I want to thank Cathryn and Canie for their "Bon Voyage" wishes posted just about the time I was leaving for my Geology field trip. I did have a great time, and learned a lot. In a very intensive 4 days, at some 20 or so individual sites in Yosemite and in the Mammoth Mtn./Long Valley area, we were treated to lectures by 3 professional geologists and one botanist. I'll likely post a note about the trip once I receive my notes back from my instructor (who took them for grading).

Cathryn inquired, just prior to my leaving, about how my interest in seismology originated. I'll try to answer that below as part of a brief bio, and take this opportunity to suggest that each of us take a moment to introduce him- or herself. Some have done so previously, or provided personal info in bits and pieces in the past, but this would be helpful for those who are new, or forgetful, or missed some previous posts. Canie might wish to also provide some brief background on the history of this forum, and her proprietorship of it.

I'm 56 y.o., was previously married for 11 years, and have been living with my fiance for the past 14 years. I have no children, though Carolyn has 3 who live locally and occasionally drop in. We live in Arroyo Grande, California, 15 miles south of San Luis Obispo, right next to Pismo Beach. I retired from my 33-year career as a wildland firefighter with the California Department of Forestry in 2003. I began that career in my home town of Santa Cruz, and subsequently worked in Santa Clara, San Mateo, Orange and Riverside Counties before transferring to San Luis Obispo County in 1985.

I am currently attending Cuesta Community College in San Luis Obispo, majoring in Geology, and pursuing an AS degree. The Geology curriculum here is rather sparse (though the few courses they have are excellent), as is that at neighboring CalPoly SLO). The Geology curriculum at CalPoly (locally often referred to as "CowPoly") is within their Agriculture program, within the Soil Sciences Division . . . I am pursuing my education only for personal fulfillment, as I don't intend to be gainfully employed again (I actually began work near-full-time at age 13, and kinda need to take a break).

I've always had an interest in the sciences, particular the natural sciences, and most particularly Astronomy and Geology. But my particular interest in Seismology has its roots in a couple of particular experiences. I have very few early childhood memories, but the earliest one is of being carried downstairs during a major earthquake in Japan. I previously identified which one it was, but have since forgotten. It was in 1953, IIRC, and was not far from Tokyo, and involved some fatalities and significant damage. I would have been about 3 y.o. then. That memory lay dormant for some time, until my family moved to Santa Cruz in 1956 (after three years in England). During the latter part of the period between 1956 and when I left Santa Cruz in 1973, I experienced several sizeable quakes there. Some of these are now considered to have been foreshocks of the Loma Prieta quake. Anyway, it was primarily these experiences, which I found fascinating, which got me to reading up on the subject.

I have been a member of the Seismological Society of America since about 1986, and have a fairly good library of both professional and lay publications on the subject of seismology, including a complete collection of Bulletins of the SSA and Seismological Research Letters dating from 1986. I discovered the Newsgroup Sci.Geo.Earthquakes way back in 1994 or so, and have been an occasional poster there ever since. I forgot when I first began reading the Earthwaves Prediction Forum, but it was several years ago. I believe I was alerted to it in a SGE post. Due largely to Canie's guidance, and a solid core of level-headed contributors, it strikes me as the best of the forums on the subject available to laypeople. Its emphasis on prediction is inevitable, as that seems to be the primary interest among amateurs. My personal feeling is that deterministic earthquake prediction is a small sub-category of seismology, and that the inquisitive reader (especially readers of actual printed material) will find a great deal of fascinating facets of seismology that are only peripherally related to prediction. My one concern for this forum is that we not forget that its purpose is the discussion of prediction, and that those of us who are rationalists, and prediction skeptics, not overwhelm those whose attempts to predict are presented rationally, and without excessive self-promotion or insult to those who disagree.

Question for Canie (who will perhaps address it as part of her bio): Inasmuch as you seem to be a bit of a prediction skeptic yourself(?), how is it that you are the operator of this prediction forum? Did you originate it?

Michael Williams
Arroyo Grande, CA USA