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You are here: Home / Oh, Great. Now a Volcano

Oh, Great. Now a Volcano

by John Cole|  March 13, 20114:42 pm| 151 Comments

This post is in: Fucked-up-edness

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What’s next? Mothra?

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Reader Interactions

151Comments

  1. 1.

    JPL

    March 13, 2011 at 4:45 pm

    Pat Robertson will explain it tomorrow on his show.

  2. 2.

    The Political Nihilist Formerly Known As Kryptik

    March 13, 2011 at 4:47 pm

    This is God’s way of telling the hippies ‘No, I’m responsible for global warming’.

    Not to mention the perfect signal to the world that Volcano monitoring really is useless and we need to shuck funding for it wholesale, just like for earthquake and hurricane monitoring. Hell, lets just get rid of the whole fucking concept of ‘environment’, it’s all a hippie scam anyhow.

  3. 3.

    Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)

    March 13, 2011 at 4:48 pm

    Holy fuck! I didn’t realize there could be a link between an earthquake and a volcanic eruption. This report states that there is no immediate danger to surrounding cities though.

  4. 4.

    The Dangerman

    March 13, 2011 at 4:49 pm

    @JPL:

    Pat Robertson will explain it tomorrow on his show.

    Bad anime?

  5. 5.

    Yutsano

    March 13, 2011 at 4:50 pm

    @The Dangerman: No anime could suck as bad as the rantings of Pat Robertson. And I’ve seen some bad animes in my day.

  6. 6.

    Loneoak

    March 13, 2011 at 4:51 pm

    Actually, I’m more worried about Giant Moles and Jetpack Men. They are very particular about building codes.

  7. 7.

    freelancer (itouch)

    March 13, 2011 at 4:51 pm

    I predict a Birdemic or maybe an invasion by Phantom of Krankor.

  8. 8.

    Alex S.

    March 13, 2011 at 4:52 pm

    Sounds like apocalypse, but once you think about it, it makes sense that earthquakes and volcanoes are related. But I guess that if you don’t ‘believe’ in tectonic plates you will think it’s a sign of God.

  9. 9.

    Tom

    March 13, 2011 at 4:52 pm

    At least this is way in the south, far from the affected earthquake zone, so in the (very) small mercies category the misery up around Sendai won’t be compounded by this little valentine from Ma Nature.

  10. 10.

    dmsilev

    March 13, 2011 at 4:52 pm

    If we’re really really unlucky, well, Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.

    dms

  11. 11.

    freelancer (itouch)

    March 13, 2011 at 4:52 pm

    @Loneoak:

    And this Water Tower doesn’t pass muster!

  12. 12.

    freelancer (itouch)

    March 13, 2011 at 4:56 pm

    @Yutsano:

    I think Pat Robertson was going to put the blame on things like bad anime, tentacle hentai, schoolgirl panty vending machines, things like that.

  13. 13.

    MikeJ

    March 13, 2011 at 4:56 pm

    Insufficient use of the bully pulpit.

  14. 14.

    Yutsano

    March 13, 2011 at 4:58 pm

    @freelancer (itouch): I suppose I could condemn good ol’ Pat to a 72 hour forced marathon of Wedding Peach, that oughta lighten his mood some. Or cause his colon to strangle his brain.

  15. 15.

    JGabriel

    March 13, 2011 at 5:01 pm

    Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people):

    I didn’t realize there could be a link between an earthquake and a volcanic eruption.

    Yes, there’s a very strong link between earthquakes and volcanoes — both tend to occur along fault lines. I’ve been worried about the possibility of a volcano erupting, especially Fuji-san, ever since we got news of the initial earthquake.

    Honestly, though, I would have expected one of the more northern volcanoes in Japan to go off, like Mount Asama or Mount Ontake. Shinmoedake — the one that’s going off now — is really pretty far to the south and far from the epicenter of the quake and its aftershocks. Which, of course, is why there’s some question as to whether it’s related to the quake or just a coincidence.

    .

  16. 16.

    JGabriel

    March 13, 2011 at 5:04 pm

    @dmsilev:

    … Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.

    If you keep making those faces, it can get stuck that way.

    .

  17. 17.

    beltane

    March 13, 2011 at 5:04 pm

    We are no more than ants crawling around on this great ball of water and rock which is itself no more than a speck of dust in the great sea of the Milky Way which is itself no more than a tiny disc of light and dust in the expanse of the universe. This, to me, is far more humbling than the concept of being the children of an angry, jealous earth godling.

  18. 18.

    Yutsano

    March 13, 2011 at 5:06 pm

    @JGabriel: And apropos of nothing (or everything) the first character in that volcano’s name means “new”…but is also a homonym for “death” in Japanese.

    @beltane: Oh sure, get all Carl Sagan on us. :)

  19. 19.

    scav

    March 13, 2011 at 5:07 pm

    @JGabriel: Based purely upon distance decay effects, there’s reason to expect the northern ones to have gastritis, but there are local conditions too. This volcano was already techie, maybe is just needed a little wiggle to set it off again. weak house 5km away might collapse when a well-designed building even near the epicenter might survive.

    ETA? should that be spelled techy? I don’t mean the geeky kind, I mean the grumpy sort.

  20. 20.

    shecky

    March 13, 2011 at 5:08 pm

    What’s next? Mothra?

    Only if the volcano is on Monster Island.

  21. 21.

    dmsilev

    March 13, 2011 at 5:10 pm

    @JGabriel: Not to mention the possibility of breaking out in tentacles.

    dms

  22. 22.

