Recently in Earthquakes Category

I was lying in bed this morning at 11:42 when the quake hit. The one thing that stood out was the unusually strong P wave. The P wave is the initial strong shock that proceeds the gentle rolling S Wave motion. One thing I am able to do is determine the distance I am from the quake by how long it takes for me to feel both. It felt very rough like a rat-tat-tat-tat motion - strong enough for me to wait for something to fall, but not strong enough for me to jump up. In terms of my feelings, it was the strongest seismic motion I felt since Daniel and I were in Tokyo back in 2004.

Of course the news has live team coverage all over the area - looks like a broken water main in East LA as well as a bunch of store shelves getting stuff thrown off onto the floor. A couple of shots of some bricks on the ground at a building, but other than that nothing major.

I had heard about this awhile back, but Paul brought it back into my attention and I read more into it:

It's called the Quake Catcher, and its centered out of Stanford and UC Riverside. Basically they use laptops that have accelerometers and if there is an earthquake with a 4.0M or larger, it collects movement data and transfers it to the servers. It sounds like a networked application a la SETI@Home, but way cooler. They are also going to have little USB accelerometers that you can plug into your desktop computer to record motion.

I can't tell you how excited I am for them to get the desktop one out. I can't wait for my Mac to become the official Club Josh Seismometer!

A nice 4.7 Jolt this morning centered in the Santa Ana Mountains. To me who was lying in bed (yes I sleep in on the weekends) it was a slight roll then a jolt and that was about it, nothing too major. We are due for a moderate to large seismic event in Southern California and fall is rapidly approaching. Make sure you stock up on your disaster relief supplies, you never know what is around the corner!

USGS Info Page

Not to be confused with the Great Tsunami of 2004 or the Great Influenza Outbreak of 1914 or even the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.

This friends is the big time. Hurricane Katrina slammed into the gulf coast on Monday and basically created a third world country in New Orleans. Easily one of the strongest, deadliest, and costliest hurricanes ever to hit the US, what amazes me most has been the preparation and response to this disaster.

Government officials have known for years that a Cat 5 Hurricane hitting New Orleans would be catastrophic and have supposedly planned for the worst. But what happened? Most people got out and a few stayed behind and found themselves in a desperate situation for food, running water, and even a place to take a dump. People flocked to shelters at the Superdome and the convention center after being told that these were places the government would coordinate evacuations. Then what? There was no one there with no food or water or shelter. Disgraceful is what I call it.

If they have known for years that the city was vulnerable then why not have an action plan for the Superdome? Even FEMA admits that their idea of what might happen included levee breeches and massive flooding. Maybe they had a slick plan and it just fell apart due to some circumstances beyond their control, and these things do happen. There will be a lot of finger pointing when all is said and done, but I am sure The Big Easy will have a better plan after it is all done.

What about the Feds? I could go on for days about how our president and the federal agencies have seemed aloof about the whole thing. Sure el presidente released oil from the strategic reserves so the poor people in Atlanta don't have to pay $5 for a gallon of gas. Where is the Army? We are able to send strike teams on 24 hr notice to Iraq and Afghanistan, but we can't have the same teams on the ground restoring order and preventing looting. People are shooting at doctors and sick patients evacuating a hospital for crying out loud.

Heads will roll when all of this comes out and if they don't, this will be a bigger travesty than any controversy around the Iraq war or 9/11.

Some people reading this will probably be shocked since this isn't the normal fodder for the site, but I had to vent. Why? I live in Southern California where we have disasters all the time. They always warn us should "The Big One" hit we should be prepared to be on our own for up to three days. Looking at New Orleans, it looks like I need to up my earthquake supplies to at least 5 days.

My heart goes out to all those who have lost loved ones.

Donate to the Red Cross to help

California has had 4 moderate to large earthquakes in the last five days, and I have felt a grad total of zero. I feel so left out! Two of which I can understand - Tuesday's 7.0 and Today's 6.4 quakes off of Eureka coastline were a bit out of the "Did you feel it?" range for So Cal. However Sunday's 5.2 and today's 4.9 centered out near Palm Springs was certainly felt by many in the LA area, just not me.

