There's a Whole Lot of Shakin' Goin' On

The Yellowstone Supervolcano has been the topic of several documentaries and docu-dramas recently, making it practically impossible to ignore the sleeping giant in our backyard. Because it's received so much attention, I've probably written about it once or twice over the years.

But the news in the past few days has renewed concerns that the sleeping giant may be stirring. There have been over 200 earthquakes largely centered smack-dab under Yellowstone Lake since December 27. Yellowstone Lake lies on the eastern edge of a massive 35 MILE(!) by 45 MILE(!) caldera formed when the volcano erupted 640,000 years ago. That's a pretty impressive crater— so big, in fact, that it took modern satellite technology to finally recognize the formation for what it was.

This week's earthquake swarm (See this link for current mapping and statistics for each earthquake) has the National Park Service, geologists from the USGS and scientists from the Yellowstone Seismic Network on their toes, closely monitoring the situation. So far they don't seem to be overly alarmed by these unprecedented activities, although they do admit "they're certainly not normal," and "we might be seeing something precursory."

"Precursory." Now there's a disquieting choice of words.

But that's not nearly as scary as reading a Money and Business analyst from US News and World Report comment on the potential impact a supervolcano eruption would have on equity values and the labor market.

Update: 31 Dec 2008, 5 AM

I just checked the earthquake map again this morning. A 3.5 quake struck about an hour ago. I also compared the data for each earthquake and noticed the average depth of the epicenters has been 2 to 2.5 km. However, the last six quakes have been closer to the surface, around .5 km deep on average. Is that significant, I wonder? Have I made you paranoid yet?

Is President-elect Obama watching the news and shaking his head in dismay?

"Oh, that's just GREAT! We have India building up troops along
its border with Pakistan; Israelis and Palestinians lobbing bombs at each other; the for-sh** economy in a nose-dive; global warming, rampant unemployment; wars in Afghanistan and Iraq... now I have to add 'the end of life on Earth as we know it' to my list of problems? What next? A supermassive black hole created by the LHC at Cern?!"

— Gee Vee

Christmas Past

I guess it's no secret I've been in kind of a funk this Christmas season. In fact, it's been hard to work up any real enthusiasm for the holiday at all. I don't understand it. Christmas is my favorite holiday. I LOVE Christmas!

When I was six or seven years old, I remember climbing into bed with my mom and dad long before the sun came up on Christmas day because I couldn't sleep any longer.

"Robby, it's only four in the morning," Mom mumbled, still half-asleep. "It's too early to wake everyone up."

Looking back on it now, inviting me to go back to sleep with them was her way of ensuring I wouldn't peek at our gifts until they could be there to enjoy my joy.

Although I wasn't allowed to go look at the toys under the tree until my parents and little brother and sister were out of bed, I could still tell Santa had stopped at our house by the over-stuffed, lumpy outlines of the stockings were that hung from the cardboard fireplace at the end of the long hallway. It wasn't really cheating to look down the hall on my way to my parents' room, right? I mean, it wasn't my fault the stockings were so chubby I couldn't help but notice, even in the dark.

I loved my Christmas stocking best of all. Parents always give you things like pajamas and underwear, but Santa fills your stocking with all the fun, frivolous STUFF that parents wouldn't dream of spending their money on. As I snuggled closer to Mom that long-ago morning, I was absolutely shaking with anticipation.

Christmas has a scent— evergreen and peppermint and... something else. There is some undefinable quality to the rarefied air that simply is unique— special. Even with my eyes clamped shut, trying to will myself back to sleep so morning would come that much sooner, the house was filled with the smell of Christmas. How could they possibly sleep through that, I wondered in frustration.

Many years later, I would still be out of bed long before everyone, except my dad. Dad and I would sit in the family room and sip our coffee while we waited for the rest of the household to stir. Kids and grandkids, husbands and wives— it was a house filled to the rafters with family.