    JGabriel

    March 13, 2011 at 5:10 pm

    @scav:

    This volcano was already techie …

    It’s frustrated with its iPad? I think you mean tetchy?

    .

  23. 23.

    scav

    March 13, 2011 at 5:11 pm

    @JGabriel: we are so on the same i-page.

    ETA: although, come to think of it, some techie deity getting tetchy with his electronics and throwing it across the room could stand as a ultimate cause for an 8.9 in a thunder is the angels bowling sort of way.

  24. 24.

    janester

    March 13, 2011 at 5:12 pm

    I guess some dark humor while we are waiting for the news on the nuclear meltdown to do its thing is okay… on the other hand, my hubby, the normally sane one among us, is researching the prices of geiger counters online. And on the third, uncountable hand, I am oddly grateful to be living on the Gulf of Mexico. At least at the moment.

  25. 25.

    BGinCHI

    March 13, 2011 at 5:12 pm

    Jesus, the fucking GOP will do anything to deflect attention from WI.

  26. 26.

    Yutsano

    March 13, 2011 at 5:14 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    Jesus, the fucking GOP will do anything to deflect attention from WI.

    Win.

  27. 27.

    timb

    March 13, 2011 at 5:15 pm

    @shecky: It’s not really an island; it’s a peninsula

  28. 28.

    JGabriel

    March 13, 2011 at 5:15 pm

    scav:

    This volcano was already techie, maybe is just needed a little wiggle to set it off again. weak house 5km away might collapse when a well-designed building even near the epicenter might survive.

    True, but Mount Asama is kind of tetchy too, going off as recently as 2009. And it’s near the center of Honshu, which puts it a lot closer to the quakes.

    .

  29. 29.

    TaMara (BHF)

    March 13, 2011 at 5:15 pm

    A long time ago, back in the dark ages of computers, I played the original Sim City. And when you were tired of your shiny, productive city, you could turn on the disaster feature and watch it all be destroyed by earthquake, fire, volcano and….Godzilla.

    I’m thinking someone just got tired of playing Sim Earth and turned that feature on.

  30. 30.

    dmsilev

    March 13, 2011 at 5:17 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    Jesus, the fucking GOP will do anything to deflect attention from WI.

    Aha, the true reason why they wanted to cut funds for ‘something called volcano monitoring’: So nobody could catch them in the act.

    Today’s GOP: Run by the same people who write scripts for James Bond movies.

    dms

  31. 31.

    Yutsano

    March 13, 2011 at 5:17 pm

    @TaMara (BHF): And you could also have nuclear plants as energy sources. And they liked to melt down. A lot. And the mess was very very sticky to clean up.

  32. 32.

    dmsilev

    March 13, 2011 at 5:20 pm

    @TaMara (BHF): One of the sequels to SimCity back in the day was in fact SimEarth. And you’ll be happy to know that plenty of disasters were available. From Wikipedia:

    The list of disasters ranges from natural occurrences, such as hurricanes and wild fires, to population-dependent disasters, such as plagues and pollution. Effects on the planet may be minor or major depending on the current conditions. Increased volcanic eruptions, for example, increase the amount of dust in the atmosphere, lowering global temperature; earthquakes in a body of water may produce tsunamis; and the shortage of nuclear fuel for a nuclear power-dependent civilization may potentially trigger nuclear war.

    Now we just need The Player of the Game to deploy some (2001-esque) monoliths, and we’ll be in much better shape.

    dms

  33. 33.

    BGinCHI

    March 13, 2011 at 5:20 pm

    Anyone know why all of a sudden whenever I refresh a thread my browser automatically scrolls me up to my last comment?

    Really annoying if you’re trying to stay at the bottom of the thread.

    Using Firefox.

  34. 34.

    scav

    March 13, 2011 at 5:21 pm

    @JGabriel: well, early days yet and that doesn’t negate the influence of local context. Tetchy Volcano A got a crack in a place that mattered and Bitter and Vengeful Volcano B has cracks (or whatever) where it didn’t cause breakdown. To some degree, it’s luck of the draw all the way down — we’re merely discussing modifications to the odds. The world ain’t exactly cozy and mechanistically predictable.

  35. 35.

    kdaug

    March 13, 2011 at 5:23 pm

    @beltane: Yeah, but “Infinitesimal Speck of a Blue Marble” just didn’t sound as good.

  36. 36.

    MikeJ

    March 13, 2011 at 5:25 pm

    @BGinCHI: I get that if I’ve clicked an @ link to see what somebody was replying to. If the url in the address bar ends with #comment-nnnnnnn, when you reload it will scroll back up to that comment.

    Which is what it did in previous releases, but the scrolling wasn’t visible for me until the RC1.

  37. 37.

    scav

    March 13, 2011 at 5:26 pm

    Oh help, I just read the headline Authorities scramble to control overheating reactors and had the vision of thousands of bio-suited responders descending on blog threads and insisting everyone take a deep breath and why not have a spot of tea?

  38. 38.

    TaMara (BHF)

    March 13, 2011 at 5:26 pm

    @dmsilev:

    The Player of the Game

    I am so stealing that.

  39. 39.

    BGinCHI

    March 13, 2011 at 5:29 pm

    @MikeJ: Yeah, I can see that the url box has exactly that ending, with my last comment # at the end.

    WTF?

    This only started a few days ago. What changed?

    If anyone knows how to disable/defeat, please let me know.

  40. 40.

    PurpleGirl

    March 13, 2011 at 5:29 pm

    @beltane: Well said.

