"While in Cedar City, Utah (../2004/0452.html">../2004/0452.html
I did not follow the news. I would read the Color Country
Spectrum early each morning. So I was aware of the tsunami
tragedy in Northern Sumatra, Sir Lanka, India, and West Africa.
However, I did not watch any television all week, did not listen
to any radio, and when I got back to Houston I was shocked to
learn the true scope of the tsunami tragedy. The two satellite
photos below show the scope of the tragedy better than anything
I can write or say about what happened. Once there were houses,
roads, bridges, boats, trees, and now there is wreckage.
This scale of damage is a far cry from anything I've ever seen or heard of before. When we visited Northeast China a few months ago, and learned more of the devastating earthquake that killed several hundred thousand people there a few decades ago, and it was nowhere near as graphic as what was coming out of the area surrounding the Andaman Sea.
I have mentioned the Andaman Sea three times before in two Thoughtlets (../0336.html and ../0341.html). The third paragraph of ../0336.html is the best introduction. The bottom line is that this Andaman Sea seismic interpretation project was the first project I did on my own, after going through Mobil's one year training course. I did not know anything about the Andaman Islands and northern Sumatra before doing this project. I remember my Mom being very excited about what I told her when I called home, and having her come back with loads of information about the natives of the Andaman Islands and what the weather and what the vegetation was like. I remember being very impressed that Mobil was ever able to find a giant reef, saturated with gas, in the jungles of Northern Sumatra. This was also the first time I heard of Unocal. Unocal had collected the seismic data I interpreted. It was long regional 2-D seismic lines that formed a grid across the entire Andaman Sea. As near as I can recall, my maps showed structural horizons at three different layers, shallow, medium, and deep.
There wasn't much structure on the shallow layers, and so my contour map was just a big syncline. To liven it up and make it more useful, I colored between each contour, the colors of the spectrum, with yellow for the shallowest contour interval and purple for the deepest contour interval. I'm not sure where I got the idea to do this. Maybe it had been done before. However, I think it was an original thought. The managers certainly had never seen a map like this before, even the boss who slept through my presentation. As far as I know, this was the first map that laid the groundwork for the colored maps we generated at the Seismic Acoustics Laboratory and later with the Landmark workstation.
The deeper layers were horst and graben blocks, like the Rocky Mountains around Cedar City. These large fault structures showed up beautifully on the 2-D seismic sections. The faults were bigger than the Wasatch Front or the Hurricane Fault. Interpreting the faults and putting the maps together was a very humbling experience. I had no idea you could see the subsurface geology this good at these kinds of depths. This project is probably what cinched my career in interpretation geophysics, after the initial interest I got working summers at Amoco and doing the Yellowstone Lake study for my undergraduate thesis.
One of the geophysicists at Mobil, I think it was a man named Richardson, whose wife was Mormon, pointed out a very unusual structure inside one of the large thrust blocks on one seismic section. It looked different. It looked like a big reef. This was an important conclusion in my study, because if this was a reef, it was on trend with Mobil's Arun Gas Field in Northern Sumatra, and it was probably much bigger. The issue was that the water depths were 4,000 to 6,000 feet, and there was no possibility of drilling technology being able to test this idea in that deep of water in 1975. Of course, now this could be tested with relative ease. I wonder who owns the blocks now. Unocal did then, and CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Company) has just made an offer for UNOCAL. Interesting stuff, sitting around in the crevices of my mind.
The other thing that I find so interesting about reflecting on this work done 30 years ago, is that we did not even think about the impact of big chunks of the earth breaking and moving and forming the large fault structures that we were mapping. For instance, the impact one of these fault displacements could have on the sea, and the type of tsunami wave that it would create as a result of the blocks moving on the fault scarp. I certainly have thought about all of this stuff as I have watched the news reports, seen specials on National Geographic and PBS about tsunamis, and thought about the impact on life of these geologic events.
Of course, this tsunami was not caused by horst and graben fault movement due to the spreading of the Andaman Sea. It was tied to a fault related to subduction of a major geologic plate underneath another major geologic plate to the northwest of the Java trench. And this plate movement opens a whole new geologic discussion of plate tectonics and the dynamics of earth land masses over geologic time frames. But I won't bore whoever is reading this with thoughts about this, lest my `little thought' becomes too long, which they usually do anyway.
