New Year is here!

Now that 2009 is finally here, I have to get off dead center and write something profound. Right? Isn't that what everyone does just once a year and then forget about it, until twelve months later you realize another 365 days have come and gone and it's time to wax poetic again?
Well I have been meaning to write something. And, I've procrastinated and side tracked. I've wanted to write something about Steve's birthday that came and went at the end of December. I will. I've been busy scanning old slides and posting them on flickr. My goal has been to scan the slides from the Marshall Islands, and Ujelang in particular. Then I get sidetracked with another batch from who knows where. Then I see how the slides have deteriorated a bit - lots of spots on them in the blue, which need editing. So, now before posting I try and clean the photos up a bit in photoshop. It's amazing what technology can do - a bit scary too, but it is still amazing.
Well, the biggest news on the shaking front is possibly the swarm of earthquakes that hit Yellowstone Volcano just after Christmas. Didn't know Yellowstone was a volcano? It's not just another volcano, it's a 'super volcano'. I don't think you, or I for that matter, would want to be around if that thing blows. Anyway, a swarm of earthquakes started and it looked pretty interesting the way it built up in intensity.

But then as swarms do, it has begun to die down again. Hasn't totally stopped, but it has quieted way down. The map below is activity thru 08:00MST, 4 January 2009.


For more information on the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory go to: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/
For the latest earthquakes at Yellowstone go to:
http://www.seis.utah.edu/req2webdir/recenteqs/Maps/Yellowstone.html