Scott D. Winnail

Tuesday afternoon, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake rocked the small island nation of Haiti and its nine-million inhabitants. The quake flattened the president's palace, the cathedral, hospitals, schools, the main prison and whole neighborhoods. Officials feared thousands – perhaps more than 100,000 – may have perished but there was no firm count. One leading Haitian senator commented that there could be as many as 500,000 dead.

The median US home price has fallen over 21% from its peak in 2007 – that is, on average, more than $56,000 per home. Simultaneously, the value of the US dollar has fallen against many world currencies, prompting more than one nation to voice the observation, "America is for sale!"

In the days before good ventilation, coal miners never entered a mine without a canary in a cage. Canaries sing constantly, and if the canary ceased singing (and passed out), it signaled immediate evacuation of the mine, due to buildup of deadly carbon monoxide and methane gases.

An EF-5 tornado barreled through Greensburg, Kansas on the night of May 4, 2007. The super cell cut a path 1.5 miles wide, totally destroying the town and killing ten people (Wikipedia, May 17, 2007).