# We had an Earthquake!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 29, 2000, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-an-earthquake/14264 "2000-02-29T17:16:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-an-earthquake/14264/1 "2000-02-29T17:16:00Z")
Oh, boy! An earthquake! A small one, sure, but… [http://wwwneic.cr.usgs.gov/neis/qed/20000226030100.HTML](http://wwwneic.cr.usgs.gov/neis/qed/20000226030100.HTML) And on my birthday, too… (snif)… What more could a geologist ask for? ---
**Author:** ![Fillet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/2acd7d/32.png) [@Fillet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fillet)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-an-earthquake/14264/2 "2000-02-29T17:51:00Z")
## That is too cool, **Pantellerite** - Happy Birthday! Geologists make the bed rock. ---
**Author:** ![Bluepony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Bluepony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bluepony)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2000, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-an-earthquake/14264/3 "2000-03-01T06:13:00Z")
Uh…congratulations?! Thank God you don’t work in the Center For Disease Control. * * * _…send lawyers, guns, and money…_ ``` Warren Zevon ``` ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2000, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-an-earthquake/14264/4 "2000-03-01T06:23:00Z")
I guess y’all party pretty hearty out there. Happy birthday! ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2000, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-an-earthquake/14264/5 "2000-03-01T06:36:00Z")
Happy Temblor! ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-an-earthquake/14264/6 "2000-02-29T23:17:00Z")
Next year, I’m asking for a volcano. Honestly, though, I didn’t feel it. But I wasn’t feeling much that night. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2000, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-an-earthquake/14264/7 "2000-02-29T23:19:00Z")
Happy Birthday! Maybe the earthquake was caused by a large group of people lumbering away from the dinner table after copius helpings of alcohol and birthday cake? ---
**Author:** ![techchick68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2000, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-an-earthquake/14264/8 "2000-03-01T00:46:00Z")
ROFLMAO Bluepony, that’s hilarious! A leap year birfday eh? Happy Birthday! Next leap year have a job as “peace officer of the world” would ya? \< grin \> My nephew was born today! Rhyse Daniel…you can read more about if you’d are interested at [It’s all about the child!](http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/005455.html) ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2000, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-an-earthquake/14264/9 "2000-03-01T02:38:00Z")
'Fraid not… both my “special day” and the Earthquake were back on 2/26. Shamefully, I just found out about the EQ today. A whopping 2.8. Well, it’s the thought that counts. Thanks all! ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2000, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-an-earthquake/14264/10 "2000-03-01T03:04:00Z")
I live on an earthquake line. Get them pretty often. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2000, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-an-earthquake/14264/11 "2000-03-01T16:44:00Z")
Most people from the east I have talked to are really spooked by earthquakes even when they are in the middle of tornado or hurrican season. What’s spooky about earthquakes? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2000, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-an-earthquake/14264/12 "2000-03-01T17:42:00Z")
Earthquakes? Piffel!! I can see three active volcanos from my front porch. They puff steam on cold days, and the last major eruption of Mt. Redoubt was in 1989, when it blew out the north side. [![](https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/Imgs/Jpg/Redoubt/dds39_063_med.jpg) ](https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/Imgs/Jpg/Redoubt/dds39_063_med.jpg) * * * TT “It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.” –James Thurber ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2000, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-an-earthquake/14264/13 "2000-03-01T19:13:00Z")
Cool pic, TT! * * * _Second Place (tie), Most Valuable Poster_ (GD) _Second Place, Best Scientific/Expert Explanations_ (GD) Not that it’s gone to my head or anything. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2000, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-an-earthquake/14264/14 "2000-03-01T21:57:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by ThufferinThuccotash: > **Earthquakes? Piffel!! I can see three active volcanos from my front porch. They puff steam on cold days, and the last major eruption of Mt. Redoubt was in 1989, when it blew out the north side.** You live in Alaska? Anchorage? I was in Anchorage during July 4th in 1978, when I was in the Navy. If I didn’t hate cold weather, I’d live there. The scenery is so breathtaking. The journey up Cook Inlet is something I’ll never forget. **Pantellerite** , I need to ask you a question: Is it possible for a person to be so sensitive to p-waves that they can wake him from a sound sleep before the ground starts moving, before the s-waves arrive? This has happened to me four different times, most recently this past October. At the Shindig, I found out that it happens to **Melin** ’s oldest son as well. We both strongly remember waking nearly a full minute before the Northridge event. I’m much older than he and we live in different areas, he near Pasadena, myself in Downtown L.A. Anxious to know. * * * \>\ \_ **L\_\_\_L** ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2000, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-an-earthquake/14264/15 "2000-03-02T01:41:00Z")
Dont you get it Pantellerite? It’s a _LEAP YEAR_. And an _earthquake_. Obviously, Unca Cecil wanted to send you a personal “Happy Birthday” greeting, so he finally got all those Chinese up onto chairs, got them to jump off all at the same time, & HEY-PRESTO!!! HAPPY EARTHQUAKE! I mean …BIRTHDAY! 🙂 * * * It matters not whether you win or lose; what matters is whether I win or lose. ---
**Author:** ![Yossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2000, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-an-earthquake/14264/16 "2000-03-02T02:59:00Z")
Well, Duh! Thanks, Uncle C., for all your efforts and tireless diplomacy that led to the realization of a dream experiment that tested the ultimate hypothesis! I am, as always, in awe. Who’da thunk it that all that foot-stompin’ energy would be focused on my little ol’ spot in the West Texas desert? As per P- and S-waves: I don’t see why not. Especially if you are far enough from the epicenter that their arrival times would be sufficiently exaggerated, I would imagine that P-waves could wake you up just before the S-wave shake you up. In fact, early detection of P-waves may someday provide something of an early-warning system (though one akin to the tornado warning systems of the midwest–if you hear the horn, they’re all but upon you anyway!) IIRC, animals get all jittery prior to a big shake possibly due to enhanced sensitivity to the P-waves. That said: I’m actually not very geophysically inclined. ---
**Author:** ![Linney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/58956e/32.png) [@Linney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linney)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2000, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-an-earthquake/14264/17 "2000-03-02T08:07:00Z")
I want one, I want one!! But, I will just have to wait until the New Madrid Spreading Center decides to get a little frisky again. Oh, and to Handy (who said “I live on an earthquake line.”), just to enlighten you a tad, an ‘earthquake line’ is more commonly known as a fault. * * * “If we submit everything to reason, our religion will have no mysterious or supernatural element. If we offend the principles of reason, our religion will be absurd and ridiculous.” Blaise Pascal ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2000, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-an-earthquake/14264/18 "2000-03-02T16:40:00Z")
‘…Oh, and to Handy (who said “I live on an earthquake line.”), just to enlighten you a tad, an ‘earthquake line’ is more commonly known as a fault…’ You don’t say? wow. I Learn something new everyday 🙂 PS: earthquake line is what I like to use. ---
**Author:** ![Linney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/58956e/32.png) [@Linney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linney)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2000, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-an-earthquake/14264/19 "2000-03-04T06:21:00Z")
Handy, I was hoping that was the case! Honestly, I was…