The sky is falling

Sorry for all the earthquake and San Francisco stuff, but thanks for indulging me. I get easily caught up in that sort of thing - it's probably no coincidence I liked geology and history in college.

Anyway, it's interesting to think about. In early 2001, FEMA reported on three disaster scenarios that would likely strain their ability to effectively manage: 1) A terrorist strike in New York City; 2) A hurricane in New Orleans; 3) An earthquake in San Francisco. Not that they're prescient, necessarily, since it's really just a matter of time, but still. A little spooky. Given what we've all witnessed especially in the second of the first two cases, I'll be rethinking my emergency preparedness kit, that's for sure.

Also, unlike any potential future quake scenarios (which pretty much scare the crap out of me), with the passing of so much time, the last Big One makes a really great story. Disaster, tragedy, scope, heroism, renewal, all that good stuff.

Speaking of great stories... has anyone else heard of the giant chunks of ice falling out of the clear blue sky? I'd read about it a year or few ago when it was being reported in Spain, but chalked it up to one of those highly unlikely sketchy witnesses no evidence things, since it was difficult at the time to find any legitimate media reports or scientific investigations. But it's happened twice in California in the last two weeks alone: one chunk leaving a crater in an Oakland playground, and another crashing through the roof of a rec center in Loma Linda.

It turns out that people are investigating... it's just that no one really knows where they're coming from. The FAA is checking into it in case they're falling from airplanes (it's a myth that planes simply dump the contents of each lavatory flush), but there's no evidence to support this theory. Which, while deepening the mystery, is something of a relief to me. Frankly, I'd rather not have giant microwave-oven-sized chunks of ice accumulating on the outside of any plane I'm in. Yeek.