It's not NICE to fool Mother Nature...

[becsflowers]

In the grand scheme of things, what is happening on our world and in our lives now is, to us, one disaster after another on a large scale. On a smaller scale, looking over creational evolution since the beginning of time, this is just how it happens...
The Earth is SICK and purging itself of toxic waste. We really DO have just this second; everything extra is a bonus.

[sweetness&light]

Wow, becs...this is truly deep thinking. I'm impressed....but then you've always known how impressionable I am. http://www.geekfest.com/ubb/wink.gif

[Lucinda]

I was thinking along these lines the other day Becs. Before television, and radio, and the fast delivery of news papers, these kind of disasters just happened - with the majority of the world was unaware of the magnitude. Or blessedly naive and spared the graphic nature of in-your-face details brought to us via vomitous news coverage only aimed at increasing veiwership.

Someone said on CNN we will reach the point of Disaster Fatigue. Both emotionally and financially.

What's happening in California now would normally be front and center on the news....having lived through a few of these Calif deluges - it is much worse than the limited coverage we are getting.

At the same time, I sometimes think nature regularly purges California of it's sins - floods, landslides, raging fires and earthquakes - all of which creates a dominoe effect that starts the process all over again. I agree, these types of disasters ARE nature's way of keeping the world and ecology in check.

[Purk]

The human reference point for observing natural phenomena is relatively small compared to the age of this planet. I study weather events, as in large rainfall events and the subsequent flooding that ensues. We know that flooding occurs when rain falls. Water causes soil erosion. This has been a natural process for over 2.5 billion years on this planet. We know that mountains have formed with cataclysmic results and that they too have ultimately been eroded with billions of rainfall events. Ice blankets once covered much of the northern hemisphere and when they melted, the seas rose and rivers formed. The sun came out and new life evolved on the face of this planet.

Asteroids and volcanic activity have wreaked havoc on once existing species. More species of animals and plants have become extinct than currently exist today. The fossil record indicates that literally billions of years of life have essentially faded into the annals of the past. Why did they become extinct? Asteroids, volcanic activity, flooding, pandemic diseases, geologic movement of the crustal plates (earthquakes), are all probable causes.

The interior of the earth is a roiling cauldron of molten elements, mostly metallic. NASA has revealed that the shape of the earth was slightly deformed as a result of this last earthquake. Remember that this has occurred many times over the history of the planet. We have observed only a tiny slice of time and our view is, of course, slightly skewed.

We, the human race, build edifices and monuments which fade and crumble with time. Entropy is unstoppable. We hope to leave our mark on the face of the planet as a lasting memoriam of our infrangible will. We succeed for a brief moment in time. All things turn to dust and rejoin the long cycle of existence in this cosmos.

We have been taught by the world’s greatest religions that the human soul is that which will continue past this mortal life. I hope that is so and that our souls will also grow beyond that which we now know. My prayer is for knowledge and understanding. My hope is for peace and fellowship. My wish is for health and happiness to all our fellow passengers on this journey.

Please excuse my lecture of the day.

Purk

[outsider2002]

I am just wondering if the huge earthquakes with the following Tsunami are a reaction to the huge dam being built in China? After all, they are putting billions and billions of gallons of water where there was just air before, thus shifting massive amounts of weight to a 'weightless' area.
Somehow I can't immagine that this amount of human interference in nature's way can be any good.
They say the earth's rotation has slowed a fraction of a second after the disaster. Wonder what will happen because of THAT...

[PMilam]

Welcome, Purk. If that was a lecture, I'm glad to get one. I agree wholeheartedly. I remember my first grasp of gravity and was watching the rocky area around Austin being blasted and hauled away. I did not understand how we could shift so much weight around and not cause the earth to shimmy shake to get the balance back.
Not scientific, just my thoughts.
Every action creates reaction, does it not?

[Purk]

The Three Gorges Dam, in China, holds 39.3 billion cubic meters (31.8 million acre-feet) of water at its normal pool elevation. As a comparative example, Lake Powell (Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona) holds 27 million acre feet of water. It seems only right that if we can store that much water in the US, then China should also be able to store the same for their burgeoning population. Glen Canyon is only one of many large dams that store water in the US. Mansfield Dam, near Austin, stores 1.3 million acre feet. The mass of the inner core of the earth is exceedingly much larger than the mass of water stored behind dams, or in the sea, or in glaciers. We need to think on a much grander scale. Rainfall from one large storm front can deliver more volume and mass to the earth’s surface than any manner of excavation.

And as regards storm events, I was quite saddened to hear of King Gladden’s passing this evening. I only talked with him briefly on the phone about banking but I could hear his good hearted nature in his voice. He seemed to be a man who really loved life. May peace be with him and may his family find comfort and solace from family, friends and the creator.

Purk