Usually I'm a pretty reasonable person. However, over the past day, various items in the media have begun to drive me mad. Maybe I've been watching too much of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares but I am bleeping irritated with how little fact checking and research some parts of the media have been doing when it comes to reporting on volcanic activity. I mean, just yesterday there were no less than three egregious articles or images floating around in the news (and this doesn't even get into the fear-mongering)

AFP: Hekla is not Heimaey Island. The only island Hekla is on is Iceland itself (see top left). And that volcano isn't even Hekla, it is Eldfell. I think the Volcanism Blog handled this best with Ralph's simple illustration of the problem.

Reuters: Hekla did not erupt this year (see image on side). In fact, the last eruption was in 2000, which was 11 years ago. In fact, no Icelandic volcano was erupting in "February of this year". Or last year. Or the year before. {Hat tip to Eruptions reader Raving for finding this one.}

CBC: The CBC might be trying for some record in inaccuracies, misconceptions and just plain loopiness in their new post titled "FAQ: The Destructive Power of Volcanoes". In Ramsayian style, let's disassemble the problems.

CBC: April 24, 79 AD. Mount Vesuvius begins a 19-hour eruption that would kill more than 10,000 people and wipe out two Roman towns.

I have no idea where they got the date "April 24". Although we don't know the exact date, the prevailing idea is that the eruption occurred sometime in August-October of 79 A.D., based on how wind effected the dispersal of tephra and the historical record of the time. In fact, the most cited date is August 24, 79 A.D., so CBC, you're only 4 months off.

CBC: The horror of that eruption was caught in the faces of people who were entombed in lava.

Sorry, no lava here. Just tephra (ash and volcanic debris).

CBC: A volcano is a geological formation, usually a conical mountain, that forms when molten rock, called magma, flows up from the interior of the Earth to the surface. Magma finds its way upwards along fissures or cracks in the planet's crust and bursts out onto the surface, resulting in a volcano.

Although not entirely wrong, it is an incredibly awkward way to describe a volcano. For those of you scoring at home, a volcano is anywhere where lava erupts on the surface of the Earth. Seems simple enough to me. Many volcanoes might be a conical edifice, but I bet a majority aren't close to being a "cone". (However, it is still better than the FEMA definition of a volcano.)

CBC: The Earth's crust is composed of 15 tectonic plates that float on the molten layer beneath them.

How many times to I have to say this: the MANTLE IS NOT MOLTEN. It might have pockets of melt and it might behave like a plastic but it is not MOLTEN. Maybe this sign will help you remember:

Stand up for what you believe

If you want to know more about the state of the mantle, check out this post on Georneys. I'll give you a hint: THE MANTLE IS NOT MOLTEN. 

CBC: The solid crust is forced down into the extremely hot molten layer, where the heat and friction turns the solid rock into magma.