South Pacific Quakes

Maybe it was a slow news day. Maybe I feel the earth shaking a bit myself. In any case, here is a sample of the earthquakes Magnitude 4.0 or higher that happened today around the South Pacific.

Magnitude 4.5 2012/02/27 11:58:03 3.215 128.252 96.2 NORTH OF HALMAHERA, INDONESIA

Magnitude 4.6 2012/02/27 11:32:06 40.136 141.577 37.9 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

Magnitude 4.9 2012/02/27 07:11:12 -24.948 -177.263 10.2 SOUTH OF THE FIJI ISLANDS

Magnitude 5.0 2012/02/27 03:01:56 -24.870 -177.696 9.9 SOUTH OF THE FIJI ISLANDS

Magnitude 4.8 2012/02/27 01:35:05 -24.797 -177.212 10.0 SOUTH OF THE FIJI ISLANDS

Magnitude 5.0 2012/02/27 00:33:49 -6.513 154.903 93.9 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Happy International Mother Tongue Day!

Happy International Mother Language Day! Never heard of it? UNESCO initiated the holiday in 1999 and it was officially adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2008. To help celebrate, please enjoy this Port Moresby Tok Pisin dictionary. 

Okay, okay, I hear the arguments now: "But Tok Pisin is a creole language formed from both native and colonial languages." Fair enough. But that's how French began too, as a creole of native (Celtic) and colonial (Latin) dialects in ancient Gaul. Languages morph like that all the time.  Fascinating, huh?

Now go talk to your mother, 'kay?

Solomon Islanders Offer Solutions to Environmental Destruction

Conservation Story Blong Chivoko was made by the men and women of the remote coastal village of Chivoko (on the island of Choiseul)...whose tribal land is one of the last remaining intact and unlogged forests in the Solomon islands."

I love this video. The people discuss not only the problems logging has caused them, in terms of environmental and cultural destruction, but they offer solutions that may help others facing similar challenges.

The video itself beautiful to watch -- the people, the forests -- and to a linguist the Tok Pisin is fascinating.

A 4.4 earthquake rattled Fiji today, Monday, February 20, 2012 at 10:31 a.m. New York time (or Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 03:31 a.m. Fiji time) 217 kilometers or 134 miles East South East of Lambasa, Vanua Levu, Fiji.

Did you feel it? If so, please go here and tell the seismologists at the USGS (United States Geological Survey) what you experienced. Your input can help predict tsunamis and where the next earthquake will hit.  Your info might help save lives, now or during future quakes.  Thanks!