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Sales of precious metal coins during the festivals in India, the world's largest consumer of gold, are higher this year as compared to last year, the Times of India reports. Many jewelers ran out of low-denomination gold and silver coins on Wednesday evening, when Dhanteras kicked off the first five days of Diwali. The coins are typically gifted during the holidays. ''Most markets are witnessing a huge crowd," Praveen Khandelwal, president of Confederation of All India Traders, told the newspaper. "Business has been much better in comparison to the past two years." Indian demand for gold typically rises by 40...

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This is already the hottest summer in Austin's history — shattering the previous record — but the sweltering city might not be done setting dubious milestones in 2009. Two more days of triple digits will tie the record for the most 100-degree temperatures in a year: 69 days of lawn-killing, air conditioner-straining heat. A typical year has 12 triple-digit days. The 1925 record appears safe for at least the next few days, with highs forecast in the 90s.

July 2009 goes down as the hottest month ever recorded, Lower Colorado River Authority meteorologist Bob Rose said Friday.

Experts in the Far East have suggested that more than one third of the current number of shipping companies may go bankrupt in 2009, because of the global economic downturn. Since the beginning of the crisis last September, at least four companies, hit by a combination of falling rates and a global capacity glut, have had to seek bankruptcy protection in order to keep trading. Exacerbating the situation is China's diminishing need for iron ore imports. Analysts suggest that shipping lines will respond by scrapping almost one third of active vessels over the next 24 months. Shipping lines trying to...

SYDNEY: Raging wildfires swept southeastern Australia on Saturday, killing at least 14 people and razing some 100 homes as scorching temperatures and gale-force winds combined into a deadly inferno, while floodwaters in the country’s sodden north continued to rise. Victoria state police said the death toll might exceed 40 as dozens of fires burned unchecked into the night. Some officials described the day as the worst in the sunburned country’s history of wildfires. More than 30,000 volunteer firefighters were battling fires after dark, when helicopters and planes that hand-dumped millions of tons of water on the flames returned to base...

The question is: what's wrong with this picture? Think for a moment and then click the link below. Aral Sea in the 21st century Full size

OK so here is the deal. I cooked that London Broil in my electric oven with it set to "broil." I put the rack on the 2nd highest shelf. It was basted with olive oil, salt, & peper. I drove a fork through it repeatedly, just because it felt good, and I thought it might make it more tender. I cooked it 7 minutes each side. THE RESULTS: It was dry and boring, and I almost choked on it. I should have given to the one poster who said that London Broils are dangerous and he/she would dispose of it....

Once Lush Sahara Dried Up Over Millennia, Study SaysJames Owen for National Geographic NewsMay 8, 2008 The grassy prehistoric Sahara turned into Earth's largest hot desert more slowly than previously thought, a new report says—and some say global warming may turn the desert green once again. The new research is based on deposits from a unique desert lake in remote northern Chad. Lake Yoa, sustained by prehistoric groundwater, has survived for millennia despite constant drought and searing heat. The body of water contains an unbroken climate record going back at least 6,000 years, said study lead author Stefan Kröpelin of...

The blue area throughout the center of this image shows the cool sea surface temperature along the equator in the Pacific Ocean during this La Nina episode.Cool, wet conditions in the Northwest, frigid weather on the Plains, and record dry conditions in the Southeast, all signs that La Nina is in full swing. With winter gearing up, a moderate La Nina is hitting its peak. And we are just beginning to see the full effects of this oceanographic phenomenon, as La Nina episodes are typically strongest in January. A La Nina event occurs when cooler than normal sea surface temperatures...

Certain Dry Foods Are Good Past Their Best-before Date, Food Scientists Say February 1, 2007 — Some low-moisture foods such as dried apples can be safe to eat even years after their expiration date, if properly stored, food chemists say. They verified this in a tasting experiment of 28-year-old rolled oats. Heat, moisture and light can degrade food's nutritional value. The next time you find forgotten food in the pantry, don't just toss it. Keeping food past its expiration date may not seem like a good idea, but certain foods last a lot longer than you think -- years longer....