Sunday, I was at work walking around the outside getting ready for the onslaught of guests. One of my CM's told me that our Photo Edit position was rolling back and forth, but sadly I didn't feel a thing. Today, Daniel and I were at IKEA picking up a few odds and ends for his new place when the temblor hit. Mom even gave me a ring to see if I was OK and if I felt it, but alas, I felt nothing in the sea of Billy bookcases and odd plastic stackable furniture. I also wonder if the fact I had to pee really bad at the time had anything to do with my lack of focus on outside events.

Today, I also did a bit of Father's day shopping in the park and rode the newly-enhanced Jungle Cruise. I certainly think of all the minor touch-ups to the rides in preparation for the park's 50th anniversary, this one is the most successful.

I'm glad that the US networks are finally devoting more time to this disaster. It's a shame that the first channel to break the news here is the Weather Channel. The death toll after two days is up around 50,000 people. When you consider just how widespread the damage is and how many countries are involved, this number should top 100,000 before all is said and done.

You can read some BBC readers personal stories from the tragedy here.

Is this the deadliest earthquake-related disaster ever? Heck no. Not even the deadliest in the last 100 years. That would be the Tangshan Earthquake of July 28, 1976. M7.8, 242,419 people killed (official, but estimates peg it closer to 655,000), the quake was centered below that city, 12.8 percent of the city of Tangshan's population was killed, Over 80 percent of those buried in the rubble were rescued, Injuries from the earthquake caused 2,200 people to become paraplegics. The largest death toll ever? Shansi, China with the death toll over 830,000 in 1556.

I think what makes the Andaman-Nicobar Islands Earthquake interesting is that not only was it 9.0 big, but that its resulting Tsunami caused so many deaths. Most larger earthquakes (high 8's and 9's) are only really found in subduction zones and those are not usually associated with population centers, and thus usually only kill a few thousand (the Great Chile Quake of 1960 (M9.5) only killed about 5,000 - The Good Friday Quake of 1964 (M9.2) only 114). Most catastrophic quakes like the Tangshan Quake are in the 6 to high 7 range. Heck, I have been in a 7.1 in the Bay Area and a 6.6 in Japan and have been mildly inconvenienced. Yet when a quake of that size hits Iran, Turkey, or other places with little or no Earthquake construction guidelines, devastation reigns.

One also must consider that this was the first Tsunami to hit the Indian Ocean since Krakatoa exploded in 1883. Most people had no idea why the water suddenly receded. However people in Hawaii or other Pacific islands would have run for their lives since they have been hit several times in the last 40 years. I just hope people don't consider this a once a century event and fail to set up adequate warning systems so this won't happen again.

Not since my favorite earthquake in 1964 has there been one this big! As usual, the US media doesn't devote nearly enough time to it, especially with the Christmas holiday. Here are some links to help you explore the damage and destruction caused by the 9.0 Andaman-Nicobar Islands Earthquake of 2004:

USGS
Google News
Wikipedia

As of 12/26/04: 12,000 dead; largest earthquake in 40 years; 4th largest earthquake on record since 1899. Tidal Waves reported all over the Indian Ocean including as far west as Somalia.

Donate Now to the Red Cross/Red Crescent

Here is some information on the quake Daniel and I lived through while in Tokyo. Perusing the web, it is interesting how much we didn't know due to the lack of good information in English the first few days after the quake.

Initial report in the Japan Times (I have the hardcopy I bought at Tokyo Station)

Story about the people on the derailed shinkansen

The most moving story of the quake is that of Mayu, Takako, and Uta Minagawa who were buried in a car. Little Uta survived after spending four days buried. Two hours after he was recovered, his mother was recovered and pronounced dead. Little Mayu's body had to wait 15 days after the quake until it could be recovered and sent to the father Manabu who was away in Tokyo during the quake.

