Representation of atmospheric pressure. Link below for source.

Atmospheric pressure, put quite simply, is the power that air molecules exert against a surface. Contrary to what we may see and feel, 'air' does have mass, meaning it is comprised of different molecules, and those molecules feel the need to constantly move randomly around and put pressure on other molecules around them. In other words, air wants to occupy the most space possible, and so it exerts pressure. The only reason why most objects don't become completely squashed is because those objects have molecules of their own that push back against the air, balancing out the pressure.
Atmospheric pressure is much more dense at sea-level, and becomes less 'stuffy' the higher up in the atmosphere. The weight of air pushes down on the air underneath it, and so, a lot of air can be considered as trapped between air and a hard place. The higher up you go, the more scattered the air is, which is why when climbing a mountain you will notice that breathing becomes harder. There is simply less air to breathe.
Atmospheric pressure is actually a unit of pressure, calculated in Inches of Mercury, or Millibars, as well as a few less used units.

A mercury barometer. Link below for source.

Inches of Mercury is a column of mercury marked off with inch markings. The normal atmospheric pressure at sea level is 29.92 inches. Many weather forecasts use this method of measuring. It is better known as a barometer, although barometers do not necessarily use mercury. Most use water in place of the volatile liquid. A barometer is a little reservoir of liquid, be it water of mercury, with a pipe-like column standing in the middle. The column is closed at the top, and when atmospheric pressure pushes down on the open reservoir, the liquid rises in the tube, and using measurement marks, the pressure can be calculated.
Millibars are the same as bars, but at one thousandth of them. A bar, from the Greek 'baros' meaning weight, is a general unit of pressure used to express the amount of force it takes to move an object weighing one gram, being one centimeter, in one second. The normal atmospheric pressure at sea level is 1013.2 millibars. Millibars are used on weather indicating maps, mostly.
When forecasting weather, low atmospheric pressure, i.e. when the air is too scattered and therefore not heavy enough to push down on more air, usually means that the sky will be clear and the weather agreeable. On the other hand, high atmospheric pressure, i.e. when the air is very dense and is even heavier than normal, trapping a lot more air at ground level than usual, indicates bad weather, such as precipitation and storms. Pressure changes according to the density of air molecules, which in turn changes in accordance to temperature. When molecules get warmed up, they vibrate more violently, thus pushing other molecules away more efficiently. In the end, the air molecules end up very spaced out and scattered, giving us low atmospheric pressure. The exact opposite is true. When the molecules cool down, their pressure is constricted and thus they end up packed close together, resulting in high atmospheric pressure. Atmospheric pressure changes constantly, but it does so so minutely that the changes are not observable.

Atmospheric Pressure Representation Photo
Barometer Photo

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Don Valley Parkway

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Area affected

The Bou'in-Zahra earthquake happened on the 22nd of June, 2002. With a magnitude of 6.3, it happened in a northwestern region of Iran. The region that was hit lies just above the gap between the Arabian Plate and the Eurasian Plate, and it has minor quakes on a daily basis. This particular earthquake caused quite some damage; it started at 07:28 (Iran Standard Time), when most people affected were still at home. The quake lasted a total of seven seconds, but seconds can be deadly with powerful shaking. Even though the big earthquake lasted seconds, there were more than twenty aftershocks.
The numbers are 261 dead, 1,500 injured, and an estimate of 25,000 made homeless. There was also about 5,000 buildings completely destroyed without hope of repair. More damage occurred with the aftershocks too, the strongest one reaching 5.1 on the Richter Scale. The historic Kharaqan towers, which were 900 years old, just collapsed, leading to believe that an earthquake as powerful as the Bou'in-Zahra one hadn't happened in 900 years. There was also damage to water supplies and water pipes, causing low water quantity and quality. Total damage costs amounted to 63,000,000 euros (63 million).
As with any natural disaster, help and people were sent by charities and organisations. Even George Bush, president at the time, offered his help, but Iran refused to aquiesce his request. Bush had previously called Iran an 'axis of evil'. The country did accept gladly any help it was given from non-governmental agencies though. Within three days of the accident, electricity was back up and in August 2003, the crisis was considered over and most of the damage was repaired, after a four month delay due to jarring weather.

