oh, the landlord had a drill, ZOOMA ZOOMA ZOOMA

[rone]

A series of earthquakes, some in the 5's, just occurred near Parkfield.  Parkfield is where a bunch of scientists are "drilling a hole deep into the San Andreas Fault" in order to study seismic activity.  I sure hope they got their money's worth... assuming they didn't trigger the quakes with their drilling.  YIPES!

Comments

[canetoad.livejournal.com]

Or maybe it's all connected to Mt. St. Helens...

[pennyhill.livejournal.com]

Mercury news: "Scientists offer several explanations for why the area's next magnitude-6.0 quake appears to have eluded its 22-year 'schedule.' It's long been debated whether a pattern even exists."

Well - They got one now!
Okay, so it's only 5.9, but that's getting CLOSE to 6.0.

The Mercury said it was a moderate quake. Huh.
I'd say 5.3 is moderate, but 5.9 is pretty big to me . . .
But then I'm easily amused.

[mouseworks.livejournal.com]

I used to talk about "the quake" to a sixth generation Californian who laughed and said "there is no one quake for us, but 'the quake' for you Easterners is the one that sends you scurrying out of California."

[pennyhill.livejournal.com]

Hey - that was downright rude of that jerk.
FYI - the protocol is to ride the quake like you're on a pitching boat, then speculate to your companions about the magnitude of the temblor. I was doing that during the 7.0 Loma Prieta quake for the first several seconds ... until the big wave hit. Felt like a train hit the building.

But, in fairness to non-natives, it's easy to be nervous about perceived perils one doesn't understand. A few years ago a tornado narrowly missed me (I was in the Chicago area), but the twilight-dark sky at noon, the sirens, the warnings scared the bejesus out of me. I also rode out a huge, day-long thunderstorm in a rickety house built on stilts in Galveston, terrified and unable to escape the booming and lightening, wind and rain. I would make puddles in a hurricane! Give me mild temps and dry, shakey ground any day!

[lots42.livejournal.com]

I rode out two hurricanes in a nice house made of cement.

I'd rather have wind then the ground turn to water any day

[pennyhill.livejournal.com]

EEEEEEE. Riding out hurricanes. Brave you. Cement house, good. Glass windows bad.

And as for ground turning to water ... yeah, seismically induced liquifaction dampens one's spirit. A bit of an architectural let-down too.
Bwahahaha

[merde.livejournal.com]

well, it's looking from the USGS quake map (http://quake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/latest.htm) that there's stuff happening all the way up and down the San Andreas, although the big ones are all centered in Parkfield yet. one does wonder whether it's possible for the drilling to have set off this latest burst.

it'll be interesting to hear what the experts have to say about all this once they've crunched the data.

[lots42.livejournal.com]

Well, if it's anything like the news down here it will be 'OMG WE'RE ALL GONNA DIIIEEEEEE KILL YOUR NEIGHBORS AND TAKE THEIR FOOD'

[littleamerica.livejournal.com]

Is there any good reason to believe that drilling can cause earthquakes?

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

:-)

[littleamerica.livejournal.com]

That's me in the corner. That's me with the hook in his mouth.