With all these past and looming natural disasters, plus BP's, you might wonder why humans also inflict disaster upon themselves. Could any species be this dysfunctional and survive?
Oregon is facing its own day of reckoning. A subduction earthquake, hitting about 9 on the Richter scale, is expected off the coast, based on previous patterns. Some planning (PDF) has occurred (Alan Potkin could advance the art).
Were we to live more lightly on the Earth, per aerospace ecovillage scenarios (ala Project Earthala), we could get off with less loss. We wallow in a dark age though, postponing engineering maturity.
My thanks to Glenn for updating me on some of the math future buzz. He also brought by the right crimping tool and workspace light, and supervised while I replaced the heating element in my oven, pretty much in an apprentice role. The part itself was hard to find. I credit the hard worker at W.L. May for pinpointing something in stock. She's a genius (seriously: it's an old Magic Chef in a retro style kitchen, hard to find parts).
