Just wanted to reassure all you east coasters (and beyond) that no, Seattle is not in immenent danger of being blown sky high.
In May 1980, I was a senior in Vienna, Virginia, heading here to college. I can't tell you how many people asked me what I was going to do now that Seattle was buried under ash. (It wasn't, that was Yakima and parts east.)
This time, if it blows, there will certainly be damage, but no one's treating the mountain cavalierly like they did in 1980. But it still doesn't stop some of us, from the safety of Seattle, from devising all sorts of disaster scenarios. One friend is convinced a blast like that would set off a massive EMP that would disrupt electronics for miles around. He really had me when he started talking about horizontal gravity, which sounded quite intriguing.
Of course Seattlelites really kick into high gear over the subject of Mt. Rainier blowing its top.