He'd plug in the Christmas tree, and we'd enjoy the cosy glow from the small colored lights in the dark. We'd visit in low whispers, almost afraid to wake anyone. Or maybe we were being just a little greedy. We had this magic moment to ourselves, this perfect peace that seemed to settle over the house as if it held its breath in anticipation.

Something has been systemically wrong with me this year. I love Christmas, but writing to you here... now I understand. I finally realize just how much I'll miss the low rumble of Dad's voice as he tries to whisper on Christmas morning.

I miss my dad.

— Gee Vee

Our "Little Bit" of Love

Although she wasn't planned, she wasn't entirely unexpected. I'd wanted a small dog for years... maybe most of my life. The nicest gifts often arrive in a small package, they say.

When I met her sister last spring— my girlfriend's six-month-old puppy, Tilly— I knew she was exactly the sort of companion I'd been looking for. As fate would have it, I learned that Tilly's mother had just produced a second litter of pups.

The puppys' mother is a registered Shih Tzu and their father is a Yorkshire Terrier. The five pups were selling very fast, and I had to quickly decide if I really wanted another dog at this point in my life. That decision was made a little easier when I heard the mother was being spayed after she weaned this litter. There wouldn't be another opportunity for puppies from these two adorable dogs.

I put my deposit down on the only little female available, and we named her "Maisey." We spent the next five weeks stopping by to visit Maisey and her parents, excited and anxious for the day we could finally bring her home. Part of the anxiety was due to the fact that we already had a dog.

Dakota was a seventy-five pound, fourteen-year-old hybrid wolf. Although she'd been a beloved member of our family since she was a puppy and over the years had graciously accepted three kittens into the household, we worried that coping with a puppy at this point in her life would not be what she wanted to do. A puppy Maisey's size would only be a kibble to a dog like Dakota if she decided to make a snack out of her.

On the day last May when we could finally bring Maisey home, we kept the two dogs separated for the most part. We allowed them to get to know one another very gradually by scent and sound before finally introducing the pair some time later. Dakota wasn't exactly thrilled, but at least she wasn't inclined to chew her up, which was a huge relief to us as you might imagine.

Dakota's health had been in steady decline for months. She was nearly blind, cataracts clouding her beautiful eyes. She was almost completely deaf and suffered terribly from dysplasia in her hips, which is pretty common in large breeds. As Maisey grew accustomed to a leash, Dan would take "his girls" on a walk every night, and although the walks became little more than a stroll to the end of the driveway and back as it became too painful for Dakota, the two dogs had become good friends. "Little Bit" would dash and dance in circles around Dakota, urging her to hurry along and encouraging her all the way.

We finally made the hard decision to have Dakota put to sleep in November. I really credit Dan for his infinite patience and devotion that made it possible for us to keep her with us for as long as we had. Fourteen years is a grand old age for a large breed, and she was an amazing dog.

Losing Dakota has been difficult, particularly for Dan, but the process has been kinder somehow by having Maisey's companionship to help us through the hard days. Now "Little Bit" is his trusty sidekick, going places we could never take a dog with Dakota's unpredictable nature and large size.

Yes, the fact that Maisey's a nice "compact model" is definitely a plus. She fits neatly on the covers between our feet in bed at night, and when the alarm goes off, she has the sweetest way of coxing me awake with little puppy kisses. When that doesn't work, she resorts to head-butting like a Tonka-toy bulldozer, which is often what it takes to get me up in the morning.

You know, although she wasn't planned, she wasn't entirely unexpected. I'd wanted a small dog for years... maybe most of my life.

And I'm reminded once more, the nicest gifts often arrive in a small package.

Maisey— just hangin' out while I write to you.
— Gee Vee

Metro D.C. Meltdown

The presidential inauguration in Washington next month is going to be a logistics nightmare. Currently, crowd guess-timates soar between three and five million. These numbers kinda make living out of tents and wallowing in the mud at Woodstock four decades ago look like a day at the beach by comparison.

