed a necropsy and released the results.

"They ruled that it's undetermined. The cause of death cannot be determined at this time. It is a mystery. We don't know what happened," said Detective Terry Chandler with the Maury County Sheriff's Department.
Now Detective Chandler is investigating more deaths: Two dead cows at a farm across from the one where the seven horses were found. And he's consulting with police looking into more mysterious horse deaths in Dickson and Giles county.
Chandler said there is no evidence anyone is intentionally harming the animals.
He said they have not ruled out the possibility the livestock died from eating contaminated hay or a poison plant. It's possible the toxins were not detected by the state testing.
Full story here