A powerful earthquake struck Chile early Saturday morning, waking residents with a jolt in the dead of night. The magnitude-8.8 was among the largest earthquakes in recorded history. In fact, the magnitude-9.5 in Chile in 1960 actually was the largest on record. It goes without saying the Chilean people are as prepared for disaster as any people can be.

A number of earthquakes have been reported around the globe in the past few days. A magnitude-7.0 struck off the coast of Japan on Friday, a magnitude-6.3 rattled the northwestern corner of Argentina on Saturday, not to mention the dozens of aftershocks above 6.0 that continue to shake central Chile.

Maybe it's the moon. There was a blue moon just before the 6.5 earthquake that struck offshore Eureka on Jan. 9, and this weekend a supermoon. Is it mere coincidence, or does the moon actually have the power to move the earth? Or perhaps through tidal triggering?

Sophie seemed unmoved by Chile's quake, but then again, she was a few thousand miles from the epicenter. Her favorite beach was awash with a tsunami surge all day Saturday, so I'm sure even if we'd taken her down there, she wouldn't have gone near the water.