March 11, 2016

Top News Stories –

Japan earthquake: Tsunami hits north-east –
Japan’s most powerful earthquake since records began has struck the north-east coast, triggering a massive tsunami. Cars, ships and buildings were swept away by a wall of water after the 8.9-magnitude tremor, which struck about 400km (250 miles) north-east of Tokyo. A state of emergency has been declared at a nuclear power plant, where pressure has exceeded normal levels. Officials say 350 people are dead and about 500 missing, but it is feared the final death toll will be much higher. In one ward alone in Sendai, a port city in Miyagi prefecture, 200 to 300 bodies were found. The quake was the fifth-largest in the world since 1900 and nearly 8,000 times stronger than the one which devastated Christchurch, New Zealand, last month, said scientists. Thousands of people living near the Fukushima nuclear power plant have been ordered to evacuate. [BBC] See Video of the Day

Video of the Day –

Japan Tsunami Footage

List of the Day –

List of ten most powerful earthquakes [Wikipedia]

Rank Date Location Event Magnitude
1 May 22, 1960 Valdivia, Chile 1960 Valdivia earthquake 9.5
2 March 27, 1964 Prince William Sound, Alaska, United States 1964 Alaska earthquake 9.2
3 December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean, Sumatra, Indonesia 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake 9.1
4 March 11, 2011 Pacific Ocean, Tōhoku region, Japan 2011 Tōhoku earthquake 9.0
5 November 4, 1952 Kamchatka, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union 1952 Kamchatka earthquakes 9.0
6 August 13, 1868 Arica, Chile (then Peru) 1868 Arica earthquake 9.0 (est.)
7 January 26, 1700 Pacific Ocean, USA and Canada (then part of the British Empire) 1700 Cascadia earthquake 8.7–9.2 (est.)
8 July 9, 869 Pacific Ocean, Tōhoku region, Japan 869 Sanriku earthquake 8.9 (est.)
9 December 2, 1611 Pacific Ocean, Hokkaido, Japan 1611 Sanriku earthquake 8.9 (est.)
10 April 2, 1762 Chittagong, Bangladesh (then Kingdom of Mrauk U) 1762 Arakan earthquake 8.8 (est.)

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October 2, 2015

Top News Stories –

Sam Smith’s James Bond theme makes UK chart history –
Sam Smith’s Writing’s On The Wall has made history by becoming the first Bond theme to reach number one in the UK. The track achieved combined chart sales and streams of 70,000 copies – 13,000 ahead of its closest competitor, Justin Bieber’s What Do You Mean? The previous highest-charting Bond themes were Adele’s Skyfall and Duran Duran’s View To A Kill, which both reached number two. Smith said he was “so proud” of the song and being number one was “crazy”. He told BBC Radio 1: “Out of all the songs I’ve brought out in my life, I was not expecting this to even chart in the top 10, let alone number one. It’s unbelievable.” [BBC] See List of the Day
Sam-Smith-2014Sam Smith

Janet Jackson puts the breaks on her Unbreakable world tour –
Janet Jackson has postponed her upcoming concert in Las Vegas and this isn’t the first time the pop icon has hit a road block along the way on her Unbreakable World Tour. The 49-year-old singer and performer announced her comeback this past June but it has been a series of highs and lows for the pop icon since. She has planned to reschedule this stop for next May 2016 when the venue will move to a new arena that can accommodate 20,000 fans. [Daily Mail] Today also saw the release of her new album “Unbreakable”, the first studio album from Jackson in seven years. See Video of the Day
Janet_JacksonJanet Jackson

Switzerland ‘could house 50,000 refugees in Cold War bunkers’ –
Switzerland can accommodate up to 50,000 refugees in nuclear bunkers, the country’s defence minister has said. During the Cold War, Switzerland began a policy of building enough fallout shelters that the entire country could safely retreat underground if there was a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the West. Today, while theoretically still available in a doomsday scenario, many of the bunkers are put to other uses. One in the small town of Sevelen was run as a “zero-star hotel” for some years, while the city of Geneva has used its bunkers as homeless shelters. Mr Maurer said around one-third of Switzerland’s public bunkers were currently in a position to take in refugees, with space for 50,000. [Daily Telegraph]