Why So Dry? Ocean temperatures alone don't explain droughts Patrick L. Barry The western United States continues to struggle with the worst dry spell since the 1930s, and an international report on climate change predicts more and worse droughts to come (see "From Bad to Worse," in this week's issue). As scientists work to understand what triggers droughts, a new finding suggests that the causes may be more complex than many have supposed. DUNE DATA. Beneath these grassy hills of Nebraska lie the remains of ancient sand dunes, remnants from centuries-long droughts that have stricken this area several times in...

Serbia's navy left high and dry by the vote for independence By David Rennie, Europe Correspondent (Filed: 24/05/2006) Serbia is about to join the select club of former naval powers. Officers, who remember the heyday of the old Yugoslav navy - it boasted nearly 80 warships - are weighing their options following Sunday's independence referendum in Serbia's sister republic of Montenegro. The Yes vote means Serbia will lose its sea ports and naval bases. Gen Radosav Martinovic, a military adviser to the government of Montenegro, said that the Serbian navy would be lucky to end up with some patrol craft...

My husband and I are planning a three day motorcycle trip to Deals Gap and we are staying in Lake City, TN. Can someone please give me a list of all of the "dry" counties in TN????

Dry run for bird flu strategy Matt Weaver and agencies Tuesday April 4, 2006 Britain's ability to cope with an outbreak of bird flu in poultry will be put to the test over the next two days as hundreds of officials take part in a simulation exercise on controlling the disease. Exercise Hawthorn is based on a scenario in which a deadly strain of the disease has just been discovered on a free-range farm in Norfolk. The scenario also involves two highly suspect cases at a turkey farm in the north of England and a battery farm in south Wales....

BRYAN, Texas (AP) - An 18-year-old ice cream vendor has been charged with injury to a child after being accused of burning several children by having them hold dry ice in their hands, police said. Roberto Martinez Sanchez, who sold ice cream from his bicycle, had apparently told several kids on April 20 that he would give them the frozen dessert for free if they could hold a piece of dry ice in their bare hands for 10 or 15 seconds, according to investigators. Dry ice is so cold it can freeze flesh, causing a burn-like injury. It is usually...

RAPID CITY -- The sign on Soo San Drive warning of "extreme" fire danger in the Black Hills on Friday was not a typographical error. The U.S. Forest Service uses a complicated formula to compute its fire danger index. Yes, it's only mid-April. Yes, the high temperature was only about 58 degrees.

This site shows accumulated rainfall at cities around the world for the past 30, 90, or 365 days. I was trying to find some verification that Arizona's drought was ending. Looks like Phoenix has had 3 inches more than "normal" this past year, which is way over what we've seen for the last five years. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the Colorado River watershed has been getting much more than average.

Traces of an ancient settlement found on the dry bottom of the Aral Kyzylorda. November 5. KAZINFORM. The scientists of the Institute of Archeology named after Alkey Margulan found some traces of an ancient town on the dry bottom of the Aral Sea. The area of the town amounts to about 6 ha and goes back to the 13-14 centuries, i.e. the epoch of the Golden Horde. As a result of archeological researches there have also been found the relics of different workshops, windmills and storehouses for ceramic articles and the burial ground where the noble representatives of that...

Link post: link provided to the thread in the FR chat section, where interested readers can view the images and post any commentary: Geology Pictures of the Week, October 24-31, 2004: Ghostly Gas, Bone Dry, Black Dragon's Caldron

Threatening volcanic child of Krakatoa keeps its powder dry By Sebastien Berger at Anak Krakatau (Filed: 12/07/2004) At 74, the offspring of the world's most famous volcano is newborn in geological terms. But, rising darkly from the sea, Anak Krakatau - "the child of Krakatoa" - is already 1,000ft high and smoking. Wisps of steam and toxic fumes drift gently from several vents at its summit, where its otherwise black walls are stained with white mineral deposits. Its setting is idyllic, nestling between three other outcrops in the middle of the Sunda Strait between the major Indonesian islands of Java...

