At short notice I need to be away from the keyboard for a few days. Normal service should be resumed here on or around Thursday 7 August 2008. Apologies for any inconvenience.

The excellent Eruptions blog, which set up shop at the beginning of May, has already reached 100 posts. Congratulations to Erik Klemetti on reaching this milestone!

THE VOLCANISM BLOG HOLIDAY CLOSURE
I’m away on summer holidays from 5 to 19 July 2008, so the blog is closed until I get back.

Thank you for visiting, and sorry for any inconvenience or disappointment. It’s possible the planet may not respect my holiday and that volcanic activity will continue during the two weeks I am away. That being the case, the following information sources are recommended for volcano news:

Smithsonian Institution Weekly Volcanism Bulletin
Erik Klemetti’s Eruptions Blog
Volcano World Blog
Fresh Bilge >> Volcanoes (for Chaitén updates)
Erupción del volcán Chaitén, Chile (for Chaitén updates)
POVI Llaima (for Llaima updates)

… and the blogroll on the right lists many more volcanically useful sources.

Que no hayan novedades.

UPDATE: holiday over - normal service will resume from tomorrow, 21 July 2008.

I think copyright is very important. The fundamental principle for me is that I expect my own work to be treated with respect and properly attributed, and I extend the same courtesy to others. When I want to use copyrighted material I always ask first.

And I’m wondering why I bother.

I’ve just been through my list of copyright requests pending and find that I am still waiting for a response from no fewer than eight organizations. In each case I’ve identified the item I wish to use (images, invariably), explained why and how I want to use it, made various guarantees that any permission granted won’t be abused, and framed the whole thing in the politest possible terms. And I’ve had nothing back from any of them.

In the worst case I’ve been waiting three months, and sent three follow-up messages. The rest come in at between six weeks and two weeks. These are not one-person operations: the organizations concerned are all large, have substantial budgets and full-time staff, advertise e-mail addresses through which they can be contacted, and plaster copyright protection notices all over their content. Some are government organizations, some are private companies, two are educational institutions.

They insist that you contact them to get permission to reproduce any part of their content, and when you do, they ignore you. Great.

Why do I bother?

Because it’s the right thing to do. But you can understand why I ask.

(I won’t name any of the guilty parties here. Yet.)

The famous French actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923), passionate and unpredictable, was somewhat volcanic herself. During 1898 she made a theatrical tour of Italy, performing her celebrated star turn as Margeurite Gautier in La Dame aux Camélias, and while staying in Naples took the opportunity to climb Vesuvius. She made her climb on foot and at night and, in a typically self-dramatizing episode, insisted on approaching the edge of the crater, getting her hair and eyebrows scorched as a result. From The Pall Mall Gazette, 28 December 1898, p. 6:

SARAH BERNHARDT ASCENDS VESUVIUS.

A CURL BURNED AND EYEBROWS SCORCHED.

SHE DESCRIBES HER EMOTIONS.

[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.]

ROME, Monday. — Theatre-goers in the Eternal City have this year had the unusual pleasure of seeing three great artists: Eleanor Duse, Maria Guerrero, and now Sarah Bernhardt — the three shining stars of those three Latin nations which produced Goldini, Lope de Vega, and Moliére, who are such magnificent exponents of the master’s work. The French diva is now at the Theatre Valle, whither I wended my way after receiving an invitation which read: “Come and see me this evening at the theatre.” So between the acts of the “Dame aux Camélias” I found myself kissing her hand and admiring the big Newfoundland dog which lay at her feet, having taken the place of the tiger, bear, and serpents of other days.

“I love this Italy,” she began. “This is my fourth visit to Rome.”

“And the public?” I queried.

“Ah! That is another pair of sleeves, as the Italian proverb has it.”

“That is to say?”

“All Latin audiences are difficult to enchain. The English, je les adore and Americans behave in the theatre as though in church. They listen in religious silence, though they are quick to catch a point and generous with applause. Italians talk more, rustle their programmes, read newspapers, making success much more difficult. But then it is their volcanic nature, I suppose. Apropos of volcanos, before leaving Naples I wished to have the strange sensation of seeing Vesuvius by night. I have been in Naples many times, and always intended to see that superb fiery despot at close quarters, but always put it off. However, I could do so no longer, for soon there will be a funicular from Naples to the crater, which will render the monster accessible to all. This railway I find barbarous. Is Vesuvius to be reduced to the proportions of a theatrical representation? I find this scheme only less ridiculous than the lighting of the Catacombs by electricity. I went up the great mountain on foot with two attendants and a trusty guide.”

“And ran a great risk,” I interrupted.

“It is dangerous enough by day, but at night wellnigh impossible for a lady, but quite well worth the trouble. We left after the theatre closed, taking the shortest route. We seemed ancient Pompeians climbing to face the inexorable father with the breast and head of fire. My emotions increased as we ascended. I have climbed many mountains of snow, but never one of fire before. As we proceeded the ground beneath my feet seemed to become gradually warmer and warmer. Then there were frequent clouds of vapour and showers of ashes. The way became more difficult, our feet leaving prints in the scarcely cold lava, while the giant sighed occasionally, sending out a hot breath of flame, and the air became heavier and heavier until breathing was difficult. I went on and on without a word to my companions, feeling in my innermost being the grandeur of the earth and the littleness of man when face to face with the forces of Nature. At last the guide said we must go no further, as the lava was liquid at the mouth of the crater. I begged for a few more paces. The man gave way to my importunities, and we went on forty or fifty steps, when the others came to a standstill. I proceeded until stopped by a cry from the guide. I seemed to be in the midst of flame, hardly able to breathe, and — but look! I lost one of my curls, and do you see my eyebrows are scorched? I felt as though the day of judgement was at hand.”

