the Maltese Observer - EUROPEAN COMPENDIUM 2011 Diary Send comment – 2010 – 2005
2011, December 18. Earthquakes. Three earthquakes took place some 133 km West of Malta in a three-hour stretch from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. INGV reports the first quake had a magnitude of 4.3 and was at a mere depth of 2.2 km. and it was felt in several parts of Malta. The second was the least intensely felt at its epicentre on the surface, at mag. 3.0 and at a depth of 20.6 km, while the third was a little more forceful at mag. 3.4 and a depth of 7.5 km.
Date	Time (UTC)	Lat.	Long.	Depth (Km)	Mag
2011/12/18	15:01:01	36.136	12.875	2.2	Ml: 4.3
2011/12/18	15:30:02	36.108	12.725	20.6	Ml: 3.0
2011/12/18	17:57:47	36.159	12.755	7.5	Ml: 3.4
2011, December 11. Points about the “golden rule” being proposed by the EU for inclusion in the Constitution.
Although I agree with the golden rule, I do not agree so much with it being enshrined in our Constitution. The Supreme Law (Constitution) is different from Primary Legislation, which is the way the EU distinguishes Acts of Parliament from subsidiary or Secondary Legislation (legal notices). Even had Britain accepted to join the club, it would have included the new financial provision in an Act of Parliament as the country does not vaunt a written constitution but only a collection of unwritten conventions.
My disagreement stems from the fact that the Constitution is an internal sacrosanct document regulating an independent state and its functioning yet which does not deal with the specificities of the running of the country, let alone its financial or economic system. Let's get it straight, by joining the EU we did not join a federation, and our Constitution only makes a generic reference to law making in its art. 65 in particular with regard to "obligations in particular those assumed by the treaty of accession to the European Union signed in Athens on the 16th April, 2003". Otherwise, the European Union is not mentioned anywhere else in the Basic Document.
The proposed provisions would require many specific details, as the article demonstrates, which certainly could not be embodied in the Constitution itself, especially if the proposed provision is entrenched (requiring a two-thirds majority to amend) and the more so if the current political climate does not hold and future consensual amendments would therefore be dubious. Neither is it practical to have legal notices issued under the Constitution; to date only four have been issued having a fundamentally institutional nature.
Moreover, inclusion in the Constitution could not envisage any sanctions as it would be anathema to so provide in this Basic Document. The proper place where it would fit would be the European Union Act, Cap. 460, where sanctions and subsidiary legislation could be made to apply without tarnishing the Constitution itself. Or indeed, a new Act of Parliament.
In principle I do not see why we should bend over backwards to rush to amend our Constitution when so many other topics, including the breach of human rights provisions, have been judged upon by our Courts and no provision has been made to amend the relative legislation. Let alone other long standing issues like neutrality and institutional changes which we seem to have completely ignored.
Nor do I understand how anyone can impose upon us to insert provisions in our Constitution. I think if it comes to drawing red lines we should not hesitate to take a stand in being told to touch our Constition. After all, its article 65 gives us enough power to legislate in an ordinary manner and by kow-towing to entrench a provision in our Constitution will only open the way to whoever wants to juggle with our independence by imploring crisis situations!
It would be equally fair to add a provision that the budget allocation for an election year is not to be spent in a few months prior to general elections, as it quite often happens, leaving a subsequent administration short of allocated monies (sometimes for as much as 9 months) until the beginning of the next financial year. This is a reality which has occurred several times in Malta and which needs regulation just as much as the golden rule which is being proposed by the EU.
2011, December 3. Point made about an article entitled “Nine reports of child abandonment last year” appearing on The Times.
“While prima facie abandoning a child is a hideous crime punishable by our Criminal Code, those mothers who choose to go along with their pregnancy and give birth to a child should be morally lauded for having opted for the right solution rather than resorted to an abortion.
I opine that the police deciding on prosecution, or any judge or magistrate deciding any such case, should keep this moral truth in consideration when dealing with a woman for such offence. This is where suspended sentences or probation should really be applied.”
2011, December 3. Point made about an article entitled “The people must come first” appearing on The Times.
“The core point at issue is that the European Union does not have a soul.
When after WWII the Common Market was set up, the six founding nations entertained an international commercial concept which would unite a shattered Europe emerging from the ravages of recurrent continental warfare. Further concepts which were later adopted still had a basic economic tinge which ignored the basic reality of a unity of nations forming a federation, namely a common language and political integration.
A few spoke of the revival of Latin in a kind of super-Romance modern version, others of a constitutional consolidation of treaties leading to tighter political cogging and maybe full statehood, but these were not to be. A third option, that of a common currency, was floated and imposed on the ten adhering nations in 2004, yet lacking the fiscal and political lattice which keeps mega nations going, this is now on the brink of failure too.
Talking of a fast track (full political federation of states) and a slow track (commonwealth style club) may not be the right solution either. Geography will play a part in laying the lines for this dual tracking system and peripheral states will logically fall on the outer, slower track. We cannot imagine states cut off from the main core (think of Malta and Cyprus) otherwise it will much be like the old colonial system with overseas territories lying beyond the core system.
If the European Union needs a soul to keep itself cemented together where is it to find it?
Let it look at history, the formation of the United States mostly. Let it revive its Christian roots and cast away its laicist tendencies. Let it forge its solidarity concepts on the beneficial needs of its peoples rather than the economic exigencies of individual nation states and politicians. Let it look for new intellectual visionaries who can point, without fear or favour, to where the roots lie and how tall the tree should grow.
Unfortunately, the whole project took off without a soul and on the wrong foot, on commercial and economic inter-dependence rather than political and linguistic integration. It will now only take academic experts, not politicians, to get the EU out of the mess it is in and to decide whether to have the creaking edifice demolished and reconstructed or undergo fundamental structural alterations. A wise architect would think twice before building the top floor which would now definitely tie up the whole construction into a solid amorphous mass!”