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The Farthest South was a term used to describe the furthest southernly points explorers reached, before the South Pole was reached. Although many explorers ventured south, this post will only discuss those that actually searched for the most southern points, and those that came near the Arctic circle. We start with Captain James Cook, who went searching for the Terra Australis, a rumored sort of promised land way down in the south, where fertile soil would be plentiful. James Cook left England in September 1772. With two ships, he and his crew managed to sail to Cape Town and continued due south from there, but heavy winds brought them to the east, where they encountered the first pack ice. They managed to make their way through and became the first crew to reach the Arctic Circle. However, the ice became impenetrable and they all retreated to New Zealand. They had reached 66°20'S. Cook and Co. went for another try and he went past the Arctic Circle, reaching 77°10'S before continuation being truly impossible. On the 30th of January, the Farthest South became 77°10'S, and it  would hold for 49 years.

Many more went down south after Cook, some discovering new islands, others making no discernable accomplishments. Cook's record kept its place until James Weddell tried his luck at finding the Aurora Islands in 1819, which proved to be non-existant. Regardless of the failure in that sense, Weddell came home (England) with plenty of seal skins and a new record by a very small margin. For sometime it was questioned whether Weddell actually broke the record, but it has since then been affirmed.

James Clark Ross

The next time the Farthest South would expand was with James Clark Ross. He departed on an extensive Royal Naval expedition on the 30th of September 1839, the principle purpose to test out emerging theories on magnetism. He departed from England to Tasmania, and there he began to head south where he would surpass Weddell's record. He discovered new islands and two volcanoes along the way, however, he was eventually faced with the Great Ice Barrier, now known as the Ross Ice Shelf after Ross himself. He followed the coast of this great mass of ice, but with no where to anchor, he returned to Tasmania. He set out again, and brought luck with him, as he found a small inlet which allowed him to bring the Farthest South to 78°09'30"S. Even though Ross couldn't find the South Magnetic Pole, or even land on the Antarctic, he was still knighted on his return to England in 1843.
The record is broken 58 years later when Norwegian-born Carsten Egeberg Borchgrevink (living in Australia) would join a whaling expedition lead by Henryk Bull. The group became the first to land on the Antarctic, at Cape Adare. Borchgrevink vowed to return, and he did, returning to Cape Adare and continued along, discovering that the Great Ice Barrier that stopped Ross had moved by 48 kilometers. They landed again further down, only with sled dogs, and became the first to sleigh ride on the continent. On the 16th of February 1900, the Farthest South was extended to 78°50'S. However, despite all these accomplishments, Borchgrevink wasn't received with much praise. He was almost ignored, simply because all these new records and new information weren't done and discovered by an English naval officer.

Amundsen and his crew at the South Magnetic Pole

Robert Falcon Scott, Edward Wilson and Ernest Shackleton extended the Farthest South in 1902 to 82°17'S, approx. 370 kilometers further than Borchgrevink.
Ernest Shackleton returned to the Antarctic with the Nimrod Expedition, whose precise goal was to discover the South Magnetic Pole. He came with his party within 180 kilometers of the pole, at 88°23'S. Depleting supplies forced him to return, but he was praised as a hero when he returned to England, and was knighted.
After Shackleton, it became a race to reach the South Pole first. Robert Falcon Scott returned to the Antarctic after Shackleton, and when on his way, he was informed of a rival. Roald Amundsen had kept his plans to discover the South Pole quiet until he was well underway and communication wasn't as good on board the ship.
Amundsen used a different route to land on the continent, and he and his party of five all used their Norwegian knowledge, and their higher ice-travelling skills, as well as use of sled dogs, which allowed them to reach the South Magnetic Pole, 90°S, on the 14th of December 1911. Scott's team reached the pole 33 days later, and all died on their way back. Since James Cook in 1772, all the expeditions to further the Farthest South were British, even counting Borchgrevink, as he was sailing under the patronage of an Englishman, and was a citizen of Australia, which was very much a part of England. However, the true triumph belongs with the Norwegians, who can claim to be first to reach the South Magnetic Pole.

The table below corresponds to the map, placing records pertaining to the Farthest South, including records not mentioned in this post. Taken from Wikipedia's page on the Farthest South.