As the metropolitan D.C. area prepares to host an event of historic proportions, I can only imagine the anxiety this creates. Just think, they currently have 1 toilet for every 6,849 people! I wonder if there are even enough porta-johns in the entire states of Virginia and Maryland, combined, to cope with the crowds descending on the National Mall. If not, they may find themselves in deep do-do (pun intended!) because many public restrooms (in Metro stations, etc.) will be closed to the public due to security concerns.

Looking for a motel? As of a month ago, you would need to drive more than 150 miles before finding a vacancy. By inauguration day, I would expect that distance to nearly double. Parking? Forget it. Taking the Metro? They recommend you buy your tickets online now because lines at the stations are going to be impossible to manage.

And I know all about cell phone gridlock. Every Labor Day, as 50-60 thousand walkers cross the Mackinaw bridge, it's impossible to make a call or text from a cell phone. Our area's towers simply cannot cope with the crowds in town for the day. For the inauguration, Sprint is trying to prepare for the logjam of cell phone callers by deploying COLTs (cell on light trucks) and COWs (cell on wheels), emergency resources usually reserved for hurricanes. But because the additional first-responders and other crisis management personnel on the scene will have priority access codes, you may still find it virtually impossible to make a call.

What about food? Around Mackinaw and St. Ignace on Labor Day weekend, food distributors (Sysco, GFS, etc.) loan refrigerated semi-truck trailers to some area restaurants because their walk-in coolers can't store enough provisions. I have to imagine that downtown D.C. will need to consider similar tactics. I've read that bars and restaurants will be allowed to serve alcohol until 5 AM during inauguration week. That's a plus. After fighting crowds all day, you're going to need a drink or two... or ten. Just don't forget to plan ahead when it's time to pee later.

As for me? Well, I'll take my cocoa and fuzzy slippers and watch the madness and mayhem from the comfort of my couch, TYVM!

— Gee Vee

The "Liberal Press"?

A great deal of passion and energy is expended by conservatives, complaining as they find themselves increasingly dissatisfied with the tone and message, both "overtly and covertly," conveyed by the media. They find this slant or bias a threat to their own values and priorities. It's almost as if they blame the "media" for trying to sabotage the American mindset.

While I agree there may be a liberal slant, I do question which came first— the chicken or the egg. Yes, people are gullible and can be easily swayed. Our invasion and involvement in the war in Iraq stands today as a perfect example; however, I also know that the media is a commercial endeavor. If they don't express a viewpoint that the majority of their viewers can buy into, their viewers will turn somewhere else.

Don't believe me? Fox News claims to have the largest viewership of any single cable news network. It is also unabashedly conservative in its bias. In a media dominated by the "liberal press," Fox viewers have found a safe haven where the programming more appropriately aligns itself with their values and viewpoint. Given a choice, nearly every conservative in this country will turn to Fox for their news over the other cable channels. If I know that, certainly Fox knows that, and their programming reflects the fact that in filling that particular niche in the consumer market they have stumbled upon the goose that laid the golden egg. As long as their content caters to this faction, they will retain their audience. The other news networks spend most of their time competing amongst one another to split the remaining viewers. However, if you count that combined viewership and put those numbers against Fox, you begin to appreciate how conservative hardliners are slipping in their influence in this country. No wonder they're embittered!

I am at an age when, traditionally, I should be becoming more conservative in my beliefs. Instead, I find myself increasingly disturbed by their resistance to change. By definition, a conservative "favors traditional views and values; tends to oppose change."

Historically, societies and institutions that fail to evolve stagnate and degrade into corruption. For instance, the power and influence the Roman Catholic church held over most of Europe for centuries, only served to discourage— even punish to death— any perceived challenge to their dogma and doctrine. Galileo Galilei, widely considered to be the father of modern science, dared to move the Earth from the center of the universe and place the Sun at the center of our solar system. For his trouble, he was forced by the Roman Inquisition to recant this belief and sentenced to spend the remainder of his life under house arrest. As you might imagine, this kind of retribution tends to discourage free thinking, and it would be another century before any substantive contributions were put forward. Only during periods of relative "enlightenment" has society been able to advance its knowledge of the sciences and formulate creative, innovative technologies.

