What Am I?

It's

Aloha Friday

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Welcome!

Click on the photos please

There is much of interest under Hawaiian skies. . .

"Keep the circus going inside you,

keep it going

don't take anything seriously,

it'll all work out in the end."

David Niven

Here light is dancing, but what is this lamp?

"Some memories are realities,

and are better than anything

that can ever happen to one again."

Willa Cather

Why would anyone want to wear fur in Hawaii?

"He who wants to do good

knocks on the gate;

he who loves

finds the door open."

Rabindranath Tagore

Oh wait! There is an ear. . .

"If you wish to avoid seeing a fool

you must first break your mirror."

Francois Rabelais

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Yes, it is sea-going Kitty. Aloha, sailor!

“The stray cat Oscar added many thing to our menage.

Each evening I thought afresh that a nice cat washing his face

by the hearth gives extra comfort to a room.”

- James Herriot

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Whatever you do,

whatever you feel,

you will still be

here;

and you can still

sit still.

You needn't concentrate

or worry

to keep from falling off

the Earth.

And when you do leave here

you will be going

someplace

that some

call "home."

I'm not entirely comfortable

wearing this body

(though it is a privilege)

but I have to wonder

what interesting thing

will happen in this world

next.

We all play a part here

yet seldom know

which is small

or great.

ALOHA, cloudia

Evacuation

Aloha, Friend

Here are a couple of shots from the "excitement."

Here is a shot by neighbor Ted Trimmer

showing dozens and dozens of boats leaving the

Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor

ahead of the predicted Tsunami wave last Saturday.

When a recent TV news story replayed video shot during the emergency

the sound of the sirens wailing caused Miss Kitty to immediately look up: "Not Again!"

Thanks for visiting! cloudia

Hawaii Skies

Aloha, You!

Welcome Back to Waikiki

click on the clouds for elation!

Hawaii skies

"You have been given a gift

of 86,400 seconds today.

Have you used one to say

'thank you?'"


William A. Ward




Well invested time.

"It is very wrong for people to feel deeply sad

when they lose some money,

yet when they waste the precious moments of their lives,

they do not have the slightest feeling of repentance."

The Dalai Lama

"No social system in any country will bring us happiness, health, and prosperity unless it is inspired by something greater than materialism"

Clement R. Atlee

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Today's Happiness Hint:

In the silly privacy of your sovereign nature,

catch a falling star

and put it in your pocket.

Never let it fade away. . .

Warm ALOHA, cloudia

The Shorter Day

Aloha, my Friends!

I'm Back on Line

here in

W A I K I K I



please click on the photos to make them bloom

WE moved everything we own (well, most of the important stuff)

off/on our boat/home twice.

Sirens were blaring, and police clearing the streets the first time.

We just hoped to get to a certain 20th floor

apartment nearby. We didn't know if we would be permitted to drive our

two vehicle caravan in that direction.

All the while Miss Kitty howled and

hurled her furry fury at the gate of her travel carrier.

Once we were parked above the third floor I felt myself relax a bit.

The tsunami might wipe away all normalcy in Hawaii for a while, but we

and all prudent people had been warned and moved to safer places.

We might find ourselves in Venice,

but we were high enough to survive any wave that might come.

Last Spring I was riding along little Young

Street (about a mile and a half inland) when I saw groups of kids chalking

a blue line representing the Tsunami Inundation Zone.

We might have

watched as a good portion of urban Honolulu was covered with water!

WE are home, life is blessedly normal again.

And I'm well pleased with how our island behaved.
We all learned a lot about disaster preparedness,
and about how GREAT it is
when everything is humming along
normally.

Water has an orderly way of flowing in, and out.
We call them tides.
When a surge or energy moves through the sea disrupting that order, there are interesting eddies of hydro-force that result.

The water here in the harbor looked "stippled" and confused following the arrival of the first (blessedly small) tsunami wave and it's follow-ups. And it behaved most unusually.

