Geologists have raised the alert level at Mount Saint Helens to a "volcano advisory," the second highest warning of a possible eruption.

Geologists said activity at Mount Saint Helens is "ramping up" and they are more convinced now that magma is moving under the volcano. They expected an eruption would be limited to within three miles of the volcano.

"We think the likelihood of an eruption has increased," said

Scientist told a news conference at the U.S. Geological Survey's Cascade Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Wash., that small earthquakes are now occurring at the rate of four a minute.

How soon til she blows? You can watch the mountain for yourself, if you wish, or you can read more of the article. It's your choice.

SpaceShipOne landed safely on Wednesday in the California desert after a wild corkscrew-like ascent into space in a shot for a $10 million prize offered to the first privately funded, manned craft to reach beyond the atmosphere.

Today is an amazing day.

British hostage Ken Bigley has appeared caged, chained and pleading for his life in new video footage.

In the harrowing recording, shown on the Arab TV channel al Jazeera, Mr Bigley renews his appeal for Tony Blair to meet the kidnappers' demands and save his life.

He then breaks down in tears as he accuses Mr Blair of ignoring his plight.

"He doesn't care about me. I'm just one…" he says before holding his head in his hands and sobbing.

He said his captors did not want to kill him.

Brother Paul said he was relieved that Mr Bigley was alive – but was distressed by the images.

"Ken is alive, that is a good thing," he said.

"It does not look good with him caged like a hound but he is alive.

The kidnappers obviously heard about the Italian payment, and have upped their ante' by releasing another video to show Mr. Bigley is still alive. Or is he?

But the website message claimed the terrorists were going to free the 62-year-old in order to "humiliate" the British Government.

However, analysts urged caution over the report, pointing out that other claims made on Islamic websites had turned out to be completely false.

One report said two Italian aid workers had been "slaughtered" – but it emeged last night that they had been freed.

I guess we will find out soon enough. Pray for Mr. Bigley.

What is the price of freedom?

The release of two Italian aid workers in Iraq has raised hopes other hostages may soon be freed, but reports that a large ransom was paid may only feed the burgeoning hostage crisis.

The two Italians, Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, both 29, were freed on Tuesday after three weeks in captivity.

They had been seized along with two Iraqi colleagues from a central Baghdad office in a brazen attack witnesses described as very organised and probably carried out by a criminal gang.

Italy rejoiced in the women's freedom on Wednesday, but there were reports a substantial ransom had been paid.

Apparently, if you are Italian and you are kidnapped and held hostage in Iraq, the price of freedom is approximately $500,000 per person.

Gustavo Selva, an Italian lawmaker, told French radio a ransom of around $1 million (550,000 pounds) — a sum already mentioned in Arabic media reports in recent days — had been handed over.

Wonderful. They just raised the stakes for foreign aid workers who are only there to help the Iraqi people. I bet the kidnappers were not demanding a ransom. I bet they wanted some prisoners released, or citizens of some country to withdraw from Iraq. I bet the kidnappers were not even considering a ransom, until it was offered.

"In principle, we shouldn't give in to blackmail but this time we had to. Although it's a dangerous path to take because, obviously, it could encourage others to take hostages, either for political reasons or for criminal reasons," Selva told RTL.

I wonder what made "this time" different? I wonder what was so damn important "this time" that they chose to feed into the chaos of the situation and put even more foreigners at a greater risk? I wonder if "next time" will be different as well?

Things are changing every day in Iraq and resolve should not be one of them.

The question was:

Should the government continue to bail out people who insist on living in areas prone to flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes?

The results were:

There were a total of 393 votes which breakdown like this:

Yes (193 votes) [49.1%]

No (185 votes) [47.1%]

Not Sure (15 votes) [3.8%]

Check out the new questions, each Wednesday, here on Slobokan's Site O' Schtuff.