Hi Gerry & Roger,

Bob oh boy, this topic can bring on a string of threads perhaps for days. I'm of a mind that I don't think anything in the universe is random. It can be brought to the most insignificant to the largest event on the plant in a sense, but surely not random at all.

If the world was random people here would not live in cities, have laws, organize anything. No, they'd be out looking for their little plot of land to enjoy being on their own. No taxes, no insurance, a more simple life.

My favorite in the not random category is "accidents." They call them that because they are not intentional. But are they truly accidental? No. After more years than I care to say, in listening to the details which lead two drivers to a certain place at a given moment, you cannot believe how unlikely it is to hit each other. The odds are way against it. Just remember the next time you're about to go out the door and you drop your keys or forget something and go back for it, those few seconds will make the difference of you arriving at a certain place at a given time. ie: you were meant to have the accident experience or you weren't.

While two earthquakes may not be identical, as that is not possible, then as usual one will use statistical averages to find a middle ground. There will be the exceptional as point A, the very unexceptional at C, and B is the average between them.

Think of it this way, people who are in a car accident are no different than a person who lives through an earthquake. Both are experiences not likely to be forgotten, they are both upsetting, but in the aftermath each victim learns something significant in the process. Not random. Normal.

That's my two cents, or maybe it was a nickel..Petra