And a good many more authorities smile, roll their eyes, and laugh out loud. The energy involved plate tectonics is far, far greater than the weight shifts experienced so far from glacial melting, at least so far as the major quakes (which are occurring in known tectonic zones) are concerned.

You can get "rebound" earthquakes: Post-Glacial Rebound. But that requires Ice Ages and warm periods between, and anthropogenic warming is, by most accounts, recent in geologic terms.

The problem with "active year" reporting is that earthquakes have nothing to do with the annual calendar. It makes sense to think of hurricanes that way because of seasonal heating, but not earthquakes. At high energies earthquakes become rare enough that no meaningful statistics can be gathered over a single year.

About the only preparedness angle I can think of: you don't need better quake preparations this year than you should have had last year, and that isn't going to change in the (geologic) near future.

Wait! Wait! It's not glacial melting! It's not plate tectonics! It is women wearing skirts that are too short! - newspaper stories quoting a religious leader. I read it in the LA Times, so it must be true.....

... and a devastating Category 5 hurricane begins as a mere dusty wisp of warm air on an African plain, or an alpine village is buried by a huge avalanche that began as a single footfall, or even a noise, in the snow.

The huge energies involved are already stored, in potential form, in the plates themselves, and need not be drawn from any fairly low energy triggers that allegedly cause their release.

As I understand it the LA Times was referencing the claims by a Iranian Mullah that earthquakes were a result of women dressing in an immodest manner. Lots of that going on here and it is only going to get worse. With temperatures in the mid-80s and climbing here in Florida, and the general predilection toward shucking our clothes, everyone might want to avoid unreinforced buildings, weak overhangs, and maintain a tight grip on something solid. If true we will be rockin and rollin all summer long. Which typically lasts into October but has been known to stretch into early December.

Oddly the effect seems uneven. California, a center of bared flesh, is known for its earthquakes. Whereas Florida, with our own streak of hard-core immodesty and outright nudity, doesn't get so many. On the other hand, Iran, with its heavily cloistered and cocooned women, where a bared ankle or neck can get you jailed, has got more than its fair share of temblors. Go figure.

What about headboards banging on walls, maybe the Iranian cleric has a point.... Although it doesn't explain why there aren't any earthquakes in Dundee....

Sheep don't wear short skirts?