@mrbrianolson

California geologist, earthquake hazard scientist, Christian, frustrated Angels fan, and Oxford comma guy. Peace & Humpty-ness Forever! #SciComm (he/him)

 Orange County, CA
Joined September 2009
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Hi, I’m Brian Olson—geologist, earthquake scientist, & SoCal resident. With 25+ years working in engineering geology, I tackle hazards like liquefaction, landslides, & active faults. Expect posts on quakes, geology, travel, Disneyland, & how the Angels break my heart. 🌍🏰⚾
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Happy Statehood Day to California! ⛏️
California Geological Survey@CAGeoSurveySep 9
Happy California Admission Day! On Sept 9, 1850, California became the 31st state, just two years after a discovery that changed everything: gold. The rush that followed grew CA's population from under 1,000 to nearly 100,000 in under two years. #AdmissionDay
Front page of "The Californian" newspaper, published by B.R. Buckelew in San Francisco, dated March 15, 1848. A short item headlined "Gold Mine Found" reports that gold has been found in considerable quantities in the raceway of Captain Sutter's newly built sawmill on the American Fork, noting one person had already gathered thirty dollars' worth in a short time.

ALT Front page of "The Californian" newspaper, published by B.R. Buckelew in San Francisco, dated March 15, 1848. A short item headlined "Gold Mine Found" reports that gold has been found in considerable quantities in the raceway of Captain Sutter's newly built sawmill on the American Fork, noting one person had already gathered thirty dollars' worth in a short time.

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DAS Bump! My summary of this morning’s session: “Forecasting Earthquakes with Continuous Data: From Lab to Field”. Sounds like a SCEC German punk band. #scecmeet @SCEC
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Tom Rockwell (Distinguished Lecture) kicking off the 2025 SCEC meeting! Small offset per event (smaller magnitude) produces narrower damage zone in nearby rocks. Serves as a proxy for avg. magnitude per rupture event. #scecmeet #scec2025 @SCEC
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Opening presentation of this year’s SCEC annual meeting in Palm Springs! It seems SCEC is a “large Enterprise” working to develop & share cutting-edge earthquake system science to enhance California’s resilience & to educate and inspire future scientists. #scecmeet #SCEC2025
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While slavery was mostly in the South by 1860, the North was not morally separate from it; people can live w/in & uphold unjust systems w/o being individually cruel/violent; After slavery ended, other injustices followed. Slavery began a long pattern of white oppression of Blacks
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This ignores: slavery was legal in ALL 13 original colonies until the early 1800s; “households” owned slaves, only counting male slaveowners is misleading; ignores that the US economic system overwhelmingly provided whites the opportunity to build enough wealth to own slaves.
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The “less than 2%” stat is technically true only under a narrow “national-average” framing that obscures how common slavery was where it existed. Slavery wasn’t the only injustice against Black Americans in US history, and accountability extends far beyond slaveowners.
Jillian Michaels
@JillianMichaels14 Aug 2025
I'm denigrating all of humanity by pointing out that 98% of American white people in 1860 didn't perpetrate slavery... and in fact many white Americans died to end it? 🤔
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I was too sleepy last night to check that M3.7 near the San Andreas, but it shows a reverse faulting focal mechanism. Not the SAF, probably associated with the Cleghorn Fault (part of the North Frontal Fault System) that helps squeeze up the San Bernardino Mountains. #earthquake
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