Expedition leader	Country	Latitude achieved	Location	Ref.	Date
Ferdinand Magellan	Spain	54° (approximate)	Magellan Strait	A	November 1521
Francisco de Hoces	Spain	55°59' (speculative)	Cape Horn	B	January 1526
Sir Francis Drake	England	55°59' (speculative)	Cape Horn	B	October 1578
Bartolemo and Gonzalo Garcia de Nodal	Spain	56°30'	Drake Passage: Diego Ramirez Islands	C	February 1619
James Cook	Kingdom of Great Britain	66°20'	SE of Cape Town	D	17 January 1773
James Cook	Kingdom of Great Britain	71°10'	SE of New Zealand	E	30 January 1774
James Weddell	UK	74°15'	Weddell Sea	F	20 February 1823
James Clark Ross	UK	78° (approximate)	Ross Sea	G	8 February 1841
James Clark Ross	UK	78°09'30"	Ross Sea	G	23 January 1842
Carsten Borchgrevink	UK	78°50'	Ross Ice Shelf	H	16 February 1900
Robert Falcon Scott	UK	82°17' (adj. to 82°11')	Ross Ice Shelf	I	30 December 1902
Ernest Shackleton	UK	88°23'	South Polar Plateau	J	9 January 1909
Roald Amundsen	Norway	90°	South Pole	K	14 December 1911

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Fossa, click to see full1: Fossa:

Indri

1: Fossa
This is one of the weirdest carnivores recorded, and not a lot is actually known about them. It was originally thought to be a type of primitive cat, but the fosa actually belongs to the mongoose family. Mongoose are weasel-like (although not related) small carnivores. Meerkats also belong to the Mongoose family.

2: Indri
This is the largest and loudest lemur found in Madagascar. Its ear-piercing screeches can be heard at daybreak from the treetops.

Giraffe-necked Weevil

Aye-Aye Lemur

3: Giraffe-Necked Weevil:
A wicked insect with a delicate neck. The females make use of this giraffe neck to roll up leaves in which to lay a single yellow egg, snugly fitted in its leaf nest.

4: Aye-Aye:
With a strange name, it is the most common lemur in Madagascar, but also, ironically, the hardest one to spot in the wild. Maurice, from the movie Madagascar is an overweight Aye-Aye.

Helmet Vanga

Parson's Chameleon

5: Helmet Vanga:
This bird has one of the most impressive beaks in the world, with its beautiful blue colour.

6: Parson's Chameleon:
This lizard can make one mean impression of a Triceratops, and like most chameleons, it camouflages itself, or it displays its emotions and current relationship statuses.

Flatid Leaf Bug, white larvae and red/pink adults.

Coral Reef

 
 
7: Flatid Leaf Bug:
This bug fascinating bug, when in its nymph from, resembles shredded cotton, but once grown, it turns into a bright pink petal-shaped adult.

8: Coral Reefs:
Madagascar welcomes many species of fish and colourful coral, as well as three different species of turtle.

Baobab

Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec

 
9: Baobabs:
These big trees have eight different sub-species, six of which are only found in Madagascar. An alternate name is Bottle Tree, because of its huge moisture-storing trunk. This is also the lemurs' home in the movie Madagascar.

10: Lesser Hedgehog Tenrec:
This Tenrec is no where near related to a hedgehog, but is so named because of its personality and behaviour, which resembles that of a hedgehog. It's closest relatives include the elephant, the hyrax and the aardvark.

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Whilst on my trip to France, I managed to obtain a box of mineral samples from my sister and grandfather. Among the samples was a strange looking rock, and I wanted to try and identify it and write about it. To try and identify it, I googled its description and I tried out many different rock and mineral identification keys. I even made use of Google Goggles on my Galaxy Tab, but all that showed up in the 'similar images' was grey pencil drawings of animals.

I could describe my sample as being steel grey, with a sub-metallic allure, and a very shiny surface which will turn into white when shone directly under light. The crystals are irregular, with straight edges and shapes differ from deformed cubes to deformed hexagonal shapes. The crystals are set in a brittle white stone very much resembling plaster. The crystals themselves are hard and rather heavy compared to their sizes. They can be scratched with a pocket knife with a little effort, but they do not leave a trace on paper. All the crystals have horizontal parallel whitish streaks on their surfaces.

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I came up with many possible names for my mysterious X sample, but none of them seem to quite fit. There was even a time when I suspected it to be platinum, a mineral, as I have found out, that is very rare and expensive. My hopes of being rich were quickly dissuaded when I realised it couldn't possibly be platinum. My X sample is much less bright and white than platinum samples. I also considered bourbonite, but the crystal formations are different and my X sample is not so brittle. Another possibility I considered was enargite, but enargite is way too blue and way too rectangular and even. Sperrylite was too metallic and the striations and streaks very different. And last but not least, chalcocite was too conchoidal and a little more see-through than my very much opaque X sample.

