Re: Planetary alignments...
Well.....
Not being hysterical but....
With the pacific plate being undone like a zipper... (Chile, New Zealand, then Japan all having major earthquakes going in a clockwise circle around the ring of fire...)
There is only the top right corner that has not popped..(maybe San Andreas? or the subduction zone of off the Seattle coastline...) it IS all connected ya know...
And a while an extra 2% gravitational tug may not have much influence on the tides...on an entire plate like this that MIGHT be already hanging in the balance... (since the pressure has been relieved on the other 3 corners after all...)
I dunno...from a physics point of view... maybe...
?????? We'll see I guess...
BTW...this is not really a 'planetary alignment' yer talkin' about...the moon really IS significantly closer right now for a few days...
I hope the Mt.Diablo nuclear facility has better backup systems than that of Japan for an emergency shutdown...but a tsunami could flood it too...as it is also right on the edge of the coastline...