Scientists Want Your MacBook for Earthquake Detection
I love this story. I’m almost afraid to print it today; you will think it is an April Fools’ Joke, but it is not.
My Dad, God rest his soul, was an amateur radio operator, with connections all over the globe. Amateur radio operators, monitoring the radiowaves, provided help and rescue to many a tragedy bound situation. I love the idea of Macs uniting in the same way, interconnecting, to help monitor and prevent earthquakes. You can read the entire article at WIRED.com
Everybody knows you can’t predict an earthquake. The only way would be to get inside a time machine, go into the future, and send back a message.
So seismologist Elizabeth Cochran of the University of California at Riverside will use thousands of computers to do just that.
Well, it’s not exactly a time machine. Cochran and Stanford seismologist Jesse Lawrence have made use of the sensors built into many new laptops that sense when the computer is being dropped, and turned them into earthquake monitors. They hope to sign up thousands of users to act like a grid of detectors that can sense an earthquake before it does too much damage.
Like many earthquake early warning systems around the world, when a quake strikes, this system will send a warning to people living in large cities. Because electronic communication systems (in this case, the internet) are much faster than seismic waves, the warning should arrive before the shaking, giving people 10 or 20 seconds to take shelter.
“We can measure the seismic waves and then get a warning out to people before the seismic waves get to them. That to me is physically possible,” Cochran says.
Cochran’s system makes use of the accelerometers — tiny motion sensors — built into many modern notebooks, including Apple’s MacBook and Lenovo’s ThinkPad, as well as the iPhone and Nintendo’s Wii. Accelerometers detect movement and translate it into digital signals. In notebooks, they function as safety devices: When the accelerometer detects that the notebook is in free fall, the computer moves the hard drive head to a safe position in order to minimize the risk of damage when it hits the ground. But the accelerometers are also accessible to software, so they can be used for games or other applications.
As it turns out, one field that already makes extensive use of accelerometers is seismology. Usually these sensors are buried underground, generating much of the data seismologists use to model earthquakes. So in 2006 when Cochran saw a program called SeisMac, a light went on. SeisMac uses the accelerometers in Mac computers to let people shake their computers and watch the motion translated on screen into a graph. Cochran wondered if the same technology could be used in earthquake sensing, and suggested the idea to colleagues at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, where she was working at the time.
“I sort of said, ‘Hey, what do guys think if we take this accelerometer and make a seismic network out of it?’ And of course Jesse was like, ‘That’s the coolest idea I have ever heard.'”
Thus was born Quake Catcher Network. The two scientists — joined by Carl Christensen, a programmer with experience in distributed computing — started in September 2007.
Distributed computing was made famous by extraterrestrial-scanning network SETI@home, and Cochran uses the same platform, called BOINC, to collect data from the laptops in her project’s network.
ICHC: Dying Laughing
see more crazy cat pics
Sweet and Clear
The morning dawned sweet and clear, it is 50°F / 10°C and there is no dust! No dust! If there is one thing a dust storm is good for, it is that it makes us truly appreciate how sweet it is when there is NO dust storm.
Looking at the forecast for the rest of the week, it is soon approaching 90°F – March is the great transition between winter and summer. It happens too fast for me, I wish for a few more weeks of the temperate weather, when we can go out and walk and breathe the cool air (when it is not a dust storm.)
People are already talking about putting away their winter clothing.
Qatteri Cat’s Fuzzy Ears
Sometimes I really do think I have too much time on my hands. That, or maybe, I make bad choices and use my time unwisely(!) ;-(
The Qatteri Cat has the most amazing furry ears. Actually, he has amazing fluffy fur; we have to comb him all the time, his long, luxurious fur tangles and mats if we don’t, and sometimes, even if we do. They can’t always keep all of their parts immaculate, and need some help. I know, I know, too much information.
His ears mesmerize us.
They are thickly haired. A vet told us he was part desert cat, and the hairiness helps keep particles out of his years. He has tufts on the tips of his ears, which I have not been able to capture in photos. He has long mane-like tufts sprouting from behind his ears, so that when he is all cleaned and combed, he looks like a mini-lion with a mane.
If you think you’re tired of cat photos, Qatteri Cat says you should try having to be the model!
Now that it’s not quite so cold out, he isn’t snuggled up to me every time I sit down, so he is far enough away for a photo or two or three. . .