2011, November 15. Earthquakes and Etna eruption. On the 14^th November three low magnitude, shallow earthquakes occurred in the course of 1hr 9m (0614 to 0723 UTC) near the Lipari Islands, of mag. 2.1 at a depth of 9 km, 2.1/9.5 and 2.3/7.2. Twenty-four hours later, at 0459 UTC, a mag. 4 earthquake at a mere depth of 1.6 km took place in the same offshore area 75 km NW of Messina where it was strongly felt. It was followed during the next 3.5 hours by eight tremors within the same 5 km radius, ranging between m2 and m2.9 and at a depth from 6 to 10.3 km. One hour before the last aforesaid tremors (m2/6km) a mag. 3 earthquake 37.8 km deep occurred at 0723 UTC, also at sea 32 km S of Reggio Calabria on the mainland and NEE of Etna. Soon after, at 0800 UTC, tremors started increasing from within Mt Etna until at 1100 UTC a full blown eruption occurred lasting till 1330 UTC. The 18^th paroxysm occurred 23 days after the last one (23 October), but on the 7^th November (15 days after the 18^th paroxysm and 8 days before the current one) tremors had increased considerably but failed to reach the criticality of a full blown eruption although all signs of internal events within the mountain were present. During the day Stromboli has also been rather active with visible flows and ejections from several N and S vents. Also to be noted, the two mag. 4 and 3 earthquakes occurred on the northern side of the Eurasian-African plate, very close to the actual tectonic divide. (INGV-CT article)
2011, November 1-2. Anthropology: All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days. Throughout the Catholic world, Malta included, the Church commemorates these two feasts reminding us of our spiritual destiny starting from this very life. Anthropologically, the whole month, commencing from the first of the month, shows the still existing link between the living and the dead which even in our western culture reminds us very much of the Chinese veneration shown towards their departed loved ones. It is shown by way of the cleaning of gravestones, as if they were the living abodes of the departed, and the laying of flowers and lighting of votive candles on graves. Also see 2010, 7 March. Wayside memorials. One aspect of the foregoing may also be due to a show of respect towards the departed one with relatives and friends who must see that although no longer living in this world, he is still alive elsewhere and he should not be forgotten.
2011, November 1. Earthquakes. Three low-magnitude earthquakes in the Mediterranean off the Western Calabrian coast and the Lipari islands are noteworthy owing to their vicinity to Stromboli and other volcanoes, and the line dividing the African and Eurasian tectonic plates. The first two took place within 43 minutes of each other in the morning, while the third occurred 15 hours later. The various depths over a distance of 1.3 deg. longitude (some 148 km) is symptomatic of the varying altitudes between the two plates. The further east one goes (Long. 14.8 to 16.1) the shallower is the depth of the tremor (176 to 63 km). The temors’ force has also been low and could form part of regional events taking place before the eruption of Etna which is on average happening every ten days and is now due soon.
Date	Time (UTC)	Lat.	Long.	Depth (Km)	Mag
2011/11/01	22:49:16	38.387	14.821	175.7	Ml: 2.9
2011/11/01	07:45:32	38.461	15.630	134.7	Ml: 2.4
2011/11/01	07:01:57	39.461	16.092	63.4	Ml: 2.1
2011, November 1. Earthquakes. A further three earthquakes took place between yesterday and today in the course of 1hr 35 min near Garda Lake in Italy in the middle of the Verona-Trento-Brescia area and at the same place as those listed for October 30. They keep the same fault line, making it taller by a further ½km downwards (9.9 km over the former 9.5 km).
Date	Time (UTC)	Lat.	Long.	Depth (Km)	Mag
2011/10/31	23:47:09	45.699	10.930	9.9	Ml: 2.4
2011/10/31	22:34:05	45.702	10.927	8.5	Ml: 3.1
2011/10/31	22:12:44	45.722	10.916	6.5	Ml: 3.4
2011, October 31. Nuclear arsenals. A report carried in The Guardian, refers to the first in a series of papers for the UK’s Trident Commission on the world's nuclear powers are planning to spend hundreds of billions of pounds modernising and upgrading weapons warheads and delivery systems over the next decade. A few points culled from the article state: • The US is planning to spend $700bn on nuclear weapons over the next decade. A further $92bn will be spent on new nuclear warheads and the US also plans to build 12 nuclear ballistic missile submarines, air-launched nuclear cruise missiles and bombs. • Russia plans to spend $70bn on improving its strategic nuclear triad (land, sea and air delivery systems) by 2020. It is introducing mobile ICBMs with multiple warheads, and a new generation of nuclear weapons submarines to carry cruise as well as ballistic missiles. There are reports that Russia is also planning a nuclear-capable short-range missile for 10 army brigades over the next decade. • China is rapidly building up its medium and long-range "road mobile" missile arsenal equipped with multiple warheads. Up to five submarines are under construction capable of launching 36-60 sea-launched ballistic missiles, which could provide a continuous at-sea capability. • France has just completed deployment of four new submarines equipped with longer-range missiles “with a more robust warhead”. It is also modernising its nuclear bomber fleet. • Pakistan is extending the range of its Shaheen II missiles, developing nuclear cruise missiles, improving its nuclear weapons design as well as smaller, lighter, warheads. It is also building new plutonium production reactors. • India is developing new versions of its Agni land-based missiles sufficient to target the whole of Pakistan and large parts of China, including Beijing. It has developed a nuclear ship-launched cruise missile and plans to build five submarines carrying ballistic nuclear missiles. • Israel is extending its Jericho III missile's range, and is developing an ICBM capability, expanding its nuclear-tipped cruise missile enabled submarine fleet. • North Korea unveiled a new Musudan missile in 2010 with a range of up to 2,500 miles and capable of reaching targets in Japan. It successfully tested the Taepodong-2 with a possible range of more than 6,000 miles sufficient to hit half the US mainland. However, the report, says, “it is unclear whether North Korea has yet developed the capability to manufacture nuclear warheads small enough to sit on top of these missiles”. 2011, October 30. Earthquakes. Three earthquakes took place between yesterday and today near Garda Lake in Italy in the middle of the Verona-Trento-Brescia area. Interesting to note are the exact latitude and longitude of the three earthquakes spread over just under 24 hours and so, the 4 km tall fault between the earthquakes. Two of the shocks took place within a range of 300 metres from each other, for a total of about 4.3 mag. equivalent to some 3,000 tons of TNT (mag. 6 = 1 million tons).
Date	Time (UTC)	Lat.	Long.	Depth (Km)	Mag
2011/10/30	03:49:35	45.696	10.936	9.4	Ml: 2.7
2011/10/29	08:09:15	45.719	10.926	5.4	Ml: 2.4
2011/10/29	04:13:34	45.706	10.923	9.1	Ml: 4.2

