With the addition of this Wyoming dolomite and seven other photos, I have just doubled the size and scope of the Limestone Gallery. I make these galleries, each photo with notes and information, because you can't learn about a rock from just one picture no matter how good it is. So come to the gallery and take it in. Put your new knowledge to use the next time you're out among the rocks.
_{Archean dolomite closeup — Geology Guide photo}

After the Haiti earthquake, many engineers and disaster planners are finding that their concerns have a momentarily high profile. One of those concerns is better construction. This has been highlighted by the obvious: Haiti's buildings collapsed because they weren't designed or built with earthquakes in mind. The rest of us can do better.

California is a leader in retrofitting at all levels. After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, new state laws pushed hospitals to rebuild and strengthen their buildings. I have one right down the street from me building a whole new facility with a 2013 deadline. The cost is considerable, but the benefit is incalculable: a hospital designed to remain fully functional after the worst realistically foreseeable earthquake. Imagine such a thing today in Port-au-Prince.

The city of Berkeley, California, has had a very successful program of awarding loans to city homeowners to strengthen their existing buildings—retrofitting them. And in San Francisco, the mayor told a meeting of earthquake engineering specialists last week, "There is no doubt that we are going to require mandatory retrofitting." The linked story, from the San Francisco Chronicle, quotes a business owner worrying that the measure could force businesses to close for weeks, even months, while the work is done. But wouldn't it be better to plan for that closure now rather than go bankrupt or even die in a disaster?

Government support can be a great help in securing stronger buildings before a big earthquake can test them, but if you live in a susceptible area, you should consider financing a retrofit yourself.

Background:
Earthquake engineering
Earthquakes and schools
Preparedness
About earthquakes
Seismic liquefaction

They're playing serious beisbol in Venezuela already, but in the U.S. it's still a couple weeks before the bats start swinging. Groundskeepers at all levels, though, are probably getting their equipment and supplies ready to prepare the all-important "infield skin" for the upcoming spring training and regular seasons. (They're probably visiting the Baseball Field Maintenance Blog, too.) And the umpire's office is making sure there's enough rubbing mud on hand. Baseball is truly where geology meets sport.
_{Baseball rubbing mud — Geology Guide photo}

Sand: The Never-Ending Story is not a big book, but it's huge in scope despite the seeming simplicity of its title. Sand goes into geology, of course—sand is the iconic sediment at the heart of the rock cycle, eponym of sandstone, builder of beaches and the stuff of dunes. But sand behaves in ways that interest physicists, manufacturers, artists and children too. And sand gives writers a copious supply of metaphor. Michael Welland's book covers all that territory and more, but it's also a big sandbox of wonderful trivia. Here's a longer review.

Welland and I will be doing an interview of some kind soon, as part of his virtual book tour marking the release of Sand in paperback.
UPDATE: And our conversation is under way in the Geology Forum.
_{University of California Press}