More Google news on Niigata

The Earthquake Research Institute at the University of Tokyo has a page with some information.

And let's not forget the good old USGS: Quake info page for the main quake (which they now have at M6.6), list of quakes for the last 30 days (notice 9 earthquakes over M5, 2 over M6 in the three hours after the quake.)

Sooooo Saturday was an interesting day here in Japan. Just as Daniel and I made our way back to the hotel, literally as I sat down on the bed and Daniel went into the bathroom, our whole hotel room started to shake. This shaker lasted quite a long time. A few minutes later it started again. We went downstairs to make sure everything was OK and then headed back up to the room to turn on the TV. Japan has a cool system for earthquakes. Within minutes, all the main channels have a map of where the quake is and then the perceptive magnitude (like the Mercalli scale back home). So in an instant we knew what hit us. A M6.8 on the Sea of Japan coast! Followed by a M5.9 and M6.3 aftershock within 30 minutes!

Needless to say, we were both amused by the whole thing. Just like in LA during a quake the local news showed the same footage over and over for two hours (some guy scrambling on a street corner in confusion and then heading out in the street - Mom says he made CNN Headline news back home). So we are OK in case you were wondering. On Monday morning we had a M5.4 aftershock right when our alarm went off - so nice of the Japanese to give us wake up calls!

So Sunday and Monday we revisited Tokyo Disney Resort. The appeal hasn`t worn off at all - still a great place to visit. Daniel was happy that he got to see the Halloween parade, and I was happy to see the Electrical Parade Dreamlights (which lasted a good 30 minutes) and also to see the Dramatic DisneySea parade `Signs`. Now we are hunting for the CD of the music. Picture taking is down from the last trip, just some minor filling in of stuff from the last trip.

It`s raining today as we head off to the resort. Luckily it is just the outer band of a Typhoon, not a full hit like they got last week, the day before we arrived.

That is all from Tokyo this time. I hope to write again soon!

The week has just flown by, and I'm not sure if I have been too busy to post or just plain lazy. I suspect that reality is somewhere in between. One notable event this week was on Tuesday. I was screening the DVD of The Core when Mother Nature decided to let loose with a M5.1 49 miles west of Tijuana - quite the special effect. It reminded me of the time I was flying back from Europe and was watching Star Trek First Contact and the plane was shaking during the battle sequences.

Another thing that has been throwing me off is the alternating of day and night shifts. It seems scheduling can't make up their minds on what they want me to do. Last week I had almost all day shifts and next week is almost all night shifts. I just hope that I will start pulling some nice relaxing river shifts soon before I forget how to do the whole thing.

Oh and if you have ever wanted a Club Josh license plate frame for your car, they are now available in the store.

The traffic to the Gorn site is slowly returning to normal as people move on to other cool sites of the day. The page is still drawing about 3 times as many hits as before and hopefully the people will decide to explore other areas of the site. When I was checking the stats for the site, I discovered that the Charo Discography page was through the roof. So far this month, this page has drawn over 9,000 hits alone. I thought maybe it was being linked on someone's page, but that kind of traffic is way over what even the Gorn page did back in October. I added Dave's Log file generator to the page and within minutes I had my answer: Google.

A Google Search for "Santa Clause" comes up with the album cover for Charo's "Mamacita, Donde Esta Santa Clause". Since the file name is santaclause.jpg, Google is having a field day with it. It currently shows up as the third item on the page. I bet people are a bit puzzled when they are searching for Santa and find Charo. I suspect interest and traffic will drop sharply after the holidays, but hey, maybe some more people will visit the site.

In shaking news, there was a M6.5 earthquake centered near the central coast city of Cambria near Hearst Castle and Morro Bay. I felt it way down here in Orange County, and a quick IM tree found that Mice felt it in the Bay Area and Susie really felt it in Santa Barbara. Her brother felt it the most since he was in San Luis Obispo. He reported that his refrigerator moved significantly and things were thrown about the apartment. Susie and I were both frustrated when we had to get back to work and not get to spend the whole day following quake coverage. I actually was off to visit the relatives for some early gift swappin' since my grandmother will be out of town on Christmas.

