I recall that Lucy Jones said in her Aug. 31 '01 briefing that earthquakes cannot be predicted (especially because the magnitude of the quake could not be discriminated even while it was unfolding... nevermind in advance).

That's why it seems like a contradiction that they even have a CA Earth Prediction Evaluation group. This contradicts LJ's breifing it seems.

Maybe there are two camps...one believes that the capability is lurking just over the horizon (which it is BTW) and the other (including LJ) do not believe it is so.

Feel free to correct me if I have misunderstood this point (like I really need to ask ....:)

$.02