    The earth is a dynamic system — land moves, rocks are heated and spewed forth, they form and reform. It is not static. This volcanic eruption may not be connected to the earthquake but it is typical of the Pacific rim which is very active.

  41. 41.

    Maude

    March 13, 2011 at 5:31 pm

    @scav:
    Earlier AP had ‘frantic to to control reactors’. I wish they’d lay off the drama queen language.

  42. 42.

    steve

    March 13, 2011 at 5:31 pm

    countdown to pat robertson saying the nips pissed off the baby jesus in 3…2…1…

  43. 43.

    MikeJ

    March 13, 2011 at 5:31 pm

    @scav: I don’t care if the Washington Department of Health says there will be no effect from the Japanese reactors here, I’m keeping a spider outside, ready to bite me after it’s irradiated.

  44. 44.

    PurpleGirl

    March 13, 2011 at 5:31 pm

    @scav: This is also a good explanation and well said in a more contemporary sort of manner.

  45. 45.

    Dennis SGMM

    March 13, 2011 at 5:32 pm

    @steve:
    It’s because girls show their tits on broadcast TV in Japan.

  46. 46.

    Texas Dem

    March 13, 2011 at 5:33 pm

    It’s the work of SPECTRE. Blowfelt is still pissed off that James Bond destroyed his secret rocket base.

  47. 47.

    Yutsano

    March 13, 2011 at 5:34 pm

    @MikeJ: That means next earthquake your ass better be saving my bacon. I work in the Federal Building downtown on the 20th floor…

  48. 48.

    MikeJ

    March 13, 2011 at 5:34 pm

    @Maude: If they’re pouring seawater on the reactors and turning them into billion dollar doorstops, I’d guess they’re pretty frantic. There’s no way they’d kiss off an investment that big unless the S was about to HTF.

    Until Ben & Jerry’s start operating nukes, assume profit is way, way more important than safety.

  49. 49.

    Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal

    March 13, 2011 at 5:35 pm

    tanned rested and radiated, godzilla-brooks in 2012

  50. 50.

    Dennis SGMM

    March 13, 2011 at 5:35 pm

    @BGinCHI:
    Just go the the URL in your browser’s address bar and delete everything past the page URL then load the page. Just tried it and it works fine.

  51. 51.

    dmsilev

    March 13, 2011 at 5:36 pm

    @MikeJ: Can’t you just expose yourself to to a blast of gamma radiation?

    If you don’t anger easily, it may not be appropriate. Ditto if you don’t look good in green.

    dms

  52. 52.

    Dennis SGMM

    March 13, 2011 at 5:37 pm

    @MikeJ:
    One of the power stations was scheduled to be shut down this month. The cataclysm just beat them to it.

  53. 53.

    Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)

    March 13, 2011 at 5:37 pm

    @scav: Win!

  54. 54.

    MikeJ

    March 13, 2011 at 5:39 pm

    @Dennis SGMM: Yes, one of the eleven.

  55. 55.

    craigie

    March 13, 2011 at 5:40 pm

    If the Japanese would just tax the poor more and subsidize the rich more, these environmental problems would go away.

  56. 56.

    themis

    March 13, 2011 at 5:40 pm

    @The Dangerman: If you think about it, Pat’s head is a little larger than proportional and his eyes are huge…

    GOPer version of tentacle porn, perhaps?

  57. 57.

    Texas Dem

    March 13, 2011 at 5:40 pm

    Godzilla-Mothra 2012! Fusion ticket.

  58. 58.

    steve

    March 13, 2011 at 5:41 pm

    Today’s GOP: Run by the same people who write scripts for James Bond movies.

    Obama: You expect me to deal, McConnell?
    Auric McConnell: No Mister Obama! I expect you to die!

    OT, but does anyone else find Mitch McConnell’s voice painful to hear?

  59. 59.

    JGabriel

    March 13, 2011 at 5:41 pm

    /blockquote>@scav:

    To some degree, it’s luck of the draw all the way down — we’re merely discussing modifications to the odds.

    Oh, of course. I was just expressing surprise that it was Shinmoedake erupting first (assuming it’s related to the quakes, which it might not be), rather than one of the closer volcanoes. It wouldn’t be surprising if it were more likely than other outcomes.

    .

  60. 60.

    BGinCHI

    March 13, 2011 at 5:42 pm

    @Dennis SGMM: Great, an extra step every time I want to reload.

    Now I have white people problems!

    Thanks Obama!!

  61. 61.

    dmsilev

    March 13, 2011 at 5:43 pm

    @steve: No no no. Goldfinger *has* to be Glenn Beck. I mean, duh.

    dms

  62. 62.

    BGinCHI

    March 13, 2011 at 5:43 pm

    @steve: Second only to Susan Collins.

    It’s like she’s doing a really bad Phyllis Diller impression.

  63. 63.

    J.

    March 13, 2011 at 5:44 pm

    What’s next, Mothra?

    Or Catzilla.

  64. 64.

    Dennis SGMM

    March 13, 2011 at 5:45 pm

    @BGinCHI:
    You only have to do it once after each time you post a comment.

  65. 65.

    quaint irene

    March 13, 2011 at 5:46 pm

    The only crisis is how Fox News can find a way to blame all this on Obama.

  66. 66.

    BGinCHI

    March 13, 2011 at 5:47 pm

    @Dennis SGMM: Stop hating on my hardship.

  67. 67.

