M8.0 earthquake Santa Cruz Islands

A nice earthquake, deep in the heart of tectonics.  M8 is nothing here, and it looks quite isolated, but these things can churn up quite a local tsunami, but not a regional one.

It's a real beauty of subduction downthrust, right towards the volcanoes.  Such severe bends here, an M8 might be the maximum for this area.  We'll have to await the local field reports, but there has to be quite a water run-up.

St. Alberts cheese factory gone

Reference

We used to go there all the time when travelling from Cornwall to Ottawa.  Haven't been there in years, but it was the very best cheese factory.  That was one of the very few places you could get curds that squeaked in your mouth.  :)   It was an ugly building and they will rebuild.

New cars and satellite radio

All new cars come with satellite radio for 90 days.  At that time, they hound you unmercifully to sign up for a very expensive subscription.  The new hybrid Highlander radio comes with Bluetooth streaming and a USB port.  The USB does not take my cheap flash sticks, but the streaming works fantastically with my Android phone.  The sound quality is way over satellite, which must compress quite a bit.  As well, it just turns off and on when you get in the car.