Before the tsunami I had thought about the volcanic activity associated with the formation of the Yellowstone caldera and the big lava flows on the Snake River Planes, as well as the large lava flows between St. George and Veyo, or up Cedar Canyon at Navajo Lake, or on the south end of Calf Springs Ranch. I had thought about landslides, like the one that happened in Southern California the week after the tsunami, and I was a aware of the word tsunami and what it meant. However, there was not a gut recognition of the power behind this natural dampening effect to the ringing the earth does when there is a major earthquake, at least not until seeing the damage in Sumatra, Sir Lanka, India, and other places because of the Southeast Asia tsunami.
Anyway, this writing is not intended to be a geology lecture. If anything it is a personal history. So back to the topic at hand. In the last Thoughtlet (../2004/0452.html), in the part concerning going to church with Rachel, I wrote `It was a very good meeting, a four possible stanzas for Prime Words meeting.' As I was pulling the notes together for this Thoughtlet, I discovered a Cedar City 7th Ward Bulletin, with another four possible stanzas for Prime Words from the second set of church meetings Andrea and I went to on January 26th. That makes this Sunday an `eight possible stanzas for Prime Words' day (sort of like an 8 cow woman in the legend of Johnny Lingo). Anyway, the additional 4 possible stanzas seems like a good place to start writing about my week:
All in all it was a very quiet week. I spent most of the
time working on downstairs in the quilting/TV room on the
computer writing `An
Open Mind' and preparing presentations on
`Red Cove.' It was
that time of the month, and I chucked every time Rachel would
say `Allright kids, goodnight and have fun.' And I had good
sized blisters on both of my heals, so I wasn't about to go
walking with Andrea nor do any more hiking up `Red Cove.'
I found it interesting how Andrea changes when she is staying
at her Mom's place. She seems to turn inward instead of
being her normal outgoing self. I'm felt my ongoing interest
in and activities tied to `Red Cove'
was part of the dynamics, and so I didn't say
much. I just worked on my stuff and let her and Matt do their
stuff. Family dynamics are fascinating. I'm sure I am
uncomfortable with family dynamics because in my family of
origin there was no warning when an emotional tsunami would
wipe out all semblance of civility.
Tuesday evening, the 28th of December, Sara and Des had Matt, Rachel, Grandma Shirts, Andrea, and I over for a wonderful salmon dinner and games. It was a very nice evening. We ended up playing a type of charades, which included modeling things with clay, drawing things, as well as standard charades. I never have learned how to play, and my sister has been very good at getting me to relax and not spend all of my time focused on whatever project is in front of me when I visit Cedar City. Maybe this is why I'm ready to move home. She is always doing things to take care of me. For instance, we just got the check for the farm, and it will cover our taxes on our house. And as I write these words, I am eating the last of the pine nuts she gave me for Christmas. Thanks!
On Wednesday the 29th I borrowed Sara and Des' car and went down to St. George. It was snowing and so I allowed a lot of extra time. I got there plenty early and so I went to visit Uncle Lloyd and Aunt Luana, specifically to ask if I could stay with them on Friday night, New Years Eve. They were glad to see me and as always were willing to put me up.
I left their place at 10:40 and drove over to Ward and Fern Abbott's, where I had arranged to meet with Ward's High Priest Group Leader, Glen Bingham. This was follow-on my visit with Ward and Fern on December 24th (../0452.html. As I have found over the years is always the case, when you open up to good and bright people, they have all kinds of insights and useful suggestions. This was certainly the case. Glen sees my proposed 200 unit community at `Red Cove' as an R&D (Research and Development) project, not a development. He also does not think it will work from either a business nor an economic standpoint. For instance, in order to have a neighborhood commercial element, you need 1000-2000 unites rather than 100-200 units. He pointed out the importance of the price unit volume curve, that the higher the price the lower the volume of the potential market. Because what we are proposing is breaking new ground, there is no economy-of-scale. And the roughness of the terrain is exponentially tied to the cost, because of the cost of moving dirt, etc. Needless to say I was less than enthusiastic about his comments. And at the same time I recognized they were right on track. Oh well!