    JGabriel

    March 13, 2011 at 5:48 pm

    @MikeJ:

    I’m keeping a spider outside, ready to bite me after it’s irradiated.

    You know, it’s very uncommon for an irradiated bug bite to turn you into a superhero or have any other kind of positive effect. Most interactions with irradiated bugs just turn you into an existential husk of sad monster and lead to an early death.

    .

  68. 68.

    trollhattan

    March 13, 2011 at 5:49 pm

    Poor bastards. Japan’s new national anthem.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxNEiZhpinY

  69. 69.

    Caravelle

    March 13, 2011 at 5:51 pm

    Which, of course, is why there’s some question as to whether it’s related to the quake or just a coincidence.

    The article said it was erupting for the first time in “two weeks”. That… doesn’t mean it’s a coincidence given if it was erupting two weeks ago it might still be linked to the cause of the earthquake, and the article isn’t a primary source so the blase tone of the “first time in two weeks” bit might not be significant but still. That sounds like a very active volcano that erupts often anyway.

  70. 70.

    Dennis SGMM

    March 13, 2011 at 5:51 pm

    @BGinCHI:
    (Hands BGinCHI a virtual Glenfiddich on the rocks) I’m with ya’ bunkie, to the barricades!

  71. 71.

    Comrade Mary

    March 13, 2011 at 5:51 pm

    From that mega-Metafilter thread (again), a Tokyo resident describes the most frightening day of his life. (We know now that Tokyo was far from the epicenter, but people living through it at the time didn’t.) He’s well, his family’s well, and he deeply appreciates what he has and what he could have lost. The whole thing is worth reading, but I thought this excerpt was especially appropriate for this blog:

    A couple of days ago was the first time in eighteen years I truly thought I would die. I was on the sixteenth floor of a thirty-three story building in Tokyo when the earthquake hit. At the time, I didn’t know but it seems the middle floors move the most. … Pro Tip: If you are at home, go to the bath. It is the safest room in an earthquake because it has support pillars for the heavy bath and (usually) no windows that can shatter covering the floor in glass. You DON’T want to go outside where you’d be at the mercy of falling debris!
    __
    Usually when I went to the bath, the earthquake would end and life would return to normal. But, no. This time, Mother Nature wasn’t done with us yet.
    __
    For the first time in twenty years here, things throughout the room were crashing to the floor and doors that were *closed* were swinging and bashing loudly. Most unnerving, however, was the sound of the building itself.
    __
    It was groaning and snapping at its most fundamental level. If it had been alive, it’d be a deep guttural moan of pain and the snapping of bones. Snap, crackle and pop may be enticing in a breakfast cereal but not in an old building that is holding me sixteen floors above weak riverbed ground.
    __
    The intensity only increased and seemed to go on forever. When it reached what I thought was the point of no return, I was on my knees and praying fervently (and I am not a religious man). During the worst part, I was just repeating “Take what you want from me but protect my wife!” (who was in another part of Tokyo) and I even said her full name repeatedly so He would understand.
    __
    Minutes later, another big tremor hit.
    __
    For some reason, I noticed that I stank. I didn’t want to die stinking. I figured: I’m in the bath already why don’t I take a shower? If I am going to die I don’t want them to find me dirty. I stripped and took a shower.
    __
    During my shower the next tremor hit. It was hard to keep my balance when soapy and sudsy but I was determined to die clean. I didn’t want them to find me dirty. On all fours I cleaned myself with vigor.
    __
    Odd what you think of when faced with the real possibility of death.

    Pro Tip #2: If you’re in the bathtub during an earthquake, don’t even try to mop.

    EDIT: Sorry. Screwed up the URL: fixed it now.

  72. 72.

    MattR

    March 13, 2011 at 5:51 pm

    A dramatic rescue also took place off Japan’s coast Sunday, when a Japanese destroyer rescued a 60-year-old man at sea, some 15 kilometers (9 miles) off Fukushima prefecture, according to Kyodo News Agency.
    __
    The man, identified as Hiromitsu Shinkawa of Minami Soma, was swept away with his house, Kyodo said. He was spotted floating in the sea, waving a self-made red flag while standing on a piece of his house’s roof.
    __
    Shinkawa was conscious and in good condition, Kyodo said, citing Defense Ministry officials. He was quoted as telling rescuers he had left his home because of the quake, but returned home to grab some belongings with his wife when the tsunami hit. “I was saved by holding onto the roof,” he said, “but my wife was swept away.”

    http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/13/japan.quake.scene/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1

  73. 73.

    BGinCHI

    March 13, 2011 at 5:53 pm

    @Dennis SGMM: (Rattles empty virtual glass)

    One more, then we go.

  74. 74.

    Mike G

    March 13, 2011 at 5:54 pm

    Time for Jindal to make another flippant remark about the frivolousness of volcano monitoring.

    Seriously, how tone-deaf do you have to be as governor of a state that was just hammered by a hurricane to sneer at money for government monitoring of natural disasters?

    Perhaps the teatards want monitoring halted because Jesus will send the secret bat-signal to all the “good people” (i.e. them) so they can get out of town and all the wicked will be smited, just like in the Left Behind books they bought at Wal-Mart.

  75. 75.

    Dennis SGMM

    March 13, 2011 at 5:57 pm

    @Caravelle:
    I once met a for-real volcanologist at a party. He said that there were no such things as extinct volcanoes, only dormant ones. It wouldn’t surprise me to hear that the eruptions were a result of the tectonic activity. It also wouldn’t surprise me to hear that they were coincidental.

