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Radiocarbon Dating of Malibu Artifacts Confirms Importance of Farpoint Site • National Science Foundation and Smithsonian Officials Are Among Those Urging Preservation and Additional Archaeological Research at Point Dume Property • BY ANNE SOBLE Archaeologist Gary Stickel announced at a recent lecture at the Malibu Public Library that a stone spearhead, or point, found at a local construction site by a Native American project monitor in 2005 has been established as an artifact from the oldest archaeological find in the City of Malibu. Radiocarbon dating of mussel shell fragments from the site that was provided gratis by the National Science...

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) - Unusually high Pacific waves battered beaches from El Salvador to Mexico and carried people out to sea, prompting authorities in some places to order swimmers out of the water Tuesday. At least two people were killed. Waves topping 10 feet swept away a dozen swimmers near La Libertad on Monday, 10 of whom were plucked from the water by boats and a helicopter, Green Cross emergency worker Jose Larin said. A 35-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy were killed. El Salvador's government advised people "to avoid swimming at our beaches due to the risk,"...

The seas have been rising for 18,000 years, but the pace has quickened. At the Golden Gate Bridge, the Pacific Ocean crept seven inches higher during the past century, as global warming melted glaciers and expanded ocean waters. Californians are taking notice. In one of the first efforts of its kind in the state, officials are starting to address the threats rising seas pose to the Bay Area. One of the first steps was to compile maps that show what would happen if the sea level rose three feet -- the upper limit for what might occur by 2100, according...

TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's Meteorological Agency issues tsunami warning for country's east coast after magnitude 8.3 earthquake in northern Japan.

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico - Hurricane John has become a dangerous Category 4 storm and is likely to strengthen further while traveling closer to Mexico's Pacific coast than previously thought, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Wednesday. Packing maximum sustained winds of 135 mph, and gusts up to 161 mph, John was already lashing some areas with heavy winds and rain from its outer bands. Hurricane-force winds were likely to begin raking beaches south of Puerto Vallarta late Wednesday, then come close to hitting land early Thursday. The storm should then nick Los Cabos at the tip of the Baja California...

LOS ANGELES - Tsunami waves generated by a large offshore earthquake would threaten at least 1 million coastal residents in California and inundate the nation's largest port complex, according to a new report. The bleak study being released Monday found gaps in the state's readiness to handle a tsunami, including flaws in the existing warning system, lack of evacuation plans by coastal communities, and building codes that don't take into account tsunami-strength surges. In addition, many residents are unaware of the potential danger of tsunami waves and wouldn't know how to respond, the report said. "I don't think we're ready...

Closure of Calif. surfboard foam company wipes out industry GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press (this contains excerpts) SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. - For more than 40 years, everyone from casual weekend waveriders to top competitive surfers has shared one thing: Customized boards that began as nondescript foam blocks mass-produced by one Southern California company. Clark Foam, an icon in California surf culture, enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the blocks that have been shaped and hand-painted by everyone from backyard do-it-yourselfers to design shops that churn out thousands of handcrafted boards each year. That's why the company's sudden closure this week has the...

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) - Newly formed Hurricane Otis swept toward a sparsely populated stretch of Baja California on Friday, forcing dozens of people to evacuate low-lying neighborhoods on the outskirts of this western resort city. In glitzy hotel zones, tourists continued to splash around in cavernous swimming pools under skies that were mostly sunny, with intermittent bouts of rain. But on the outskirts of town - where many service industry employees live with their families in poverty - officials were bracing for heavy winds and driving downpours that could spark flash flooding. Mayor Luis Armando Diaz led a...

A surfer off the shore of Galveston, Texas, was arrested Friday for not adhering to evacuation orders and surfing the large waves created by an approaching Hurricane Rita, according to a Local 6 News report. The man, who was not identified, was taken into custody by police after coming out of the surf. Police said he was apparently not taking Rita seriously, attempting to surf off the shore of Galveston. Mandatory evacuations have been in effect along the Texas and Louisiana coast. Friday, Rita remained a Category 4 storm, aiming its 135-mph winds at the Beaumont and Port Arthur area...

Just by looking at the Idiot box, I get a distinct impression of a superbly crafted and executed evacuation plan. I mean, we have real live bus drivers here. The anticipatory response of Governor Perry and the Texas State Homeland Security Department just begs to be contrasted with the catlike reflexes of Governor Blanco and Mayor Nagin. It's like night and day. So far, the only thing I see going wrong is that huge traffic jam on 45. They should have begun counterflow some time ago, as in, last night. But you'll notice that no one is running around like...

Imagine driving south on Saturday for a perfect spring picnic on Turnagain Arm. Shake off that winter weariness, pack a baguette and a jar of Nutella, and find a quiet overlook where you can toss out a blanket and watch the sun sizzle snow off the mountains. It's a relaxing picture, but there's one more reason to make the trip this weekend. Grab your binoculars, and for goodness' sake, stay out of the water. The new moon is here, and it's bore tide time. Like an army marching 25 miles up Turnagain Arm, the bore tide advances in one cascading...

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - More than 40 surfers cruised into the record books Saturday when they successfully rode a giant surfboard off an Australian beach, breaking the previous world record set by an English team of 14 people in 2003.

