I was sitting in my office an hour ago when my pictures begin to fall off the walls. It was a rare earthquake in D.C. and it was pretty exciting. I am told that it was a 5.9 quake. Of course, this could lead to Georgetown law reporting their quake as 6.0 and our revising our figures accordingly.
The epicenter was in Mineral, Virginia. The quake was four miles deep. Of course, I tried to tape students around me for my protection from flying debris but few would stand still long enough — ungrateful imps.
Everyone was evacuated outside into the quad so I decided to go home to work. I didn’t get far. In perhaps the stupiest possible move, the State Department closed off 21st street — presumably to allow its own people to evacuate. However, they kept it closed causing a bottleneck of cars. If this were a serious emergency with aftershocks, they would have created bumper to bumper traffic while the closed street remained virtually clear of people and cars.
5.9 but who’s counting. It was centered in Mineral, VA, near my home, and my wife reports all is well but the dog is disconcerted. The Navy has sent all the ships at Norfolk to sea and the US Capitol has been evacuated. Who says the sky isn’t falling there Chicken Little? Most folks here at the “epicenter” took the whole thing in stride: went outside, looked around, said “howdy” to the neighbor, and went back to work. Were our government but as courageous as we.
U HUH LOL IS ZINK A MINERAL??? LOL
Strange tidings on the east coast….I heard that there was also a rare quake last night in Colorado….S.E. corner and 5.3 on the scale.
So, remember that religious bumper sticker that says….
“DON’T MAKE ME COME DOWN THERE~G*D”
I hope all are safe and sound.
Are we sure it isn’t Al-Qaeda??
I blame: Fracking, Al Qaeda, Obama, Boehner, and anything else that anybody can see as “bad”.
A perfect example of the saying,”God Dosen’t Like Ugly”
NYC Earthquake Interrupts Dominique Strauss-Kahn Press Conference
The 5.8 earthquake that hit Virginia and was felt in New York City didn’t just rattle offices and houses, it also affected one of the biggest news story of the summer — the dismissal of charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/23/nyc-earthquake-interrupts_n_934277.html
From a person who felt it,I was sitting in the living room and I felt the couch vibrating very slightly but i felt it,I looked at my plants and the leaves were moving,I thought someone was in the basement doing some work.Then it dawned on me that there were vibrations,in my area we didn’t get to heavy a movement but enough.
The phone rang a few minutes later and my youngest daughter called to ask did I feel it,I told her I was glad she called for I thought it was my imagination,to the point I started to say”If you are a ghost please show me a sign for a winning number for tonights drawing.I kid you not.
I then turned on the TV after the phone call and wow .People in manhattan were getting out of dodge.
From what I heard it was felt all the way to Lansing, MI at that State Capitol….
subscribe…
Rafflaw:
Obviously, the earth itself is rebelling against some of the commentary by certain heathens on the Turley blawg.
Mespo,
You could be right. Mother Nature is on strike!
Hope everyone’s o.k. We were far enough north of the CO quakes we didn’t feel a thing.
Well, mespo….today’d culinary dish is brisket and a rack of ribs with a Memphis Rub …smoked with Oak and Hickory….since 9 this morning….cheese potatoes baked in habanero and cheddar cheeses…..with corn on the cob grilled in a butter and garlic pepper sauce…
AND, a little rain storm named Irene coming your way as well… Don’t want to rub it in, but all’s quiet here in SoCal……
AY,
you are making me hungry, excpept for the habanero.
It took Mother Nature to shake up Washington!
I was outside supervising 4 three year olds having a “playdate” (such a ridiculous term) and didn’t feel a thing. Several neighbors came running over to see if we were all right as they claimed to have felt it.
Obviously I’m not on the End Time’s call list.
raff,
It is a light taste of habenero…..for me its like the difference between cobly and sharp cheese….not sharp or vermont sharp….I hope that makes sense…
AY, How do you bbq all day when it is 104? I won’t bbq if the temperature is over 95. I have been cooking with roasted new mexican hatch chilis. It is the season.
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread744138/pg1
luckily the fracking corporations are responsibly proactive in protecting the environment from the potential harm and negative consequences that may be suggested…(unlike BP that is…)
earthquakes today, hurricane sunday, if it starts raining frogs tuesday in washington tootie might be right and it’s gonna get biblical in the capitol.
(by putting in the phrase “tootie might be right” i don’t need a snark tag)
AY,
It sounds even better now!
SWM,
It is hot outside…but its never too hot for BBQ….
Did tootie pull a brainer on the blawg…..pete…not to repete…
Pete…hahahahaha!
Glad everyone is ok.
If it wasn’t Al-Qaeda who is responsible for this earthquake, then it must be the Gays!
It is only a matter of hours before Pat Robertson attributes the quake to divine retribution for the socialist policies of Barack Obama.
You east coasters are such wimps. I had been through numerous earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest for 30 some years before I took a job in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area. Spent 24 years there and there was one earthquake in the “3.somethng category”. And, every one went crazy over that one, too. You should try living around the St. Andreas fault in California. The Big One is supposed to cause all of California south of the fault to slide into the Pacific Ocean, which I think is adequate punishment for the state that gave us Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. Now, if only Texas would slide into the Gulf of Mexico–a deserving fate for the state that gave this country George W. Bush.
There was NO Earthquake….it was the Founding Fathers rolling over in their graves….
Perhaps it’s a good thing the old panels didn’t make it back from France. Glad you’re okay.
http://www.borowitzreport.com/ Earthquake does less damage to Washington than Eric Cantor does.
Hilarious link SM!
Which analogy would work best for Eric Cantor and his enablers? Earthquake, tsunami or Santa Ana wind?
My vote is on the Santa Ana. It blows a vast amount of hot air, destroys vegetation and homes, and turns 18-wheel trucks over making it impossible for the union driver to work.
OS,
You are on fire!
not original, by me….The earthquake was 5.8. Obama wanted 3.2. The Rebuplicans want 5.8 so Obama compromised.
Carol,
It appears that no truer words were ever spoken…
Barbecuing is the only correct way to cook when it’s hot out. In Riverside, CA, the older homes (circa 1890) all have “summer kitchens” out back. In really nice houses of the era, even the indoor kitchen is in a separate building near the main house. Pre-air conditioning, no sane person would light a fire in the house when it was 113 degrees out.
Many years ago, when I was in college, a small earthquake struck. My room was on the top floor of a high-rise dorm. I was awakened on a Saturday morning by my head being repeatedly banged into the wall (by the building swaying back and forth).
My first thought was, “I’ve got to stop drinking so much.”
followed by “What the BLEEP?” and “I better get out of here!”
Jay,
When I was in college in Southern Illinois, we had a tremor and the 17 story dorm that I was in was swaying so much the water in the toilet was splashing out! That tremor was enough for me. I originally thought it was the long night of “studying” that was making the room move around!
“5 things the media isn’t telling you about human activity and earthquakes”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/08/24/5-things-the-media-isnt-telling-you-about-human-activity-and-earthquakes/
Mike A, It wasn’t directly Obama, it was teh gay, it’s always teh gay:
“NOM speaker blames East Coast earthquake on gays
Within hours of an earthquake striking the eastern U.S. Tuesday, a rabbi that has spoken for the anti-gay group National Organization for Marriage (NOM) was already blaming homosexuals.
In a video posted to YouTube, Rabbi Yehuda Levin asserted that “one of the reasons God brings earthquakes to the world is because of the transgressions of homosexuality.” ”
http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/08/nom-speaker-blames-east-coast-earthquake-on-gays/