A vast filament of magnetism is cutting across the sun's southern hemisphere today. Run a finger along the golden-brown line in this extreme UV image from the Solar Dynamics Observatory and your digit will have traveled more than 400,000 km:

A bright 'hot spot' just north of the filament's midpoint is UV radiation from sunspot 1112. The proximity is no coincidence; the filament appears to be rooted in the sunspot below. If the sunspot flares, it could cause the entire structure to erupt.

UPDATE: Yesterday's M3-flare did not destabilize the filament. Stay tuned, however, because sunspot 1112 is growing and more activity is possible in the hours ahead.

Posted: 1:33:49 PM  

Posted: 1:32:05 PM  

"The work took 33 days total, one day a man," said Mikhail Proestakis, manager of Driller Supply Company, which participated in the drilling of the rescue shaft with a diameter of 66 centimetres, which is 33 times two.

"I believe in numerology, it has to mean something."

One of the CHILE-MINERS-POSTINGs H E R E - AND H E R E on MM - SCROLL DOWN please:

Numerology:

A way out, at last, for Chile's 33 trapped miners ...

Sixty-six agonizing days ..

Posted: 1:30:12 PM  

Yasir Afifi, a 20-year-old computer salesman and community college student, took his car in for an oil change earlier this month and his mechanic spotted an odd wire hanging from the undercarriage.

The wire was attached to a strange magnetic device that puzzled Afifi and the mechanic. They freed it from the car and posted images of it online, asking for help in identifying it.

Two days later, FBI agents arrived at Afifi's Santa Clara apartment and demanded the return of their property - a global positioning system tracking device now at the center of a raging legal debate over privacy rights.

Posted: 1:18:20 PM  

Rescuers fear worst for 11 trapped Chinese miners

"Based on past experience, the remaining 11 miners could be buried in coal dust, so the survival chances are frail," Du said. Rescuers had to clear tons of coal dust from the mine shaft to reach the trapped workers, and they faced dangerous gas levels and the risk of falling rocks as they worked their way into the mine pit.

Posted: 1:16:20 PM