  76. 76.

    trollhattan

    March 13, 2011 at 5:58 pm

    Stuff that doesn’t translate well (NHK headline):

    “Commuting practically difficult in Tokyo”

  77. 77.

    Yutsano

    March 13, 2011 at 6:02 pm

    @Dennis SGMM:

    I once met a for-real volcanologist at a party

    Just to keep him from chewing you out next time you two meet, it’s vUlcanologist. They get picky about that.

    /pedant

  78. 78.

    MattR

    March 13, 2011 at 6:02 pm

    @Dennis SGMM: This reminds me that I was watching MSNBC yesterday and they had someone from the Discovery Channel (I think) on to explain the Ring of Fire. The host asked if California should be worried about the possibility of a quake as a result of what happened in Japan. The Discovery Channel guy responded that geologists tell him no, but given that the earth consists of moving plates it would not surprise him if something did happen on the west coast of the United States. I wanted to throw something at the TV but had to settle for changing the channel.

  79. 79.

    Dennis SGMM

    March 13, 2011 at 6:04 pm

    @Yutsano:
    I thought vulcanologists were people who studied Vulcans.

  80. 80.

    PaulW

    March 13, 2011 at 6:05 pm

    Do NOT mock Mothra. Mothra’s the good guy. Gal. Actually.

    I think it’s Godzilla that would be the problem.

  81. 81.

    Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen

    March 13, 2011 at 6:06 pm

    @Texas Dem: You are a very bad man.

  82. 82.

    BGinCHI

    March 13, 2011 at 6:07 pm

    @MattR: Too bad there aren’t any geologists in this country.

    Did they play the segment out to Johnny Cash?

  83. 83.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 13, 2011 at 6:08 pm

    @Yutsano: One must capitalize the “u”? How odd.

  84. 84.

    MikeJ

    March 13, 2011 at 6:08 pm

    @Dennis SGMM: Tell T’Pau I have my ahn’woon ready.

  85. 85.

    Yutsano

    March 13, 2011 at 6:08 pm

    @MattR: I recommend keeping a good stock of plushies near the easy chair for just that occurrence. But you do run the risk of Chloe thinking it’s playtime NAOW!! if you do. That was a beautiful non-answer though, I bet he’s angling for a Fox News gig.

  86. 86.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    March 13, 2011 at 6:10 pm

    Actually the next disaster will be Duke winning the Final Four, and hearing Dickie V spout about it. Go BUCKEYES!!!!

  87. 87.

    trollhattan

    March 13, 2011 at 6:11 pm

    Gamera saved those two boys in Hokkaido.

    Just sayin’

  88. 88.

    Dennis SGMM

    March 13, 2011 at 6:14 pm

    @MattR:
    I live in a part of SoCal that is surrounded (At a distance) by a grid of earthquake faults, both well known and lesser known. Your reaction is spot on. Speculating that an event on one side of the Pacific plate may cause an event on the other side is just plain BS. California is going to shake like hell at some point in time, that’s a given with our history. To say that an event one one side of the Pacific plate may cause an event on the other side is beyond simplistic. The 1906 quake here did not trigger similar events in Japan. The devastating 1923 Kanto earthquake in Japan didn’t trigger quakes in California.
    The Discovery Channel ought to consider hiring someone who knows what the hell they’re talking about.

  89. 89.

    Yutsano

    March 13, 2011 at 6:15 pm

    @MikeJ: I don’t know what’s worse: the fact that I understood every word you said or that I guessed correctly what you were linking to. Well not the exact song cause I’m not THAT uber, but still.

  90. 90.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    March 13, 2011 at 6:17 pm

    I sense the evil hand of Rodak and the Lugo Men pulling the strings. Quick! Summon Goldar, Silvar and Gam!

  91. 91.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    March 13, 2011 at 6:19 pm

    @beltane: or my favorite Fox Mulder quote

    “We are but visitors on this rock, hurling through time and space at sixty-six thousand miles an hour, tethered to a burning sphere in an unfathomable universe. This most of us take for granted while refusing to believe these forces have any more effect on us than a butterfly beating its wings halfway around the world. Or that two girls, born on the same date, the same time and place, might not find themselves the unfortunate focus of similar unseen forces. Converging like the planets themselves into burning pinpoints of cosmic energy, whose absolute gravity would threaten to swallow and consume everything in its path. Or maybe the answer lies even further from our grasp.”

  92. 92.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    March 13, 2011 at 6:21 pm

    @Dennis SGMM:

    I thought vulcanologists were people who studied Vulcans.

    I believe the correct term is “nerds”.

    And I’m one of ’em.

  93. 93.

    RossInDetroit

    March 13, 2011 at 6:21 pm

    @TaMara (BHF):

    A long time ago, back in the dark ages of computers..

    I played Wumpus on an alphanumeric LED display after hand-typing the machine language into RAM.
    Lawn. Off.

  94. 94.

    scav

    March 13, 2011 at 6:25 pm

    @RossInDetroit: ooooh, beats my hand of Hahhurabi with an amber screen, can I stay on the sidewalk nearby?

  95. 95.

    Chris

    March 13, 2011 at 6:26 pm

    @dmsilev: alas, images don’t insert, but here’s a link

  96. 96.

    Jules

    March 13, 2011 at 6:26 pm

    @Mr Stagger Lee:

    How the hell do they get to play their first game in NC?

  97. 97.

    RossInDetroit

    March 13, 2011 at 6:26 pm

    @scav:

    can I stay on the sidewalk nearby?