2011, October 30. Anthropology. I was visiting in a n old people’s home today when a poshy lady, pushing an elderly relative in a wheel-chair, saw at a distance a lady friend of hers. They both started shouting greetings to each other, in English (though most people in the home speak Maltese) and in a high-pitched baby-chuckle voice. They wanted to send two messages around them in the common sitting area: one, that they come from a distinct social class; two, that this class gives them ample superiority to do all the shouting around that place. Class distinction is shown in other ways too at this home. Visitors usually ride large-sized expensive cars and park anywhere to their liking, even blocking other cars, much like conveying the message that they can act the way they like and nobody dare speak to them. They are generally labelled as coming from a certain poshy town and surrounding area and actually sidelined by humbler folk, if not dismissed in straightforward terms.

2011, October 26. An article on Halloween in the Times (Malta) newspaper, takes issue with a leaflet published by Balzan parish, my parish, on the celebration of the pagan festival. Very interesting reading is made by the numerous blogs with to the article, showing the mindset of the local Maltese population vis-à-vis religion, faith and the Church. I feel I should not contribute to this debate elsewhere than in this diary.

I fully agree with the contents of the leaflet but not with its presentation. Printed on one side of a cheap sheet in dark black and white, the leaflet displays on the margin a skull and a pumpkin, in light black. The contents of the leaflet are very negative recalling a middle-ages fire-and-brimstone mindset. No wonder people have reacted so badly to it, mostly saying it puts people off the Church. There happens to be no Christian feeling of love and sentiment in it other than to pull you by your shoe strings from the torments of hell.

I would have gone about it another way. I would have presented it in Christopher News Notes style by first presenting the positive aspects of the season and then giving loved warnings about the hazards of tampering with the occult. I would have also done it on glossy paper and printed it in colour as I think one thing which put off people from the very start was its roughshod presentation.

I would have recalled the Christian significance of All Saints’ Day, that the Saints are the Christians who through Baptism pass on to eternal life from this very world, as do all those who physically die and join God in heaven and who are celebrated in the Commemoration of All Faithfully Departed on Nov. 2. I would have then passed on to present, gently and non-intrusively, the manner in which, in northern climes, the Nov. 2 feast was based on an pagan ancient cult which does not fit with a Christian’s mindset once he has “put on Christ”. Not so much don’t as much as I would rather not and God will work out the rest.

