Our society sucks.

[joeb]

I had to go to our local clinic's pharamacy today to pick up some insulin syringes and a prescription. While sitting and waiting my turn what appeared to me to be an older lady(70's or so) came walking in. Her face appeared to look very strange but I couldn't see why until she passed me and I could see her profile. Her upper jaw extended at least a full inch beyond her lower jaw, and her lower jaw looked to be non-existent for all intents and purposes.

After she checked in she came back and sat across from me. We struck up a conversation and in the course of that conversation she said she'd had cancer and that's what had happened to her face. They'd saved her life but had to destroy her mouth/jaws to do it. The poor lady looked really odd from the lack of a jaw and from the profusion of wrinkles from having the same amount of skin loosely hung over a whole lot less infrastructor.

She told me that she will go out to eat with her sons and that people will come up to her and tell her to leave because of how she looks. This kind of stuff really angers me. If I saw it happening in front of me I think fists might fly because cruelty just absolutely pushes my hot buttons.

The Bible says that before the flood "that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" with respect to mankind. I'd say that time is here beyond a shadow of a doubt.

[Gail]

Oh, how sad! I immediately thought of Roger Ebert, who recently passed away when his cancer returned. If you Google his name you will see the difference in his appearance after his surgery.

[phkrause]

Yes it does

[cricket]

I'm sorry to hear of that woman's experiences, joeb. There are cruel people in our world, but there is an awful lot of goodness in our world too. Take for example this story:

An acquaintance of mine had to go to a locally owned medicine shop today. He needed to pick up supplies to help with a certain condition that would be untreatable in ages past. While sitting on a nice, comfortable chair provided by the owners of the shop, he noticed another person entering the store to pick up supplies that would help her in her condition.

Though she was different in appearance, my acquaintance felt enough at ease to converse openly with her and he did so.

Turns out, she was grateful for the conversation and her day was brightened! She began to tell him of the medical procedures she'd undergone for a problem she was having. Her life was in jeopardy, but modern medical advances made it such that she was able to still enjoy time with her sons. She realized that only a decade or so earlier, she may not have lived to see the day.

My acquaintance felt saddened at the suffering the woman had endured, but when he left the shop he realized that life, like a rose, sometimes has thorns but when the eyes are opened fully and the sun is shining there's a lot of beauty to be found.

[fccool]

Quote:

The Bible says that before the flood "that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" with respect to mankind. I'd say that time is here beyond a shadow of a doubt.

While this experience is very sad, Christians became the microphones that amplify these examples and impose these on the whole world, full of a wide range of people... who care for each other and would go extra length to help their neighbors, co-workers, and people they never heard about.

I'm fairly sure that most of the people in this world would be outraged by such treatment of such person just as much as you do... so imposing the "pre-flood" judgement on the world merely demonstrates judgmental attitudes of many Christians that can't see how the world responds to acts of atrocity with a great deal of compassion.

[LifeHiscost]

Quote:

so imposing the "pre-flood" judgement on the world merely demonstrates judgmental attitudes of many Christians that can't see how the world responds to acts of atrocity with a great deal of compassion

I'm assuming this means nothing to you as being indicative of the times in which we are living.

"“Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled?”

And Jesus, answering them, began to say: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and will deceive many. some 1200+ at the last count But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled; for such things must happen, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows.

“But watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues. You will be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them. And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations. But when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand, or premeditate[c] what you will speak. But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. Now brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. "Mark 13:4-12 NKJV

One of the more volatile natural phenomena for evidence.

Quote:

Earthquake Facts and Statistics

We're transitioning to a new system, so this webpage is being phased out and is no longer maintained as of 11/27/12. To generate statistics for past earthquakes, please use the Online Earthquake Catalog.

Frequency of Occurrence of Earthquakes

Magnitude Average Annually

8 and higher 1 ¹

7 - 7.9 15 ¹

6 - 6.9 134 ²

5 - 5.9 1319 ²

4 - 4.9 13,000

(estimated)

3 - 3.9 130,000

(estimated)

2 - 2.9 1,300,000

(estimated)

¹ Based on observations since 1900.

These numbers have been recently updated, based on data from the Centennial catalog (from 1900 to 1999) and the PDE (since 2000).

² Based on observations since 1990.

Magnitude vs. Ground Motion and Energy

Magnitude Change Ground Motion Change

(Displacement) Energy Change

1.0 10.0 times about 32 times

0.5 3.2 times about 5.5 times

0.3 2.0 times about 3 times

0.1 1.3 times about 1.4 times

This table shows that a magnitude 7.2 earthquake produces 10 times more ground motion than a magnitude 6.2 earthquake, but it releases about 32 times more energy. The energy release best indicates the destructive power of an earthquake. See: How much bigger is a magnitude 8.7 earthquake than a magnitude 5.8 earthquake?

