James is home for the weekend, then back to Wisconsin on Sunday for a summer of physics beyond my current understanding. He flew home to wish bon voyage to Kenny, who is off to Crete to learn how to teach English, and then (we hope) to find a position teaching English to non-English speakers somewhere in Europe.
I wondered: What about that volcano erupting in Iceland?
Little worry for the trip over, this weekend. Longer term?
So I turned to the Smithsonian to find a volcano expert, and came up with this video of Smithsonian Geologist Liz Cottrell who explains where the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull fits in history, and maybe some — with a lesson in how to pronounce Eyjafjallajökull’s name.
So:
- Can teachers figure out how to use this in geography, and in world history? (Science teachers, you’re on your own.)
- Life is a gamble if you live close to a volcano, and sometimes when just happen to be downwind.
- In the past couple of hundred years, maybe volcanoes worldwide have been unusually quiet.
- As to size of eruptions and the damage potential: We ain’t seen nothin’ recently!
Posted by Ed Darrell 
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 