Thanks, John. I understood that, believe it or not.

Isn't there some magnitude scale that measures ground motion? If what you say is true (and I have no reason to believe otherwise), then wouldn't ground motion be have measurable differences for different areas? That's to say that granite would reverberate less than sedimentary basins, for example?

As for your morning coffee, you could make a quick Starbuck's run in the Village before hitting campus (assuming you could wait that long). Where in the Santa Monica Mts. do you live? My father lived for 17 years off Mulholland Terrace, just W. of the intersection of Mulholland and Laurel Canyon. Beautiful area with Valley views.

Cathryn