10 Natural Oddities

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A recent article on CNN.com talked about various natural oddities around the world.  While I haven’t gotten to see too many of them, I have ambitions to see as many of them as I can before I die.

In Antarctica, there is a blood-red waterfall staining the otherwise white ice of Taylor Glacier.  This was first seen by geographer Thomas Griffith Taylor, after whom Taylor glacier is named.  According to glaciologists and microbiologists, this waterfall’s red hue is due to an underground lake rich in iron.

In chilly Moncton, New Brunswick, there is a “magnetic hill”, that makes cars roll backward up the hill without power.  Nobody knows exactly why this is, and since its discovery in the 1930s, the “magnetic hill” has proven to be a major tourist attraction.

The Moeraki Boulders of New Zealand

Before 1963, the island of Surtsey, off the coast of Iceland, didn’t even exist.  However, an underwater volcano in the Westman Islands erupted, and when the volcanic activity finally settled in 1967, a small island, only 1 square mile, had seemingly emerged from the deep.  Since its “creation”, Surtsey has been eroded to half of its original size due to wind and water.  The Icelandic government has worked tirelessly to conserve the island, and therefore it is off limits to visitors.

Scattered across Koekohe Beach on the east coast of New Zealand South Island are large spherical boulders, formed millions of years ago on the ancient sea floor.  Over the years, these boulders have collected and hardened sediment and minerals around a core such as a fossil or shell, much like how Oysters form pearls.  While the “Moeraki Boulders” aren’t the only example of this, they are some of the largest examples in the world.

Between late April and the end of August, the sun never sets over Svalbard, an archipelago in the Arctic Sea.  This phenomenon messes with many peoples’ body clocks, and many people lose track of what time of the day (or night) it is.

While it might look snowy, Pamukkale, Turkey, is actually covered in calcium carbonate deposits from 17 natural hot springs.  This area near present-day Denizli has been a destination for those who sought the therapeutic benefits of the mineral-rich springs, whose temperatures reach over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

In 1915, a prospector and his wife noticed tracks over the “Racetrack Playa” in Death Valley, California, that seemed to indicate that the stones there had traveled across the dry earth.  Since this was first discovered, nobody knows exactly what happened with the stones; theories abound, ranging from cosmic intervention to aliens.  However, scientists think that ice formed around the stones caused them to move and leave a trail in their wake.

Behind a small waterfall in Orchard Park, right outside of Buffalo, New York, there appears to be a flickering flame.  This is caused by a leak in the rock behind the waterfall, which allows 1 kilogram of methane gas to escape to the surface every day.

Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming has the highest concentration of geysers in any place in the world.  The most famous of these geysers is “Old Faithful”, which erupts every 55 to 120 minutes for two to five minutes.

The excessive lightning over Lake Maracaibo.

Because of its humidity, elevation and the clash of winds from the mountains and the sea, the southwestern corner of Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela has the highest frequency of lightning activity in the world.  Lightning flashes fill the sky more than 200 nights per year, sometimes with 25 or more flashes every minute.  To give you an idea of how huge this is, the National Weather Service classifies anything more than 12 strikes per minute as “excessive”.

Worker Centers

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These Latino workers, members of a workers’ center, cheer.

According to a recent article in the New York Times, business organizations are now mounting an aggressive campaign to curb “worker centers”.  As America’s labor unions have lost members and power, these new types worker advocacy groups have sprouted, pressing businesses on things like wages and working conditions.  These “worker centers” have gotten on the nerves of many businesses, who claim that they are fronts for organized labor.  According to them, these groups wrongly and unfairly demonize companies.  The US Chamber of Commerce issued a report this past November criticizing these groups.

In recent years, worker centers have spiked in prevalence, popularity and power.  Richard L. Trumka, the President of the AFL-CIO, announced that unions would start cooperating closely with these various worker centers.  This has terrified many businesses, who accuse the worker centers of using such tactics as intimidation to get what they want.  They argue that worker centers should deal with the same scrictures that labor unions do, such as detailed financial disclosure, regular election of leaders and bans on certain types of picketing.  According to them, it’s unfair that these groups are enjoying the privileges of being a union without having to deal with the regulations that come with being a union, allowing them to get away with tactics and practices that unions couldn’t.

Many of the worker centers were formed to help out immigrant workers, who had been long overlooked by unions.  So far, millions of dollars have flowed to worker centers from 21 different foundations.  Worker centers have started using strategies to antagonize business leaders who treat their workers “unfairly”, which could prove to be a dangerous strategy.  Nonetheless, many of these new organizations feel empowered by the strong reaction from these businesses, since it shows that their tactics are making them feel threatened.

Argentina Defends Claim to Malvinas

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A pair of Falkland Islanders.

Recently, ex-senator Daniel Filmus, recently made head of Argentina’s Malvinas Islands Secretariat, granted an interview to the British newspaper “The Guardian”.  According to him, Argentina will continue to defend its claim to the Falkland Islands, disputed by the United Kingdom and Argentina.  Filmus warned that companies drilling for oil off the coasts will face both administrative consequences and prison sentences, if they refuse to obtain a permit from Argentina first.

Filmus threatened that Argentina will go to international courts if need be.  According to Filmus, this is one of the few issues in Argentina on which the general populace and all political forces can agree.  Argentina recently passed a law setting sanctions on foreign companies that carry out hydrocarbon exploitation activities in the territories.  Argentinean President Kirchner has accused the British government under David Cameron, of “looting” Argentina’s natural resources in several public appearances.

While the people of the Falkland Islands wish to remain British and consider themselves British subjects, the United Nations has recognized the Falkland Island dispute as a territorial dispute and not a controversy about the observance of the inhabitants’ right to choose their mother country.  Therefore, the dispute over who controls the Falkland Islands is a decision to be made between the United Kingdom and Argentina.