Seismology and Theology: Is There a Distinction?

Rather oddly, one of my readers, responding to yesterday’s blog entry “Will all 150 of your relationships end if Yellowstone erupts?,” has written to inform me that the study of the geology of Yellowstone is a branch of science, and not a subdivision of theology.  I suppose that he thought me confused on that matter.

He also shared three links with me in order to make me aware of a proposed drilling project that was already mentioned in the article upon which my blog entry was based.  Moreover, and somewhat inexplicably, he wanted to stress that the proposed NASA project discussed in these three links will, should it actually come about, involve science, engineering, and technology rather than — as he seems to expect me to believe — reliance purely upon prayer (supplemented perhaps with the sacrifice of several chickens):

“NASA Wants to Drill into Yellowstone Super Volcano: To save the US from a possible eruption thousands of years down the track.”

“NASA Wants To Drill Into Yellowstone Supervolcano In Order To Save The Planet”

“NASA to Stop a Doomsday Supervolcano by Stealing its Heat: NASA is worried about the Yellowstone supervolcano exploding, so instead they’re going to harness its energy for good.”

So I want to be sure that you understand it, too:  Neither seismology nor carpentry nor French cooking nor Thai grammar nor a good golf swing can be mastered solely by means of prayer.

And now you know!

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In other science news — and, please, please, don’t lose sight of the difficult but important fact that science is actually not a branch of theological study! — I offer a very Earth-bound story along with one that isn’t Earth-bound, and, finally, one that could bridge the gap between Earth-bound and non-Earth-bound in a profoundly unpleasant way:

“We’ve lost 3 billion birds since 1970 in North America: Scientists found profound losses among both rare and common birds”

“With 20 new moons, Saturn now has the most of any solar system planet: The discovery brings the planet’s total to 82. The previous record-holder, Jupiter, has 79”

“Asteroid may collide with Earth, ESA warns: ‘Non-zero… probability'”

I’m trying to remember how many moons Saturn was supposed to have back when I was a young ‘un and was memorizing such things.  I can say with considerable confidence that it certainly wasn’t 82.  When did all this happen?  Where have I been?