Speaking of which, I still have a ton of shopping to do tomorrow before work. I also want to see Return of the King, since I finished the super-long Extended cut of Two Towers on Sunday. So much to do, so little time!

Pooh craziness has abounded this week, especially when Daniel and I finally got to work together. However, the real fun was Saturday when I experienced my first stay awake for 24 hours day in a while. Here is my best effort to recap of the events of the day:

2/22 3:45am: Alarm first goes off, do my best to ignore.

2/22 4:00am: Finally amble out of bed.

2/22 4:19am: Getting ready to walk out the front door, I am forced to grab onto something as the earth shakes the entire apartment (m5.4 Big Bear Quake)

2/22 4:45am: Enjoying KFWBs coverage of quake, so far only minor mention on KNX

2/22 4:59am: Clock in at TDA

2/22 5:10am: Trainer shows up at Matterhorn relieving my doubts that I had somehow shown up on the wrong day

2/22 6:30am: Ride the elevator in the Matterhorn for the first time - cramped and takes as long to go 4 floors as the Stratosphere elevator takes to go 108.

2/22 8:30am: Pass my written KA for the Matterhorn

2/22 9:00am: Lunch! Well, breakfast really - Wiser Miser!

2/22 10:00am: Pass my PA, manager tells me its too bad I'm going to Pooh, they need me at Matterhorn.

2/22 10:15am: Same manager who pays me big compliment sends me to the Routes to finish off my shift instead of letting me go home early or work Matterhorn.

2/22 10:30am: At least I get to start at the Carrousel

2/22 11:30am: An hour of the tea cups make me feel queasy

2/22 1:20pm: The day is such a mess, I get bumped out of rotation to go home 10 minutes late.

2/22 1:55pm: Finally on the way home after making side trip to turn in ADOs for weekend to see mom, get to ride the TDA tram instead of walking through the entire park again.

2/22 3:00pm: Arrive home after a quick detour through the Golden Arches for a quick lunch

2/22 5:00pm: Arrive at Alex and Ricardo's to hang out with Roger and them for a bit before they head out to dinner, freeze up on the roof

2/22 7:30pm: Leave Alex and Ricardo's to head to Daniel's house

2/22 9:30pm: Mmmmm In-N-Out with Daniel

2/22 11:00pm: Mad TV is counting down the top videos, we miss most of the hour due to Daniel's brother having a tiff with his girlfriend

2/23 12:15am: After two and a half Smirnoff Ices, Simpson's Road Rage proves waay too amusing.

2/23 1:30am: Road trip to the Star Mart to get some more booze, good thing Tim is still sober

2/23 3:00am: Activating the mini-DAC buttons in double-dispatch mode almost sends Daniel to the floor in a convulsion of laughter

2/23 3:30am: Frisky the cat tries once again to get attention to be fed

2/23 4:30am: Realize it is really late and I should think about getting home - point reinforced by text message from Roger wondering if I'm still alive

2/23 5:15am: Finally leave Daniel's, pretty sure he passed out the moment we left

2/23 5:50am: Arrive home safely

2/23 8:30am: Finally go to sleep

It's weird when I think about how long we all just sat around together and talking and having fun. That's what makes friends special: sometimes you can yammer on and on about nothing and still have a good time doing it.

I'm still trying to get the gallery up and running for the Club House pics. I'm hoping Tuesday will provide some time in the morning. Looks like Feb 2003 is another short month for posts, but I think length wise these have been some of the longer ones.

Spent a nice Labor Day relaxing on the beach in Santa Monica. It was the first time I had actually gone to the beach to relax since I had moved down to L.A. over three years ago. I've been on the beach, just not taking-my-shoes-off-and-going-into-the-water on the beach. When I was a wee tyke, one of my fondest memories was hanging out at the beach with my grandma and my cousin and a couple of alternating relatives. Granny always made tuna sandwiches which managed to get a grain of sand here and there in them to make it perfect.