Today, we often still see the church's opposition to the empirical knowledge of science as creationism or "Intelligent Design" proponents argue bitterly against evolution.

Yet, I think the vast majority of Americans are neither left nor right, but find a relatively stable center somewhere between both ideologies. It's only when we teeter-totter too far one direction or the other that we begin to sense an unbalanced situation. We begin perceive the other side as a threat to our position.

So I ask you, is mainstream media truly too liberal, or have its antagonists simply ventured too far away from the center of balance?

If, on the other hand, there is a liberal slant to our media, are we mearly enjoying a period of relative enlightenment?

Or... if the hardline conservatives are beginning to seriously annoy the heck outta me, have I possibly slipped a bit off-center, myself?

— Gee Vee

It's Not Rocket Science

CNN reports that scientists have recently confirmed what dog owners have known all along. Dogs can experience emotions such as pride and jealousy and have a keen sense of "fair play."

If you've ever taken your pooch to the BowWow Boutique, you can't help but notice how they prance and preen, reveling in their new haircut. They positively glow from the inside out, they're so proud.

Furthermore, I would go beyond what the studies have shown in CNN's article and state they can also feel a deep sense of shame. Our fourteen-year-old dog had lost control over her bowel movements and would soil herself. The nerves in her rectum no longer warned her when she had to "go." Although we would patiently clean the mess on the floor and in her fur, she would look at us with such profound sorrow, my heart would break for her. She was ashamed, and we could only try to console her.

Complex emotions are seen in other animal species as well.

My husband, a builder, found a raccoon had fallen into an empty dumpster on his construction site. When the raccoon saw him, it huddled in terror in the back corner, covering its eyes with its small hands and shaking with fear. Dan gently lowered a long board into the dumpster, propped it up over the edge of the container and walked away. The raccoon eventually climbed the board to make its escape. My husband was deeply affected by this encounter. The animal was clearly afraid although Dan had done nothing to hurt him.

But if it takes an endorsement by science to affirm that one measure of our humanity may be our ability to empathize with animals then I welcome the knowledge.

"God made all the creatures and gave them our love and our
fear, to give sign, we and they are His children, one family here."

~Robert Browning

— Gee Vee

LAYOFFS

The headline this morning read, "Sony slashes 8,000 jobs amid global downturn." Before that Viacom announced 850 job cuts, Anheuser-Busch InBev to cut 2,065 jobs, Dupont, 2,500 jobs, Dow Chemical, 5000 jobs....

I could go on and on, but after a while, the numbers begin to blur, lose something of their impact because of the sheer scope of the disaster. The Department of Labor reported on Friday that employers shed 533,000 jobs in November alone— the largest single monthly job loss figure in 34 years. The work force in entire communities is being decimated which creates a staggering domino effect that results in scores of job losses that we never hear about on the evening news. But when you step back and remember that each one of these jobs represent a household that may no longer be able to make its mortgage payment, it begins to impress upon you just how dire the situation has become.

Here in Michigan, we're at ground-zero. Jobs have been steadily disappearing for several years. Small "mom 'n pop" factories that supplied the large automakers have practically vanished but for the empty, rusting hulk of their hollow superstructures on the edge of our small towns. Our schools have cut staff until they've stretched the remaining positions almost impossibly thin. We were very gaunt two years ago—now we're facing utter starvation as the rest of the country only begins to tighten its belt.

I'm angry. I'm angry at the automakers in this state that didn't blink or even stop to think as their small suppliers dwindled to dust. How could they not see the writing on the wall? How could they have allowed their business model to become so obsolete that it could no longer compete. This didn't "just happen" overnight. Like an insidious cancer that has slowly been rotting away at our extremities for years, the damage is now spread to our heart.

I'm angry at our unions. How dare they? How dare they! How dare they come up here to play with their massive 4x4s towing custom trailers loaded with toys, dressed in designer logos and heated boots when all around them was withering away. How dare they remain so oblivious in the face of such grim tidings!