From this the conversation turned to general subjects, even the Dreyfus affair. “We French have become mad, perfectly mad, and it will end badly. We shall see the army in the streets of Paris.”

“Why? What for?” I asked.

“To slash, to strike, to kill.”

At this interesting point the call for Madame to go on the stage was heard, and she hurried away with her inimitable grace, saying over her shoulder, “Come and see me at the Grand Hotel before I leave!”

There’s a very good post at the BlogCatalog Community Blog by historian Mark Stoneman: ‘Do you link to your sources?’

Here at The Volcanism Blog I try to provide links to the original sources for everything - you, the reader, have the right to ask ‘how does he know that?’ when you read my stuff, and it’s my job to tell you, by providing access to the original source material.

Mark Stoneman provides four excellent reasons to provide sources if you want your blogging to be taken seriously: verifiability, acknowledgement, examples, context. I would add another: further exploration of a topic. A good blog post should open the door to further exploration of its subject matter by providing links to reliable, authoritative sources* that the reader can follow up, should they so wish. Not only do sources show your readers how you came up with your argument, they also provide the raw materials for those readers to engage fully with the topic and come up with arguments of their own. A blog post that is an unsourced and linkless is a dead end in more ways than one.

* Hence no links to Wikipedia on this blog.

Above: Mayon volcano, Philippines: a wonder to wonder at.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines has been urging local supporters to nominate Mayon volcano as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World (she must be referring to the ‘New Seven Wonders of Nature’), according to a report in the Philippines Inquirer today. Mayon, famed for the perfection of its conical shape and its very high level of activity, is situated in Bicol region in the province of Albay, an area which the Philippine Government is keen to develop for tourism. A local Wonder of the World, even a potentially rather dangerous one, could draw in the crowds.

The market in Wonders of all kinds has been cornered by New7Wonders.com. You can participate in the scrupulously fair and thoroughly representative voting procedure via their web site, once you’ve registered. As of 6 May 2008, 10:00 GMT, the top-ranking volcano on the list of nominees is Fuji, at no. 6. Kilimanjaro is at 45, but otherwise there’s a distinct lack of volcanoes. Volcanophiles who do not consider the entire exercise spurious and futile should probably get busy with their nominations and votes.

Image: copyright Tom Tam, reuse with credit permitted by copyright holder.

‘Volcano observatory could make a seismic shift to WSUV’ reports The Columbian on 4 May, employing some of the brilliantly clever headline wordplay that makes local newspaper journalism such a ceaseless delight. The suggestion is that the USGS’s Cascades Volcano Observatory, currently situated in ‘a nondescript business park’ in east Vancouver, would move to Washington State University’s ’sprawling campus in Salmon Creek’. The advantages to both the observatory and the university, in terms of locating a world-class scientific facility in the heart of a teaching- and research-active university community, are clear. No move will happen, however, until the CVO’s current lease comes to an end in 2012.

One of the many benefits of the move to WSUV, notes the report,  would be that ’scientists working in the observatory could peek up from their desks and observe at least three volcanoes directly — St. Helens, Adams and Hood’.

If you’re in the Vancouver region on Saturday 3 May 2008 (that’s America’s Vancouver, Washington State) why not pay the Cascades Volcano Observatory a visit? They are having open house from 10:30 to 17:00, so you have a chance to get inside information on one of the world’s leading volcano observatories.

• Meet and talk to scientists
• Hands-on demos and children’s activities
• View exhibits/research in action

Location: Conveniently located on the east side of Vancouver, Washington.

USGS-CVO
1300 SE Cardinal Court
Building 10, Suite 100
Vancouver, WA 98683
(360) 993-8973

For further information visit: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/

A volcano is reported to have erupted in the central Indian town of Sendhwa (Madhya Pradesh state), causing panic. Witnesses reported that ‘hot lava along with burning coal’ flowed ‘from a crater of eight inches [20cm] diameter’ and ‘rose up to 5 to 6 feet [1.5-1.8m]‘, and that the thing remained active for 90 minutes or so. AndrhaNews.net has more information:

Locals said the eruption began with a small explosion on Tuesday causing a two-feel wide gap in the soil. The eruptions continued with less intensity on Wednesday with the lava cooling around causing a small hump like structure.

People from places in the vicinity rushed to the spot to watch the natural phenomenon.

“When I got to know about this volcano, we came here to see this. We saw that this vermilion coloured eruption coming out of the volcano. I have never seen something of this sort before. And after cooling, the lava turns black,” said Sandeep Aggarwal.

Geologists and the local authorities are now investigating. India is hardly a hotbed of active volcanism. Could this be a mud volcano, or some kind of subterranean combustion - coal waste, for example? Witnesses reported ‘burning coal’ coming from the fissure. Or perhaps the Deccan Traps are starting up again.

News
Volcano erupts in MP town - The Hindu News Update Service, 16 April 2008
Molten rock erupts near Indore - AndrhaNews.net, 16 April 2008