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The big one is coming to California, seismologist Lucy Jones says cheerfully
Those who live outside of Southern California may have never heard of her, but for we who call SoCal's occasionally rock-and-rolling soil beneath our feet home know Dr. Lucy Jones as The Earthquake Lady. Her age is listed as 64; she holds a Ph.D. in geophysics from MIT and a minor in plate tectonic movie and theater showmanship.
I recall as far back as junior high, whenever there was so much as a tiniest rumble out in a remote stretch of cactus and sand dune laden Mojave desert, our local news outlets would race over to Pasadena to interview Jones for an introductory lesson in geomorphology. Historically most scientists have the personality makeup of fried zucchini but Lucy, barely over five-feet tall, had such enthusiasm for the subject she could make strike-slip and thrust faults sound as interesting as game seven of the MLB World Series. Most institutions of higher learning would kill for a member of their faculty like her. In college I took a geology course my junior year and remember that assistant professor had a monotone delivery that could cure terminal insomnia.
During larger earthquakes like the 1994 Northridge or more recent moderate tremblers, Lucy has increasingly taken on an almost eerie role as ultimate patron saint of everything geophysically related to the public's psyche. In other words, Lucy Jones at Cal Tech is the single authority and assurance to avoid utter mass panic when a phalanx of microphones are thrust in her face: Please tell us Lucy, is the Big One coming?! The only correlation harkens back to the old TV show Adventures of Superman when reporters would gather around Professor Pepperwinkle and ask him if an asteroid was about to hit planet Earth.
Lucy supposedly retired from the U.S. Geological Survey two years ago, leaving her media position to lesser charismatic science dweebs at Cal Tech, the kind who manage to make a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami off Japan as exciting as watching your morning coffee drip into the carafe. Retirement didn't last long. Yesterday on the 4th of July, at 10:30 am when Southern Californians felt an unmistaken undulating motion of long-term S waves radiating out from a distant 6.4 earthquake, the news conference was held-up until they could call Lucy at her house and tell her to get her butt over to Cal Tech.
It's a proven fact that you cannot have an earthquake without Lucy!!!
Those who live outside of Southern California may have never heard of her, but for we who call SoCal's occasionally rock-and-rolling soil beneath our feet home know Dr. Lucy Jones as The Earthquake Lady. Her age is listed as 64; she holds a Ph.D. in geophysics from MIT and a minor in plate tectonic movie and theater showmanship.
I recall as far back as junior high, whenever there was so much as a tiniest rumble out in a remote stretch of cactus and sand dune laden Mojave desert, our local news outlets would race over to Pasadena to interview Jones for an introductory lesson in geomorphology. Historically most scientists have the personality makeup of fried zucchini but Lucy, barely over five-feet tall, had such enthusiasm for the subject she could make strike-slip and thrust faults sound as interesting as game seven of the MLB World Series. Most institutions of higher learning would kill for a member of their faculty like her. In college I took a geology course my junior year and remember that assistant professor had a monotone delivery that could cure terminal insomnia.
During larger earthquakes like the 1994 Northridge or more recent moderate tremblers, Lucy has increasingly taken on an almost eerie role as ultimate patron saint of everything geophysically related to the public's psyche. In other words, Lucy Jones at Cal Tech is the single authority and assurance to avoid utter mass panic when a phalanx of microphones are thrust in her face: Please tell us Lucy, is the Big One coming?! The only correlation harkens back to the old TV show Adventures of Superman when reporters would gather around Professor Pepperwinkle and ask him if an asteroid was about to hit planet Earth.
Lucy supposedly retired from the U.S. Geological Survey two years ago, leaving her media position to lesser charismatic science dweebs at Cal Tech, the kind who manage to make a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami off Japan as exciting as watching your morning coffee drip into the carafe. Retirement didn't last long. Yesterday on the 4th of July, at 10:30 am when Southern Californians felt an unmistaken undulating motion of long-term S waves radiating out from a distant 6.4 earthquake, the news conference was held-up until they could call Lucy at her house and tell her to get her butt over to Cal Tech.
It's a proven fact that you cannot have an earthquake without Lucy!!!
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