I'm sick and I'm disgusted and now the government will bail-out their arrogant asses because if we don't... well, because if we don't, I can't even imagine how ugly things will get.

Yes, I'm angry and I'm venting and, no, I don't feel any better.

Not today.

And probably not tomorrow.

— Gee Vee

Kicking Bad Habits

Sunday morning, I watched Tom Brockaw's interview with Barack Obama on Meet the Press. The segment covered a lot of ground, most of their time spent discussing the various issues confronting the country that we all know so well.

However, I was perhaps most struck by a small aside in which the president-elect admitted that he's occasionally "fallen off the wagon" in his efforts to quit smoking.

"I've done a terrific job, under the circumstances, of making myself a much healthier person."

Referring to the times he bummed a cigarette while on the campaign trail, it's somehow comforting to hear him confess that he's had a hard time completely overcoming his smoking addiction. Perhaps because it's such a human shortcoming— I can relate— and it's nice to know he's not completely immune to the sort of everyday struggles we all endure.

I think sometimes we need that little reminder, a benchmark on a real-time, human scale that we can recognize and use for comparison. It somehow helps to know that even those people we most admire are, after all, just people too— even when they seem to be equipped with such extraordinary self-discipline we can only hope to emulate.

I also admire the fact that he didn't waste a lot of energy beating himself up over it. He acknowledged he wasn't perfect, even gave himself a little pat on the back for having done as well as he has, all things considered, and never took his eye off his ultimate goal. He sets a good example for all of us, and we would all probably be in much better mental and emotional health if we allowed ourselves to make a mistake, admit it, and move on.

It's too easy to sit and spin our wheels while mired in self-recrimination or denial.

— Gee Vee

Falling Gas Prices— The Silver Lining?

Analysts, both here and abroad are concerned that crude oil prices (as I type this, currently trading at $41 a barrel) will continue to slide and will eventually fall to $20-$30 a barrel, particularly if the meltdown of the global economy extends to China. We're already seeing this steep decline reflected in the price we're paying at the gas pumps.

So why aren't we celebrating?

The price of crude is being directly influenced by market demand. Since the Fed officially (and finally) admitted we're in a recession, the price of crude has dropped another 19 percent. However, cheaper gas doesn't mean we're necessarily more willing to buy it. That's because the small relief we're experiencing at the gas station isn't nearly enough to offset the overall malaise in our economy. We're tightening our belts, skipping the designer latte, holding off on that new car and unable to sell our house for anything close to what it should be worth in a market saturated with foreclosure competition. We're cutting up our credit cards and waiting to see that new movie on Blu-Ray rather than plunking down $7.50 at the theater. Come to think of it, the popcorn is cheaper at home, too. Our job is in jeopardy, and we're scrambling in an effort to batten down the hatches in order to weather a perfect storm of economic calamities.

Not only are we driving less, we're buying less, which further depresses the demand for crude. At their December 17 meeting, OPEC is expected to agree to deep cuts in production, hoping to create demand for a more-limited supply, driving the price higher.

Most experts agree that the "fair" price for crude should be around $75 a barrel. They also agree that even though we have temporarily and forcefully slashed our consumption, the fact remains, we're still depleting the fossil fuel cache. Just as soon as our economy rebounds, we'll be right back to our old bad driving habits and the price will soar— perhaps beyond our previous highs— as the oil companies seek to recoup their lost profits. Additionally, while crude remains a bargain, we're not as likely to press forward with the development of energy alternatives because, let's face it, we're not going to give up our gas-driven internal combustion engines unless we simply can no longer afford to keep them. Concerns over carbon emissions and their impact on our environment alone will never be enough incentive because it's too easy to blame a hypothetical greenhouse effect on too many other variables.

So, enjoy this historic oil-price collapse while it lasts. It's a consumer windfall that has given us a bit of breathing room in an otherwise grim economic outlook.

— Gee Vee