As to the anthropological aspect of this debate, it originates from a split ever to be found in Malta between Italian and English culture, besides a class split. Carnival was imported into Malta from the times of the Knights, the Italian house mostly, and has been with us for some four centuries. It has become a popular feast nowadays mostly attended by the lower / lower-middle class populace. The upper / upper-middle class section has in the majority discarded the feast. A convenient susbstitute was nicely found in Halloween, a feast originating in the British Isles and found in English-speaking countries and the USA. It was indirectly introduced as an extra day of merry-making by youths who are always pining for such an occasion, and in schools without the heads’ consent. From there an attempt has also been made to give it a Christian sense, or twist, but luckily to no avail as paganism and Christianity do not mix.

Etna’s 17th paroxysm. (Courtesy INGV-CT) On the evening of 23 October 2011, the 17th paroxysmal eruptive episode since the beginning of this year occurred at the New Southeast Crater (New SEC) of Etna, 15 days after the previous episode that had taken place on 8 October. This event was characterized by a rather short "prelude", whereas the phase of lava fountaining lasted longer than 90 minutes, and was followed by a slow diminution in the activity, differently from the latest paroxysms that had been shorter and ended rather abruptly. Full article.

2011, October 8. Etna’s 16th paroxysm. (Courtesy INGV-CT) After little less than 10 days of relative calm, the 16th paroxysmal eruptive episode of this year at the New Southeast Crater (New SEC) of Etna has taken place on the afternoon of 8 October 2011. The culmination of this event, whose observation was very difficult due to bad weather, was rather brief but violently explosive, generating an ash cloud that was blown east-northeast by the wind. Once more, eruptive vents opened both on the southeastern and northern flanks of the New SEC cone. Full article.

2011, September 28. Etna’s 15th paroxysm. (Courtesy INGV-CT) The New Southeast Crater of Etna has produced its 15th paroxysmal eruptive episode since the beginning of this year. The culminating phase of this episode lasted less than a half hour but was more violent than those of the preceding paroxysms; on the contrary lava emission was rather minor, forming two small flows that reached the upper part of the steep western slope of the Valle del Bove. The ash plume was driven southwestward by the wind. Full article. Video.

2011, September 19. Etna’s 14th paroxysm. (Courtesy INGV-CT) The 14th paroxysmal eruptive episode from Etna's New Southeast Crater has taken place on 19 September 2011, 11 days after its predecessor. This event, which occurred during rather poor weather conditions, produced lava fountains from various vents within the crater and on its southeastern flank, lava flows that descended the western slope of the Valle del Bove, an ash cloud that was bent by the strong wind toward northeast. Ash and lapilli falls were observed in the area to the north of Giarre. The main paroxysmal phase lasted from about 12:20 GMT (local time -2) until shortly after 13:00 GMT. On the evening of 19 September, weak spattering continued from a vent located at the southeast base of the Southeast Crater cone, and active lava flows continued to descend on the western slope of the Valle del Bove.

2011, September 18. Comment by Freeword in UK’s The Observer on an article by Will Hutton on The ailing euro is part of a wider crisis. Our capitalist system is near meltdown.

Put some lateral thinking into it.

People and states have been against world government for quite a long time. The worldwide financial crisis has shown no one can really make it alone: we all need each other in Europe, America, BRIC and everywhere else.

Granted that we cannot make it to have one government, with our different political ideologies, religions, defence systems and all, we can start joining up in limited spheres which will ease life for all on the planet, even to face up to the environmental crisis now facing us. Or is it asking too much?

More than world government the term for the regulation of specific spheres, money included, should be World Governance, much like WHO, UNESCO etc. but with executive powers.

Would it be too much to ask for sets of regional or "cluster" currencies based on agglomerated world regions (EU, UK-USA, OAU, ASEAN), or on ideological groupings of nations (BRIC) where a formula of gold and other current precious metals are put at the basis of a formula together with other valuable assets such as land area (including territorial waters and EEZs), population, hydrocarbons and minerals, and other economic factors?

Too many world problems are cropping up too much of a sudden to let our affairs simply sail along with the wind, hoping some time some one else, somewhere else will find a solution to them. The alternative is the dirty word WAR, meaning the failure of history to grasp the opportune moment when it could forestall the avalanching of events into a destructive pit.

Given the high percentages of different countries in defence spending in relation to GDP, it looks like some governments really like dirty words notwithstanding their paying tight lip-service against them.

2011, September 8. Etna’s 13th paroxysm. On the morning of 8 September 2011, the New Southeast Crater of Etna has produced its 13th paroxysmal eruptive episode of the year 2011, generating a tall eruption column that moved south-southeast, and provoking ash and lapilli falls on numerous population centers including Trecastagni, Viagrande, San Giovanni La Punta, and the eastern part of Catania. During this paroxysm, brief explosive events occurred also from various spots on the northern flank of the New Southeast Crater cone. Full article. Italiano.

2011, September 8. Etna has had its 13th paroxysm for the year today. Its timing is quite interesting. The 29 August paroxysm was 9 days after the August 20 one and today's was 10 days after the 29th. It looks like 2 nearly equally split paroxysms occurred during the previous average period of 6.5 days x 3 (19.5 days), putting in two beats in a 3-beat frequency. How is that to calculating the dynamic force of the events, i.e. have the past two events (Aug 29 and Sep 8) been together equal in force to the previous 3 paroxysms (9-11th) or, looking at it another way, to the average strength of 3 paroxysms falling within the 6.5 day cycle? If someone can work it out the answer might be quite informative.