    At your own risk. I never did catch the Wumpus and they’re very dangerous.

  98. 98.

    Dennis SGMM

    March 13, 2011 at 6:27 pm

    @RossInDetroit:
    You had LEDs? Child, I had Nixies.

  99. 99.

    RossInDetroit

    March 13, 2011 at 6:29 pm

    @Dennis SGMM:

    You had LEDs? Child, I had Nixies.

    You gave up your Nixies? I’ll never turn my back on my little glowing orange pals.

  100. 100.

    srv

    March 13, 2011 at 6:29 pm

    What’s with all this anti-Mothra bigotry, John?

    Mothra was usually on the good side.

  101. 101.

    BGinCHI

    March 13, 2011 at 6:30 pm

    @RossInDetroit: I spelled HELL on a calculator.

  102. 102.

    RossInDetroit

    March 13, 2011 at 6:32 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    I spelled HELL on a calculator.

    I still use my slide rule and, the ‘pocket’ calculator I bought for electronics school in ’75 still works.

  103. 103.

    Davis X. Machina

    March 13, 2011 at 6:33 pm

    @Dennis SGMM: Lunar Lander. ASR-33 Teletype. Rolls of paper. 300 baud dial-up, handset and acoustic coupler.

  104. 104.

    Wile E. Quixote

    March 13, 2011 at 6:33 pm

    @Mike G:

    Time for Jindal to make another flippant remark about the frivolousness of volcano monitoring.
    __
    Seriously, how tone-deaf do you have to be as governor of a state that was just hammered by a hurricane to sneer at money for government monitoring of natural disasters?

    If the Democratic Party weren’t completely useless they’d have some nice footage of this latest volcano eruption intercut with pictures of little Pish Tush Jindal making that statement, both as a means of kicking Bobby while he’s down and as a means of reminding everyone just how fucking stupid the Republicans are.

  105. 105.

    BGinCHI

    March 13, 2011 at 6:34 pm

    @RossInDetroit: You’re probably 10 years away from Detroit going back to that technology.

  106. 106.

    Dennis SGMM

    March 13, 2011 at 6:34 pm

    @RossInDetroit:
    LOL! Thy’re actually undergoing a sort of renaissance. There are all kinds of plans on the intertrons for Nixie clocks. I cut my computational teeth on COBOL, PASCAL and FORTRAN. As time went on I figured that they were pretty much obsolete. Turned out that I made a ton of money during the Y2K freakout.

  107. 107.

    Davis X. Machina

    March 13, 2011 at 6:35 pm

    @RossInDetroit: I do a unit on slide rules every year.

    I’m thinking of having a semester class on “The History of Ancient Geek”, where we make, and use, and generally play with things like sextants (GPS), abacuses and slide rules (calculators), do graph-paper-and-pencil cryptography, Morse code (ASCII, then Unicode), etc.

  108. 108.

    RossInDetroit

    March 13, 2011 at 6:36 pm

    @Davis X. Machina:

    Lunar Lander. ASR-33 Teletype. Rolls of paper. 300 baud dial-up, handset and acoustic coupler.

    Lunar Lander on KIM-1 6502 microcomputer, saved to cassette tape.

    I see the volcano is now said to be ‘spewing boulders’. That phrase is almost never part of a good day.

  109. 109.

    RossInDetroit

    March 13, 2011 at 6:38 pm

    @Dennis SGMM:

    I cut my computational teeth on COBOL

    I was a COBOL/CICS analyst during Y2K. We made a pile until the coding jobs went overseas and never came back.

  110. 110.

    RossInDetroit

    March 13, 2011 at 6:41 pm

    @Davis X. Machina:

    I’m thinking of having a semester class on “The History of Ancient Geek”, where we make, and use, and generally play with things like sextants (GPS), abacuses and slide rules (calculators), do graph-paper-and-pencil cryptography, Morse code (ASCII, then Unicode), etc.

    I just read The Victorian Internet, Tom Standage’s excellent book on the history of telegraphy.
    Check out Make magazine’s blog and Projects pages for excellent DIY ideas along those lines.
    Also Instructables, though the quality is generally lower than Make’s high standard.

  111. 111.

    Dennis SGMM

    March 13, 2011 at 6:42 pm

    @Davis X. Machina:
    Brilliant! You might also consider touching on the astrolabe and the compass. In my retirement I’ve become a student of the history of the Middle Ages. It’s an amazement to me at how clever, knowledgeable and innovative some people were back then.

  112. 112.

    Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly known as Chad N Freude

    March 13, 2011 at 6:42 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Increased volcanic eruptions, for example, increase the amount of dust in the atmosphere, lowering global temperature

    Well that’s all right then, innit. Offsets global warming. Maybe we can instigate more volcanic eruptions so we can increase our CO2 output. Good times.

  113. 113.

    PanAmerican

    March 13, 2011 at 6:44 pm

    It’s the result of a small boy taking a sea sprite home with him.

  114. 114.

    Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly known as Chad N Freude

    March 13, 2011 at 6:46 pm

    @Dennis SGMM:

    I cut my computational teeth on COBOL, PASCAL and FORTRAN

    I was mentored in my first programming job by a guy who programmed IBM 700-series machines in octal. Now get off my lawn.

  115. 115.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 13, 2011 at 6:48 pm

    @Davis X. Machina: Abacus and fingers.

  116. 116.

    RossInDetroit

    March 13, 2011 at 6:50 pm

    @Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly known as Chad N Freude:

    I was mentored in my first programming job by a guy who programmed IBM 700-series machines in octal.

