Friday, June 20, 2008

Recant

OK, so I've pulled your leg long enough. The world IS NOT shrinking. The world is of finite size. What happens is the Mid-Atlantic trench is spreading (as are some other smaller spreading trenches). The pace is in step with all the subduction going on. There are other subduction zones in addition to the Asian area. The reason there are not a lot of earthquakes is the spreading is a form of oozing that is slow and smooth for the most part. Imagine over filling a slice of bread with peanut butter and folding it over then squeezing it. The peanut butter oozes out at the edges. Notice it's a slow ooze. Notice also there was no peanut/bread quake while it oozed?

So, the earth is not shrinking. Good news, that. We are crowded as it is. If we don't stop over populating the world there will be no room anyway. We don't need "The Incredible Shrinking World" (a spoof on the titles of "50s-'60s scifi movies). Let's all take a deep breath and relax.

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