5.1 Earthquake Hits California 114
An anonymous reader writes "A 5.1 earthquake hit Southern California at 9:09PM local time on Friday. It was preceded by a 3.6 earthquake, then followed by 3.4 and 3.6 quakes, as well as 100+ smaller aftershocks. The United States Geological Survey has a map showing the epicenter. There have been no reported deaths, though roughly 50 people have been displaced from their homes. 'The shake caused a rock slide in Carbon Canyon, causing a car to overturn, according to the Brea Police Department. Fullerton police received reports of water main breaks and windows shattering, but primarily had residents calling about burglar alarms being set off by the quake.'"
Other quakes today (Score:5, Informative)
5.8 - deep Atlantic Ocean - http://earthquake.usgs.gov/ear... [usgs.gov]
5.2 - 100 km east of Japan - http://earthquake.usgs.gov/ear... [usgs.gov]
5.0 - near New Guinea - http://earthquake.usgs.gov/ear... [usgs.gov]
5.2 - Nicaragua - http://earthquake.usgs.gov/ear... [usgs.gov]
and then there are the ones below magnitude 5
Re:Other quakes today (Score:4, Insightful)
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Just look at the slides in Washington for an example of what happens when you get otherwise stable *dry* rock wet.
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Just look at the slides in Washington for an example of what happens when you get otherwise stable *dry* rock wet.
What, major slides every 5-10 years, so much that the place is known as Slide Hill?
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That rock in WA State wasn't stable, and hasn't been for quite a LONG time (at least 100+ years). It's not a good example of stable rock getting wet - it's an example of thick soil and lots of trees (roots breaking up rock) on steep bedrock in very wet conditions - continual slides. Saw it happen an awful lot when hiking in the back country off of Stevens Pass (I was born and raised in Seattle).
Up here in BC we have an unstable hill that could in theory slide into a lake and cause a huge disaster the likes of which would make the slide in Washington state look like a minor event! There is a whole huge hill that could slip into Harrison Lake, the result would be a major flash flood of a huge portion of Chilliwack BC and a backup of the Fraser river all the way up to Yale and major flooding of lowlands in Richmond.
The volume of Harrison Lake has no where to go but straight down a short river to the
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Paid trolls are having a party in this thread (Score:1)
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I think given a few thousand years, those quakes would rock Okiedokey anyway.
But, lookey here! We got quakes going on everywhere suddenly, as if one action causes a reaction.
The scientific curiosity displayed as we progress is not unlike the curiosity of a chimp playing with a hand grenade.
Re:Other quakes today (Score:5, Informative)
This one, however, could be significant in that seismologists say it concerns them because the fault that caused it hasn't been active in awhile, and it runs directly through downtown Los Angeles. There is a small but significant chance that a larger quake could be coming.
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I guess both seismologists that I saw interviewed on the news were lying then. There's at least a 5% chance, according to them, of a larger quake in days or weeks to come.
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As someone who has lived in California for a very long time (probably longer than those seismologists have been alive) and has been through many quakes, my experience tells me that they are indeed mistaken. A 5.1 quake like that is a good thing, because it's small enough that is doesn't cause much damage, but powerful enough that tectonic pressures are released. We might get a few, weaker aftershocks but there is no way that this is leading to a bigger quake.
Look up "geologic timescale" and compare those times that to the lifespan of anyone that you know.
Then think about if human recollection is useful in any way for anticipating earthquakes.
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Point taken, it is unlikely, but 5% is a large chance compared to most quakes.
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There is a theory that an earthquake does two things - it sets the next stress point, and the shaking may loosen and nudge other sticking points. The end result is the first may be a spot that can't handle the newly imposed load
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Screw that. I'm calling for Charlton Heston [youtube.com]!
What? He's dead? We're boned...
Equivalent (Score:5, Insightful)
A 5.1 in California is the equivalent of an inch of snow in Ohio. People will kvetch about it but not cause any real issues.
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A 5.1 in California is the equivalent of an inch of snow in Ohio.
But on Slashdot, it's the equivalent of a foot of snow in Miami... What is this place? USA Today? Good Morning America?
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IF it was triggered by a google experiment I could see why it has value on
IF it was triggered by a Morlords I could see why it has value on
IF it was triggered by a aliens I could see why it has value on
IF it was triggered by a cosmic event I could see why it has value on
IF it was part of a beowulf cluster of minor earthquakes running on GNU-Linux on raspberry-pi's I could see why it has value on
Just som
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The upside of a good quake in CA is that it scares out enough of the population to lighten the traffic for a while.
2012: "Let's move to Cali, the weather is soooo wonderful and we might see a movie star!"
2014: ~~Quake~~ "Let's get the hell outta here! At least snow ain't fall over and kill ya."
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2014: ~~Quake~~ "Let's get the hell outta here! At least snow ain't fall over and kill ya."
ORLY [yorkdispatch.com]
Saw a forum post about this (Score:3)
Some guy was complaining that his wife was angry because some of her wine glass collection fell over and broke. Wine glass collection, in Los Angeles. Good ideer! I keep my playing card house collection in a storage locker down there. I guess I should go check on it. You wouldn't believe what I went through to get those things moved.
Anyway, he also said that some people he knew weren't being allowed back into their neighborhoods or something. And when there isn't a gas leak, I'm surprised, knowing PG&E. So maybe there was some more significant damage around, if not major.
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I did that. Sorry.
In other news, Thunderstorms hits Florida (Score:2)
And in other news for nerds (Score:5, Insightful)
And in other technological "news for nerds"....
Hurricanes hit the Mid-Atlantic
Tornadoes spawn in the Midwest.
Snow falls in the Northeast.
Taxes go up.
Civil liberties go down.
