The 1955 Kapoho Eruption (left) was a total shock to the community, as the previous such activity occurred in 1840. Flows continued for 88 days with 24 fissures. The current Lower Puna Eruption is in Day 31, also with 24 fissures. In 1955 fountains shot up to 700 feet, and lava covered 3900 acres. I haven't seen any recent figures, but as of a week ago, the areas inundated by lava were close to 4 square miles, or 2560 acres.
Here are a few more orientation maps:
In the bottom map, Green Lake has been totally evaporated by lava. Below, here is the extent of lava coverage as of five days ago over Honolulu:
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I watched a small part of the latest Scripps National Spelling Bee on ESPN this past week. Not only was I not able to spell every word used, I never ever before saw those words in print. Karthik Nemmani (the male) won $40,000 and assorted prizes by beating out Naysa Modi, who had previously this year prevailed when they competed in Dallas. Karthik got in on something called a wild card exemption, and correctly spelled ankyloglossia, condottiere, paucispiral and koinonia. Both are India-Americans, winners of the past eleven spelling bees. Nineteen of the past twenty-three were children with parents from India.
The National Geographic Bee was also held this past week, and for the seventh straight year the winner had similar India heritage. The top three placers: Vishal Sareddy, Anoushka Buddhikot and champion eight-grader Veknat Ranjan to the right. His winning question was, which South American country has a population size most similar to Lebanon? Answer: Paraguay. Veknat won a $50,000 college scholarship, lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society and an all-expenses-paid Lindblad expedition to the Galapagos Islands.
So why do children of India immigrants prevail so overwhelmingly, for they make up less than 1% of all students (Asian = about 4%)? Turns out, they do well in math/science too, although not as well as Asians. Yet, it is said that Indians are almost non-existent in sports and music. Actually Indians double their percentage in music, with 2%, but Asians comprise 45% of orchestra musicians in high school, and you got to wonder what happened to White and Black students. However, there is in no Indian (from the U.S.) in the major American pro sports, not even one.
Indian entrepreneurs do very well also running motels, indicating a zeal to excel at something, anything. However, most immigrants from India are very well educated in high technology, so this combination of good genes and high achievement demeanor carry on to their children.
Historically, first generation children of parents from most parts of the world excel in academics. This was true of Japanese and Jewish immigrants, and, after the Vietnam War, Vietnamese students won a lot of spelling bees and science fairs. Part of this excellence can be linked to capability, for in 2015 Vietnam participated for the first time in the international Pisa tests, and scored better than students from most developed countries, including the UK and U.S.
Thus, in answer to why students with parents from India do so well in spelling and geographic bees, high parental expectations and the strong will to succeed are simple, but obvious, reasons. They spend time to memorize, and delay gratification for the sake of future success. Read about my Stanford Marshmallow Study. If you have grandchildren, this is one area worthy of your consideration. While there are many more Chinese than Indian students in America, one additional reason for bee success is that English is largely spoken in India, and that advantage enhances learning capability in spelling and geographic competitions.
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