Tue 22 Oct 2019
Musings
Posted by PJ under compromising, earthquake, exploration, love, pain, tweets
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Some days I think that Twitter is nothing but people showing off their preciousness. Other days, when I am showing off my preciousness, I think it’s a wonderful tool for self-expression.
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When I used to watch the show about the coroner, Dr. G Medical Examiner she often asked the question, “Why is it always guys?†Often about some scheme or stunt that went badly and fatally awry. Of course, she was in Florida.
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Any shows hosted by Albert Lin are fascinating combinations of technology/science, history, and myth and Dr. Lin is an enthusiastic and exuberant explorer. I’ve been enjoying Lost Cities with Albert Lin on NatGeo, but I’ve also enjoyed his previous series on the Mayans, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Tomb of Genghis Khan.
https://g.co/kgs/hQaoSk
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EARTHA KITT SPEAKS ON RELATIONSHIPS: COMPROMISE FOR WHAT? á´´á´° https://youtu.be/rlUjHu3H_L4 via
@YouTube
No one would dream of asking a man about compromising for love, especially in the 80s. This interviewer probably assumed he was scoring quite a coup here, revealing something dark about Eartha Kitt. He was revealing was something dark about himself and his assumptions.
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I tried not to be overly concerned about the Garlock creep when I read about it the other day. Then the next morning at 12:19 we had a 3.7 quake about 15 miles from here and I thought, “Is this the beginning?” I was reassured when Dr. Lucy Jones posted this later in the day:
People are talking about the “unprecedented†movement of the Garlock fault after the Ridgecrest quake. It’s true we haven’t seen this in the 30 years of modern geodesy on the Garlock fault. But we’ve seen it many times on the San Andreas & it has never caused a quake. The movement on the Garlock is called triggered aseismic creep. It is in the top few hundred meters of the fault. No quake can occur in the shallow part because there’s no confining pressure. Big quakes begin 10-15 km down. Big quakes triggered aseismic creep on the San Andreas fault in 1979, 1992 & 1999. The creep never caused another quake. Ridgecrest was the first big quake near the Garlock since we have records so it’s the 1st time we’ve seen creep on the Garlock. But it’s not unprecedented.
Dr. Jones is always so reassuring.
So, as I was saying, we had a 3.7 quake centered about 15 miles from here. One sizable jolt traveling southeast to northwest through my house. It sounded and felt rather like the ghost of an elephant running through the attic. Being an experienced earthquake experiencer I sat there for a moment to see if there would be more (because earthquakes are sometimes sneaky and there will be a jolt, a pause, then more and sometimes harder). But there was not, so I went back to reading my book. I did hear sirens heading Compton way (the epicenter) so that may have been related. Living in California is often a question of both denial and bravado. I have my earthquake supplies and my emergency plans but I try very hard not to think about quakes the rest of the time. I did think that any out of towners at LAX (about 1/2 mile from here) or in the surrounding hotels at 12:19 got an especially memorable “Welcome to California.” I hope they appreciated it.
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Pain is a great teacher.
It teaches anger, it teaches
self-pity and doubt,
fist-shaking, a stunning
loss of perspective.
If it goes on long enough,
it may also teach humility,
acceptance, even courage.
But that’s never a sure thing.
Mostly pain teaches pain.