2011, August 30. Anthropology. THE TIMES today reported in an article entitled “Will the Maltese population disappear before the year 3000?” that:

“The Maltese population might not make it to the next millennium, according to an article on The Economist’s website. Titled The End Of History And The Last Woman, The Economist quotes figures from the United Nations Population Prospects for 2010, which suggest women in 83 countries and territories will not have enough daughters to replace themselves unless fertility rates rise. According to what the The Economist itself said were “back of the envelope” calculations, if present trends remain unchanged, Malta’s population will eventually vanish off the face of the earth around the year 2800, after Bosnia Herzegovina and Macau, and closely followed by Hong Kong, Portugal and Austria.”

This is your Diarist’s tongue-in-cheek reaction to the article which makes for some advanced anthropology:

“Given the current mind boggling social, moral and anthropological revolution, the human distinction between man and woman would have long disappeared and a new homo genialis, neither male nor female, would have cropped up. Nor do we have any guarantee whether this new homo-femina species would still have feet and body of clay or would be a spirit, like a genie coming out of a science flask, or have a magnetic or digital body which can only travel and exist as a chain of multi-cyphered trails. Good luck to us all if the new species excludes homo politicus and can make it to that date in peace with its ancestors, its newborn self and newly found neighbours.”

Some food for thought indeed about long-distanced future datings!

2011, August 29. 12th paroxysmal eruptive episode from Etna. (INGV-CT) Nine days after the previous episode, the New Southeast Crater produced another paroxysmal eruptive episode in the early morning. This episode was particular for the opening of a new eruptive fracture on the SE flank of the pyroclastic cone surrounding the crater, along which several lava fountains shot up, and from which a broad lava flow was emitted that took a more southerly path compared to that of the earlier lava flows. The pyroclastic cone underwent major morphological changes due to the opening of the new eruptive fracture, which left a deep cleft in its southeastern flank. Full article. Italiano.

2011, August 26. Tyrrhenian Basin. Magnitude 2.9 earthquake (Maps / Interactive) at a depth of 288 km in Vasilov, Marsili, Sisifo undersea volcanoes area at 11.35hrs UTC (13.35h local). To date 65 earthquakes have been reported in the Basin at a depth ranging between 100 and 300 km, besides other more frequent ones at a shallower depth. A maximum mag. 4.7 was registered in May at a depth of 292.3 km, followed by mag. 3.6 in January at a depth of 114.4 km, and mag. 3.3 in June at a depth of 270.6 km. In August, a mag. 3.2 tremor was reported at 296.5 km. It so emerges that three earthquakes with overall maximum magnitudes between 3.2 and 4.7 have occurred at a tight depth range of a mere 27 km between 270 and 297 km.

2011, August 20. Eleventh paroxysmal eruptive episode from the Southeast Crater of Etna (INGV-CT) This morning, the eleventh paroxysmal eruptive episode of this year took place at the New Southeast Crater. This event was brief but very violent, generating a tall eruption column and leading to heavy fallout of large pyroclastics around the cone that is growing around the crater. Furthermore, a portion of the eastern flank of the cone collapsed, probably when being pushed by lava from above. Ash and lapilli falls occurred in the southeastern sector of the volcano. Full article. Italiano.

2011, August 17. Etna’s South-East Crater story is well exposed in this story by Boris Behncke, a geologist. Story and photos.

2011, August 15. Ferragosto in Italy is the holiday period spanning the Sunday before and after the Feast of the Assumption and is a time for shutting down Italy’s offices and workplaces and to enjoy the sea and sun at home and abroad. The Italian government has only a few days ago decreed that certain national holidays falling on a weekday are to be from now on celebrated on a Sunday with an aim of cutting workless days and boosting the economy. All on Brussel’s penny-counting advice to get the economy going again and to reach up with the Joneses in the USA. In Malta, with five national holidays, all of equal status, politicians have failed to agree on one national holiday. That’s good enough: at least it is a reprobation to money-pinching Commissions and employers whose only reasoning hinges on huge capitalist fallouts.

2011, August 12. Tenth paroxysmal eruptive episode from the Southeast Crater of Etna (INGV-CT) After an interval of relative quiet of 6.5 days, the New Southeast Crater of Etna produced its tenth paroxysmal eruptive episode of the year during the forenoon of 12 August 2011. This event was, in its main characteristics, a repetition of its predecessors. Full article. Italiano.

2011, August 12. Stromboli: spattering and small rheomorphic lava flow(INGV-CT) Little more than two days after the previous episode of intense spattering at Stromboli, a new episode started on the evening of 11 August 2011 at the small cone that sits on the southwestern rim of the crater terrace. Full article. Italiano.

2011, August 10. Undersea volcano eruption off Oregon Coast NEWPORT, OR (courtesy KPTV) – Oregon State University scientists say they have discovered an eruption of an undersea volcano about 250 miles off the Oregon Coast. The April 6 eruption produced a lava flow at least 1.2 miles wide, scientists say, and there were hundreds of tiny earthquakes during the eruption. Full article.

