Submitted by Steve on Tue, 12/18/2012 - 19:31
When I went to school, back in the
Paleocene, students memorized a list of phrases spoken by famous Americans.
“Don’t give up the
ship.”
“I shall return.”
Submitted by Steve on Sun, 11/25/2012 - 15:49
If you live in California and
conversation drifts to earthquakes, the “BIG ONE” always surfaces.
‘Hey Steve, when’s the next BIG ONE
coming?’
For out-of-towners, a BIG ONE refers to a ~M8 earthquake on the San
Andreas Fault. The last BIG ONE was the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Everyone
knows that. The BIG ONE before that was the 1857 Ft. Tejon earthquake in the
southern part of the State. Virtually nobody knows that. No surprise, in 1857
Los Angeles was a dusty backwater, home to about 4,000 townsfolk.
Submitted by Steve on Wed, 11/07/2012 - 16:42
Rocks from space. Most of us have stepped out into the backyard and looked up
at the night sky to witness a wonderful, but brief, streak of light from a
falling star. Hardly star size, those streaks originate from space bits as big
as grains of sand. Larger things happen however. About once per year, a Volkswagen-size
rock crosses Earth’s path. These zip from horizon to horizon, burning bright
for 10 or 20 seconds --- long enough maybe, for someone with quick hand on a
camcorder to catch the show for appearance on the evening news.
Submitted by Steve on Tue, 10/09/2012 - 09:23
Switzerland.
What do you think of when you
hear, Switzerland?
Swiss Chocolate? Swiss Cheese? Swiss Steak? Swiss Army
Knives?
How about Swiss Earthquakes? or Swiss Tsunami?
Submitted by Steve on Sun, 09/16/2012 - 12:22
I recently attended a
scientific meeting and listened to a well-known geologist discuss new findings
about earthquakes near Ventura, California. He suggested that several faults
buried under the mountains north of town might "link up" to make an
earthquake far larger than would separate quakes on the individual faults.
Turns out, the uppermost arm of the link lies under the Santa Barbara Channel
parallel to the coast west of Ventura. As visualized, an earthquake on this
multi-fault monster could uplift the sea floor and coast north of the fault by
Submitted by Steve on Tue, 09/04/2012 - 12:18
Okeechobee’28. No, it’s not a classic car by Oldsmobile.
Okeechobee’28. Nope, it’s not a
pricey French Burgundy.
Submitted by Steve on Fri, 08/03/2012 - 11:08
Most everyone can recall the
names of some recent hurricanes -- say, Katrina or Andrew. Being from
Pennsylvania, I remember Hurricane Agnes way back in 1972. She still ranks as the
State's worst natural disaster. Weighed in terms of casualties however, no storm
compares with the Galveston Hurricane of September 8, 1900.
Submitted by Steve on Mon, 07/09/2012 - 09:51
As I blogged last time,
Tropical Storm Debby defied catalog odds. She broke apart and, after buckets
of rain, faded away. Suppose however, that things turned out
differently.
Submitted by Steve on Sun, 06/24/2012 - 14:30
Update-- Below is my current (6/26 1500 GMT ) wind forecast for Debby.
Clearly the (6/24 2100 GMT) prediction further down did not pan out so well. Anyone who's ever made a less than stellar forecast would prefer the evidence of it to just fade away, but this deserves a word.
FACT: The 100+ year hurricane catalog says that ON AVERAGE storms over Debby's part of the Gulf of Mexico should strenthen with time and accelerate toward the north or northeast.
Submitted by Steve on Tue, 06/12/2012 - 13:02
I hear that the Mayor of New York wants to ban Super Size sodas
in the City. Seems silly to me,
but just maybe he will get his way. When it comes to Super Size natural disasters
however, even the Mayor of the Big Apple can’t dictate terms.
I’ve blogged about dam break floods several times now -- What do you say if we Super Size That?
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