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I hope that you, dear reader, may be able to help me in my quest of naming my X sample, because I am afraid that right now, I have come to a cul-de-sac and I cannot search further for my answer. Can you tell me what in the world Sample X is?

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Sel gris

On utilise et on mange du sel tous les jours. Mais d'où vient-il, et que se passe t'il quand on en mange de trop, ce qu'on fait de plus en plus dans le monde ?
Le sel est connu depuis la préhistoire. Les hommes préhistoriques s'en servaient pour conserver la viande. Le sel devenait alors aussi précieux que l'or. De nouvelles façons de l'exploiter s'inventaient tous les jours. Les hommes construisaient des routes salières pour le transporter, et à l'époque des Romains, il devenait une monnaie d'échange. Pendant le Moyen Age, avec l'augmentation de la population, le sel devînt encore plus indispensable. C'est alors que les rois virent une opportunité de s'enrichir, et ils inventèrent la Gabelle, une taxe sur le sel. Les paysans n'étaient pas contents, mais malgré leur protestations, la taxe ne fut éliminée qu'en 1790. Après, grâce aux nouvelles technologies, le sel devenait non seulement plus facile à obtenir, mais aussi un aliment peu cher de la vie de tous les jours.

Sel rose

Mais maintenant, il est indispensable, et nous en consommons trop. Les fabricants de nourriture rajoutent du sodium dans tout (dieu seul sait pourquoi, si dieu éxiste...). De plus, nous salons notre nourriture en la cuisinant et avant de la manger. Le sel peut avoir des effets bénéfiques, mais seulement en toutes petites doses. Si on dépasse régulièrement les 5 grammes de sel maximum recommandés par jour, notre corps peut en souffrir. Le sel peut augmenter la tension artérielle, causer des troubles du rythme cardiaque, et être responsable pour la plupart des accidents cérébraux vasculaires. Il peut aussi élevé le risque d'ostéoporose. Il faut faire attention au sodium dans la nourriture, et aussi dans l'eau en bouteille.

Sel de Guérande

Malgré tout ces dangers, le sel nous est quand même indispensable. Il nous en faut pour vivre. Le sel a également des particularités au niveau du goût. C'est un exhausteur de goût quand on met les bonnes proportions. C'est vrai que quand on en met de trop, le plat est salé, mais un petit peu de sel dans le café peut le rendre moins amer, ou un petit peu de sel dans le chocolat le rend encore plus délicieux et sucré.

Le sel vient d'endroits différents, comme de la France, des Indes ou du Péru. Il peut être extrait de l'océan ou du sol. Il existe plein de sortes de sel, et le sel peut avoir des goûts complètement différents tout en étant le même genre de sel. Tout dépend de l'environment. Il y a du gros sel, du sel fin, du sel rose, gris ou blanc, et de la fleur de sel (la plus réputée venant de Guérande en Bretagne, France). Certains sels s'accommodent mieux avec certains plats, mais la plupart des gens utilisent le sel classique de mer, qui coûte moins cher.

Sel gris: http://www.efoodies.co.uk/invt/selguerande/
Sel rose: http://www.mariemetsongraindesel.net/pages-epices_et_vous-12-2.html
Fleur de sel (de Guérande): http://niftynoshing.blogspot.com/2009/11/fleur-sel-guerande-salt.html

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The amethyst is the traditional birthstone of the month of February, my month.

Amethyst Cluster

In coincidence, my mother has a cluster sample of it, which was handed down to her by her grandmother. The properties for this stone range from protection against poison to witchcraft, to spirituality and spiritual wisdom. One property every one includes, however, is the stone's healing ability. It can soothe a headache by rubbing it across the forehead, and cure insomnia by sleeping with it under the pillow. Until the 18th century, Amethyst was a very valuable gemstone, alongside diamonds, sapphires, rubies and emeralds. But then the world found a substantial amount in Brazil, and the stone has lost it's value to this day. One pigmentation, however, is considerably rare, the Deep Russian, which is a deep violet with prominent red hues. This grade of Amethyst, when one is found, receives more attention than even the highest grade sapphires or rubies, indicating, Amethyst is still valued.

Cut Deep Russian Amethyst

It can be found in Canada, USA, Brazil, South Korea, Russia, India and Zambia, along with other places.
I personally love this stone, I find the shades of violet to be extremely beautiful. It is, however, a little brittle, and dropping them on the hard ground can cause damage. I do not know which is better: the ruby, or the amethyst. One thing for sure though, I can only afford the amethyst!

Amethyst Necklace

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