<p>Alaska State Troopers seized dozens of bottles of alcohol and thousands of grams of marijuana in September that were bound for Western Alaska, officials said Friday.</p> <p>Troopers with the Western Alaska Alcohol and Narcotics Team at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport seized 95 750-milliliter bottles and one 375-milliliter bottle of alcohol, troopers said in a press release. They also seized 2,371 grams, about 5.2 pounds, of marijuana.</p>

The patient is bleeding us dry but shows few signs of getting better (Filed: 25/09/2003) Labour vowed to save the NHS - but it is proving an expensive promise. In the fourth part of our investigation into the state of public services Celia Hall gives the money-hungry beast a check-up. During almost 20 years in opposition, there was one issue on which Labour could rely for voter support: the National Health Service. It had been the party in power when the NHS was established in 1948 and felt that it possessed proprietorial rights. As demands for health care grew, Labour...

Here is the forecast: Wet, then dry for 3,000 years By Steve Connor Science Editor 24 October 2002 Here is the weather forecast for the next few hundred years – expect rain, rain and more rain before things finally settle down to a dry period lasting about 3,000 years. This most forward-looking of forecasts is made today by scientists who have studied stormy periods in the North Atlantic dating back 14,000 years. The geologists, who analysed sediments at the bottom of 21 lakes in the American North-east and compared them to ice cores taken in Greenland, concluded that stormy weather...

Firefighters battle winds By Tim Paluch and Tim Velder, Journal Staff Writers DEADWOOD -- Fire officials said that Wednesday was a critical day for firefighters battling Grizzly Gulch Fire south and east of Deadwood. High winds from the southeast ripped through the area throughout the day and weren't expected to stop until today. The fire was on the move in some areas Wednesday. By midafternoon, Pillar Peak, near Dome Mountain and Bear Den Mountain, was burning about four miles east of Deadwood. Scores of residents in homes from the Shonley Addition to Deadwood on the north side of Highway 14A...

Firefighters could face rough day By Journal Staff DEADWOOD - The Grizzly Gulch Fire grew overnight to 9,000 acres Wednesday, and residents of Boulder Canyon who had been allowed to return home Tuesday evening were re-evacuated during the middle of the night. Residents on the south side of Radio Tower Road were given a mandatory evacuation order at 3 a.m. Wednesday due to unexpected increased fire activity in the area. At the same time, residents along the south side of U.S. Highway 14A in Boulder Canyon were asked to voluntarily evacuate, according to a press release from the South Dakota...

Growing fire hits 700 acres, threatens DeadwoodBy Journal Staff and APDEADWOOD -- A ridge-running forest fire burned Saturday on the edges of Deadwood, threatening but not entering the northern Black Hills gambling town.Officials ordered residents, casino guests and others to evacuate Saturday afternoon. However, not every one complied in what residents said was chaos amid smoke and slurry bombers overhead.There were no reports of injuries.The timber fire was burning over more than 1,000 acres. An accurate size estimate was not available at 8:30 p.m., Beth Adam of the state Wildlands Fire Suppression Division said.The fire's cause was not immediately known,...

A few minutes ago the fire entered the west part of town with several houses on fire..pray UPDATES BEING POSTED HERE

SIDNEY, Neb. (AP) -- People in this western Nebraska city were left scratching their heads over a recent bit of recognition. This city of about 6,000 people has knocked Denver out of the top spot as the "itchiest" city in the country, according to the Lanacane Dry Itchy Skin Index. The February study placed Goodland, Kan., second, followed by the Colorado cities of Colorado Springs, Denver and Pueblo. "It's a safe bet you won't see us putting up a sign saying Welcome To The Itchiest City In America,"' Sidney city manager Gary Person said with a laugh. The itch index...