Camp "Stone Graph" & baby elephant seal

Camp "Stone Graph" & baby elephant seal, originally uploaded by Birdiez.

This is Camp Stone Graph, at Leo Carrillo State beach in Southern California. The shelter is amazingly well built, big, cool and blocks the wind...

The baby elephant seal was hauled out here with a family harassing it by putting water on it, and not allowing it to sleep. I made them step back, drew a large circle around it, and phoned it in to the Marine Mammal Rescue - where, I was trained to do rescues and am on call with - and - they came down with a kennel carrier, the lifeguard w/truck, and we got the baby into the kennel and up on the truck. This took awhile. So, I was slow getting around to starting on the Stone Graph beta test. I go back tomorrow. The baby seemed to be missing an eye, and is at the marine hospital.

One type of graph I will build, will be a scale of magnitudes/felt intensity to show at what point on the scale a tsunami can be created. This is an easy stone graph to build which will teach people how big an eq needs to be to create a tsunami.

The aftershock graph is more labor intensive and requires more design and rocks!!!!!!!!!!

I have to base it on a general conversion from magnitude to felt intensity (modified mercalli scale). Obviously, villagers living on or near swamp or old river bed will have experienced far more intensity in shaking than other villagers living on firmer ground. Each village can only build a graph based on the soil they live on, and what they felt. So, it will be entirely subjective to where they are. I can only create a general conversion from M to MMI, to get them started.

Maybe the villagers that make tattoo's will be into building these, with the village masons.

I am also designing beaded necklace type of strands, for M & MMI scales, and - aftershock sequences. They will love these on the Mentawais, as they believe that by making themselves beautiful with tattoo's, beaded necklaces, leaves and flowers in their hair, their spirits will not wander away from them - in search of a more beautiful place - and therefore, they will stay healthy and alive.

Of course, the stone graph (in Nias, they are very into stone work) and the beads are being designed to help educate them about eq's and to introduce record keeping methods for them. The education will help keep them safe, healthy, and alive, even in big earthquakes. So, they'll relate to them, just fine.

The overall goal, is to develop a way for them to keep a record, based on what they felt, and to use that record to teach them more about earthquakes, especially in relation to building and tsunami safety. I can use blue beads when the M or MMI is enough to create a tsunami, etc.

I'll post more, as things develop.