The Oscar campaign that came in from the cold

Andrea Riseborough's Best Actress nomination roils the Academy — which could use a good roiling

It doesn’t go noticed by me that my little posts sometimes coincide with major global tragedies, and never in the short history of this forum has that contrast been starker than with the Syria/Turkey earthquake. At last count, the death toll has passed 7,000 — a horrific number.

I read all the latest updates with sadness, but the collections of photographs, such as these from the Washington Post, hit the hardest. I don’t have anything I can add. My words aren’t close to being adequate.

Photo credit: Ismsail Coskin/AP

Photo credit: Sertac Kayar/Reuters

If you do one thing, support the earthquake victims. If you do two things and especially you live in a location of risk, go back and check on your earthquake preparations. We are fortunate to have more buildings built to code than other vulnerable cities, but even if you and your family emerge safely, you still need to be ready for periods on your own.

In California, a magnitude 7.8 quake would produce damage far more widespread than was caused by the tremblors of the past century. A U.S. Geological Survey simulation of a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Southern California led researchers to determine that it was plausible such a quake could cause nearly 1,800 deaths and 50,000 injuries, and destroy major utilities carrying fuel, power and water. In Northern California, a simulation of a magnitude 7 earthquake on the Hayward fault east of San Francisco showed that there could be at least 800 deaths from the quake, plus hundreds more from fires afterward.

Either scenario would result in the deadliest earthquakes to hit California in more than 100 years. A magnitude 7.5 quake on the Puente Hills fault — which runs underneath highly populated areas of L.A. and Orange counties — could kill 3,000 to 18,000 people, according to the USGS and Southern California Earthquake Center.

With your understanding, I’ll now turn to my scheduled topic today.

See me, feel me, touch me, vote for me

Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie

Whatever rules the Riseborough campaign might have violated, it reminds me of the time that NCAA sanctions came down on Caltech’s athletic program.