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Originally shared by Randall MunroeAs many people have pointed out:
http://xkcd.com/723/ and http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/earthquake-twitter-users-learned-tremors-226481
It's always nice to see real-life confirmation of your calculations!
I once heard a story (originally told by Kevin Young) about Gerson Goldhaber, who was a physicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. He was talking on the phone with another physicist at SLAC near Stanford University near the end of the day on Tuesday, October 17, 1989. The SLAC physicist suddenly interrupted with, "Gerson, I have to go! There's a very big earthquake happening!" and then hung up. So Gerson stepped out into a group of people in the hall, made a big show of yawning and checking his watch, then said, "Aren't we about due for an earthquake?" Before anyone could respond, the Loma Prieta earthquake reached Berkeley, and he became a legend.
My best friend from college is from Mineral, VA, a town of a few hundred people and one stoplight, which was at the epicenter of yesterday's quake. A few years ago, he moved to Sendai, Japan, where he got an apartment just a few miles from the coast. Fortunately, he survived the March earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown. Last I heard from him, he was moving back home. He really can't catch a break.
Fortunately, it sounds like there's not too much damage. (Though from what I remember of Mineral, I can't help but wonder—if the quake did cause damage, how would you tell?)
http://xkcd.com/723/ and http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/earthquake-twitter-users-learned-tremors-226481
It's always nice to see real-life confirmation of your calculations!
I once heard a story (originally told by Kevin Young) about Gerson Goldhaber, who was a physicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. He was talking on the phone with another physicist at SLAC near Stanford University near the end of the day on Tuesday, October 17, 1989. The SLAC physicist suddenly interrupted with, "Gerson, I have to go! There's a very big earthquake happening!" and then hung up. So Gerson stepped out into a group of people in the hall, made a big show of yawning and checking his watch, then said, "Aren't we about due for an earthquake?" Before anyone could respond, the Loma Prieta earthquake reached Berkeley, and he became a legend.
My best friend from college is from Mineral, VA, a town of a few hundred people and one stoplight, which was at the epicenter of yesterday's quake. A few years ago, he moved to Sendai, Japan, where he got an apartment just a few miles from the coast. Fortunately, he survived the March earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown. Last I heard from him, he was moving back home. He really can't catch a break.
Fortunately, it sounds like there's not too much damage. (Though from what I remember of Mineral, I can't help but wonder—if the quake did cause damage, how would you tell?)
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