Marciepooh

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It's Celebrate Your Name Week, my friends, so I have an extra special gift for a bunch of you with common American names: the gift... of new nicknames.

 

Bobbie knows what I'm talking 'bout, don't ya, hon'?

Yes, yes she does.

 

So let's get to it - and fingers crossed you find your name in here!

This one works for Bob *or* Deb. A twofer!

 

Tiffany, your new nickname just entails everyone using finger quotes when addressing you:

You're "welcome."

 

This one was almost my favorite - but then I found this:

YOU MAY NOW ADDRESS ME AS "THE GRAND JENNIZZLE."
And while you're at it, bring me some Twix bars. Chop chop!

 

And you thought three letter names would be safe.

 

I think this one must be intentional, but it still made me bust a gut:

"I have been, and shall always be, your... wait, who are you?"

 

Thanks to Ashleigh P., Catherine S., Chelsea P., Chelsea N., Allegra S., Anna, Katie, Dawn L., Hannah W., & Jennifer H. for the great name maim game.

Didn't see your name butchered here? Well, never fear, dear Wreckies; I have so many name wrecks to share I had to split them into two posts - so watch for the second batch later this week!

*****

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A couple of months ago (on Christmas actually, Merry Christmas Geologists!) the USGS, which releases customized Earthquake Notifications based on a users settings, released the news that a magnitude 22.0 earthquake just struck Montana (pictured below).


Now this was clearly a typo. It was meant to be 2.2, however, it does bring up an interesting conversation.(You can see the updated page HERE). What is a Magnitude 22 earthquake capable of?. Some of the comments on my Facebook post included (names abbreviated to protect their identities, if you want your name un-abbreviated, let me know):

Steve R: Looks like NBC now has the plot for the completion of it's earthquake trilogy. First it was "10.5"...then "10.5 Apocalypse"...now" Montana 22.0 the day the Earth went boom"...all staring Beau Bridges as Beau Bridges acting like an authority figure. 

Tyler S.: It wasn't flattened, there's a new 6 km high fault scarp. 

Thomas H.: Mag 22.0? Impressive! The Chicxulub Impact should have produced only a 10.8! 

Thomas H.: A 22.0 should have toppled every building on the planet, and probably caused mountains all over the world to collapse into piles of rubble. At least. 

Monica S.: Just as a reference, a Mw 10.0 would have a rupture length roughly equal to 1/4 of the planet's circumference. That is why a 10.0 could physically never happen. A 10.5 would rupture around the Earth 1.5 times. (If that movie 10.5 were real, Earth would have been obliterated). This is assuming a max rupture depth of 30 km. Mw 22 is 316,227,766,016 times more powerful than a 10.5.

To understand the audacity of a Magnitude 22.0 earthquake, lets give some earthquake basics. The measure of an earthquake's magnitude is essentially equivalent to the energy released during the initial rupture of the fault (I know they are not exactly the same, but it is close enough). Identification of earthquakes often start with a Magnitude 2.0 and go up to a Magnitude 10, with the largest recorded earthquake in history being a Magnitude 9.5.



The magnitude scale specifically measures the amplitude of the of the waves released from an earthquake (USGS). The Moment Magnitude scale, as it is called (replaced the Richter Scale), is a logarithmic scale. As it goes up one number the size of the amplitude increased by a factor of 10. To make it a little easier to understand you can compare this to the energy released. So, each whole number is 31.62232 times more powerful than the last one (i.e. a magnitude 3 is 31.622 times more powerful than a magnitude 2).

For energy comparisons, let us convert the amount of energy to Joules that is released from an earthquake. The largest earthquake ever recorded was the Chilean 9.5. That would have released 1.12 x 10^19 joules of energy. The Hiroshima nuclear bomb released 6.3 x 10^13 joules of energy by comparison (Wikipedia), quite a bit less than a 9.5 earthquake. Now a magnitude 22 earthquake is 12.5 degrees of magnitude larger than a 9.5. So calculating it would mean that it would be 31.662^12.5 more powerful than a 9.5 (5.7 x 10^18 times more powerful). This equates to 6.31 x 10^37 joules of energy (calculated here: http://www.convertalot.com/earthquake_power__calculator.html).

