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To: TobagoJack who wrote (23193)	9/6/2002 11:44:26 PM
From: Cogito Ergo Sum	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

“Nikkei tumbles to 27-year interim* bottom”* Jay you are too funny sometimes....

To: TobagoJack who wrote (23193)	9/7/2002 12:20:33 AM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 74559

If someone on this thread has a better idea than buying Q with borrowed money (Maurice, attention), or purchasing black and blue chip equities with spare change (ACFlyer Mike, hello), I would like to have a hint of what the idea might be. Leap Puts on QCOM and other such garbage M

To: TobagoJack who wrote (23193)	9/8/2002 12:18:35 AM
From: jim black	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 74559

Good morning to you Jay, as I type this on my Saturday evening to be read probably on your Sunday morning. I cannot help but laugh from the gut, a bit hysterical at the delirious irony, a bit amused at the reaction my remarks may elicit in the ranks of the paranoid here on this ( of which I view myself as a charter member): I bring the thread's attention to a fascinating program on Discovery Channel last Tuesday on Direct TV, called "Supervolcanoes". It is apparently a term coined by a British jounalist in 2000. I was busy with research on vulcanology as well as research on a long-time interest in asteroids (catch that Maurice?)...I wrote a book not yet published, finishing in 1998, considering myself somewhat well informed on threats to Mother Earth from her celestial siblings. However it appears I have been ill-informed. Yellowstone National Park, the main subject of the Discovery program is a giant "supervolcano" prone to eruptions 10,000 times the size (measuring ejecta) as St Helens in 1980. ( Count the zeroes, 10,000). I was in Seattle when that one happened. As a side bar there was an interesting discussion using regression analysis of mitochondrial DNA (comes only through maternal source, residing in the ovum). Considering the natural and expected rate of spontaneous mutation rate of mitochondrial DNA one can use a simple differential equation to calculate the expected occurrence of heterogeniety in mitochondrial DNA. There is a surprising discrepancy. It appears that our forebears some 75,000 odd years ago were reduced to near extintinction levels, say only a few thousand, 5 or 10 or so...that's all. The Yellowstone caldera is shifting in size and shape, prone to erupt every 600,000 years or so, now just over 640,000 since the last one, the blink of a hummingbird's eye on a geological scale, but still, statistically overdue. Last major eruption went across the US breadbasket of the midwest to the Atlantic. And brought a two year or so nuclear winter type of scenario to the planet. There are others, smaller, Thera (now called Santorini) in the Greek Islands, bigger, Indonesia, and elswhere. So we have something else to make us worry about the fate of our species. In all seriousness I think such findings should make get us serious as a race about colonizing the moon, Mars, Europa, Titan, wherever, but I am an amateur astronomer and a dreamer. And I feel at liberty to ramble on this tolerant thread while the markets are closed. But I think our wise leaders will not find the money for such nonsense. Just wondered if anyone else saw the program and had any reaction...It is a reality as certain as death and taxes, sure as another asteroid hit. Anybody ever read the statistic that a resident of Los Angeles is more likely to die from a Pacific tsunami resulting from a 100 meter rock from the sky than from the squirming about of the San Andreas Fault? Statistics of large numbers are curious things. I sit here a Saturday evening about to retreat to my Fujinon binocular telescope in pursuit of comets, amused by the opinion of no less an intellect than Thomas Jefferson, that rocks from the sky are impossible. Volcanoes? Supervolcanoes? Wonder what Jefferson would think of Yellowstone? Wonder what the Japanese think about a Richter 8.5 under Tokyo? Anyway, have a nice profitable day, Jay, and to all my western compatriots, sleep well and enjoy your weekend. And Maurice, it ain't just about asteroids anymore...how stupid of us... Jim Black