    Built a decimal/binary converter with light bulbs and 1n914 diodes when I was 12. My lawn gets a 50 yard perimeter.

  117. 117.

    Dennis SGMM

    March 13, 2011 at 6:51 pm

    @Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly known as Chad N Freude:
    Respectfully move onto the sidewalk.

  118. 118.

    Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly known as Chad N Freude

    March 13, 2011 at 6:53 pm

    @Davis X. Machina: I think this would be an excellent course. If you ever do it, is there some way you could post the lectures and exercises on the Intertubes without annoying your school?

  119. 119.

    Dennis SGMM

    March 13, 2011 at 6:55 pm

    @RossInDetroit:
    Built an Eccles Jordan multivibrator with parts from the surplus store for a Science Fair project in 1962. Now, do we all get off of each other’s lawn or shall we have a drink?

  120. 120.

    Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly known as Chad N Freude

    March 13, 2011 at 6:55 pm

    @Dennis SGMM: Mode of expression unclear. Do you mean “I am respectfully moving onto the sidewalk,” or “Please move respectfully onto the sidewalk, Prof. Oldfart.”

  121. 121.

    RossInDetroit

    March 13, 2011 at 6:55 pm

    @Davis X. Machina:

    I heartily endorse this idea. I read about archaic technology all the time because it teaches invention. How to reduce a problem to solvable parts and create solutions. This is a critically important thing to know in an age when being tech-savvy means you’ve read the reviews for the iPad 2.

  122. 122.

    scav

    March 13, 2011 at 6:56 pm

    @Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly known as Chad N Freude: Audit! Audit!

  123. 123.

    Dennis SGMM

    March 13, 2011 at 6:57 pm

    I am always respectful.

  124. 124.

    Marc McKenzie

    March 13, 2011 at 6:58 pm

    @Yutsano:

    Nah, not an anime…it’s scarily close to Komatsu’s Japan Sinks.

    But I agree–the worst anime ever made is still waaaayyy better than the swill that comes from Robertson and co.

  125. 125.

    RossInDetroit

    March 13, 2011 at 6:58 pm

    @Dennis SGMM:

    Now, do we all get off of each other’s lawn or shall we have a drink?

    The pavement’s getting crowded.

    P G Tips is mine *slurp*.

  126. 126.

    Davis X. Machina

    March 13, 2011 at 7:00 pm

    @Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly known as Chad N Freude: The major hurdle is convincing the state that I can teach it with the certificate I have.

    You could walk on water, and be able to teach the skill, but you wouldn’t be able to teach it in a public school unless you had a Phys Ed endorsement on your certificate. Ditto with water, wine, and no chemistry or home-ec endorsement.

  127. 127.

    Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly known as Chad N Freude

    March 13, 2011 at 7:00 pm

    @scav: In my current line of work, “audit” means “Check the computer audit records to see what jerk was responsible for this breach of security.” The response is frequently: “Records?'”

  128. 128.

    Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly known as Chad N Freude

    March 13, 2011 at 7:03 pm

    @Davis X. Machina: I would have actually shown up for class every day if my high school (or college, for that matter) had had such a class.

  129. 129.

    Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly known as Chad N Freude

    March 13, 2011 at 7:05 pm

    @Davis X. Machina: Another thought: This is just another example of the government interfering with our right to fill our children’s heads with whatever we want them to believe. Down with government!

  130. 130.

    RossInDetroit

    March 13, 2011 at 7:05 pm

    I just realized these disasters in Japan have messed up my side business. I sell vintage vacuum tubes and many of my best buyers are Japanese. Bet they won’t be spending a lot of time thinking about Telefunken triodes over the next week.
    Not when you haven’t got utilities and some of your friends and family are missing.

  131. 131.

    RossInDetroit

    March 13, 2011 at 7:09 pm

    @Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly known as Chad N Freude:

    I would have actually shown up for class every day if my high school (or college, for that matter) had had such a class.

    The high school where I work has an outstanding robotics program. I so envy those kids. Making stuff work with your own hands grows so many skills at once.

  132. 132.

    piratedan

    March 13, 2011 at 7:16 pm

    @Yutsano: my guess is that he’s forming a task force to investigate these pocket monsters and magic egyptian mythos cards to find out how baby Jeebus feels about them.

  133. 133.

    Yutsano

    March 13, 2011 at 7:23 pm

    @RossInDetroit: Good thing it’s a side business and not your bread and butter money supply eh? Hopefully you have enough of a financial cushion to weather things until this passes and Japan rebuilds.

  134. 134.

    RossInDetroit

    March 13, 2011 at 7:33 pm

    @Yutsano:

    Feels selfish to be thinking about the impact on my hobby of a disaster that has killed hundreds and will cost billions, but yeah, this changes some plans.

  135. 135.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 13, 2011 at 7:36 pm

    @RossInDetroit: There is a good chance that many of your customers will need replacement parts once the recovery has hit the point where thinking about that kind of thing is reasonable again.

  136. 136.

    henqiguai

    March 13, 2011 at 7:36 pm

    @RossInDetroit (#108):

    Lunar Lander on KIM-1 6502 microcomputer, saved to cassette tape.

    The KIM-1 ! I loved that processor and microcomputer. Unfortunately I got sidetracked working with a nuclear engineer co-worker; we spent too much time going between developing a math model of a boiling water reactor and designing a clustering technique for the KIM-1 and his (home-brew) system on which to run said math model. Heady days, until the space program imploded and we scattered to the four winds (was at Goddard Space Center).

