Long Overdue!

[HARDCORE]

Ever since the super continent began to come unglued along the tectonic plates, mankind has been at the mercy of forces that were (and are) far beyond his control! Entire civilizations have been obliterated, time and time again, by gigantic earthquakes and the resulting tsunamis (tidal waves) generated by worldwide seismic activity!

With the recent Indonesian catastrophe that may claim (after a final count) in excess of 100,000 lives, also came a wakeup call! A message from the forces of nature that mankind is, after all, quite puny in comparison to the powers of the universe!

Many times in the past, vast segments of humanity have been annihilated by powers that have been virtually ignored. Ignored that is, until the ?Hammer of God? slams down upon the arrogance of mankind, like just so may bugs being trampled under the foot of some gargantuan ogre!!

Anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of Geology and the other sciences, is aware of just how fragile life really is. We are, after all, but passengers, adrift upon a relatively small and insignificant speck of dust. A chunk of rock that, in a heartbeat, could be erased from existence!

Giant faults criss-cross our ?Big Blue Marble (Earth)?, asteroids and comets, menace us from above, and not far below our feet, the planet is nothing more that a massive glob of white-hot molten material - volatile and deadly to it?s core!

As I said above, maybe this catastrophic seismic event in Indonesia was a wake-up call and an omen of things yet to come. A warning that not all such tragic events are limited to the backyard of people far removed from our very own lives! After all, faults like the San Andreas and New Madrid are long overdue in venting their fury upon our ?Pseudo- Safe and Secure Existence!?

Consider this - ?Our coastline is very susceptible to tsunamis (great sea waves, or tidal waves if you prefer)!? In the blink of an eye, gigantic earthquakes could occur, far out to sea or even just off the continental shelve, triggering gargantuan waves that could top 100 feet or more, traveling at speeds that are faster than a commercial jet!

Once these waves hit the shallows, they can rise up like a gigantic sea monster, devouring millions of lives and countless resources for miles inland. And like Indonesia, this would be just the beginning! ?Starvation and disease would be close upon the heels of the initial disaster!?

Nature, after all, has no respect, not even for super powers, as the Minoans, the citizens of Pompeii, and even parts of our own nation have learned over the years!

Hurricanes, Tornados, Blizzards etc., tragic though they can often be, are mere child?s play when measured up against massive earthquakes and the terrors that lurk in their aftermath! And have no doubts about it, our turn at bat is coming! Maybe not tomorrow, or a year down the road, but eventually, we too will be devastated by forces that are beyond our comprehension or power to control! We are, after all, but mere children when it comes to the power of God and nature!!

?So relax, sleep tight [if you dare], and don?t let the boogieman bite!!? Fot this boogieman may be napping at this very moment, right below your feet!!! [Boo-oo-ooo]

VERITAS

[Boats]

HC - Mother Nature will always do her thing. The Earth we live on is a living being in its own right and when it gets sick or has an upset stomach - I'm sure it has to do something to make things right.

The internal workings of the inner core are still a mystery and the creation of the Earth will always be forthcoming. We are but a microbe upon its surface and within it (over time) the stresses and strains are always going relieve or occur until the end of time.

We can't blame the humans for the upheaval's that take place as the Earth's internal clock is always ticking. I love science and all that issues that pertain to it. I'm fascinated by the issues of global warming as I feel this would result no matter what. Everything is cyclic in nature as are the seasons.

Life is so short in human terms as compared to the events that have taken place since creation. We are but a brief encounter on this blue ball we call Earth.

Yet no one ever stops to realize just how fast we are moving both on the surface of the earth, its rotation around the Sun and the Solar System in the Universe.

The most fortunate aspects that we have yet to encountered in our time is still looming out there drifting in space looking for a target. The small events that we humans suffer here on Earth are nothing compared to the devastating effects we would have should we encounter a space rock with Earth as its target.

Though we continue ignore these things and fight amongst ourselves for petty reasons. It's unlikely that you or I will live to such an impact - but that the day "will" come (when is the issue) and when it does - the remaining humans will have to adjust accordingly.

Earth movements have been happening since it's creation. It's terrible to see the loss of life. Beach-front property comes at a cost and I'm sure early man found this out as well.

I don't think the internal core reflects whats going on with the outer atmospheric contaminates. I think its partially gravity, universal centrifugal forces and the eventually cooling down of the Earth's inner workings.

More an more of this is likely in the near future until some sort of stabilization or equalization results. The Sun cycles so does the Earth. I don't know of any human influences that could really disrupt the Earth's inner core? Maybe some of our friends on the site could enlighten us with their thoughts as well.

[darrels joy]

From the Wall Street Journal
Satirists Can't Keep Up
On Monday blogger David Burge published a funny satire titled "Top Scientists Warn: Sea Gods Angry." Here's a sample:

Pointing to the devastating weekend Indian Ocean tsunami that left over 24,000 dead, an international blue ribbon committee of climatologists and ecoscientists today issued a stark warning that man-made pollutants have increasingly "make water spirits angry." . . .

"Unclean money devils anger sacred water spirit Tai-Waku," explained Martin Knudson of Scripps Oceanic Institute. . . .

"If not act now, it too late," said report editor Paul Erlich of Stanford University.

Erlich, whose 1978 best seller "Ice Time Come Soon" is widely credited with saving millions of lives by warning of the massive age of glaciation that threatened Earth during the 1980s, said inaction might anger the spirit world further.

"Me not know when Tai-Waku make wrath again," said Erlich. "Me need more grant money."

This is a wonderful spoof of the eco-wackos who've been explaining the tsunami in terms of their pet theories (the topic of a Wall Street Journal editorial yesterday), but that "spirit world" stuff is over the top, right?

Wrong. Believe it or not, today's New York Times carries an article by author Simon Winchester called "The Year the Earth Fought Back," which makes a similar argument, apparently in all seriousness:

In recent decades, thanks largely to the controversial Gaia Theory developed by the British scientists James Lovelock, it has become ever more respectable to consider the planet as one immense and eternally interacting living system--the living planet, floating in space, every part of its great engine affecting every other, for good or for ill.

Mr. Lovelock's notion, which he named after the earth goddess of the Ancient Greeks, makes much of the delicacy of the balance that mankind's environmental carelessness increasingly threatens. But his theory also acknowledges the somber necessity of natural happenings, many of which seem in human terms so tragically unjust, as part of a vast system of checks and balances. The events that this week destroyed the shores of the Indian Ocean, and which leveled the city of Bam [Iran] a year ago, were of unmitigated horror: but they may also serve some deeper planetary purpose, one quite hidden to our own beliefs.

Winchester also notes that this year "has been that of the Monkey," as "the all-too-seismically-aware Chinese will remind us," and therefore it is "generally much prone to terrestrial mischief."

In fairness, Winchester's central point--that there may be connections between seismic events in disparate parts of the world--is a lot more plausible than the notion that "global warming" causes earthquakes. But it is at the very least amusing that the Times, which last month famously published an overwrought op-ed claiming that President Bush's re-election marked "the day the Enlightenment went out," feels the need to tart up some interesting scientific speculation in superstition.

[reeb]

Boats,

I cannot believe such True and Meaningful words coming from a Swabby.

YOU MUST HAVE WENT THROUGH COLLage>.....

enough..............