There is a limit to the size of an Earthquake based on the physical properties of rocks, but let us just ignore that for now.

The energy released in a Magnitude 22 earthquake is a lot of energy, but it is a little hard to grasp numbers that big. A magnitude 3.5 earthquake, which is on the limit of being felt by most people, releases 1.12 x 10^10 joules of energy. On the other hand it has been estimated that the power required by the Death Star in Star Wars (yes I'm going there) to destroy a Earth sized planet was 2.2 x 10^32 joules of energy (as mentioned HERE and elsewhere).




So the amount of energy required to destroy a planet (2.2 x 10^32 joules) is actually equal to an earthquake with a magnitude of 18.33, much smaller than the Magnitude 22 (6.31 x 10^37 joules) earthquake reported. Although the 2.2 x 10^32 joules is a bottom estimate, it is possible that the Death Star could create much more energy than that, just to make sure the planet was obliterated.

Therefore, I believe I have proof to indicate that the Earth was struck by a Death Star laser on Christmas, 2013. But somehow, we survived, and now they are trying to cover it up. Perhaps this was a test of the Death Star that the government supposedly wasn't building (The White House).

Some other numbers courtesy of Dinogami:

1. Manicouagan impact = 1 x 10^21 joules
2. K-T  (K-Pg) Chicxulub impact = 4.2 x 10^23 joules
3. Sun puts out 3.8 x 10^26 joules (however that is all over, not concentrated)
4. Impact of a Mars size body on the Earth = 4.5 x 10^31 joules 

It appears that our Magnitude 22 earthquake was one of the largest events to happen to the solar system since the last supernova.

I'm not much of a movie buff, so I'm not even going to try to predict which actor is going to win an Oscar.  I haven't even seen all of the nominated movies this year!  But, I have seen slides of most of the shows from the Paris, London, New York and Milan fashion shows, so I thought it might be fun to predict which dresses will show up on the Oscar red carpet!








However, Dior also has Jennifer Lawrence and Marion Cotillard under contract so while  Marion will probably get something gorgeous, poor Jennifer Lawrence will probably end up in one these.  Maybe lined, maybe not.

When I start to go on rants about how disappointed I am with the three newer Star Wars movies I try to remember that I am an adult in my late 30′s and that these are movies for kids and about space wizards. It rarely stops my rants but it does at least contextualize the reasons the “New Star Wars” movies annoy me. I am of course not alone, there are in fact many people much angrier than I. For peace of mind I prefer to pretend that these movies were simply never made. My childhood memories are therefore safe, and these new films aren’t really related, just some side project, a failed form of fan art.

But, filed under “things I wish I’d thought of” is an actual positive use of those movies! Published recently in Geomorphology is

Lorenz, R. D., Gasmi, N., Radebaugh, J., Barnes, J. W., & Ori, G. G. (2013). Dunes on planet Tatooine: Observation of barchan migration at the Star Wars film set in Tunisia. Geomorphology, 201, 264–271. doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2013.06.026(/small>

The authors looked at satellite imagery covering west-central Tunisia, focusing in on the now abandoned Mos Espa set that was used to film the 1999 Phantom Menace (although the filming was in 1997). The location information is all in the paper, but here are some google earth screen shots to set the stage:

The region is filled with barchan dunes, and the authors use the movie set and a time series of satellite data shot since 1997 to study dune migration. The set essentially offers a stationary point in an otherwise nondescript landscape.

I started thinking of where I’d want to do something similar. Not a dune study, but what movie location would be great to visit and include in something publishable. My first thought was Helm’s Deep, obviously the formation of the valley and associated caves deserves a thermochronologic perspective. Or perhaps the Ered Nimrais more broadly? Unfortunately however, I  realized that the ubiquity of the green screen is making this kind of an endeavor harder and harder. Perhaps I need to go back in time?