Anyone see the beginning of the NBC tsunami telethon? They stared out with Madonna singing a trippy version of "Imagine". And I thought they wanted people to tune in and donate....that was a complete turn off to me. And no, I don't need Brad Pitt manning the phones to get me to donate either.

The tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean barely noticed the Maldives, tearing through the collection of low-lying atolls – submerging some of them completely for several minutes – dragging tourists from their hotel rooms and swimmers out to sea. At least 43 people were confirmed dead and 63 reported missing in the popular tourist destination today, the government said. President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom declared a state of emergency. Tourists described three-feet-high walls of water sweeping across their resort islands and into their bedrooms, with powerful currents dragging swimmers out to sea. Mike Rigg, 33, a construction worker from the...

UNUSUAL tidal surges and strong currents hitting the coastline of Western Australia, caused by the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami, are set to continue for at least 24 hours, forecasters have warned. Meteorologists said they did not know exactly how long the local effects of the undersea earthquake would last, but they were expecting the surges to last at least throughout today. Perth Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Grant Elliott said the bizarre consequences of the world's worst earthquake in 40 years were hard to predict. “We do expect the effects to continue and we have had anecdotal evidence of tides...

Magnitude 8.1 - OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA 2004 December 26 00:58:55 UTC Preliminary Earthquake Report West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center/NOAA/NWS A great earthquake occurred at 00:58:55 (UTC) on Sunday, December 26, 2004. The magnitude 8.1 event has been located OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.) Magnitude 8.1 Date-Time Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 00:58:55 (UTC) = Coordinated Universal Time Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 6:58:55 AM = local time at epicenter Location 3.400°N, 95.700°E Depth 40 km (24.9 miles) set by location program Region OFF THE...

HONOLULU – Strong winds in the northwest Pacific Ocean sent towering waves crashing along Hawaii's coast, prompting officials to close beaches amid fears that some waves could reach as high as 50 feet. The National Weather Service put high surf warnings in effect for the north-facing shores of all the islands except Lanai until Wednesday night. "High surf coupled with unusual high tide levels have a tendency to magnify the effects of the event and increase the probability of damages to homes, roads and infrastructure in the affected areas," said Doug Aton, acting administrator for Oahu Civil Defense. A handful...

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOS ANGELES/OXNARD CA 115 PM PST MON DEC 29 2003 ...GALE FORCE WINDS AND VERY HAZARDOUS SEAS WILL DEVELOP OVER            THE COASTAL WATERS THIS AFTERNOON... A STRONG LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OVER NORTHERN CALIFORNIA THIS AFTERNOON WILL MOVE SOUTH OVERNIGHT. GALE FORCE WINDS WILL DEVELOP OVER THE COASTAL WATERS TONIGHT AND CONTINUE THROUGH TUESDAY. VERY STEEP NORTH SWELLS WITH 6 SECOND PERIODS WILL DEVELOP AS THE SOUTH WINDS STRENGTHEN TONIGHT.      THE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL MOVE SOUTH OF POINT CONCEPTION OVERNIGHT AND PERSIST OFFSHORE THROUGH TUESDAY. GALE FORCE WINDS WILL DIMINISH NORTH OF POINT CONCEPTION TUESDAY...

ALOHA ...On the last day of his California Gubernatorial Campaign ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER beautifully surfed his way onto the Beach at Hungtington Beach this afternoon. And what a Day for Surfing it was. ...Flanked by Congressman CHIRS COX, Surfer/Congressman & Mrs. DANA ROHRBACHER, State Asseblyman JOHN CAMPBELL, Mrs. EUNICE KENNEDY-SHRIVER and wife MARIA... ...ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER showed himself to be the inspiring leader that he has always been in every field of endeavor that he chose to enter, bringing JOY to many along the way. ...With a very happy crowd of supporters of all ages present, along with a huge contigent of...

GALVESTON BAY -- James Fulbright rides waves with no beach in sight. For Fulbright and a small pod of friends, surf's up when the hull of an approaching tanker appears on the horizon of Galveston Bay like an apparition, trailed by a thin line of white water that signals a breaking wave. "Dude, what do you think of that? That's a pretty big ship," said Fulbright, 45, a local surf shop owner and surfboard manufacturer who chased the wakes of tanker ships Friday morning aboard a 17-foot Boston Whaler named Surf Bored. The group of local surfers, which includes a...

New ways of tracking these killer waves may help save lives FOR many inhabitants of the Pacific coast, powerful waves caused by earthquakes or underwater landslides-generally known by their Japanese name, tsunamis-are an ominous threat. When a wave 15 metres (50 feet) high pounded the northern shores of Papua New Guinea in July 1998, the inhabitants were taken by surprise. This tsunami killed more than 2,200 villagers, making it one of the most destructive in recent years. But it was just one of a string of killer waves that have struck the western Pacific over the past few years. Since...

The headline read: "Massive tsunami sweeps Atlantic Coast in asteroid impact...." It was at that point that I wished that I had taken a speed-reading course, because the rest of the headline read: "...scenario for March 16, 2880." I'm really thankful for all those folks who spend countless hours each week with their eyeballs glued to the small end of a telescope as they search the skies, keeping constant vigil for anything heading toward Earth that's larger than a frozen turkey. The men and women of NASA and the Jet Propulsion Lab, college professors and their student assistants and even...