It was a nice contrast to Sunday which was spent trying to coax the Matterhorn into another two days of service. You see, the Matterhorn knows when it is time for a rehab and usually decides it wants to go on rehab a few days early. The result? Breaking down six times for a total of almost 4 hours of the day. I did have fun though and will actually miss the ride until it comes back (currently scheduled for sometime in December, we'll see).

Yesterday was my first day back on the routes in a long time. It also coincided with the start of off-season at the park. It is so nice when the rides have 5 minute lines all day. If it only was about 15 degrees cooler it would have been perfect.

Speaking of heat - it was 115 or so I think in North Hollywood on Sunday, and slightly cooler 102 on Monday. Disneyland was not much cooler. But now they are talking 50% chance of rain by Thursday. Wacky Weather!

As a result of the warm weather a fire has broken out up in Azusa Canyon. Normally fires to me are not that interesting, but this one is near a cabin that used to be owned by my great-grandparents back in the 60's and early 70's. We visited the cabin back when Mom was out here a year or so ago and took some pictures of it. Unfortunately, the pictures were lost when Mom's computer died and was reformatted. So we are hoping the cabin survives the fire so we can get some more pictures, otherwise a family treasure will be gone forever.

Ahh yes and lets not forget the nice M4.6 that struck Yorba Linda yesterday morning - just a nice jolt here in the valley for those of you keeping track.

Nathan's CD - The Nathannual 2001 arrived from Paris this weekend, and it has been playing non-stop in my car ever since. My favorite tracks are Don't Stop Movin' by S Club 7 and the Price is Right Techno Mix. Kudos for Nathan and his friend Dustin for putting out a great CD. You can get more info on it at his website www.clubnathan.com.

Finally went out to see Lord of the Rings. I am not into the whole Tolkien thing, but I thought it was a great movie. Great all across the board. My biggest complaint is of course that I have to wait until next Christmas to see the next installment. I guess I can always go out and rent the classic animated versions of the books. Any movie that can make 3 hours whiz on by without dragging is worth the price of admission. Until The Two Towers comes out, I can at least look forward to Attack of the Clones.

Ohh the Pet Shop Boys have a new (at least new-to-me) web site! Check it out at http://www.petshopboys.co.uk/

As I type this, there was a M4.2 earthquake followed by a couple of M3.9 aftershocks in Simi Valley - woo hoo!

Fall is in the air here in Los Angeles. Of course, someone forgot to tell mother nature. Today's high temperatures are in the 90's. To top it off, the humidity is high due to some remnants of a hurricane in Mexico. Some of my relatives call it "Earthquake Weather". I call it "Upper Midwest".


Had a good weekend hanging out with the crew. One of our destinations was the new Paseo Colorado shopping complex. What really surprised me was that this used to be the old Pasadena mall, which looked like a mausoleum the last time I had visited it. Now thanks to a multi-million dollar makeover that included turning it into an outdoor plaza with apartment units, it is once again drawing big crowds. The grand opening was on Friday, and when we visited on Saturday it seemed some of the stores were still having problems with their air-balance.


Oh, and I can't forget to mention to thank the star of the weekend Tom, who managed to take us on a whirlwind tour of skid row and the house where they filmed "The People Under The Stairs" (noted for starring two Twin Peaks alums), all while we were running out of gas.

Today is the 95th anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. There are not too many survivors left to tell the harrowing tale of the massive 7.5-8.3M quake (no one really knows the actual size and theories vary). It lasted for 60 seconds and ruptured 430km of the San Andreas fault. In some places, fences were offset 20 feet.