American wingsuit flier Johnny Strange dies in Switzerland accident –
Johnny Strange, an American adventurer who was the youngest person to climb the world’s seven tallest summits, has died in a wing suit accident in the Alps, Swiss police confirmed on Friday. The 23-year-old, who crashed shortly after jumping from Mount Gitschen in central Switzerland, is the latest casualty in what is regarded as one of the world’s most deadly extreme sports. He died on impact with the ground, likely after losing control mid-jump, according to authorities in the Swiss canton of Uri. Mr Strange, from Malibu, California, became the youngest person to scale the tallest peaks on each of the world’s seven continents in 2009, when he was 17. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Janet Jackson – BURNITUP! Feat. Missy Elliott (Lyric Video)

List of the Day –

James Bond Movie title themes [Wikipedia]

Film Year Score composer Title song Composed by Performed by U.K. peak
position
U.S. peak
position
Dr. No
(soundtrack)
1962 Monty Norman James Bond Theme Monty Norman John Barry & Orchestra; Monty Norman
“Kingston Calypso” Byron Lee and the Dragonaires
From Russia with Love
(soundtrack)
1963 John Barry “Opening Titles: James Bond Is Back/From Russia with Love/James Bond Theme” John Barry, Lionel Bart, Monty Norman Matt Monro
Goldfinger
(soundtrack)
1964 Goldfinger Leslie Bricusse
Anthony Newley
John Barry
Shirley Bassey 21 8
Thunderball
(soundtrack)
1965 “Thunderball” John Barry
Don Black
Tom Jones 35 25
You Only Live Twice
(soundtrack)
1967 You Only Live Twice Leslie Bricusse
John Barry
Nancy Sinatra 11 44
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
(soundtrack)
1969 “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” John Barry
Hal David
The John Barry Orchestra
We Have All the Time in the World” – Secondary Theme Louis Armstrong
Diamonds Are Forever
(soundtrack)
1971 “Diamonds Are Forever” John Barry
Don Black
Shirley Bassey 38 57
Live and Let Die
(soundtrack)
1973 George Martin Live and Let Die Paul McCartney
Linda McCartney
Paul McCartney & Wings 7 2
The Man with the Golden Gun
(soundtrack)
1974 John Barry “The Man with the Golden Gun” John Barry
Don Black
Lulu
The Spy Who Loved Me
(soundtrack)
1977 Marvin Hamlisch Nobody Does It Better Marvin Hamlisch
Carole Bayer Sager
Carly Simon 7 2
Moonraker
(soundtrack)
1979 John Barry “Moonraker” John Barry
Hal David
Shirley Bassey
For Your Eyes Only
(soundtrack)
1981 Bill Conti For Your Eyes Only Bill Conti
Michael Leeson
Sheena Easton 8 4
Octopussy
(soundtrack)
1983 John Barry All Time High John Barry
Tim Rice
Stephen Short
Rita Coolidge 75 36
A View to a Kill
(soundtrack)
1985 A View to a Kill John Barry
Duran Duran
Duran Duran 2 1
The Living Daylights
(soundtrack)
1987 The Living Daylights John Barry
Pål Waaktaar
A-ha 5
Licence to Kill
(soundtrack)
1989 Michael Kamen “Licence to Kill” Narada Michael Walden
Jeffrey Cohen
Walter Afanasieff
Gladys Knight 6
GoldenEye
(soundtrack)
1995 Éric Serra GoldenEye Bono
The Edge
Tina Turner 10 102
Tomorrow Never Dies
(soundtrack)
1997 David Arnold Tomorrow Never Dies Sheryl Crow
Mitchell Froom
Sheryl Crow 12
The World Is Not Enough
(soundtrack)
1999 The World Is Not Enough David Arnold
Don Black
Garbage 11
Die Another Day
(soundtrack)
2002 Die Another Day Madonna
Mirwais Ahmadzaï
Madonna 3 8
Casino Royale
(soundtrack)
2006 You Know My Name David Arnold
Chris Cornell
Chris Cornell 7 79
Quantum of Solace
(soundtrack)
2008 Another Way to Die Jack White Jack White
Alicia Keys
9 81
Skyfall
(soundtrack)
2012 Thomas Newman Skyfall Adele
Paul Epworth
Adele 2 8
Spectre
(soundtrack)
2015 Writing’s on the Wall [[Sam Smith (singer)|Jade Thurbon]
Jimmy Napes
Sam Smith 1

