Poseidon vs. Aeolus

(Photo by Alan Decker, courtesy of UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering.)

We're big fans of the shake table, obviously, so here's another photo. On top this time is a wind turbine ready to ride a simulated seismic wave.

One wonders if this set-up isn't really for a science experiment but rather for an avant-garde staging of The Odyssey. It's Poseidon — the god of the sea, the enemy of Odysseus, the earth-shaker — as a hydrostatically pressurized steel platform against a mechanomorphosized Aeolus, the ruler of the winds. In Homer's tale, the hero managed to return to Ithaca with some help from Aeolus, but in this contemporary retelling on that tectonic proscenium, Poseidon may yet neutralize the winds and thwart the return of the king.

Earthquake Baroque

Take a panographic tour of St. Augustine Church in the Philippines, one of the better examples of Earthquake Baroque. More about the church here and here.

Meanwhile, we're hoping to stumble upon some examples of Tsunami Baroque, Hurricane Baroque, and even Avalanche Baroque, those mind-bogglingly beautiful fusions of landscape and architecture.

Inexplicable Self-Linking:
UNESCO World Heritage List

Earthquake RSS

If you simply must be alerted whenever an earthquake erupts halfway across the globe, or for that matter just about anywhere, then head on over to the USGS Earthquake Center and subscribe to one or all of their RSS feeds. New landscapes and extinguished geographies syndicated and delivered to you in real-time.