We could not pull closer to the dock with two adults leaning into the ropes for a strangely long time. Usually momentum begins to accrue immediately. Or the normal sway of the tethered boat will metronome back and forth in the sea's rhythm. But this time, the boat just stood off and refused to budge. VERY unusual. Other boaters had unaccustomed difficulty pulling into their own slips.

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Of course, there was a lot of work, carrying, pulling on ropes,
surfing the surging adrenaline.
Yesterday I had to sleep most of the day.

For me to go on line is more than pushing a button.
The modem must be plugged into the on-board phone line.
Then it's power cord is plugged in.
While I wait for the lights to stop blinking on that, I pull out this laptop and plug it into the power and DSL. . .

I simply couldn't face the simple work for a few days, but I'm back.
You were each missed. So, let's. . .

RE-SET!

ALOHA, cloudia

Chile Earthquake May Have Shortened Days on Earth

SPACE.com Staff

SPACE.com Space.com Staff

space.com Tue Mar 2, 10:00 am ET

The massive 8.8 earthquake that struck Chile may have changed the entire Earth's rotation and shortened the length of days on our planet, a NASA scientist said Monday.

The quake, the seventh strongest earthquake in recorded history, hit Chile Saturday and should have shortened the length of an Earth day by 1.26 milliseconds, according to research scientist Richard Gross at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

"Perhaps more impressive is how much the quake shifted Earth's axis," NASA officials said in a Monday update.

The computer model used by Gross and his colleagues to determine the effects of the Chile earthquake effect also found that it should have moved Earth's figure axis by about 3 inches (8 cm or 27 milliarcseconds).

The Earth's figure axis is not the same as its north-south axis, which it spins around once every day at a speed of about 1,000 mph (1,604 kph).

The figure axis is the axis around which the Earth's mass is balanced. It is offset from the Earth's north-south axis by about 33 feet (10 meters).

Strong earthquakes have altered Earth's days and its axis in the past. The 9.1 Sumatran earthquake in 2004, which set off a deadly tsunami, should have shortened Earth's days by 6.8 microseconds and shifted its axis by about 2.76 inches (7 cm, or 2.32 milliarcseconds).

One Earth day is about 24 hours long. Over the course of a year, the length of a day normally changes gradually by one millisecond. It increases in the winter, when the Earth rotates more slowly, and decreases in the summer, Gross has said in the past.

The Chile earthquake was much smaller than the Sumatran temblor, but its effects on the Earth are larger because of its location. Its epicenter was located in the Earth's mid-latitudes rather than near the equator like the Sumatran event.

The fault responsible for the 2010 Chile quake also slices through Earth at a steeper angle than the Sumatran quake's fault, NASA scientists said.

"This makes the Chile fault more effective in moving Earth's mass vertically and hence more effective in shifting Earth's figure axis," NASA officials said.

Gross said his findings are based on early data available on the Chile earthquake. As more information about its characteristics are revealed, his prediction of its effects will likely change.

All Clear

Tsunami Warning Ended.

Mahalo Ke Akua - Thanks be to God!

And Thanks to YOU, for caring, cloudia

Tsunami Progress

amazing reports from neighbor islands of weird surf conditions.

Rushing water, exposed reefs.

In fact, some secondary waves are stronger than the first.

Officials from the Tsunami Center look more relaxed on camera.

Many surface roads in the inundation zone remain closed. Roads into Waikiki remain

blockaded.

Exciting, a worthwhile drill for "when" not "if" there is another disaster.

I'll not soon forget police with sirens & loudspeakers clearing the beaches and harbors...

adrenaline is a strange drug indeed. Not back to normal, but a whole less scary.

Aloha! c-

Tsunami Progress

We are now seeing changes in Waikiki's famous surf.

Quite amazing scenes of powerful water at the shore lines!

All is quiet. Power remains on (yay!)

Miss Kitty is still hiding under the furniture.

Maui Water is OFF.

I am exhausted from carrying and worrying, but we are quite comfortable.

Looks like we might be back on board today, but the warning has not yet been called off, and bigger waves might well show off.

Life. . . GLORIOUS! Aloha, friends