Iceland's volcano: 9 strange facts

[n2doc]

As the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull continues to cause travel chaos around the world, a look at some of the weirder stories to come out of the disaster
POSTED ON APRIL 19, 2010, AT 11:45 AM

The Eyjafjallajokull volcano. Photo: Corbis
The closure of the European flightzone thanks to a volcanic eruption in Iceland looks set to continue well into this week, leaving vast numbers of travellers stranded around the world. But beyond the packed airport halls and grounded planes, the eruption has affected the world in many unusual ways. Here, a list of strange facts surrounding the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull:

The volcano looks like Edvard Munch's "The Scream"
Radar images of the volcano's crater appear to resemble a "nightmarish face...reminiscent of Edvard Munch's painting The Scream," reports Claire Bates in the Daily Mail. "Coincidentally it is thought that the masterpiece was inspired by the blood red skies caused by the powerful volcanic eruption of Krakatoa in 1883." (SEE PHOTO)

It forced a Monty Python star to take a $5,000 cab ride
John Cleese, of the classic Monty Python's Flying Circus comedy troupe, paid $5,100 for a taxi ride from Oslo in Norway to Brussels in Belgium. Known for his absurdist humor, notes Clive Irving at the Daily Beast, Cleese is "the perfect posterboy for the present situation."



more

http://theweek.com/article/index/202057/Icelands_volcano_9_strange_facts

[CBGLuthier]

1. Katla sounds scary

At least we will be able to pronounce the name of the one that may actually "doom" us.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Eyjafjallaj%C3%B6kull.ogg

[Yunomi]

2. Well, at least I got to see Undertaker

on RAW last night, as the RAW crew is stuck in Belfast!

[kentuck]

3. This one was interesting also:

Norway is being governed via iPad

Jens Stoltenberg, prime minister of Norway, is stuck in New York. But he has reportedly been running the country quite effectively from 4,000 miles away with his new Apple iPad. "It's official," says Stevie Smith at the Tech Herald. Apple's latest toy is "capable of running the world."


and this one:

Prepare for lots of snow in New Jersey
Experts warn that the last three times Eyjafjallajökull has erupted, it triggered the eruption of Katla, an even more powerful volcano a few miles away. Such an eruption could be a global event, reports Roger Boyes in the Times, as Katla's last eruption — in the 1820s — created severe famines around the world, and changed the global "climate so dramatically that New Jersey recorded its largest snowfall and Egypt one of its most enduring droughts."

[Dark]

4. True. But large eruptions lead to significant cooling periods.

Mother nature may very well be helping us in the long run by slowing global warming.