9.0 Earthquake just hit Japan.

[Phil777]

Have a look at this interactive quake map simulator/mapper. This chap has produced a similar map for the Christchurch quakes - it is very interesting. The power is absolutely amazing.

Apollo, where did you see all the workers had been evacuated? The latest I saw on the web was that a crew of 180 were going in in shifts of 50 to keep trying to douse the reactors/fires with water.

Yes, I just had alook at the Japanese Quake map thanks. It really does get the message across especially if you 'fast fwd' it. Wow!

Would you say it was true that earthquakes are increasing in many places around the earth?

[ApolloLXII]

Yep Phil777, biodiversity is what keeps life on this planet ticking and humans really are dumb for making war on each other, especially seeing how all it achieves is to waste human life. As for an increase in earthquakes around the globe, while it may seem to be so in the short term (the last 20-30 years), in the long term (over a period of several hundred to thousands of years), no. The frequency of earthquakes is totally reliant on plate tectonics and the frequency of earthquakes in our region is entirely due to pressure building up along the western edge of the Pacific plate. That pressure is now being released but that does not rule out the occurrence of more earthquakes in the region in the next few months or years. Like the weather, when an earthquake is likely to occur is very difficult to predict. One hopes that the situation in Japan re: the nuclear situation, can be resolved quickly without further loss of life.

[Phil777]

The theory of evolution is well set scientifically regarding the origin of t human species...to answer your question, no, there is one traceable source of humanity

Yes, but a theory is just that - a theory. Like no proof. Some of the supposed 'missing link' finds were hoaxes or frauds weren't they.

[Phil777]

Yep Phil777, biodiversity is what keeps life on this planet ticking and humans really are dumb for making war on each other, especially seeing how all it achieves is to waste human life. As for an increase in earthquakes around the globe, while it may seem to be so in the short term (the last 20-30 years), in the long term (over a period of several hundred to thousands of years), no. The frequency of earthquakes is totally reliant on plate tectonics and the frequency of earthquakes in our region is entirely due to pressure building up along the western edge of the Pacific plate. That pressure is now being released but that does not rule out the occurrence of more earthquakes in the region in the next few months or years. Like the weather, when an earthquake is likely to occur is very difficult to predict. One hopes that the situation in Japan re: the nuclear situation, can be resolved quickly without further loss of life.

Oh, I thought that there has been a significant increase in large earthquakes in recent decades. Some are saying they expect another big one in the USA shortly. Let's hope not.

[Analog6]

Phil, I think we are going through an active period, but we are also much more aware due to the media. Say 50 years ago we might never have heard much about, for example, the Chilean quake, or events in isolated communities and secretive societies. For instance, hands up those who know about the 1950s nuclear accident near Chelyabinsk (Urals) in the USSR? Not too many of you I bet. And there are many examoles of the Chinese hiding natural and technical disasters in their country so it would not affect their global economic place.

I am a climate change believer, I think in the years since the industrial revolution we have expelled so many gases and elements into the atmosphere that we must have had an influence. Look at the hole in the ozone layer, which has responded to the decrease in CFCs. The Arctic ice is breaking up and melting at a far greater rate then in recorded history and seemingly faster than any geological/ice core studies can find records of, while for some reason the Antarctic ice is not - it's calving but not melting.. I was speculating the other day to Warwick that could not that redistribution of the weight of all that water from frozen at the top to over the surface of the sea have some effect on the tectonic plates? I may be way off beam, I'm no scientist - but my mind jumps about all the time, and the thought just came to me.

Some years ago I read a paper on geological evidence (although there is some debate on it) that some time ago (I think the figure is 100,000 - 300,000 years ago) a 300m (yes, nearly 1000 ft high) tsunami washed over the Wollongong area. Some scientists have linked it to an asteroid/meteor strike, others say it didn't happen. The paper I saw some years ago had what seemed to me fairly compelling evidence of rocks from the sea and their random placement that indictaed a huge wave.

[Analog6]

There is an excellent article in the Inquirer section of the Weekend Australian by Cameron Stewart called 'No Escape from A Killer Wave'.

He covers the frequency of earthquakes and tsunamis and thinks, as I do, that it is the perception they are more frequent and an increased frequency in reportage which has come about - rather than an actual rise in frequency.

[ApolloLXII]

Yes, but a theory is just that - a theory. Like no proof. Some of the supposed 'missing link' finds were hoaxes or frauds weren't they.