Quirky note from SFGate:

In May 1906, Sunset magazine -- then a publicity organ of Southern Pacific Railroad, published an "emergency edition" praising the city's recovery and imminent rebuilding after the April earthquake and fire. Articles in the issue hewed to the advice that an SP executive had circulated to chambers of commerce throughout the state, emphasizing the fire and downplaying the quake in the belief that fire -- a more familiar threat -- would be less likely to scare off visitors and future residents.


Lion King last night was great. It took a bit to get used to some of the character's stunning costumes, but by the end you didn't even notice. The producers did a great job expanding the material for the musical. The new bits blended well with the original movie material, and I think only those who have seen it many times really would know the extra bits. Some of the set pieces were equally stunning. My favorite was the wildebeest stampede sequence - truly a show-stopper. Go see it if you are going to be in LA.


Josh's theater tip: Whenever you see a musical or play in a tiered theater, get the second row in the first balcony (sometimes called mezzanine). You get the best view of the entire stage without being overpowered by the orchestra.

This past weekend was spent in bed. I never left the house with the exception of getting gas on Sunday night. I managed to make it to work today - somehow. I think the highlight of the weekend would have to be the M5.1 quake that hit Big Bear around 1:05pm on Saturday. There I was in bed, slightly feverish and congested and then the bed started to move. I never knew earthquakes were so good at opening up your sinuses. I think the whole incident was to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Sylmar Earthquake of 1971 (which was Friday).


I've mentioned it before, but nothing makes you feel better than taking NyQuil before bed.

The USGS now offers the opportunity to receive an e-mail whenever there is an earthquake. You can select to be notified by either 3+ or 4+ magnitude range. Subscribe now!


Mark Morford of SFGate has a view of the parallel universe version of California Adventure that is worth reading.

Quick Highlight:

"The 'Ignore a Homeless Person', 'Spank an Orange County Republican' and 'Smash A Circuit City Store Window During Earthquake-Induced Rioting' rides were packed, but the 'Be A Corrupt Border Patrol Guard' was surprisingly boring and useless..."

True signs that you are obsessing over something: It invades your dreams and permeates your daily update like that skunk someone hit on I-5. Looking over the last week it seems I have Earthquakes and California Adventure on my brain. This of course begs the question: Why isn't there an earthquake attraction?? I'm sure Disney can think of something better than the lame-o tram exhibit at Universal Studios.


T-Minus four days and I'm having dreams of working the parking lot tram. "Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to the Disneyland Resort. California Adventure is open until midnight and Disneyland is open until 6pm." Yes, it's true, I need a life.


This weekend, I will be taking pics inside the new park so by Monday I should have some shots up on the site.

It is really interesting living in LA. For instance, a minor earthquake in San Fernando gets "Live Team Coverage" yet a massive earthquake in India (m7.9) that kills over 10,000 people gets a few fleeting video shots as well as a report by someone at some charity collecting money. Can't spend too much time on the story because there was this Super Bowl thingy.


This weekend was full of laziness and TV watching (that's television - not transvestite). I did manage to make it to a housewarming party in West LA (Hi Steven and Wes) and I don't think I came across as too much of a dork, which is always good. Saturday was meet the relatives at the Mall day. My cousin was down from SF, and my grandmother and aunt were there as well. We are quite the group out in public.


Sunday's big event was of course Survivor 2: Electric Boogaloo. Nothing like good cheese on a Sunday. I think my biggest disappointment was the bizzaro starting time due to the Stupid Bowl lasting far too long. It’s a bit premature to judge whom to root for, but my initial gut reaction is to root for members of the Okagor tribe.


On a more somber note, Sunday was the 15th Anniversary of the Shuttle Challenger accident. Francis, Mike, Judith, Ron, Ellison, Greg, and Christa - we'll always remember you. It was one of those moments you always can remember where you were. I was in PE Class playing basketball when the principal came over the PA system with the announcement. Upon reaching my next class, the teacher had the radio on to the news. After school, I rushed home to watch CNN and for the first time saw what had happened. Thinking back, I remembered one of my 7th grade teachers had applied for the program and began thinking about what if it was he. I really think this was the first disaster that made me fascinated with the media hoopla and human reaction that accompany them. Which brings us full circle with the coverage of the India quake and how LA media sucks when it comes to international news.

