If you have a minute

The wonderful writer Simon Winchester has a brief essay in the NY Times concerning the geologic activity of the earth and its possible interconnectedness.

You may have heard of some of Winchester's books include The Professor and the Madman and The Map that Changed the World, but the most recent was Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded which caused him some familiarity with geologic phenomena, especially in the region where the earthquake (off Sumatra) occurred.