What California And Texas Have In Common

Okay, I know I can go a lot of places with this one. California and Texas have a lot of things in common. I highly doubt what I'm about to write about is on the list that came to mind. I'll give you a hint. It has something to do with nature. Did you guess that they both have a desert in them? While that's not wrong, that's not what I'm thinking about either.

For both, there is something I learned about in school that to this day scares me. Natural occurrences that no one has control over. That's the part that scares me the most. The part where nothing can be done to make them stop! I'm scared of the normal things, hurricanes, tornadoes, monsoons, tsunamis, volcanos erupting, and earthquakes. . But it's possible you've never heard of what this is about.

California is shifting. Earthquakes shift the plates that make up the earth's crust. Slowly, they are moving. I wasn't afraid of California sinking. I was worried about what would happen if it became an island. At the time, we were learning about what the earth looked like when Dinosaurs lived. Back then, it was only one continent. It's through these plate shifts that the continents became what they are today. They are still moving, what else will separate?

Much of California does lie along the San Andreas Fault, an 800-mile fracture in the Earth's crust stretching from the Gulf of California to San Francisco.

http://www.livescience.com/32140-will-california-ever-fall-into-the-ocean.html

...........so California is not going to fall into the ocean. However, Los Angeles and San Francisco will one day be adjacent to one another!

http://www.usgs.gov/faq/categories/9830/3284


This research has removed my fear of California becoming an island. However, I don't know what to make of the image of San Francisco and LA being adjacent! Overall, I don't handle change well. Even though this will only minimally effect my life, it's a major change in the world as I know it. That's one of my top causes of anxiety! It's an odd cause of anxiety, but that's why its strong enough to be a severe disorder.


http://www.earthquakecountry.org/roots/socal-faults.html

http://www.pnsn.org/outreach/about-earthquakes/plate-tectonics


What about Texas? What silly thing am I being overdramatic about for Texas? Killer bees!!! They are actually called "Africanized Honey Bees". I've always been scared of bees. Killer bees are more aggressive. They stay angrier longer and the whole hive attacks instead of only some of the hive like with European Honey Bees. That makes them scarier. They might have entered through Texas, but they are moving. I feared one day being stung by killer bees.

What are the visible differences in Africanized Honey Bees and regular honey bees?
There are no differences visual to the naked eye. That means that the only way to determine that a particular bee is an Africanized Honey Bee is under the microscope. That is why suspect bees are sent to Texas A&M for identification. If the media reports that someone was stung by killer bees, you should be suspicious. AHB's might be responsible, but there is no way of knowing by the deadline for the ten o'clock news. The only way to determine whether the bees were AHB's is by the use of laboratory equipment and a computer. This usually takes days, or sometimes weeks. To read about how to submit sample bees to Texas A&M for identification, click here, or call them at 409-847-8771.

http://www.houstonbeekeepers.org/ahbfaqs.htm


Killer bee attacks are so much more aggressive because when a killer bee hive is disturbed, the entire colony attacks. By comparison, when a European honey bee hive is disturbed, only about 10 percent of the bees will attack.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-makes-killer-bees-so-deadly/



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africanized_bee

https://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmnh/buginfo/killbee.htm


So did researching killer bees help relieve my fear like researching the California Andreas Fault line did? Not at all. It's hard to not be scared of bees that are angrier for longer and attack in bigger groups then the other bees you are already afraid of.

So what do California and Texas have in common? What does the Andreas Fault line and killer bees have in common? Uncontrolable natural events that scare me. That happened sometimes when I was in school. It makes it hard to watch the news now. It's been over twenty years since I first learned about the California plates and killer bees. Yet they remain on my mind. Josh's brother and his family live in California. I worry about what will happen to them and their home as the plates move. What about the people in Texas? Even if the death rate from killer bee stings are low, it has to be a scary experience to be stung by an entire hive of very aggressive bees!!! Anyway, I hope you learned something about nature!!!