ESOF

In less than 24 hours I'll be going through security checks, hoping my stopover in Warsaw will go smoothly. Nothing is packed yet, but the credit card that was eaten by a voracious ATM at the beginning of the  week has been replaced, gifts have been purchased for various people, included the couple who will be hosting me for three nights, pants have been hemmed. Still not convinced that the new card will work in Danish machines. My cell phone company has just replaced my trusty old "dumb" phone with a brand new "smart" one in hopes I'll use lots of apps and  internet services. That smart…

A couple days ago I received this note: "There was an article in the Huffington Post not long ago about an extreme worst case scenario with the oil spill - that a giant methane bubble bursts through the sea floor, ignites, causes a huge supersonic tsunami that would wipe out all of Florida, followed by a vaporization tsunami. I've heard this described as "disaster porn", and certainly, the scenario smacks of it. But, there have been extreme natural disasters in the past, and not being a geologist, I can't help but feel some alarm at this, as I'm currently a resident of Tampa. I have…