Heard a talk yesterday :
Pall Einerson (University of Iceland)
Volcano forecasting in
Iceland: some success stories from the past and the present state of
Grimsvoln and Katla Volcanoes

They predicted that a volcano in Iceland would erupt the next day. It was a nice day, so thousands of people went out to watch the eruption (which occurred). 2000 of them were caught in a snowstorm on the way back to the city, and had to be rescued. Some pictures were shown of Icelandic fissure eruptions-fountains of lava along a crack 10 or 20 km-long. That would be something to see. But, the eruptions under the Iceland icecap would be something to flee-floods. And, the biggest are a wider problem-I think the eruption of Laki (sp?) in the 18th century killed a lot of people (by starvation due to local climate change or something having to do with the gases given off...).
M4.4 near Wheeler Ridge, south of Bakersfield, in last hour-I'll wait until it is confirmed by seismologist....
Chris