But before going into my topic of the day, I wondered why that huge  (#6 on all-time list ) earthquake did not produce a gigantic tsunami ( from the  Star-Advertiser ): The most recent event had an estimated magnitude of 8.7 or 8.8 on the scale scientists use to measure the strength of earthquakes.     By contrast, catastrophic tsunamis in the past, including a wave that struck Indonesia in 2004 and another that hit Japan in 2011, were generated by a quake of about magnitude 9.   That might sound comparable to Wednesday’s quake, Melgar said, but it is significantly bigger. That’s because the earthquake scale is logarithmic: A magnitude- 9 event possesses about 10 times as much energy as a magnitude-8.7 event, and about three times as much energy as a magnitude-8.8 event.   Also, current models suggest that Wednesday’s earthquake occurred across a stretch of seafloor that was hundreds of miles long. The longer the quake, the more energetic the...

Before those miracles, a few newsworthy items: At 1:25PM Hawaii time, 83 miles southeast of Kamchaka, at a depth of 46 miles, the  sixth largest earthquake of magnitude 8.8 shook Russia , alarming  those living along any Pacific coastline about an incoming tsunami. Did you know that a tsunami moves at about the speed of a commercial passenger plane?  I used this coincidence in drafting a novel currently titled  6 Hours to Alaska , about a mega tsunami heading for that state from Hawaii. As best as I can determine, Hawaii, more specifically, Kahului Harbor on Maui, experienced about the highest far shore wave, of 5.7 feet, not 10 feet.  However, no damage to that island, or entire state, and, apparently, no deaths from this traumatic event, even in Russia, which experienced a 16-foot wave. The Trump tariffs become real on Friday, August 1, unless he changes his mind.  Details?   Click here . Of course, the  feud between Trump and Stephen Colbe...