chalcedony | But what does all this have to do with Frankenstein?

I've been highly entertained by the news coverage of the ongoing volcanic eruption in Iceland and the subsequent disruption of air travel worldwide. I particularly enjoyed it when Ernie Anastos of the Fox affiliate in NYC refered to the volcano as a "freak of nature". No, Ernie, the volcano is 100% natural for Earth; it is you who are the freak.

So what's the deal with the volcanic ash? The thing about "volcanic ash" is that the term is a serious misnomer. When most of us think of "ash", we picture the stuff hanging off the end of a cigarette or left in the fireplace. Volcanic ash, however, is actually tiny pieces of rock. Nasty, sharp, jagged, hard rock. Rock that can shred the metal parts of a jet engine in less than a minute, turning a multi-million-dollar piece of technology into a powerless hunk of metal falling out of the sky. Yeah, I wouldn't want to fly when there's that much ash in the sky either.

Of course, I'm now wondering if we'll get a cool summer out of this. I hope so.