Glen,

If you can get out and go to some of the meetings in your area, keep your eyes open because you'll see some things you would never expect. I was shocked a few years ago when I was touring the seismology poster section at AGU. I know this one scientist who is very well known and an advocate of earthquake prediction and two other scientists he worked with for 20 years made a note at the bottom of their poster that his chief method of prediction should be removed from the IASPEI list of acceptable methods of predicting earthquakes. I doubt the scientist I knew was aware of it, but it seemed so out of place and so cut throat I couldn't believe anyone would put it in print and it wasn't in small print either. While that may have been the point of view of the two of them, I don't think putting it on a poster at the AGU when it has to do with the IASPEI was in good taste at all.

Historically theft among scientists was prevalent and it got so bad that's why everyone has to credit everyone else's work today. The history of earthquake prediction is distasteful. One only needs to look at the circus that went on surrounding VAN and it is very apparent if they couldn't discredit them on one level then it went to the next. The last big blast came as charges of mispent funding monies which was never proven.

I wanted to have a talk with Varatsos at one time and I was told he was old, sick and dying. So when I approached him I must have sounded like a total idiot. He's not anywhere near death and is still active at the Unv of Athens daily. Oh yeah, some of these guys are not all pure of heart for sure.

I'm not saying the majority of them are a problem, but if you keep your ears open and really read, believe me you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. I don't think the average researcher would see this stuff because they are looking at a different aspect than the way I do my research. Mind you, I'd never write anything formal about the behavior I've seen, but since you are interested in this topic I thought I would bring it up.

The Summit of Life may never happen because every single person thinks only they have the answer instead of acknowledging no one has every part of the answer. Woe to the citizens of planet earth that men amongst men can't put their personal thoughts aside to do something which should have been done ages ago. It so reminds me of what happened after the Indonesian 9.3 earthquake and tsunami. It took the loss of 250,000 people to see the funding arrive for a tsunami warning system because all of the prior governmental factions couldn't agree on anything.

Impossible is the wrong word in regard to predicting earthquakes. This can be accomplished and done by the most skilled scientists in the world, but not as a singular person. It seems as though they all want to catch the brass ring and they aren't going to do it as a unit. And as long as that thought process prevails the arrows to discredit each and every one of them will continue while the catalogs fill with annual death tolls.

These are my opinions and I believe they are valid because I took the time to see exactly what was going on. And do I expect things to change? No, I don't. There is nothing new on planet earth that hasn't always been here; but somehow everyone thinks there is something that's missing. There is, it's called caring. For a group of people who earn such a small salary the ego factor is unbelievable. Call me Doctor is always the first sign of a problem. As you know they added classes years ago with medical doctors so they could learn to approach their patients as human beings with feelings instead of thinking of them as a specimen. Well geosciences could use a class on a few issues too. While learning how to be professional in their attitudes and vocalisms about each other wouldn't hurt, learning how to behave when around the public is high on the list as well. Who funds them anyway? We, the people, with our tax dollars.

They need to feel with their eyes and see with their hearts and maybe then and only then can we expect progress.

Petra