This is something I found interesting:
Almost as loud as a modern rock concert.
Right.
Behold the Volcanic Explosivity Index.
Note that Krakatoa is a 6. At 7 on the scale are three explosions from historical times: Thera/Santorini (1620-ish BC, but that’s historical), Taupo (new Zealand) in 186 AD, and Tambora in 1815 AD.
IMHO one reason major reason Krakatoa is better-known than Tambora is that scientific instruments were more advanced in more widely used by 1883. The Krakatoa article talks about barographs around the world measuring the pressure wave; the Tambora article talks about how far away the sound was heard, not about barographs.
Another viewpoint from an NPR interview – “the Krakatau eruption occurred the week after the telegraph was implemented. So Krakatau became the biggest news story.” (It’s unclear what “implemented” means in the above quote.)
When I was backpacking across Indonesia, I spent some time in the Calendra of Mt. Batur. It was damn impressively huge - there were as I recall a couple of villages inside the calendra itself.
When that went off, it must have been quite the explosion. I’ve tried looking it up on the Internet, but aside from some basic facts I can’t discover if anyone has calculated exactly how large an explosion it was. In any event, it must have made Krakatoa look like a firecracker.
Is there a vulcanologist in the house? 
Yes (I’ve been waiting for the Seinfeld link…I almost put it in myself!)
Because of the donation, he got audited:
"ELAINE: What are you doing? What is all this?
JERRY: Oh, he’s, uh, helping me sort my receipts. I’m being audited.
ELAINE: You’re being audited? What for?
JERRY: Oh, I contributed money to a charity that turned out to be fraudulent. It’s very boring.
ELAINE: When was this?
JERRY: Uh, a long long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.
ELAINE: I remember you donated to some volcano thing on our first date.
JERRY: Volcano? Really?
ELAINE: Oh, wait a minute. Don’t tell me that that was …
JERRY: Something to drink?
ELAINE: What did you think, that would impress me?
JERRY: You got it ALL wrong. I was thinking only of the poor Krakatoans
ELAINE: Like you made this donation for 50 bucks and I’d start tearing my clothes off?
JERRY: Those brave Krakatoans East of Java. who sacrifice so much for so long.
ELAINE: Now you’re being audited because of it. You see That’s Karma.
JERRY: No, that’s Krama."
Yikes, indeed! Surely I’m not the only one who sees a tentacled visage in the center of that photo! :eek:
I didn’t see it, but which one did you mean? Squidward? The FSM? Lio’s pet squid? Cthulu? The SDMB initiation officer? Kraken? Bob Marley?
Pre *recorded *history perhaps. Not pre history.
You forgot Davy Jones from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies (not to be confused with Davy Jones the teen heartthrob of my youth).
But, really, does it matter which tentacled visage it is!!?!! It’s as horrifying as Lenin in a shower curtain!
Indonesia has notoriously poor antismoking regulations.
Interesting topic, I just got sidetracked on Wikipedia. I was impressed by Krakatoa, and then I read about the Oruanui Eruption (1,170km3) at Lake Taupo and then stunned by the scale of the Island Park Caldera supereruption (2,500km3).
Words fail me.
calendra?