Disney characters get ready to welcome visitors to Disney World. - Walt Disney World/Walt Disney World/TNS
The heat index in the shade of Disney World in Kissimmee, Florida is 96 degrees with very little wind. Heads grew hot between two families that broke out into a brawl at the Magic Kingdom park.
Walt Disney World News Today posted an initial report with the video on Thursday showing one family dressed in regular clothing and another group in matching red and white Disney-themed clothes. A woman left the line at Mickey's PhilharMagic theater to get her cellphone she'd left on a motorized wheelchair. When she tried to get back in line with her family the other family flipped out.
The site detailed the flying fists which came after the red and white-dressed family waited outside the PhilharMagic doors for a confrontation.
“Listen man, we don’t want trouble, we don’t appreciate you guys pushing my younger sister,” said one member of the family. It then escalated to shouts and then to punches.
"The family who reached out says the first person accosted was the guest who re-entered the line, with her brother engaging as a response," said WDWNT. "Shortly after, the brawl on camera broke out. The matching apparel family reportedly stole or broke much of what was on their person, including phones, designer clothes, and accessories. In the end, the guests were escorted to a Walt Disney World security office for a statement, with one member of the guests’ family taken away in an ambulance due to a large cut in his chin, with other members of the family receiving cuts and bruises."
The videos also show that two Disney characters tried to step in to protect other guests and were able to break it up. They were then taken to Disney World security for statements.
Explaining that conservatives embracing the militant Christian stance -- with its overtones of racism -- are "wolves in sheep's clothing," Episcopal Rev. Nathan Empsall claims that the far-right conservative is guilty of the "bastardization of the Christian faith."
In a recent interview, the controversial lawmaker was asked about her embrace of the movement and she replied, "We need to be the party of nationalism. And I'm a Christian. I say it proudly we should be Christian nationalists. And when Republicans learn to represent most the people that vote for them, then we will be the party that continues to grow without having to chase down certain identities or chase down, you know, certain segments of people."
Empsall bashed her exclusionary view of acceptance as un-Christian.
"It’s not the first time she has embraced the label. And it’s a dangerous turn of events that requires active, loud opposition from all of us, especially from American Christians, for whom Greene and her allies claim to speak," he wrote. "As a pastor, if there’s one thing I understand, it’s that Christian nationalism is unchristian and unpatriotic. Academic researchers define the authoritarian ideology as a political worldview—not a religion—that unconstitutionally and unbiblically merges Christian and American identities, declaring that democracy does not matter because America is a 'Christian nation' where only conservative Christians count as true Americans."
To illustrate his case he added, "The clear goal of Christian nationalism is to seize power only for its mostly white evangelical and conservative Catholic followers, no matter who else gets hurt or how many elections have to be overturned. This is the unholy force that incited the failed coup of Jan. 6, 2021, brought us the recent spate of theocratic Supreme Court opinions, and has inspired multiple wave upon wave of dangerous misinformation about elections, climate change, and COVID-19—all in direct contrast to Jesus’ teachings of love, truth, and the common good."
According to the religious leader, Greene "would have you believe that all of her critics “hate America [and] hate God,” but this ignores the fact that most Christians are appalled at the way she hijacks the Gospel to justify attending white nationalist rallies and spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories," adding, "They don’t speak for American Christians. And it's up to us to finally deflate their claims of a monopoly and thus their hold on power, reclaim our religion and its prophetic voice for the Gospel’s true values of love, dignity, equality, and social justice."
The Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland began erupting again on Wednesday after eight months of slumber – so far without any adverse impacts on people or air traffic.
The eruption was expected. It’s in a seismically active (uninhabited) area, and came after several days of earthquake activity close to Earth’s surface. It’s hard to say how long it will continue, although an eruption in the same area last year lasted about six months.
Climate change is causing the widespread warming of our land, oceans and atmosphere. Apart from this, it also has the potential to increase volcanic activity, affect the size of eruptions, and alter the “cooling effect” that follows volcanic eruptions.
Any of these scenarios could have far-reaching consequences. Yet we don’t fully understand the impact a warming climate could have on volcanic activity.
