U.S. earthquakes

What? More on earthquakes already? Sure, it’s interesting stuff, and it’s also a lot of conjecture. Live Science offers this overview of U.S. threats. Ah, the placid upper Midwest:

questions emerge as to whether such a vastly destructive disaster could happen at home in the United States. In fact, cities are located near dangerous earthquake zones all throughout the country, from the most infamous on the West Coast to potential time bombs in the Midwest and even on the Eastern Seaboard.

• BACK-YARD CHICKENS: A Fayette council member was working earlier this year on allowing laying hens in town. I’m not totally opposed to that, which means I’m not totally in favor, either. I like the idea, but I wonder if it needs a neighbor agreement or some sort of rules on how close the hens could be to a neighbor. “Farm-fresh” eggs are great to have – so much better than the industrialized egg farms – but would I want my neighbor to raise chickens when they’re only about 20 yards from my backdoor and bedroom window? Most older towns have houses that don’t meet contemporary zoning laws and many structures are built rather close together. Here’s the story from Washington, D.C.:

Cundiff belongs to a growing group of urbanites producing their own food in a quest for self-reliance and a smaller carbon footprint. Cities from Berlin, Maryland, to Brentwood, California, are rewriting rules so city dwellers can raise fresh eggs, much to the dismay of opponents who see the creatures as a noisy, unsanitary reminder of the country’s agrarian roots.

• THE SPECIALIST: Researchers in Oregon took a look at medical practices in regard to specialists and came up with this:

In the U.S., those earning $50,000 or more were 74 percent more likely to have seen a specialist than those earning less than $30,000. Canadians reported nearly the opposite. Among our northern neighbors, the odds of seeing a specialist didn’t vary with income, but specialist visits increased significantly with poorer health.

Does the U.S. have too many specialists?