Wednesday evening Andrea and I went to see `The Work and The Glory,' which will be released nationwide in February. I thoroughly enjoyed the film. Even though it is a novel, and the Steed family is made up, it fits everything I know about early church history. I strongly encourage each of you to go and see this movie and to contemplate the message. Andrea says that the movie left a lot out that was in the book. Matt gave Andrea and I the book for Christmas and Andrea had read it between Saturday and Wednesday evening.
Thursday I had arranged to repeat my Glen Bingham meeting with David Grant, Andrea's old boss. Paul came up to Cedar from Washington to participate in this meeting. The roads were not bad and he arrived right on time. Andrea was just returning from her walk, and was surprised to see Paul. She was also surprised to learn I had a meeting with David Grant. She had been focused on other stuff, and wasn't too interested in what I was pursuing. However, she decided to change clothes and come to the meeting. Paul drove me over to Rays and we started the discussion. Ray cut to the chase and pointed out that it would cost 5 times the cost of a normal house to build in Red Cove. He figures that once we know how to build a house that is manufacturable, that this will become a very economic endeavor. However, he agreed with Glen Bingham that `Red Cove' is an R&D project.
David Grant either forgot about the meeting or got lost for a long time. Anyway, he showed up about 40 minutes late, and gave me 45 minutes for the presentation. The project is `out of his realm.' He does not believe there will be anywhere near as much profit in the project as I had projected. He and Ray agreed that it would cost more to build the units than they could be sold for (again the R&D theme). In David's mind, the investment would be in the development of IP (Intellectual Property), and the return would be on selling the IP. He also pointed out that Ray and I are not developers, and that we should find a service tied to the idea which we can supply to those who are developers. He agreed that it is easier to sell these ideas if there is some kind of prototype facility. He pointed out how it is an incredibly complex problem to integrate all of the components we are talking about. He thought we might be able to sell some of the technologies we have developed to Google. He did ask Paul to come and visit and to apply for work at Metalcraft. All in all, it was another very good meeting, and once again my ideas and plans do not make either business nor economic sense the way I am currently packaging them. Oh well! David did say he would be interested in considering investing up to $250,000 in the development of specific IP that made market sense.
It was fun to have Paul in the meeting. The modeling and visualization he is doing in his Masters Thesis at BYU fit right in with what the project I was proposing is all about. Also, at the end of the conversation, Paul said `Dad, I always thought you were a geophysicist. Now I know you are really a dreamer.' He pointed out that this was the first time he had seen the whole picture of what I have been working so hard at for so long, through what we call `Walden 3-D, Inc.'
The week really went by fast. We did not have a car, and so I never made it out to see my cousin Neal to talk about the genealogy work he was doing. Oh well! I did not make it to see any of my other relatives. On Friday, the 31st, I put together a model of the W3D Design Process, and created a spreadsheet with close contacts and showing which parts of the model they could help support. I then went over to Brad Schmutz' office and picked up the $450 appraisal of `Red Cove.' Then I took it over to Ray and reviewed the model with him and let him make a copy of the appraisal.
Then I took the second copy of the appraisal to the owner of the land, Mitchell Detamonte. In the appraisal, which showed the 40 acres I call `Red Cove' to be worth $200,000 points out that Mitch paid $15,000 for the property. During the visit I learned that the property is set up for a water well that draws 0.45 acre feet, with rights near Rusty's. I learned that at 100 feet there is bad water with a lot of gypsum in it. We talked about his cousin's plan for slant drilling into sand and into Cedar's aquifer. All of this was very interesting to me. During the conversation with Mitch and his 16 year old son it came out that Jana's best friend (Jana is Mitch's wife) is Robyn Branning, who is in the Nottingham Country Ward. When I got home, I learned that Mitchel Branning was named after Mitchel Detamonte. It also turns out that Greg Branning has been talking with Mitch about putting an iron pellet plant in Cedar City for years. What a small world it is. I figured it was dumb to take a copy of the appraisal to Mitch, and the spirit told me to, so I did. As I left, I realized it was one of those special experiences in life, where I followed the spirit and it seems like it was the right thing to do.
