Thursday, January 13, 2005

It's ALL about tsunamis, now

You might have noticed my absence for a few weeks. Yeah, me too. Trust me, it wasn't a break. The last 2 weeks of December through the first two weeks of January are the busiest time of the year(s) for the Editor at work, and no, it does not have anything to do with the holidays. On top of that, I was illin' and a-chillin' with something that was a mix between a cold, bronchitis and a flu. My body ached and and I was coughing chunks up until the last Sunday. So, with those details outta the way, let's get to business.

While I was away there apparently was this big earthquake that triggered a serious shift in the sea floor of the Indian Ocean somewhere. Boy, did it cause some havoc with that body of water and a huge wave (less than 20' I believe) came to some beach front properties and cities, taking the lives a multitude of people (strangely, all the animals had scrammed and were saved).

Of course, the size of this wave is sort of small relative to the July 9 (or 10), 1958 Lituya Bay (Alaska) wave that at one point was an estimated 1700 feet... That's right, I said ONE-THOUSAND-SEVEN-HUNDRED FEET. You think that's big? What do you think the dude and his son who rode out the 50-100 foot remnants of that wave where thinking?
"Mayday, Mayday - Edrie in Lituya Bay - all hell broke loose - I think we've had it - goodbye!"

Amazing he got that distress signal off, but not as amazing as actually surviving it.