April 16, 2010

I always thought that the German language gets the crown for having the longest words. Granted those words are combinations and kind of total expressions.

But this Icelandic volcano's name is no slouch by any means.

It is called Eyjafjallajokull. I have no clue what it means but it sounds very menacing.

I recently read an adventure paperback where the main action happened in Antarctica. There were some creatures that were frozen in ice that were revived by scientists and went on a senseless killing spree. I think their names sounded very similar to this volcano.

I'm glad I didn't go to live in Iceland because than I would have to speak this way instead of using the king's English. Remember, I didn't say which king!

With all of today's technological advances we are as backward as the Neanderthals were against nature's wraths.

The experts are great at explaining what is or was happening and why, but are at a total loss at preventing them.

Tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, rain storms, heat waves and a number of other natural disasters are way beyond anybody's control.

And it is very unsettling. It seems nobody has any idea what goes on in the belly of our own earth.

They keep saying California is due The Big One. They mean an earthquake. But all they are getting ares the small ones. The scientists will keep giving this forecast until it happens then they will say You see, we told you so.

They can not predict earthquakes just as they can not predict volcanoes or tornadoes and many other things.

They are just like the economists and the weathermen. They all have 20/20 hindsight.

Who guarantees that where I live I am not sitting on top of a dormant volcano? Just because there has never been any activity is no guarantee that there never will be one.

A few hundred thousand years one way or the other is not much in the life of a volcano. They have time, they are not in the rush, they are not going anywhere.

Those plates we are supposed to sit on are just quietly sliding or floating around on molten rock somewhere way way down, once in a while rubbing against or colliding with each other.

But when they do, all hell breaks loose.

Just like the oceans those molten rock seas are totally unreliable. Their temperature ranges between 1300 °F to 2400 °F. That means swimming in them is not very advisable not even for heat cure.

Whenever a vent or a hole opens up to the earth's surface there is an outbreak of hellish proportions.

And even with today's advanced (we think) technology there is nothing anybody can do about it.

Except run for our lives, but where?

Just think about it. This week alone. An earthquake in Tibet with several hundred killed, a mine tragedy in West Virginia, OK it happened last week, and a volcanic eruption in Iceland.

It just don't look good for good old Mother Earth! Maybe the new health plan will help the old lady!

But it is very interesting to see the enormity of this eruption as it happens.

This morning only parts of Europe was affected by it. But by this evening almost the entire European continent is under the influence of this volcanic dust.

This morning Budapest Airport was still operating with several flights arriving and leaving. By this evening the airport has almost no activity because most of their flights were canceled.

It's like a huge monster is eating the the continent slowly and methodically.

I just hope once its belly is full it goes back to sleep for a few hundred thousand years and leaves the rest of us alone.