Cup of Coffee

May 18, 2016: Bottle Up And Explode

51 Comments

Mount St. Helens erupted 36 years ago today, just as many tiny earthquakes likely means it's refilling its chambers with magma as we speak. Don't worry, shouldn't be as bad next time.

51 thoughts on “May 18, 2016: Bottle Up And Explode”

    1. I should be, I'll let you know for certain after I double check my calendar (i.e. check with the Mrs.)

  3. The Mount S. Helens eruption released 24 MT of thermal energy, the equivalent of 1600 Little Boy A-bombs. Still, it wasn't the largest by VEI (Volcanic Explosivity Index, or WAR for volcanoes) in 20th century America; the 1912 eruption of Alaska's Novarupta was even larger than the '91 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.

    VEI Description Examples
    5 Paroxysmic Mount St. Helens/Tarawera/Vesuvius
    6 Colossal Pinatubo/Novarupta/Krakatoa
    7 Super-colossal Tambora
    8 Apocalyptic Taupo/Yellowstone/La Garita

    Tambora caused the volcanic winter of 1816 (the Year Without a Summer), causing agricultural calamity and famine in North America and Europe. Yellowstone Caldera, with a 50x12 mile magma chamber, is the Tim Keefe of volcanoes – too old for anyone to remember, and an essentially incomprehensible performance.

      1. Seattle & environs are one of my favorite locales in the world, so co-sign.

      2. My wife is from the Seattle area. She likes to tell the joke that if you can see Mt. Rainier, it's about to rain. If you can't see it, it is raining.

    2. I visited Mount St. Helens a few years back, and even the scale of that eruption was difficult for me to fathom. I don't know if volcanoes are hard to comprehend for everyone, or just for those of us who grew up in places like Minnesota. 😉

      I love the descriptions that correspond with the different VEI levels, though.

        1. Nice shot. In our kitchen hangs an 11x14 print of a photo I took from a flight out of SeaTac in 2012. Mounts Rainier, Adams, and St. Helens are all visible. If I'd waited a couple seconds longer I might've gotten Mount Hood, too. Not bad for a quick shot with my iPhone.

          1. I had a GREAT opportunity for a photo (but no camera handy) flying out of Portland, with Hood, Adams, St. Helens, etc. lined up more-or-less to the north. Mountain ranges are impressive, but these big standalone peaks are more impressive.

    3. And Yellowstone pales to what people think caused most/all of the mass extinctions (before we took over): cataclysmic eruptions. Hard to figure it out from the short article, but I think they erupt for around 100,000 years. They are estimated to be three orders of magnitude larger than Yellowstone.

        1. Including that one. That was the Deccan Traps LIP that occurred in the Indian subcontinent. Chicxulub made it worse.

  4. Yesterday was my 35th birthday. It dawned on me that 10 years ago I was 25, almost done with law school, married, and felt like I was accomplished and wrote about it as such on my blog. 5 years ago I shared some of the wisdom I'd learned about life over my 30 years. Some of what I wrote was nice, and I should heed it. But today, at 35, I don't feel I have much worth sharing, other than a tip to enjoy the ride, all the ups and, yes, the downs, are a beautiful part of this existence. Thanks to all those who shared best wishes!

    1. Don't worry, it gets worse* for another decade.

      * On average people are the least happy in the 40s.

  5. Just wanted to say thanks to all the Citizen's that emailed me contact info for realtors a couple of months ago. It was a big help, and we ended up meeting all of them in one fashion or another. If anyone else is looking in the near future I have a couple of people I'd recommend, especially if you are in my age bracket or maybe buying your first house.

    We closed on a house last Wednesday and moved in from W-Sunday. Still getting settled but man am I glad the whole process is over. What a stressful filled endeavor. It didn't help that MSP has the lowest inventory in years. My advice, if you can wait, wait. At least until the market levels off again. Every house we wanted had at least 4 offers on it. Granted we had a pretty narrow area, but man its tough out there.

    We ended up pretty much just hopping 35W into Hale. Guess I should move my tent on the citizen's map.

    2. I close next Friday. I get to be Ricky Rubio's neighbor unless his lease ended after the season.

    3. We, on the other hand, just sold our first house. Our closing is in a month. We love our house, and don't really want to move, but this is the harsh reality of not being able to find a job in a remote, rural area. At least we were able to minimize our losses on the house (realtor % way, way down), and didn't have to go through the hassle of listing even. Actually, the buyers had an accepted offer on this house last year, contingent on them selling, and we swooped in and bought it before they could sell. So... it's working out, in a way. I can see the hand of God here, I just see it working for someone else.

      3. Murphy called Hughes a wuss for coming out of the game early because of shoulder fatigue. You know, because these games are so critical right now.

  8. So at my job there are a half-dozen teams of about ten employees each. Each team is supervised by a diad, one clinical, one administrative. Two and a half years ago, one of my cohorts who I get along famously turns to me and says, "Beau, you and I should run our own team someday."

    Since then, I've received three promotions and worked on six different teams. I've also been rejected for three promotions. She's worked on two different teams and has been rejected for three promotions (one time we were both rejected for the same job). Three months ago, I became a clinical supervisor for one of the teams. My administrative supervisor left after 8 years with the agency shortly after I started, and my aforementioned cohort applied and just was given the job.

    Things work themselves out sometimes. The next couple years here is going to be a lot of fun.

  9. Head coaching my first little league baseball game tonight. I'm somewhat terrified.

      1. We couldn't throw strikes, field our position or hit the ball. Other than that, a smooth start. To be fair, we only had two practices leading in. But that was tough.

        1. We couldn't throw strikes, field our position or hit the ball.

          So, just like the Twins!

    1. Its disappointing but maybe its not a terrible move because then Arcia can play most everyday.

        1. Up through 2014, Robbie Grossman looked like a pretty decent prospect. He hasn't done anything since, though.

    2. If the Twins are going to make the deliberate decision to play an outfield of Arcia, Santana, and Sano, with Nunez at short, they lose any right to complain about their defense. You know you're putting a bad defense out there when you make that decision.

      1. I am genuinely curious about your reaction to this. Better/worse than a centipede?

        1. It says "private" now, or else I'd tell you. If it's not a centipede, my reaction almost certainly would've been "better than a centipede".

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