2011, August 9. Stromboli (INGV-CT) The lava flow that started during the night of 1-2 August 2011 from the northernmost vent of Stromboli lasted only a few hours; already during the afternoon of 2 August, the effusive activity ceased. Full article. Italiano.

2011, August 8. Ninth paroxysmal eruptive episode from Etna's Southeast Crater (INGV-CT) Six days after its predecessor, a new paroxysmal eruptive episode has taken place at the New Southeast Crater (previously called "pit crater", located on the east flank of the old Southeast Crater cone) of Etna, during the night of 5-6 August 2011. Full article. Italiano.

2011, August 3. Vesuvius. The volcano has been showing signs of heavy seismicity between 0900 h and 1900 h local time for the past days indicating a correlation between day and night as affecting the volcanic crust. The sun’s rays and consequent heat may be affecting the volcano slope, heating up the magmatic chambers and surrounding rocks, and causing frequent strong tremors. No smoke, eruptions or lava flows have however occurred as in the case of Etna and Stromboli.

2011, August 2. Stromboli. (Courtesy INGV-Catania) “On the late evening of 1 August 2011, a conspicuous lava flow started to descend the northern slope of the Sciara del Fuoco at Stromboli. This marks the first lava effusion outside the crater terrace since the emission of a small lava flow in the night of 11-12 December 2010.

“Around 2100 GMT on 1 August, a vast accumulation of incandescent material appeared at the base of vent N1, the northernmost of the various active vents that lie within the crater terrace at about 750 m elevation on Stromboli. A few minutes later, this material started to collapse and slide, and then developed two small lobes of lava, the more easterly of which descended slowly on the steep slope of the northern portion of the Sciara del Fuoco, repeatedly generating collapse and small landslides derived from the loose material that the slope is made of. The lava then accumulated on the flat area where the hornitos of the 2002-2003 eruption had been located, before making its way down the steep slope below that flat area. On the late morning of 2 August, the lava flow had descended to about 500 m elevation and was advancing very slowly. During the early afternoon of the same day, feeding of the lava flow appeared to diminish.

“This lava flow represents the first major summit overflow at Stromboli for several decades, the most recent similar event being the eruption of November 1975. During the subsequent eruptions, in 1985-1986 and 2002-2003, lava effusion occurred from eruptive fissures on the upper northern slope of the Sciara del Fuoco, whereas in 2007, the main effusive vent was located at 400 m elevation. Differently from these eruptions, the usual Strombolian activity from the summit craters has not ceased with the onset of lava effusion on 1-2 August 2011.”

2011, July 31. Etna. (Courtesy INGV-Catania) “On the evening of 30 July 2011, the eighth paroxysmal eruptive episode of this year took place from the crater located on the east flank of the Southeast Crater cone. The event was essentially a repetition of the previous paroxysms, with the emission of a lava flow toward the Valle del Bove, lava fountains rising to maximum heights of 450-500 m, and an ash plume that was blown by the wind toward east.

“The first signs of a resumption of eruptive activity from the crater were observed on the evening of 28 July, when sporadic, and very weak, Strombolian explosions took place; this activity ceased altogether during the night. Throughout the whole day of 29 July, the crater remained entirely quiescent.

“From the early morning hours of 30 July, an intermittent glow was visible at the crater, which progressively increased in intensity and frequency. At about 10.00 h local time, the crater showed intense Strombolian activity accompanied by loud detonations, with lava bombs thrown several tens of meters up into the air and falling back into the crater or around its rims. Contemporaneously, a dilute plume of ash was emitted from the vent, which was blown eastward by the wind. Furthermore, a small lava overflow occurred on the eastern side of the crater, which travelled about 100 m and then rapidly chilled.

“This eruptive activity, which was accompanied by a distinct increase in the mean amplitude of the volcanic tremor, remained relatively constant until the early afternoon, after which an abrupt decrease occurred, both in terms of geophysical and volcanic activity.

“About 19.00 h local time, the mean amplitude of the volcanic tremor started to incrase again, and so did the Strombolian activity. At around 19.30, a dilute gas and ash plume was again blown eastward by the wind. The Strombolian activity progressively gained in intensity, quite more rapidly than during the morning's activity, and the incandescent jets became continuous around 21.30 local time. At the same time, renewed lava overflow toward east showed a rapid increase in effusion rate, forming a multilobate flow down the western slope of the Valle del Bove, which travelled approximately 3 km down reaching about 2000 m elevation by 23.00 local time. The ash plume became denser and was blown eastward by the wind, generating ash falls in the Ionian sector of the volcano.

“During the phase of maximum intensity, fragments of fluid lava were violently thrown to heights of about 450-500 m above the crater rim, causing heavy fallout onto the external flanks of the pyroclastic cone to a distance of 200-300 m. Lava fountains were jetting from at least two vents located within the crater and on its upper east flank, roughly aligned W-NW / E-SE.

“From 23.30 local time onward, the eruptive activity started to decrease in intensity, and ceased completely shortly after midnight. The lava flows, however, remained still mobile and incandescent for a few hours, due to gravitational flow on the steep slope, but then rapidly cooled because the lava flows were no longer fed from the vent.

