Hi John,

I was thinking about who has the right to issue earthquake predictions in California and I thought you might know more about this than some others.

For example, Jim Berkland can because he's a licensed geologist, but GeoForecasters could not because they don't have a licensed geologist on-board. I presume since Dr. Keilis-Borok is affiliated with UCLA Geology Department therefore somewhere in there is a geologist who would authorize his work. Then psychics can, it seems without censure.

So then we have some others, like all of the predictors on Jim Berkland's board and those who post here, including me. If we aren't scientists or psychics, would the State of California tell us to knock it off at some point in time? Or should we all say we are psychics so we fit under that neat umbrella?

Or, another thought, is prediction on the Internet not treated the same as prediction in the media? Given that the scientific community thinks there isn't much to the methodology used by the folks on the Internet, they don't mind us fooling around with it.

And last but not least, let's suppose I can find a geologist who is in favor of "earthquake prediction by sound" and he's willing to sign off for me, am I in the acceptable club?

Petra