Earthquakes and Movies
On April 25th 2015 the world is rocked by a major earthquake in Nepal. Latest figures indicate that the 7.8 magnitude earthquake is responsible for more than 8800 death.
And recently in Malaysia, we are also experiencing earthquakes... in Sabah. The big earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 has rocked the area around Ranau on 5th June 2015, and since then there have been more than a hundred aftershocks and minor tremors. This earthquake phenomena might be something common to those people living in earthquake prone areas such as in Indonesia, Japan, South American countries and many other parts of the world, but to think that it can actually happen in Malaysia, is something that we might not be aware of.
What are earthquakes?
If you want to learn more about earthquakes you browse the internet, as there are sites such as Wikipedia that can provide some general information; or look out for books in the library (or bookstore), or you can watch an earthquake movie. But while watching movie might give you an exciting experience and a visual explanation, be careful as some explanation in movies can sometimes be a bit 'illogical'.
I remember when I am in high school in the mid 70s, there is this blockbuster movie called Earthquake staring Charlton Heston. In the 70s the in-thing at that time are disaster movies, such as Jaws, The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno to name a few. Earthquake is quite revolutionary since it uses the innovative 'sensurround' effect, the first of it's kind, which is later being used in other movies such as Battle of Midway and Rollercoaster. This movie is a hit in Malaysia as people are wanting to feel this 'sensurround' effect.
I also remember when while I am taking my first Geology Class in university (Geology 100 - Earth Studies) in 1979, my lecturer made all of us watch a few earthquake documentaries. We were shown footage of the Great Alaskan Earthquake and a movie that I still remember until today called San Francisco: A City that Waits to Die. This is a movie about the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, and the prediction that a 'big one' will happen soon. Well a 'big one' did actually happen in 1989.
The earthquake in the San Francisco area is actually cause mainly by the San Andreas Fault which is a 1300 km transform fault stretching along the western coast of the United States. It is a strike-slip fault meaning that the earth movement is more of a horizontal motion, unlike the 'vertical' plate movement at 'thrust' faults located in the big earthquake areas such as the one that caused the Great Alaskan Earthquake (1964), the Valdivia Earthquake in Chile (1960), and the Boxing Day Earthquake in Indonesia (2006).
I encourage you to watch the movie San Andres, still showing in theaters right now, although some 'facts' are slightly exaggerated such as our ability to predict and pinpoint exact earthquake (which I think is still a long way before we can actually do it) and the formation of a tsunami (which I think highly unlikely as tsunami usually formed at areas with thrust faults - where large volume of water need to be displaced).
Watch the movie and see what you think of it? Will it happen soon, and are we prepared...
T-Rex - the most recognizable dinosaur!
When people asked about dinosaurs, T-Rex will always come to mind. Why?
Maybe because of its ferociousness, maybe because of its size, maybe because of its weird features (big head, large legs, tiny hands)...
T-Rex full name is Tyrannosaurus rex, which means 'tyrant lizard king'. How much do you know about T-Rex? And do you really think scientist know much either? There are no living dinosaurs today (at least not that I know of...do you?).
What we see in the movies regarding the dinosaurs are mostly based on theories, and these theories are mostly based on evidences gathered by scientist such as from fossils.
Here are some facts about T-Rex that most scientist believe...
- It is thought to lived in what is today western North America
- It lived during the Late Cretaceous Period (or in layman's term 68 to 66 million year ago)
- It is about 12 meters long, 4 meters tall, and weight up to more than 6 metric tons (very BIG!)
- It is considered to be the largest known land predator
Some questions that remains a debate among scientists regarding dinosaurs...
- Is it a predator or a scavenger, or both?
- It is warm blooded or cold blooded?
- Does it has scales like crocodiles, or feathers like birds?
- Is there a female and a male dinosaur?
- Is it's posture 'erect' or is it 'parallel to the ground'?
- How fast can it move? This can also lead to some answers regarding its predator vs scavenger behavior..
- Is it an 'intelligent' creature?
- Do T-Rex move in pack like wolves or do they hunt alone?
- Do they practice cannibalism?
To answer these questions scientist have to investigate their fossil remains and try to conclude on their body structure and behavior.
Some myth regarding T-Rex...
T-Rex and humans lived or have coexisted together...probably because in some 'stone age' movies, we can see human devoured by dinosaurs.
Not true since the last dinosaurs lived about 66 million years ago, long before human existence.
T-Rex lived during the Jurassic Era...probably because of Jurassic Park the movie
Not true since T-Rex lived between 68-66 million years ago which is in the Cretaceous Period, and the Jurassic Period is actually somewhere between 205-138 million years ago.
If you want to learn more about dinosaurs, be sure to check out documentaries on TV regarding dinosaurs. There are plenty of them especially on National Geographic Channel
The Night Sky...
If you look at the sky tonight (June 3rd, 2015) at about 8.00 pm in the western direction (direction where the Sun sets) you might be able to see two bright stars. Well these two bright objects are not actually stars but they are actually planets, the planet Venus and the planet Jupiter.
Venus
Jupiter
The very bright star like object is the planet Venus which is actually the third brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon. One thing to note is that Venus will always appear only at dawn or at dusk. This is because the orbit of Venus is smaller than the orbit of the Earth, meaning to say that it is always closer to the Sun as compared to Earth. Thus it will always 'follow' the Sun (if it is visible during dusk) or being 'followed' by the Sun (if it is visible during dawn). That is why Venus is sometimes called the 'Morning Star' or 'Evening Star' although it is not an actual star.
The slightly fainter 'star' is the planet Jupiter. Even though Jupiter is actually very much bigger than Venus in size, it is actual very much further from us. And furthermore it is also very much further from the Sun (source of light), thus it appears to be fainter than Venus.
The other 'naked eye' planets are difficult to be seen at this time. Mercury and Mars are now being obscured by the light from the Sun as they are located in our sky mostly during daytime. It is still possible to see Saturn but it is quite faint and difficult to be seen and differentiated from other stars. Furthermore the Moon is still 'full' right now and the light from the Moon will make it even more challenging to see it clearly.
( graphics from www.astronomy.com )