The Fagradalsfjall volcano is located some 30km from Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik.
Cold volcanic regions
First, let’s take a look at volcanic regions covered in ice. There’s a long-established link between the large-scale melting of ice in active volcanic regions and increased eruptions.
Research on Iceland’s volcanic systems has identified a heightened period of activity related to the large-scale ice melt at the end of the last ice age. The average eruption rates were found to be up to 100 times higher after the end of the last glacial period, compared to the earlier colder glacial period. Eruptions were also smaller when ice cover was thicker.
But why is this the case? Well, as glaciers and ice sheets melt, pressure is taken off Earth’s surface and there are changes in the forces (stress) acting on rocks within the crust and upper mantle. This can lead to more molten rock, or “magma”, being produced in the mantle – which can feed more eruptions.
The changes can also affect where and how magma is stored in the crust, and can make it easier for magma to reach the surface.
Magma generation beneath Iceland is already increasing due to a warming climate and melting glaciers.
The intense ash-producing eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano in 2010 was the result of an explosive interaction between hot magma and cold glacial melt water. Based on what we know from the past, an increase in Iceland’s melting ice could lead to larger and more frequent volcanic eruptions.
The Eyjafjallajokull is an active volcano covered by an ice cap. Back in 2010, an explosive eruption led to flights across Europe being halted. (Arnar Thorisson/AP)
Weather-triggered eruptions
But what about volcanic regions that aren’t covered in ice – could these also be affected by global warming?
Possibly. We know climate change is increasing the severity of storms and other weather events in many parts of the world. These weather events may trigger more volcanic eruptions.
On December 6 2021, an eruption at one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, Mount Semeru, caused ashfall, pyroclastic flows and volcanic mudflows (called “lahars”) that claimed the lives of at least 50 people.
The Semeru eruption left nearby villages covered in ash – forcing residents to flee. (Antara TV/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY)
Local authorities hadn’t expected the scale of the eruption. As for the cause, they said several days of heavy rain had destabilised the dome of lava in the volcano’s summit crater. This led to the dome collapsing, which reduced pressure on the magma below and triggered an eruption.
Signals of volcanic unrest are usually obtained from changes in volcanic systems (such as earthquake activity), changes in gas emissions from the volcano, or small changes in the shape of the volcano (which can be detected by ground-based or satellite monitoring).
Predicting eruptions is already an incredibly complex task. It will become even more difficult as we begin to factor in risk posed by severe weather which could destabilize parts of a volcano.
Some scientists suspect increased rainfall led to the damaging 2018 Kīlauea eruption in Hawaii. This was preceded by months of heavy rainfall, which infiltrated the earth and increased underground water pressure within the porous rock. They believe this could have weakened and fractured the rock, facilitating the movement of magma and triggering the eruption.
But other experts disagree, and say there’s no substantial link between rainfall events and eruptions at Kīlauea volcano.
Rain-influenced volcanism has also been proposed at other volcanoes around the world, such as the Soufrière Hills volcano in the Caribbean, and Piton de la Fournaise on Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean.
Changes to the ‘cooling effect’
There’s another layer we can’t ignore when it comes to assessing the potential link between climate change and volcanic activity. That is: volcanoes themselves can influence the climate.
An eruption can lead to cooling or warming, depending on the volcano’s geographical location, the amount and composition of ash and gas erupted, and how high the plume reaches into the atmosphere.
Volcanic injections that were rich in sulphur dioxide gas have had the strongest climatic impact recorded in historic times. Sulphur dioxide eventually condenses to form sulfate aerosols in the stratosphere – and these aerosols reduce how much heat reaches Earth’s surface, causing cooling.
As the climate warms, research shows this will change how volcanic gases interact with the atmosphere. Importantly, the outcome won’t be the same for all eruptions. Some scenarios show that, in a warmer atmosphere, small to medium-sized eruptions could reduce the cooling effect of volcanic plumes by up to 75%.
These scenarios assume the “tropopause” (the boundary between the troposphere and stratosphere) will increase in height as the atmosphere warms. But since the volcano’s eruption column will stay the same, the plume carrying sulphur dioxide will be less likely to reach the upper atmosphere – where it would have the largest impact on the climate.