The Sacramento Bee has an interesting slice of disaster response on their website. Listen to the highway patrol dispatchers call the fire department and evacuate the building. If you have ever wondered what sort of person it takes to work at a switchboard in an emergency, it takes someone who trudges through the tasks of calling everyone despite the fact you are scared and shaking.


I wonder if they had blacked out portions of Southern California this week if the crisis would be over now. It seems that the news organizations down here have taken a sort of "sucks to be Northern California" attitude. Maybe its because people (like me) who live in the Cities of Los Angeles, Burbank, Pasadena, and Anaheim are not directly affected. I bet if they started shutting off the power in Beverly Hills, a remedy would have already been found. Also, the fact that the utility companies are out of money is in no way related to the blackouts. They simply state that there is not enough power to go around, which I find extremely hard to believe. I still stand by the notion that it is another screw up by some big corporation, and we the taxpayers have to foot the bill and lose our jobs due to layoffs by companies that can no longer pay the bills.

Today is the 7th anniversary of the Northridge Earthquake (M6.7). At 4:31am in the morning, the earthquake waked everyone up. If you were living in Southern California at the time, you instantly remember what you were doing and your immediate reaction (of course most people were sleeping). My dad was getting ready for work, and after the quake headed off to work as if it was any other day. I remember being woken up by my roommate Alex, and since it was an off day from school (it was MLK day), promptly sat down and watch events unfold on TV.



Some of the things I vividly remember: The guy trapped in the collapsed parking garage, the shot of all the dust in the air, the truck stranded on the island of I-5 that didn't collapse, the story of Clarence Wayne Dean - an LAPD officer who was riding his motorcycle in the darkness to his assignment in the damaged area, only to plunge to his death at the collapsed 5/14 interchange, the apartment collapse in Northridge, and last but not least, the collapse of I-10 on one of the busiest stretches of freeway. These were only some of the stories surrounding the quake.


The quake was only the second on record that showed a greater vertical movement than a horizontal movement. This quake, along with the 1989 Loma Prieta Quake, forced CalTrans and state engineers to re-assess how bridges were built. Most bridges in California were reinforced, and some bridges were earmarked for complete replacement - they are still arguing and negotiating the replacement for the Bay Bridge.


Contrary to popular belief, earthquakes do not drive the cost of housing down. The SF Chronicle had a good article just yesterday. So much for that theory, I guess I just need to hope that we get a recession and I somehow manage to stay employed. Speaking of employment, it took me an hour and 20 minutes to get to work today. I wish we would go to staggered hours for everyone like what was instituted during the 1984 Olympics.


Random bizarre article of the day: Kimberly-Clark aims for breakthrough in toilet paper - Discuss...

Earthquakes are an amazing thing. I was very disappointed that I did not feel Saturday's 2 4+ earthquakes in San Fernando. Roger and I were in the car so we missed all the fun. Today is the 6th anniversary of the Kobe Earthquake (M6.9) which hit almost a year to the day of the Northridge Earthquake (more on that tomorrow.) Kobe was a wake up call to the citizens of Japan who thought the damage in Southern California couldn't happen there. Fortunately, both quakes helped advance knowledge significantly in areas to improve construction and safety.


In other anniversary news, 10 years ago Bernard Shaw, Peter Arnett and John Holliman got treated to an eye-popping fireworks display in the first war ever broadcast live on TV. It certainly was a spectacle to behold, regardless of whether you think that it was a war for cheap gas or to liberate a country (or perhaps both). I remember being in the dorms at the ripe age of 18 thinking that at any moment I could be drafted. It was a scary thought, but fortunately my roommate Tom reassured me that all the reserves would go first and it would be some time before they reactivated the draft. It was a strange, surreal time to be in college. Everyone had their opinions that ran the full spectrum, and people seemed to be walking on eggshells and just raw with emotions.