“In a general sense, this eighth paroxysm of the year 2011 lasted less than one day, with a drawn-out initial phase of weak Strombolian activity lasting about 10-12 hours, and a phase of lava fountaining concentrated in 2-3 hours. This episode occurred 5-and-a-half days after the previous paroxysm, on the morning of 25 July, the shortest interval between such episodes thus far in the current eruptive period. Since the beginning of the year, the intervals between paroxysms were 36, 51, 32, 58, 10, 6 and 5.5 days, respectively.

“Moreover, this was the most intense episode since the first one, in the night of 12-13 January, with sustained lava fountains, differently from the previous episodes whose fountains were rather pulsating and rarely exceeded 250-300 m in height. The lava flow emitted during the 30 July paroxysm was longer than those of all paroxysms except for the first one, reaching the gently sloping terrain immediately to the north and northeast of Monte Centenari.”

2011, July 12. Weather. A Maltese proverb tells of weather spells in terms of vertical/ standing or dormant/ horizontal visible positions of the quarter moon.

"Standing moon, dormant boatswain, (1)

Dormant moon, standing boatswain". (2)

Rain depends on the moon's position along its changing tilted orbit and earth's axial rotation.

(1) Bosun can rest his mind and go to sleep;

(2) Spells trouble and he has to stand on.

2011, May 14. Etna. Day started with rather calm plume till 06.00h UTC when smoke emission increased considerably. At noon, 11.00h UTC, the sky above is overcast, even if because due to the thermal convection effect, the cloud cover cannot move. The volume of cloud emission may also have increased due to the midday heat on the sides of the volcano, possibly augmenting the magma boiling effect.

2011, May 13. Etna. Quite calm till 11.30h local with only as much as a soft plume. Now that it is nearing mid-day (13.00h local, 11.00h UTC) it seems to be building up smoke again. At 12.00 UTC, a hot pinkish cloud full of sulphur hung over the mountain. Heavy smoke burst till about one hour before sunset when volume receded considerably and only left a fine plume. No flows are evident.

2011, May 12. Etna eruption. From 02.00 to 06.00h the pit crater which opened on the eastern side of the South-East Crater cone has produced strong explosions accompanied by fountains of lava and volcanic ash emissions falling on Catania and inhabited areas to the south of the volcano. By evening the ash clouds had receded.

2011, May 11. Etna tremors. Six earthquakes shook Etna between 03.44h and 04.54h local time, all at a depth of 26 km, mag 2.8 (max. 3.2 and 3.0). They were followed at 07.20h local by a 2.8 mag. tremor in Central Sicily, near Enna, at a depth of 51.4 km. At 12.09h it was time for a tremor to the south of Etna, between Syracuse and Ragusa in the Monti Iblei, at a depth of 51.4 km, mag. 2.8. Then at 16.05h local, a mag. 2.6 quake at a depth of 10 km hit the Palermo-Cefalu` area.

2011, May 9. Anthropology. Winners of the premier football league celebrated in Valletta in a traditional Maltese way of celebration, by denigrating other teams and feating the City team’s strength (Tal-Palestina, ћadd ma jista’ gћalina!). Committee members, players and team organisers entered town on a float, accompanied by band and the city’s Lion symbol, amidst general public revelry renowned on such occasions. As in politics and other personal occurrences, victory is celebrated by pointing at the other party’s defeat. In this case a well known national actor from Valletta cross dressed up as the Queen while the writer and singer of songs for Valletta supporters dressed up as the Pope. They both rode on a car waiving to the public, symbolising a mock funeral marking the passing away of other teams in the league. It can be recalled that in general elections in 1981, defeat for a party whose leader’s name resembled that of a rabbit (Fenech) led winning party supporters to sport skinned dead rabbits on their floats to the chant of rhymes that the rabbit was “dead”.

2011, May 8. Malta. Earthquake off Malta 15.30h local mag 2.6 depth 4.8 km mainly unfelt. Area.

2011, May 6. Etna tremors. Restart at 05.29h local of earthquake activity with three quakes followed till 05.50h local. The strongest was at 05.43h (14.4 km 3.1 mag). Then again, a strong quake at 17.12h local (22.2 km 4.0 mag) followed by nine other quakes, seven at an average depth of 22.7 km, two at 10 km, mag. range between 2 and 3.5. Other tremors were also registered in the Ionian Sea and in the Golfo di Patti e di Milazzo, off Messina.

2011, May 5. Etna tremors. Seven earth tremors throughout the day between 02.22h local (depth 8.6 km 2.1 mag), and 17.41h local (24 km 2.8 mag) and 17.58h local (18 km 3.2 mag), being the strongest two tremors.

2011, May 4. Philology. English (UK) is using more than ever the word “Absolutely” instead of the longstanding “yes” to express positiveness, concurrence and complying certainty. Its use is very significant in an age of deceit, where concurrence is very much required to record where a person stands in your regard with regard to any argument. I heard it being uttered several times – about ten to 15 times a minute – in an English commentary on the royal wedding of Prince William and Duchess Catherine and its use emphasised the positive certainty and non-negativity which had to conform with the occasion. A similarity occurs in Latin for sic, the ordinary everyday ‘yes’ (Italian si) and certamen (Italian certo and certamente). It shows that positive assurance is always fyrther required in conformity with ambient mood.