Google makes money.
http://www.earthquakecountry.i... [earthquakecountry.info]
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Any magnitude >= 5 earthquake with an epicenter in the middle of a large urban area is going to cause some damage and make the news. One that is 100 miles away from the coastline and 800 miles away - less so unless it causes a tsunami (which the one two weeks ago didn't do). Why is it news for nerds - Irvine, Downtown LA (One Wilshire) and El Segundo are all within 30 miles and a decent amount of network traffic passes through those hubs or point of origination is in one of the data centers there.
Are You Scared of West Coast Earth Quakes? (Score:1)
If a little shake rattle and roll scares you? Take a time trip back to Naples in the year 79 AD. We are all at the mercy of Gaia and perhaps she is getting pissed at our insolence and stupidity again. I would not at all be surprised if the Earth is due for another major ice age that verges on a snowballing. Caused by something like an unforeseen coronal mass ejection that reduces the mass of the Sun and in so doing fundamentally changes the physics of our solar system and decreases the output of the Sun. Ar
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PS MR MOD MANIAC the Edgar Cacye and reference to being transported to tralfamdor for the purpose of reproduction of the human species elsewhere other than on EARTH OR IN earth quake prone Californica, was humor, something which seems to go woosh over your head LOL. Call me back when the big one hits the west coast, but I suspect the net will be down and you might have to access my g-mail routed through the Google backup servers on TRALFAMADOR.
About 30 Miles South of the Epicenter (Score:3)
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bah (Score:2)
Is this non-news really worth posting on /. ?
And automobile alarms (Score:3)
During the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake every car alarm in the area was set off.
Although I now live in quake-free Texas the first thing I think of when a car alarm goes off is Earthquake! It must be the reptile part of the brain or something. Once my heart starts beating and the rest of my brain starts working I realize there is no earthquake.
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Everyplace is earthquake country if you wait long enough. Deal with it.
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In the greater LA area, it's rather likely that 50 people are displaced from their homes on a daily basis from water mains leaks, fires, termites and Bog Knows what else. Call FEMA (and me) when you ramp it up by a couple of orders of magnitude.
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Nobody knows who's naked until the tide goes out. Nobody knows who shortcut the building codes until a moderate tremor hits.
In Dolby Where Available (Score:2)
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NO!!! An earthquake in California!?! (Score:2)
Seriously, is this news? I've lived in California and minor-moderate earthquakes are no big deal. Californians cause about 5 minutes of excitement where everyone runs outside (you don't want a house falling on you), and businesses evacuate (don't want heavy equipment falling on employees or customers), and traffic slows and stops. Afterwards it is not news even for Californians - it is business as usual.
According to the CA Department of Conservation - "Each year, California generally gets two or three earth
Nuclear fuel top broken building waiting.. (Score:1)
Ops, sounds like God needs to refine his aim. Just around the world a little and he can start Judgement Day with 30 generations of cansor at puberty. .. etc.
But please, no one bother their tiny brains thinking of all that burning fuel shooting into upper atmosphere, circulating around the globe,
When? At a guess, I'd say around Eater seems a likely time.. complete guess, could be tonight.
When do you think God will start the end?
Let me guess: Fullerton police fanned out (Score:1)
Looking for quake-destroyed houses, and beating people they found cowering in their yards to death. After all, they were now homeless and a California jury has ruled them fair game. Watch for the hilarious videos on YouTube.
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I certainly agree with that sentiment. The best place to build a home would be a place infrequent of natural disasters. You know, like earthquakes, flooding, tornadoes, volcanos and all that? Turns out that's pretty hard to do while also having access to vital resources and also reasonably close to civilization.
People love to live dangerously and famously. In placed like New York and California, they have both.
What amazes me about those places is property values. If I owned property in California, I'd
Re:filed under lame news? (Score:4, Insightful)
I used to think living in the country somewhere, a drive away from a WalMart but out where a man's rights are respected, was crazy talk. Now it seems like a nice way to lay back and watch the world spin.
Most things that make sense to the informed are "crazy talk" to the rest.
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How hard is it to understand? Anybody who agrees with me is informed. Anybody who holds a dissenting viewpoint is an ignorant sheep. Very simple.
It depends on whether it's a factual matter.
What ignorant sheep do: post sometimes vehement/passionate opinions concerning subjects they haven't even bothered to read up on, let alone understand. Then get upset when someone who is informed constructively corrects them. It's standard ego-childishness.
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Most things that make sense to the informed are "crazy talk" to the rest.
Having the same priorities as you and being "informed" are not the same thing.
It's not a priority for me to be informed about, say, interior decorating. I don't know anything about it. That's why you won't see me making statements and giving opinions on it. Simple?
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And aliens.
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High pay isn't high achievement unless that is how you measure high achievement.
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Doesn't mean you know shit. For example, laying back and watching the world spin doesn't do anything to contribute to the extraordinary achievements of which humans are capable. The people who do that are (mostly) in... you guessed it, places like CA and NY.
You're at least as full of yourself as those people you contemptuously dismiss.
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I used to think living in the country somewhere, a drive away from a WalMart but out where a man's rights are respected, was crazy talk.
You are far more likely to die in a car accident while driving to WalMart than you are from any natural disaster.
Re:filed under lame news? (Score:5, Funny)
mag 5 is a nothing quake. california really needs to get over itself
I think the problem is that California is getting under itself
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OMG, it's another sign of global warming!!!
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Neutron bombs make other materials become radioactive and the bomb itself is supposed to have a dirty result in a much smaller area.
It's relatively clean compared to one of the worst things invented but it is not really clean. We will know for sure when all this positive hype gets somebody to use it and then the real world results will slowly come out (whether or not the gov knows in detail about it does not matter, they'll claim ignorance for anything bad that results and rationalize justifications.)
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