  137. 137.

    Dennis SGMM

    March 13, 2011 at 7:48 pm

    @RossInDetroit:
    Kampai!

  138. 138.

    RossInDetroit

    March 13, 2011 at 7:49 pm

    @henqiguai:

    The KIM-1 ! I loved that processor and microcomputer.

    I went from KIM-1 to OSI Superboard II to VIC-20 (20K!!1!) to COBOL on IBM Mainframes & thought I’d do that forever. Instead I wrapped back around to the beginning and work on analog audio with vacuum tubes for the most part. Simpler, but still subtle and a bit dangerous.

  139. 139.

    Yutsano

    March 13, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    @RossInDetroit: By any chance you’re not contracted to work on the IRS computer database are you?

  140. 140.

    RossInDetroit

    March 13, 2011 at 8:16 pm

    @Yutsano:

    By any chance you’re not contracted to work on the IRS computer database are you?

    Haven’t done any consulting since Y2K. It’ll take a lot to get us COBOL old timers out of ‘retirement’ Too many damn kids on lawn, etc.

  141. 141.

    Yutsano

    March 13, 2011 at 8:41 pm

    @RossInDetroit: I just remembered that one of the two major computing centers was in Detroit. The other (thanks Robert Byrd!) is in West Virginia. Plus the system is older than me.

  142. 142.

    tom p

    March 13, 2011 at 8:57 pm

    My neice is in Sendai… Survived the earthquake, survived the tsunami, now trying to get away from a couple of nuclear reactors that are melting down….

    You know, when she took this job, I told her it would be a great adventure and how proud I was of her for going for it.

    I had no idea…. I only hope that some day she can tell me about it.

  143. 143.

    Dan.

    March 13, 2011 at 9:12 pm

    I just wanted to let people know about this Orodruin (nerd alert!) – it’s not that.
    The volcano in question is Mt. Shinmoedake and had been in a state of activity from at least January, and local geologists are saying it has been erupting for the last fifty (50) years. The locals would say not 50 but 200.
    Activity from Shinmoedake right now is being watched for any signs of actual eruption, but it doesn’t seem like it will. For Shinmoedake to be rumbling is as much as news as snow reports coming in from Chicago in February.

    Actually, about snow, that is a problem, as it just started snowing in Hokkaido and Sendai. That is also normal, but very very bad for recovery and clean up. Oh- also for shelters. It is very very bad news for people living in the shelters that have been set up.
    The headline at Kyodo News, which is a big news network in Japan (which, also and shockingly, has been anywhere from an hour to a full day ahead of CNN, MSNBC, and even the Beeb) right now that reactor 1 at Fukushima is having crazy-pants high radiation levels. Again.

  144. 144.

    Donald G

    March 13, 2011 at 9:24 pm

    It looks like Sosai X and Galactor have put another of their doomsday scenarios into effect. Damn you, Berg Katse!

    When the hell is Dr. Nambu gonna call out the Science Ninja Team?

  145. 145.

    jon

    March 13, 2011 at 9:47 pm

    If only the Japanese equivalent of the GOP would write a bill declaring Plate Tectonics to be invalid, the Japanese people could have a much more business-friendly science climate.

  146. 146.

    Mike G

    March 13, 2011 at 10:11 pm

    @Dan.:

    The headline at Kyodo News…right now that reactor 1 at Fukushima is having crazy-pants high radiation levels.

    Too bad the GOP aren’t the ruling party in Japan. They could pass a tax cut to solve this problem.

  147. 147.

    Dan.

    March 13, 2011 at 10:22 pm

    @Mike G: Man, you don’t know.

    People are extra close watching the departments and officials in charge of the clean up, in charge of the plants, everything. Mainly because the officials have, in recent history, in recent nuclear plant disasters, hid evidence and tried to cover their wrong doings.
    Why?
    They were ashamed. They were ashamed that they let their nation, their plant, their communities down.

    It’ s no excuse for burying evidence, but can we have one official here who would think like that? Actual remorse and guilt for their errors. Not concern for their office.
    Now I’m mad again. Great

  148. 148.

    S. cerevisiae

    March 13, 2011 at 11:17 pm

    The most fun in high school was putting a couple of extra card in with somebody else’s program: ie: 1 REM DUMFUCK.

    Fun times.

  149. 149.

    TenguPhule

    March 14, 2011 at 4:00 am

    Hell is a choice between an eternity watching Pat Robertson on the bully pulpit or the Urotsukidoji English Dub.

  150. 150.

    bjacques

    March 14, 2011 at 6:43 am

    @TenguPhule:

    I was wondering when someone would bring up Legend of the Overfiend. Because we’re way outside Godzilla territory here.

    Best viewing of Urotsukidoji has to be on a giant screen in the Royal Festival Hall in London about 10 years ago, with the sound turned down and Acid Mothers Temple playing in the orchestra pit.

  151. 151.

    twiffer

    March 14, 2011 at 8:19 am

    it isn’t called the pacific “ring of fire” for shits and giggles.

    i’m sure others have chimed in (too early to read through all the comments), but massive earthquakes along active subduction zones do tend to trigger volcanic eruptions along that same plate boundary. granted, after the giant one in indonesia a few years back it took a month or two for an eruption, so the connection wasn’t quite as apparent to those who a) don’t know anything about geology; and b) weren’t paying attention. but yeah, you have a huge temblor on a volcanic island chain, one of the volcanoes is going to blow.

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