On the other hand, more powerful but less frequent volcanic eruptions could lead to a greater cooling effect. That’s because as the atmosphere gets warmer, plumes of ash and gas emitted from powerful eruptions are predicted to rise higher into the atmosphere, and spread rapidly from the tropics to higher latitudes.
One recent study has suggested the major Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption in January may contribute to global warming, by pumping massive amounts of water vapor (a greenhouse gas) into the stratosphere.
Heather Handley, Associate Professor of Volcanology and Geoscience Communication, University of Twente and Adjunct Associate Professor, Monash University
After news broke that the U.S. declared monkeypox to be a public health emergency, friends and family started asking me, an infectious disease epidemiologist, if monkeypox is about to begin causing widespread death and chaos. I assured them that the Aug. 4, 2022, public health emergency declaration is about government resource allocation. Similar to the World Health Organization’s declaration of monkeypox as a public health emergency of international concern, the U.S. declaration isn’t calling for individuals who are not in a high-risk group to change anything about their lives.
There have not yet been any monkeypox deaths in the U.S., but more than 7,000 cases have been diagnosed thus far, and the spread of the virus to nearly every state is concerning. While most cases are still occurring among men who have sex with men, the virus is also transmitted through nonsexual skin-to-skin contact, so there is a risk of people in other population groups contracting the infection. The federal declaration is intended to help slow the spread of the virus among men who have sex with men and stop it from spreading to new communities.
What is a public health emergency?
Presidents and state governors have the authority to declare states of emergency when there is a potentially life-threatening situation and the resources routinely allocated to the responding agencies are insufficient for dealing with the situation.
In late July, 2022, for example, the governor of Kentucky declared a state of emergency following devastating flooding in the eastern part of the state. The governor requested and received federal assistance to help respond to the floods. The declaration didn’t mean that more flooding was expected. It just made extra resources available for rescuing stranded individuals and providing essential services, like shelter and drinking water, to displaced people.
Similarly, the monkeypox emergency declaration doesn’t mean that the government expects millions more cases in the next month. It is about helping health agencies get the vaccines and other tools they need to slow the spread of the virus.
Does the public health emergency call for public action?
No. The main thing the emergency declaration does is enable the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to get more of the funding and other resources that it needs to protect the public from a more widespread monkeypox outbreak. At this point, monkeypox is an emergency for the U.S. government’s public health agencies to deal with. It is not an emergency for the public right now. The goal of the emergency declaration is to prevent monkeypox from becoming a more widespread threat to public health.
As of early August, 2022, there were 7,000 cases of monkeypox in the U.S. so far, with cases spread across several states.
First, the government will intensify its efforts to protect at-risk communities by trying to get new vaccine doses faster and increasing access to testing and treatment. Officials are also working with LGBTQI+ communities to educate men who have sex with men about reducing their risk of contracting the monkeypox virus.
Second, the emergency declaration calls for all states and other jurisdictions to share data with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It also authorizes the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to collect data about monkeypox testing and hospitalizations. These actions will give the Department of Health and Human Services better data about where monkeypox is occurring so the agency can distribute vaccines and the antiviral medication tecovirimat (Tpoxx) to the states and cities that have the greatest need for them.
Will the declaration boost the supply of vaccines?
The package insert for the Jynneos vaccine specifies that it should be given in two 0.5-milliliter doses four weeks apart. The emergency declaration outlines a strategy in which people are instead given two 0.1-milliliter doses. If the lower dose is as effective as the full dose, up to five times more people could be vaccinated with the same amount of vaccine.
Fractional dosing is not a new strategy. During a 2016 yellow fever epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa, clinical trials showed that a small portion of the approved vaccine dose was just as effective as a full dose at conferring immunity.
The emergency declaration does not call for schools, businesses, nursing homes or individuals to change their behaviors in any way or to prepare for any sorts of future restrictions. Declaring monkeypox a public health emergency just makes more resources available to help the government protect the public from this infectious disease.
