Monday, January 31, 2005

M 5.1, Nicobar Islands, India region. January 27, 2005 23:27:02 GMT [USGS M>5 Earthquakes] This is a little crazy, this quake was the last of 35 magnitude 5+ earthquakes that occurred beneath the Nicobar Islands on January 27. This pace has diminish dramatically in the last few days, 9 events on the 28th, 13 events on the 29th, 4 on the 30th. But it is mind-boggling even for seismically active area like the Bay Area. I would never get out from under my desk. 1:10:22 PM     Comment []

Former San Jose Mayor Tom McEnery blasts the County Supervisors and VTA Board for thinking about the impending BART disaster. His approach seems to be damn the consequences, full speed ahead. Who cares if we never seen another transit project in the County, just make sure that the blessed BART trains pull into San Jose sometime before 2020. Once it arrives, it will be interesting to see how it runs on no operating funds. McEnery goes on "Over seventy percent of the people voted for BART to San Jose (and few pluralities have even deigned to authorize other of their shenanigans), yet they [the Supervisors and VTA Board] have the audacity to chastise Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group CEO Carl Guardino for demanding the unpardonable: keep your word!" A yes, the vote where SVMG sold the county on "Traffic Relief Now!". But they kept there word, we got traffic relief through the collapse of the Valley's economy. I just hope that wasn't part of their plan. 12:46:14 PM     Comment []

I went to an amazing concert last night, one of the opening shows the singer-songwriters tour, featuring Guy Clark, Joe Ely, John Hiatt, and Lyle Lovett. The stage was simple, four singer-songwriters and four guitars. They took turns singing their songs. After the first four songs, they started taking requests. The audience would shout out a title and the artists responded "Ok", genuinely pleased that they didn't have think of what to play next. Clark sang "The Cape" and "Like a Coat from the Cold", Hiatt did "Slow Turning" and "Have a Little Faith", and Lovett followed with "If I had a Boat", then stole the show with "North Dakota". As he finished, Hiatt spoke the simple truth, "Wow!" as the audience erupted. They did a few songs together to close the sets, but the focus was on the songwriters singing their works. Which is where it should be. They are heading down to Santa Barbara for a show tonight. It would be worth the drive to see them again. 8:06:18 AM     Comment []