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June 18, 2016

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UK astronaut Tim Peake returns to Earth –
UK astronaut Tim Peake is back on Earth after a historic six-month stay on the International Space Station. A Soyuz capsule carrying Major Peake and two other crew members touched down in Kazakhstan at 10:15 BST. He called the journey back “the best ride I’ve been on ever”, adding: “The smells of Earth are just so strong.” Maj Peake is the first person to fly to space under the UK banner since Helen Sharman in 1991 and made the first spacewalk by a UK astronaut. During the 186-day mission, Maj Peake also remotely steered a robot on Earth and ran the London Marathon. Just before 15:00 BST, Maj Peake landed by helicopter on the runway at Karagandy airport. [BBC]
Timothy_PeakeTimothy Peake

Video of the Day –

WALT from justinclifton on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

Ten longest human space flights [Wikipedia]

# Time in space Crew Country Launch date (Launch craft) Landing date (Landing craft) Space Station or mission type
1 437.7 days Valeri Polyakov  Russia 1994-01-09 (Soyuz TM-18) 1995-03-22 (Soyuz TM-20) Mir
2 379.6 days Sergei Avdeyev  Russia 1998-08-13 (Soyuz TM-28) 1999-08-28 (Soyuz TM-29) Mir
3 365.0 days Vladimir Titov
Musa Manarov
 Soviet Union 1987-12-21 (Soyuz TM-4) 1988-12-21 (Soyuz TM-6) Mir
4 340.4 days Mikhail Korniyenko
Scott Kelly
 Russia
 United States
2015-03-27 (Soyuz TMA-16M) 2016-03-01 (Soyuz TMA-18M) International Space Station
5 326.5 days[ Yuri Romanenko  Soviet Union 1987-02-05 (Soyuz TM-2) 1987-12-29 (Soyuz TM-3) Mir
6 311.8 days Sergei Krikalev  Soviet Union/ Russia 1991-05-18 (Soyuz TM-12) 1992-03-25 (Soyuz TM-13) Mir
7 240.9 days Valeri Polyakov  Soviet Union 1988-08-29 (Soyuz TM-6) 1989-04-7 (Soyuz TM-7) Mir
8 237.0 days Leonid Kizim
Vladimir Solovyov
Oleg Atkov
 Soviet Union 1984-02-08 (Soyuz T-10) 1984-10-02 (Soyuz T-11) Salyut 7
9 215.4 days Mikhail Tyurin
Michael López-Alegría]
 Russia
 United States
2006-09-18 (Soyuz TMA-9) 2007-04-21 (Soyuz TMA-9) International Space Station
10 211.4 days Anatoli Berezovoy
Valentin Lebedev
 Soviet Union 1982-05-13 (Soyuz T-5)[19] 1982-12-10 (Soyuz T-7)[19] Salyut 7

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  • A week of heavy rains and flooding in south China results in at least 25 deaths, six people missing and 33,000 people displaced. (ABC News)
  • Six people are killed and 10 injured when a van crashes in the U.S. state of Virginia. (Reuters)
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