Friday evening, Rachel and Andrea and I went to St. George to listen to Josh, Audrey's fiancee, do back-up guitar at `First Night' a big extravaganza on the St. George Boulevard and main street. The first time we parked just up the street from Grandpa and Grandma's old house. Then we took Rachel to the west side of town, where she went bowling and to a movie with her cousin Kim and Kim's friends. Then we parked in front of the Rest Home Mom was at for so long. Lots of emotions tied to St. George, Utah. I took several digital photos and movies of Josh playing the guitar. The music was good. The night was a little cold. In more ways that I have words for, New Years Eve 2005 was worlds away from the tsunami victims in Southeast Asia. After the concert we took Josh to a Chile's for a late dinner. We had a very nice discussion, and I am coming to really like and think highly of Josh. Rachel and Andrea dropped me off at Uncle Lloyd and Aunt Luana's. It was the first time Rachel had met them.
Saturday morning I made a reservation on the St. George Shuttle, thanks to Paul giving me the number. After a breakfast of orange juice and egg nog I showed Aunt Luana and Uncle Lloyd the presentation on `Red Cove.' The were marginally interested. However, Uncle Lloyd did express a lot of interest in tagging along when I go to China sometime in 2005. He wants to give Aunt Luana a chance to see China. He still talks fondly of when I sent him and Uncle Glenn to represent me on the China Cattle Corporation venture. Because he had his hip replaced, he does not really want to go in the winter when it is cold. Since I returned home, we have had a couple of follow-up conversations on this trip. Paul came over with Grant and they took me to catch the St. George Shuttle to Las Vegas.
In Las Vegas I bought a book I had read a review about, which sounded very interesting. The book is `State of Fear' by Michael Crichton, and I finished by the following Tuesday. It is the first novel I have read that is full of charts on temperatures and other data. Several things are revolutionary about this book. First, it is a very strong and convincing argument that global warming is not caused by human activity, if it even exists at all (there was data supporting all arguments). Second, it is a convincing argument that the eco-terrorists and global warming activists are largely using global warming as a means to scare people and to consolidate power. And third, it had a frightening prediction of the the danger and power of a significant tsunami. I highly recommend anyone who reads this Thoughtlet, read `State of Fear.' Let me know if you want to borrow my copy.
The flight from Las Vegas to Houston was a hassle. After Paul dropped me off, there was no problem with the shuttle. However, I arrived at the airport a couple of hours before my flight, which is why I purchased the book and read. The flight to Phoenix was OK. However, then everything fell apart. There were wind shears in Houston and the plane we had was not qualified to fly in these conditions. So they put us in a smaller plane, and had to bump 35 passengers. I had got to Vegas so early, that I was never under threat of being put off the plane. They offered a $300 credit and the first flight out on Tuesday. Remember this was Saturday evening, the 1st of January. There were problems getting another plane, then when we got to Houston there were problems getting our bags off the plane. It was 3:00 AM before I got back to the house, and turned the water back on, and got ready for bed. At least I got to read a lot of my new book.
There were several interesting e-mails. On December 28th John Mouton sent me a note about an unofficial x-Landmark reunion and web page. This reunion will probably happen in mid February. The other one I will mention came in on Saturday, January 1st from Swede Nelson, who sent me a link to http://www.wtv-zone.com/Mary/forsakenroots.html, which points out the importance of religion to those who founded our great nation. It is so easy to be self-centered, to figure the world and the universe revolves around our insignificant life, and to not look at the big picture. Whether this is the importance of religion in the history of the United States of America, or whether that be the impact of geological events on life on earth. It is too easy to take a short term view.
There is an interesting quote on page 382 of Michael Crichton's book `State of Fear.' He points out that `Climate is weather over a long period of time.' I was watching a special on Tsunami's after I returned home. It pointed out that there has been a tsunami hit Hawaii and the Pacific Islands ever 14 years for the past 150 years. Another special pointed out that Japan has been hit by a major tsunami ever 50 years. And every century California is hit by 1 or 2 tsunamis. Maybe we can learn to watch the climate and not the weather, in other words to prepare for the second coming and not just for dinner, by paying heed to lessons from the Southeast Asia tsunami."