2011, April 26. Malta Region. An earthquake, mag. 3.5, in the same area as others during the past days, was registered at 06.10 a.m. at a depth of 19.7 km.

Date	Region	UTC	Depth km	Magnitude
26/04/2011	Malta	04.10	19.7	3.5
26/04/2011	Messina	08.51	10.6	2.6
26/04/2011	Messina	00.25	10.0	2.1

2011, April 25. Malta. Divorce. The day after Easter Sunday, the pro and against Divorce camps revamped their campaign in view of the referendum taking place on May 28. Though appearing a plebiscite involving a minor issue in international eyes, it raises considerable food for thought in Malta. The question set, about divorce after four years of marriage breakdown in which the rights of children will be protected, will be considered as an indicator to Members of Parliament as to what the people really want in a dubious system where a popular ad hoc vote has usurped the Members’ right to legislate. How bound will the MPs be by the voters’ decision either way? Can they go against it? And what if MPs now, or at any time in the future, want to legislate in different terms than those laid down in the referendum question (stipulating a more or less than four years breakdown period) would they still be free to vote as they will or will they have to go to the people again for their express consent? Thus, is Parliament’s sovereignty being impinged?

Yet people will not be voting for the same aim. The issue is divorce but it has been adulterated by many basic considerations. It has been highly politicised, as is usual the case with any issue of any nature, be it cabbages or kings, in Malta. The socialist opposition has made an issue out of the referendum implying that a yes-vote would show the people’s will to liberalise social outlooks and open the way for other so called “rights” which are accepted in Europe – abortion, gay marriages, etc. On the other hand the Church, and rightly so, and the conservative government and party leader have defended the institution of marriage saying divorce goes against God’s law and implying that voting in favour is a transgression of this law.

In any case, people will be voting for this question with different aims in mind, hardly a valuable proposition, and much debate is envisaged about the outcome, be it as it may. However, considering the argument that a yes-vote is a vote for unbridled liberality by a future liberal-oriented House, after having assumingly gauged the peoples’ minds, neither divorce in its own right nor the holding of the referendum as such do deserve a positive tick.

2011, April 25. Malta Region. Yet another earthquake, mag. 3.3, was registered at 08.10 a.m. while a stronger mag. 4.1 mag. quake was registered 36 km NE of Palermo, Sicily at 09.44 a.m. local time.

Date	Region	UTC	Depth km	Magnitude
25/04/2011	Malta	06.10	19.9	3.3
25/04/2011	Palermo, Sicily	07.44	35.0	4.1

2011, April 24. Malta Region. An earthquake swarm has hit Malta during Easter Sunday starting on Saturday at 10.35 p.m. with a 2.7 mag. quake at a depth of 10 km and reaching a peak 4.1 mag. quake at a depth of 20.3 km on Sunday at 3.02 p.m.

Date	UTC	Depth km	Magnitude
23/04/2011	20.35	10.0	2.7
23/04/2011	22.10	7.1	3.5
24/04/2011	01.34	18.2	3.3
24/04/2011	04.39	8.8	3.3
24/04/2011	09.21	20.8	3.6
24/04/2011	09.25	19.9	3.5
24/04/2011	13.02	20.3	4.1

2011, April 21. Central Sicily. Two significant earthquakes, taking into account their depth, shook the Caltanisetta area today at 08:00 UTC at a depth of 57 km with mag. 2.0, and at 08:02 UTC at a depth of 37.5 km with mag. 2.7.

Date	UTC	Depth km	Magnitude
21/04/2011	08.00.01	57.0	2.0
21/04/2011	08.02.09	37.5	2.7

2011, April 21. Malta. A trade unionist has complained against the opening of shops tomorrow, Good Friday, wishing the holiday to remain a special holy day and a family day for all. He further claimed “All 365 days have become working days. Good Friday means much more than a national public holiday. If there is one day in the calendar that should be kept holy and respected as a special family day, it is certainly Good Friday”. Alas, this is the general mindset in Malta about Good Friday, that of a national day of mourning, special for the whole family and worthy of full respect. Not that there is anything specifically wrong about this way of thinking, but Good Friday has certainly put aside Easter Sunday, the greatest of all feasts in Christendom. No wonder we can call the Maltese a “Good Friday people” but little if at all an “Easter Sunday generation”. Lent and Good Friday certainly deserve an in-depth anthropological study, even in these times of crass materialism when primitive religiosity rears its head at the expense of the faith and hope Easter bears with it.

2011, April 20. Syria could split up into smaller states following civil strife and could be divided into six parts: an Alawite state in the West; a Kurdish state in the North, as in Iraq; a Druse state in the South; and a Beduin state in the east, in the Dir al-Zur region. A Sunni Muslim state in Damascus and another in Aleppo could also rise. Six homogenous states could appear on the ruins of Syria.