Re: [Phys-l] earthquakes more frequent ?

["John Clement" <clement@hal-pc.org>]

Is there a scientific link to these graphs?  Where did they actually come
from?  Were they lifted from another source?

One might suppose that the instruments may be more sensative, or that there
are more instruments now in use.  If the graphs are composites, with more
instruments in use, you would expect to see more earthquakes.  Or it might
be real that earthquakes come in cycles.  After all relieving stress in one
part of the globe may increase it elsewhere and trigger more earthquakes.
There is also the possibility that humans have triggered earth quakes by
deep drilling.  The speculations are endless, but is there a good article
about this?

Just showing graphs without the sources is not helpful.  The data apparently
comes from a good source, but how was it filtered?  One should also see the
trends in previous times to make a good comparison.  Are there other local
maxima?  These are all obvious questions.  All too often these people just
take things out of context to try to prove points.

I assume there are others on this list more familiar with the geology and
the earthquake data who could discuss this very rationally.  My backgound of
nuclear physics and pedagogy did not include much about geology.

The birthpang page is even more laughable:
http://www.trackingbibleprophecy.com/birthpangs.php

If you want to look for humongous disasters, you can go no further than the
supervolcano eruptions, which are all in the past.  And the central valley
of CA has not had a superflood in recent history, but they do happen from
time to time.  I am sure the black plague was also called a sign of the end
times.  I would hardly call most of the things on their list huge disasters.
Actually as the population increases the possibility for mass human killings
and property loss increases, so if you look at history you find equivalent
disasters just affecting the same percentage, but a lower number.  Obviously
these people have failed in understanding science and statistics and are
thinking at a very low level.  The last supervolcano eruption in SE Asia
wiped out ALL people there, and split the human race into two distinct
populations.  But of course that data violates the fundamentalist biblical
timeline.  And why didn't they mention the Jones Massacre, or the Salem
witch hunts?  They probably strike too close to home.

Fortunately it is only some religious people who have bought into this.  But
I knew a physic teacher who had this belief.  Whe was otherwise a good
conventional physics teacher.  The mainline Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox
Christians and most non Christians have not bought into this.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX

> Interesting only as an example of how easy it is for someone 
> with a strong belief in the supernatural to fool themselves.  
>  The author presents the obvious explanation for the 
> "interesting" aspect and then proceeds not to buy that explanation.
>
> John Mallinckrodt
> Cal Poly Pomona
>
> On Apr 4, 2011, at 9:58 AM, ludwik kowalski wrote:
>
> > A link to interesting graphs:
> >
> > http://www.trackingbibleprophecy.com/birthpangs_earthquakes.php
> >
> > Ludwik
> >
> > http://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/life/intro.html
> >
> >
> >
> >
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