Early Morning Fishermen
Most mornings there are boats of early morning fishermen – I wonder if it is like the early bird gets the fish? This morning there was a blue heron and an egret out fishing in the same waters, so I am imagining the fishing was good!
Special Occasions: Cream Puffs and Profiteroles
Cream Puffs
Cream Puffs got me through a lot of guest dinners. They look so amazing, they taste so good, and they are really easy to make. So give it a try, and have fun.
The secret is taking the top off while they are still hot, and pulling out the filiments of excess dough so it doesn’t steam the puff from within and wilt it. They are so easy, we even taught them to kids in a summer fun program when we lived in Tunisia. They loved putting the whipped cream in (I think more got in the kids than in the creme puffs)
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
4 eggs
Heat oven to 400°F/ 200°C. Heat water and butter to strong rolling boil. Stir in flour, stir vigorously over low heat about one minute or until mixture forms a ball. (You’ll know it when you see it.)
Remove from heat, beat in eggs, all at one time, continue beating and beating until smooth. Drop dough by Tablespoons 3” apart onto UNGREASED baking sheet. Bake 35 – 40 minutes or until puffed and golden. Cool away from drafts. Cut off tops, pull out filaments of dough inside.
When ready to serve, fill with Creme Chantilly, put the top on, and drizzle chocolate syrup over top and down the sides. Gorgeous!
Creme Chantilly
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup sifted powdered (sometimes called confectioners) sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Whip the whipping cream until just stiff, quickly fold in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract.
Chocolate Syrup
3 Tablespoons Hershey’s cocoa powder
1 Tablespoon butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 Tablespoon(s) HOT water
Mix together cocoa powder and butter, and melt over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 Tablespoon hot water. Beat until smooth. Only add more hot water if it is too thick; needs to be “drizzle-able”.
Profiteroles
Profiteroles are very small cream puffs, just smaller balls, same dough, cooked, covered with the same chocolate syrup. Instead of serving one cream puff, you serve maybe six small profiteroles.
Pyramid Mosque
Does everyone call this the Pyramid Mosque? I know most people use it as a landmark, it is so distinctive. I’ve been trying to photograph it for people not living in Kuwait, and this is one of my tries.
Ramadan Lantern
I can’t help it. I bought one. I think they are SO pretty. And I bought one for my daughter-in-law, and I bought one for her aunt, and . . . I could NOT resist.
Motherhood in 2:55
I saw this on Good Morning America, and then my oldest, dearest friend sent me the same in an e-mail. Motherhood condensed into 2 minutes and 55 seconds. Very original.
Every time I listened to it I understood it better! Adventure Man is rolling on the floor!
Ayb! Ayb!* Parking Hall of Shame
I am not outraged just because I passed up these two spots, both empty, once I saw the sign, which you will notice is in Arabic, English and just in case you can’t read, also in sign language. NO PARKING!
I am not outraged just because only about 20 feet from these two spots are also parking spots, it just means walking a few more feet in the hot sun, no, not rock star parking, but not like walking a couple hundred meters, either.
I am outraged because these were WOMEN. WOMEN! We know better! We have aging mothers and children, we sometimes NEED special treatment, but these women who parked here were both ample and able. Actually, in the first photo, I was so angry, I had the women as they got out of their cars, but I took a deep breath, and decided that would NOT be a good idea in case I ever want to go here again. They might beat me up! They might arrest me for insulting them!
But I am insulted. This is Ramadan, people are fasting, and it is hot hot hot, even though it is cooling down a little. Women faint, men get electrolyte imbalances, and people need ambulances. THIS is AMBULANCE PARKING.
There is something in each of us that believes in variations of Locard’s Exchange Principal where anytime two people come into contact they exchange some physical matter, no matter how small. On some level, when we say “what goes around comes around” we are applying the same physical properties to the spiritual world, and why not? Are we not taught that we are to treat our neighbors as we would want to be treated?
So my fear for these women who would park in an ambulance spot is that one day they would need an ambulance, and find that the ambulance cannot park because someone is parked in the ambulance spot. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
*Shame! Shame!
Recent Comments
ExpatAlien on What Country am I Living … intlxpatr on Yellowstone: Old Faithful to C… Michelle on Yellowstone: Old Faithful to C… Cathy on No Grown-Ups in Charge intlxpatr on Waiting for Snow Wikipedia Donate Button
Amazina
Early Voting in Florida
Here There and Everywhere 