I am sure we can all agree on this one! Except that they probably killed the bears...damn it, I have failed.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100921/tsc-oukoe-uk-redsea-011ccfa.html

Wind could have parted Red Sea for Moses

Moses might not have parted the Red Sea, but a strong east wind that blew through the night could have pushed the waters back in the way described in biblical writings and the Koran, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

Computer simulations, part of a larger study on how winds affect water, show wind could push water back at a point where a river bent to merge with a coastal lagoon, the team at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research and the University of Colorado at Boulder said.

"The simulations match fairly closely with the account in Exodus," Carl Drews of NCAR, who led the study, said in a statement.

"The parting of the waters can be understood through fluid dynamics. The wind moves the water in a way that's in accordance with physical laws, creating a safe passage with water on two sides and then abruptly allowing the water to rush back in."

Religious texts differ a little in the tale, but all describe Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt ahead of a pharaoh's armies around 3,000 years ago. The Red Sea parts to let Moses and his followers pass safely, then crashes back onto the pursuers, drowning them.

Drews and colleagues are studying how Pacific Ocean typhoons can drive storm surges and other effects of strong and sustained winds on deep water.

His team pinpointed a possible site south of the Mediterranean Sea for the legendary crossing, and modelled different land formations that could have existed then and perhaps led to the accounts of the sea appearing to part.

The model requires a U-shaped formation of the Nile River and a shallow lagoon along the shoreline. It shows that a wind of 63 miles per hour, blowing steadily for 12 hours, could have pushed back waters 6 feet (2 metres) deep.

"This land bridge is 3-4 km (2 to 2.5 miles) long and 5 km (3 miles) wide, and it remains open for 4 hours," they wrote in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE.

"People have always been fascinated by this Exodus story, wondering if it comes from historical facts," Drews said. "What this study shows is that the description of the waters parting indeed has a basis in physical laws."

Police in New Zealand burning off seized cannabis were left red-faced when a change in the wind sent smoke billowing over a primary school, it was reported Tuesday.

Officers in the South Island town of Picton were destroying cannabis and shredded paper in an incinerator at the local police station when the incident occurred, the Marlborough Express newspaper reported.

It said St Joseph's School principal Peter Knowles noticed the smoke on Friday morning and complained to police, who immediately extinguished the fire.

Senior Sergeant Peter Payne said a small amount of cannabis was in the incinerator when the wind changed direction and unexpectedly took the smoke over the school.

"A big gust just came and took it in a different direction. It can't be helped, it's just an act of nature," he told the newspaper.

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So I was reading the long explanation for why Facebook was down today (I don't use the site, but was interested in the technical and PR ramifications).  They have this long detailed explanation, I go down to the 4th user comment and see this: (so funny -- I had to read it 4 times before I got what she was saying) I was amazed that anyone would care that facebook was down, guess I was wrong, some serious shit can happen when people don't have facebook.

Diana Arthur-Leetch Thanks for keeping us updated but I am a bit ticked off because in Cafe World where I was running with the clock on getting my Sunday Brunch a 3 star rating and I only got a 2 star rating for my boyfriend as he works and I help him on his computer.

link: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=431441338919&id=9445547199&ref=mf&_fb_noscript=1

Wat?

Bank robbery in Miami today, it worked and it was actually a pretty smart plan. I still hope the bastards get caught.

http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/21002304253162/

The FBI has confirmed that everyone is safe after a man was kidnapped and forced to rob the bank where he works.

Just after 12 noon, police confirmed the individual, who they said is a bank teller, was removed from inside the Bank of America on 1500 South Dixie Highway. Police confirmed that this person had a device strapped to him that he was told held explosives. "We did have a subject at one point that had a device on him," said Coral Gables Police spokesperson Jeannette Frevola.

Coral Gables Police Chief Richard Naue explained that three men had broken into the teller's Kendall home, just after midnight, earlier that day. "The individual was abducted at his residence at Kendall Drive and held until the early morning hours," Naue said.

Naue said they held the teller and his father hostage until around opening time for the bank. Two of the men then reportedly drove the teller to the bank at around 8:15 in the morning. The third man stayed at the Kendall home with the father, in the meantime. Naue said the father would later be released uninjured.

Naue said when the two suspects arrived with their captive, they sent him inside the bank with the device strapped to his body. FBI Assistant special agent Dena E. Choucair said, "There were bomb making materials in that device. The device was strapped onto the victim."

Naue explained that the suspects never entered the bank, but sent the victim in with orders. He said, they told him, "'We have a remote triggering device, and we want you to get as much as you can and bring it to us.'"

The teller would then approach the manger inside the bank to ask for the money on behalf of the robbers waiting for him outside the bank. "The branch manager was appraised of the situation and she cooperated," Naue said. "They were asked to remove a large sum of money from the vault."

Naue said when the teller exited the bank and handed an undisclosed amount of money to the pair, they fled in what was believed to be a red Mustang.

Choucair said she could not yet reveal descriptions of the suspects and could not yet verify whether the vehicle was indeed a red Mustang but said, "They were actually three suspects, males with their faces covered."

It was soon after the suspects fled the scene that police were called out, at around 8:30 a.m. Everyone was safely evacuated from the bank, except for the teller, who had the device strapped to his body. SWAT team members as well as the bomb squad were called to the scene, and they made contact with the teller inside the bank to verify what happened.

After police verified the events that occurred leading up to the robbery, the bomb squad was able to free the employee of the supposed explosive device and Coral Gables Police safely took him into custody as a precaution and questioned him further. "The individual has been brought out, and he is being questioned," said Frevola. The bomb squad then handed over the device to the FBI who plan to examine it further.

The FBI spokesperson called the MO of the robbers "unusual" and said she has no information that this sort of bank robbery has occurred in the area. "No other banks were robbed pertaining to this incident, at this time," Choucair said.

At least everyone is ok. The home invasion happened around where I live.