Wake up Laura!

I am comfortable, well fed and sleep 8 hours a night with the exception of a nasty habit of over thinking my day resulting in insomnia occasionally. I go to work, school, dates, play with friends etc. I smile I am happy with my life and so are many of the people around me. I have a secret I usually don't tell people because it can be a bit off putting. When natural disasters happen and the death toll is low I am disappointed. Yep I'm heartless! Not really its actually just the natural man (or woman) in me, they are people I don't know or have any emotional attachment to. However I am so heartbroken over Haiti and the loss of life in staggering numbers. I wish I could help other than a small donation or a prayer, this is bad, Haiti was bad before with starvation, poverty, drug and political problems etc. I recently *Summer time* read an article about how the Haitian people were eating mud cookies made literally from clay, salt and vegetable oil. It was messing with the digestive system and making people sick but they still eat them to stave off the hunger. The country is wrought with problems and now this? I have to admit I am so impressed with the rescue efforts of the WORLD it's truly inspiring. I feel as though I have woken up from an ignorant slumber and I am learning to care about those who are not in my immediate world.  I just hope that things can be fixed, maybe this can have a good outcome? With the aid of outsiders you know? Maybe opportunities for more education and jobs, of course this is so far in the future but I like to be optimistic.

Can we talk about the geology? OK Haiti is on a transform boundary plate which means it slides past each other just like the San Andreas Fault. In an earthquake when the earth moves it grinds against rock deep down (Haiti's epicenter was 10 km or about 6 miles down in earths crust) which causes it to jerk this is called a strike slip. The strike slip is also the culprit for after shocks, the pressure builds and earth moves and then gets caught up on rocks then the pressure builds again then moves, its a nasty cycle. I like to think that God did that on purpose because if the earth was to move all at once it would be absolute destruction, might as well spread it out a bit? There are earthquakes everyday in the united states! We just had a little one out in Saratoga Springs last week and one yesterday. They are super small so you can't really feel anything. You can check out the USGS web site, I happen to frequent every so often, on the left hand side there is a tab where you can see daily earthquake activity. It's cool because you can see where all the activity is all around the planet, the plates are always on the move! I love it, you may not but that's what makes us unique.