No, really, I'd like to introduce this tunic to my heinie because I'm pretty sure they haven't met:


Seriously, one of the most frustrating things about being tall is that shirts are crop-tops (gross), tunics are shirts and dresses are tunics.  Tunics are (supposedly) great because you can just throw them on with leggings and go.  But, I can't.  Not unless I want to wear leggings as pants (I will never).

No, instead, I have to layer my "tunic" over a "dress" that's actually just a tunic on me.  Happily, I like to layer:

Tunic: Old Navy  Dress: LOFT  Scarf: Gifted  Leggings: HUE  Boots: Born "Mabel"

But still, if I could find a tunic that wanted to spend quality time covering all my bottom and not just grazing the top half, that would be super.


Happy Friday, All!

Gracey

As any dedicated dog owner will tell you, canines often appear to grasp the emotional content of what's being said to them. An unprecedented brain scanning study now shows this is likely true — and that this capability pre-dates domestication.

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Context: Chris Kluwe wrote on Twitter about how the GOP are currently destroying themselves, like the Whigs did back in the day. This is what followed.

@ChrisWarcraft You were around for the Whigs? Are you immortal? ARE YOU THE HIGHLANDER?—
John Scalzi (@scalzi) February 21, 2014

@scalzi THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE—
Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) February 21, 2014

@ChrisWarcraft That's what I thought. (sighs) (gets sword) (heads to Chris' house)—
John Scalzi (@scalzi) February 21, 2014

@scalzi It's the 21st century, John. I already have sword drones circling your phone's GPS location.—
Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) February 21, 2014

@ChrisWarcraft Ah, so that's what's littering up my lawn after my LASER EAGLES got done with them. Good to know.—
John Scalzi (@scalzi) February 21, 2014

@scalzi You can't kill sword drones with a laser! THERE ARE RULES IN HIGHLANDER, SIR. #swords—
Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) February 21, 2014

@ChrisWarcraft Says the man LOCKING ON TO MY PHONE. Sauce for the goose, good sir!—
John Scalzi (@scalzi) February 21, 2014

@scalzi Right, but that's just enhanced tracking techniques. The deathblow is still from a (flying) sword.—
Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) February 21, 2014

@scalzi Propriety absolutely MUST be maintained when discussing decapitations.—
Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) February 21, 2014

@ChrisWarcraft You know as well as I do that HANDS must be attached to SWORDS for deathblows to count. Or have you forgot Helsinki in '63?—
John Scalzi (@scalzi) February 21, 2014

@scalzi They ARE attached. Via satellite uplink to a joystick. THAT HAND IS WIELDING THAT SWORD, SIRRAH.—
Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) February 21, 2014

@ChrisWarcraft By this thinking, the LASER EAGLES are fair play, for I activated the lasers by PRESSING THE BUTTON WITH MY SWORD POMMEL.—
John Scalzi (@scalzi) February 21, 2014

@ChrisWarcraft CHECK and MATE, my friend.—
John Scalzi (@scalzi) February 21, 2014

@scalzi The jury would've accepted the "coherent beam of photons into a cutting edge" argument, a "light saber" if you will, but sadly…—
Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) February 21, 2014

@scalzi ..the Pommel defense was ruled inadequate by the third Council of Swordsing.—
Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) February 21, 2014

@ChrisWarcraft Oh, god, here we go with the Third Council again. YOU KNOW that council was superceded by the Juneau Conference! YOU KNOW IT!—
John Scalzi (@scalzi) February 21, 2014

@scalzi YOU HAVE FAILED TO ADEQUATELY DEFINE YOUR LASER EAGLES AS "LIGHTSABER EAGLES," AND THUS BY THE RULES, YOUR CLAIM IS FORFEIT.—
Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) February 21, 2014

@ChrisWarcraft This is why no one wants to FIGHT you, Chris. You keep rules lawyering! OFF WITH YOUR HEAD I SAY. On tuesday. If convenient.—
John Scalzi (@scalzi) February 21, 2014

@scalzi I'll have my people talk to your people.—
Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) February 21, 2014