The frauds and hoaxes took place in the years before scientific advancement came to the stage at what we know it today. The Piltdown Man, "discovered" in 1912 turned out to be a human skull with a jaw of an orangutan but those were the days when such things could be gotten away with. It took until 1953, when scientific technology had improved for the fraud to be exposed.

The common ancestral link between ourselves and apes has been conclusively proven by means of DNA sequencing, not the fossil record.

[Phil777]

Japan just had TWO quakes of 6.6 mag and one of 6.4 in the same area.

This is on the 22nd, 11 days after the 11th when the big one (9.0) hit.

http://www.japanquakemap.com/

[Phil777]

Some say that the blitz of quakes just off the north east coast of Japan may cause part of it to slide into the ocean.

http://www.youtube.com/user/2010TheC.../0/Iv50-6-GX9s

What do you think?

[ricktas]

Japan just had TWO quakes of 6.6 mag and one of 6.4 in the same area.

This is on the 22nd, 11 days after the 11th when the big one (9.0) hit.

http://www.japanquakemap.com/

You are relying on our Calendar system (gregorian) to try and impress with a series of numbers. If you use the Julian Calendar, or say perhaps the Sinhala calendar (Happy New Year for today, to any Sinhala AP Members, by the way), then your dates mean diddly-squat. You are using a man-made calendar that most western countries use, but that is ultimately a man-made set of numbers and sequences. Unfortunately this calendar, being man-made, has no link whatsoever to the natural world, other than that it does come close to matching the seasons of the year, but even then it needs to be 'fixed' every 4 years with a leap year. To try and make a man-made date system seem to adhere to some unknown force of nature and the internal timings of the planet is without basis, and in fact flawed. You are assuming that the calender that some people on this planet use, is the correct one, and that the Universe is guided by it. How? It isn't like man, or Earth is the centre of the Universe and that everything we create is pure and correct.

Sorry but your repeated attempts to link events to man-made dates and numbering systems is flawed from the start, due to the man-made dates and numbering systems you are using. You can base your statements on a calendar system, a decimal system, maybe base it on a dozen, a baker's dozen or the Mile, rather than the KM, or if neither of those fit, try nautical miles, the yard or the metre, or perhaps you could try a furlong or 2? Of course by using any man-made measuring or numbering system you can find something that fits what you want to use to impress upon others a sequence that seems to reflect some innate order of things.

Today is:

Gregorian: Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Mayan: Long count = 12.19.18.5.2; tzolkin = 10 Ik; haab = 10 Pop
French: 24 Germinal an 219 de la Révolution
Islamic: 9 Jumada I 1432
Hebrew: 9 Nisan 5771
Julian: 31 March 2011
ISO: Day 3 of week 15 of 2011
Persian: 24 Farvardin 1390
Ethiopic: 5 Miyazya 2003
Coptic: 5 Barmundah 1727
Chinese: Cycle 78, year 28 (Xin-Mao), month 3 (Ren-Chen), day 11 (Wu-Xu)
Julian day: 2455665
Day of year: Day 103 of 2011; 262 days remaining in the year
Discordian: Pungenday, Discord 30, Year of Our Lady of Discord 3177

So now, make your observations of some hidden numbering sequence that you have alluded to in these matters, at several times in your posts on AP, fit these Calendar Systems.

[alextdel]

Good call re the number and date system - We are so conceited to think that any part of the natural world is based on human constructed concepts. The only real relationship to nature that humans have is that we are a product of it, wonder at its scale, intricacy and magnificence while simultaneously consuming its bounty and potential.

[Phil777]

I'm sorry but I don't know any other Calendar system Rick. It has been with me since birth. I imagine it has been with a lot of other people too.
Nevertheless I thank you for your educational post.
I was just quoting the dates and quakes for some significant quakes. I think several more significant ones have happened since then anyway. A 6.1 yesterday plus five more over 5.0.
Another thing worth noting in regard to what is significant is all the planes that traverse the globe would probably be using the Gregorian Calendar and possibly UTC but correct me if I'm wrong.
Also, as I understand all air traffic control in international airports use the English language.
Now the Mayan calendar you mention in the list - I think I've heard of that. Something about next year I think - 2012? Is there anything in that? Perhaps 2012 is going to be a special year.
And as for the French, the Brits will never trust them Le Calendeur de La France est supreme, n'est ce pas? C'est la vie!
I read somewhere that the French were being blamed for metrication.
And bon nuit!