Fire Down Below

Scientists are convinced that Alaska's Mt. Redoubt, a 10,000 foot volcano, is on the steady march toward eruption. Within weeks, days, hours, minutes, or some other span of time, the peak will begin spurting ash and possibly a few dollops of molten lava. Look out Anchorage, things are about to get hot! Well, probably not. Anchorage, Alaska's most populous city counting all the rednecks, is a hundred miles from Mt. Redoubt. Though air traffic operations in the city had to be shut down during the volcano's last eruption in 1989 due to ashy air. Scientists believe that the impending eruption will be as powerful or weaker than the last one, so if you're a TV movie producer, I'm sad to say it looks like you won't be able to pitch a true story that's Dante's Peak meets Snow Dogs. The Alaska Volcano Observatory has set up a web camera at Mt. Redoubt's mouth, which serves two purposes. On one hand, it will allow for real-time monitoring of the eruption process, and on the other, it will provide a steady income from those willing to pay the $19.95 monthly fee to watch the volcano masturbate. More details here.