@ChrisWarcraft Good. That's settled then. Time for cookies.—
John Scalzi (@scalzi) February 21, 2014

Asked:

Answered:

I'm not following the olympics this year but I AM following the Bob Costas eye situation, i.e., the most important news from Sochi.—
John Scalzi (@scalzi) February 12, 2014

@scalzi well, that and the hotel rooms.—
Tom Tomorrow (@tomtomorrow) February 12, 2014

@tomtomorrow He got his eye problems FROM the hotel room, no doubt.—
John Scalzi (@scalzi) February 12, 2014

@scalzi doorknob comes off in his hand, he stumbles into room, trips over the half-hung curtains, crashes into sink full of toxic water.—
Tom Tomorrow (@tomtomorrow) February 12, 2014

@tomtomorrow At night, the stray dogs come.—
John Scalzi (@scalzi) February 12, 2014

@scalzi He seeks refuge in a bathroom, thinking he can hide in a stall. But there are multiple toilets, no privacy. The dogs circle.—
Tom Tomorrow (@tomtomorrow) February 12, 2014

@tomtomorrow Taking a towel rack from the wall, he fights them off. One kicks the door shut on the way out. It cannot be unlocked.—
John Scalzi (@scalzi) February 12, 2014

@scalzi Just when all seems lost, Vladimir Putin arrives, shirtless, on a polar bear.—
Tom Tomorrow (@tomtomorrow) February 12, 2014

@tomtomorrow "Take my hand if you want to live," Putin says. "Unless you're gay. In which case, Sasha here will claw your corneas off."—
John Scalzi (@scalzi) February 12, 2014

@scalzi Costas wrapped his thighs around the polar bear and clung tightly to Putin's rippling chest. "Straight as an arrow," he murmured.—
Tom Tomorrow (@tomtomorrow) February 12, 2014

@tomtomorrow Costas and Putin never spoke again of their manly, musky interlude. The polar bear eventually told US Weekly. And now you know.—
John Scalzi (@scalzi) February 12, 2014

@scalzi The end.—
Tom Tomorrow (@tomtomorrow) February 12, 2014

I don’t know about you, but I often think about all the interesting chemicals that are, and must be, in the foods that I eat. I’ve tried to share some of the interesting chemicals found in grapefruit, for example. Australian teacher, James Kennedy recently made fantastic infographics listing all of the chemical ingredients in various all-natural foods. He wrote on his website that, “As a Chemistry teacher, I want to erode the fear that many people have of “chemicals”, and demonstrate that nature evolves compounds, mechanisms and structures far more complicated and unpredictable than anything we can produce in the lab.”

We at CAYF applaud his efforts and recommend you do yourself a favor and check out his site here.

 

Added January 23, 2014:

“If I can’t pronounce it, I shouldn’t be eating it!” Co-host Sam Matthews of The Collapsed Wavefunction podcast reminds us that many people say this. Of course his response to this type of statement is that “there’s not much left that you’re able to eat.”

Check out their latest interview with James Kennedy. Learn about the motivation, why potassium isn’t listed as an ingredient in the banana, and what he’s planning for the future.

The nation of Canada doesn’t want its people to have to suffer without beer. While we hear alcohol isn’t in short supply in Russia in general, conditions within the Olympic Village for athletes and coaches might be different. MolsonCoors came to the rescue of Canadians far from home with a refrigerator filled with beer that opens when the user holds up a Canadian passport. Only a Canadian passport.

Molson made a version of this machine for an ad, taking it on a tour of Europe last year as a form of outreach to Canadian travelers.

This is all great publicity and very fun, but what other countries could apply the same concept? We humbly suggest a dispenser full of cheese in New York City that only people from Wisconsin can open. Or maybe a machine that dispenses Dunkin’ Donuts coffee in under-served areas.

This Canadian beer machine is the most amazing technology at the Olympics [USA Today]

This volcano in Indonesia looks like it's seeping with blue lava. So what's going on here? It's not Photoshop. The images are, amazingly, real.

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