Grim Views

We just had a magnitude 5.9 earthquake hit apparently south of here and northwest of Richmond: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/ ... 005ild.php

The building shook pretty impressively and there was a loud but low pitched rumbling. Everyone was woken right up.

Woke up? Lazy people sleeping at 2pm... sheesh.

Crazy. I felt it from the building I work in NYC.

People are reporting feeling it in Ottawa, ON

Yup. My friends up there mentioned something.

My CA friends are also giggling, since they call this type of event "Tuesday."

true, however a very nearly 6.0 in a place where people have gone their whole lives without feeling one, coupled with the fact that most buildings aren't built with earthquakes in mind (not to mention many are 100+ years old and or made of brick) makes it a bit more serious

Ya careful Ottawa might be saying that just to feel included in the conversation...

Silly politicians.

Obvious question: Everyone ok?

Know where you don't wanna be when an earthquake hits? On the friggin' toilet.

Really? Elvis? The can?

How bout.... at the top of a ladder? Or... having laser eye surgery?

the can? How fucking soft are you?

Oh come on. Top of a ladder? There's not even really a choice to make there. You just get the fuck down as quickly as possible. Sitting on the toilet? You've got a choice. Do you finish your business and hope everything is ok in that time peroid, or do you pinch it and get the fuck outta Dodge?

Well...you'd be surprised how older buildings hold up. It's the newer ones where people went cheap that are the real problem.

As for ladders...I knew someone in the chemistry department at UMass who was from Mexico and was working as an electrician. Was on a ladder on a job...and the Mexico City quake hit. Ladder bounced out from under him and grabbed the nearest thing...which was the live wire he was working on.

Needless to say, it didn't end well. How he did synthesis then still amazed me...and he was a beast on the soccer pitch.

I do remember hearing news reports that evening about how some people are worried about your nuclear power plants on the east coast after the quake, since they where not really designed to take a quake.