Dear SciSchmoozers,

A 6.1 earthquake topped off my birthday this month in Oaxaca, Mexico (and abruptly terminated a huge outdoor rock concert). Since the quake was located 108 kilometers below the terrain, there was almost no damage - except to nerves.

The Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989 was a 6.9 magnitude event. The San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 was a 7.9 magnitude event. Because the magnitude scale is logarithmic, the San Francisco quake was 10 times “bigger” than the Loma Prieta event. In terms of energy, however, the San Francisco quake released over 30 times the energy of the 1989 quake.

¿Is our Bay Area threatened by another 7.9 quake? Well, yes, but not for a while. The g

10.9.23

Hello SciSchmoozers,

Well it has been a crazy week and I am going to have to just tease you with some various links that have provided some distraction from the news and life. It has been a challenging year and most people seem to want to get on to 2024. I love it when someone says they can’t wait until something completely out of there control happens! It’s not as if a new year will make any difference!!

These are pretty crazy times with people be

Dear reader,
I’ve assembled some ideas and information you might enjoy.

SPACE

On Tuesday, go outside at 1938 hrs (that’s nerd-notation for 7:38 PM) to watch the ISS make a 6-minute pass over the Bay Area. (NW horizon to directly overhead (86°) to SE horizon)

Astronaut Frank Rubio and cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin returned to Earth from

September 24, 2023

BOB SIEDERER

Hello again Science Fans!

Just before 7:52 AM (PDT) this morning, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission returned the sample recovery capsule (SRC) containing material from the asteroid Bennu to a desert area in Utah. This is a remarkable achievement. First, they had to get to Bennu, which involved some complicated orbital mechanics. Then they had to orbit the asteroid, the smallest space object ever orbited by a satellite. Next, they had to successfully obtain a sample of the asteroid’s surface, deposit it in a container, and close the lid. Tha

The SciSchmooze 9.18.23

Herb Masters

Hello Curious Friends,

Let’s get this started… It seems that AI is everywhere. Some see it as a threat and others see it as a promise… Earlier there the hot item was the smart phone. How about a "smart toilet" that analyzes your urine stream and fecal deposits while taking a picture of your anus for good measure? There is so much to learn at the 

Hello Fans of Science and Reason,

Well it was about here that the day shifted direction heavily. So now I’m picking it up, rather late in the day, and in a cheap and poor imitation of the tone and style of Stephen Colbert introducing his deeply missed “Meanwhile” I can only say that my twice monthly carefully “existentialized”, finely honed tour de week of science, art, and the purpose of the universe will only be a shadow and links of itself!

Dear Reader,
Below are a few items of interest: discoveries, ideas, and issues. Pick and choose as you wish and click on links for deeper stories.

Hello again Fans of Science, all 6,111 of you currently subscribed to the SciSchmooze. Thank you for being here!

Time, and where am I?

I’m currently writing from UTC+2, also known as Central European Summer Time at the moment (UTC+1 in the winter).

A few days ago, I stood on the Prime Meridian at the Royal Observatory in Greenwitch Park, London and learned about the history of time as we know it today. Before there was standardization, each location had their own way to measure time. Nothing was coordinated. Imagine the chaos! T

Greetings Fans of Science and Reason,

World Mosquito Day August 20th, is meant to celebrate the time in which Dr. Ross discovered that female mosquitoes transmit malaria between humans.

This weeks edition of the SciSchmooze is a bit different than usual. One of my biggest challenges is to say no to something that sounds interesting and/or fun. This week really hit me with this conundrum. So I am just going to put down a bunch of links and let you sort it out.

First though, you shou

Don't Try To Lay No Boogie Woogie

Hello SciShmoozers(?), 

I hope that you have been enjoying the evenings and taking some Perseid showers. This is pretty comfortable weather in the evenings so it isn’t too difficult to go outside and hangout looking up for awhile. A good lawn chair might be nice.  This might also be a good time to consider some