moment magnitude scale: a logarithmic scale of 1 to 10 (a successor to the Richter scale) that enables seismologists to compare the energy released by different earthquakes on the basis of the area of the geological fault that ruptured in the quake
abstraction: a general concept formed by extracting common features from specific examples
nimby: someone who objects to siting something in their own neighborhood but does not object to it being sited elsewhere; an acronym for not in my backyard