Dogwood Tree

Dogwood Tree
Dogwood Tree

Monday, May 9, 2011

Every 1100 years or so. . .



Above is a graphic from an evening news program investigating the giant tsunami. The colored area is a satellite image of the Fukushima area showing how far inland the big Tsunami came. The same image shows the area inundated by an almost equally great tsunami 1100 years ago. Red is the present-day tsunami, pink is the tsunami of ancient times. (The range of the ancient tsunami was determined by looking for beach sand that had been carried inland in the layer of soil corresponding to that period.)

So, once in about 1100 years there is a tsunami of terrifying magnitude. But 1100 years is PLENTY of time for the memory of even such a monsterous event to be lost. Even if a person lives a hundred years, they have only a very small chance of encountering such an event. (Were I a statistics major, I would do some amazing calculations at this point to show you how small.) Thus humans are lulled into complacence. . .

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