Number of Earthquakes Worldwide for 2000 - 2012

Located by the US Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center

(M4.5+ for most of the world; doesn't include US regional network contributions)

Magnitude 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

8.0 to 9.9 1 1 0 1 2 1 2 4 0 1 1 1 2

7.0 to 7.9 14 15 13 14 14 10 9 14 12 16 23 19 12

6.0 to 6.9 146 121 127 140 141 140 142 178 168 144 150 185 108

5.0 to 5.9 1344 1224 1201 1203 1515 1693 1712 2074 1768 1896 2209 2276 1401

4.0 to 4.9 8008 7991 8541 8462 10888 13917 12838 12078 12291 6805 10164 13315 9534

3.0 to 3.9 4827 6266 7068 7624 7932 9191 9990 9889 11735 2905 4341 2791 2453

2.0 to 2.9 3765 4164 6419 7727 6316 4636 4027 3597 3860 3014 4626 3643 3111

1.0 to 1.9 1026 944 1137 2506 1344 26 18 42 21 26 39 47 43

0.1 to 0.9 5 1 10 134 103 0 2 2 0 1 0 1 0

No Magnitude 3120 2807 2938 3608 2939 864 828 1807 1922 17 24 11 3

Total 22256 23534 27454 31419 31194 30478 29568 29685 31777 14825 21577 * 22289 * 16667

Estimated

Deaths 231 21357 1685 33819 228802 88003 6605 712 88011 1790 320120 21953 768

Starting in January 2009, the USGS National Earthquake Information Center no longer locates earthquakes smaller than magnitude 4.5 outside the United States, unless we receive specific information that the earthquake was felt or caused damage.

The values in the tables for the most recent years may fluctuate due to magnitude updates during the review process.

Number of Earthquakes in the United States for 2000 - 2012

Located by the US Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center

(M2.5+; doesn't include US regional network contributions)

Magnitude 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

8.0 to 9.9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

7.0 to 7.9 0 1 1 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0

6.0 to 6.9 6 5 4 7 2 4 7 9 9 4 8 3 5

5.0 to 5.9 63 41 63 54 25 47 51 72 85 58 89 51 27

4.0 to 4.9 281 290 536 541 284 345 346 366 432 288 631 347 271

3.0 to 3.9 917 842 1535 1303 1362 1475 1213 1137 1486 1492 3584 1838 1236

2.0 to 2.9 660 646 1228 704 1336 1738 1145 1173 1573 2379 4132 2941 2251

1.0 to 1.9 0 2 2 2 1 2 7 11 13 26 39 47 43

0.1 to 0.9 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0

No Magnitude 415 434 507 333 540 73 13 22 20 14 12 8 3

Total 2342 2261 3876 2946 3550 3685 2783 2791 3618 4262 8496 * 5237 * 3836

Estimated

Deaths 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Earthquake Information for the 1990s

Graphs of Earthquake Statistics

We detect, but generally do not locate, about 50 mine blasts (explosions) throughout the United States on any given business day. These blasts typically occur between noon and 6 PM local time Monday through Saturday. Of these, about one event every two days is large enough that we compute a location for the blast and post it to a separate explosions listing.

Real-time Earthquake Map

Get Real-time Data Sent to You

Significant EQ Archive

Search EQ Archives

“Top 10” Lists & Map

Info by Region

God cares!

[fccool]

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/increase_in_earthquakes.php

We continue to be asked by many people throughout the world if earthquakes are on the increase. Although it may seem that we are having more earthquakes, earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or greater have remained fairly constant.

A partial explanation may lie in the fact that in the last twenty years, we have definitely had an increase in the number of earthquakes we have been able to locate each year. This is because of the tremendous increase in the number of seismograph stations in the world and the many improvements in global communications. In 1931, there were about 350 stations operating in the world; today, there are more than 8,000 stations and the data now comes in rapidly from these stations by electronic mail, internet and satellite. This increase in the number of stations and the more timely receipt of data has allowed us and other seismological centers to locate earthquakes more rapidly and to locate many small earthquakes which were undetected in earlier years. The NEIC now locates about 20,000 earthquakes each year or approximately 50 per day. Also, because of the improvements in communications and the increased interest in the environment and natural disasters, the public now learns about more earthquakes.

According to long-term records (since about 1900), we expect about 17 major earthquakes (7.0 - 7.9) and one great earthquake (8.0 or above) in any given year.

[cricket]

Business as usual. (On all fronts!)

[Arwen]

I'm sorry to hear of that woman's experiences, joeb. There are cruel people in our world, but there is an awful lot of goodness in our world too. Take for example this story:

An acquaintance of mine had to go to a locally owned medicine shop today. He needed to pick up supplies to help with a certain condition that would be untreatable in ages past. While sitting on a nice, comfortable chair provided by the owners of the shop, he noticed another person entering the store to pick up supplies that would help her in her condition.

Though she was different in appearance, my acquaintance felt enough at ease to converse openly with her and he did so.

Turns out, she was grateful for the conversation and her day was brightened! She began to tell him of the medical procedures she'd undergone for a problem she was having. Her life was in jeopardy, but modern medical advances made it such that she was able to still enjoy time with her sons. She realized that only a decade or so earlier, she may not have lived to see the day.

My acquaintance felt saddened at the suffering the woman had endured, but when he left the shop he realized that life, like a rose, sometimes has thorns but when the eyes are opened fully and the sun is shining there's a lot of beauty to be found.

A lot of cruel responses are down to fear and ignorance.

[joeb]

A lot of cruel responses are down to fear and ignorance.

Adults telling someone deformed by cancer to leave because they are offended by her looks and that she is causing them to lose their appetite is not fear and ignorance. It is flat out cruelty and lack of compassion and empathy. There is no excuse for it.