Living in the future, episode 3,141,592

[redbird]

mactavish posted about the earthquake near Mexicali earlier today. I hadn't realized the US Geological Survey is crowdsourcing the damage reporting. It makes eminent sense to do so, of course.

Also, because it's the future, and because the reports are sorted in numerical zip code order, I found myself going over to Wikipedia to read about Tie Siding, Wyoming. (An unincorporated community that was set up to service railroad construction, and now consists only of a combination post office and flea market. Now you don't need to read the article.)

Comments

[janetl.livejournal.com]

That "crowd sourcing" thing is neat. That last small quake here in Portland, Oregon, I wondered if I'd imagined it or not. Went online, and within a minute or two found that if I was imagining it, then so were a bunch of people all in roughly the same area. Turned out the epicenter was a half mile from my house.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

They've been doing it that way at least a year or two, and it applies to global earthquakes, not only US ones. We've logged feeling a bunch here.

(When I say a 'bunch", I mean a bunch (http://cwb.gov.tw/eng/seismic/quake_index.htm?). We don't feel most of those, of course, but ... this is a pretty small island.)

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Oops, forgot to say ... which is why I know a 6.9 feels like a big damn earthquake, even when you're not that close to the center. The first report of it I saw today was from someone in Mexicali, who said her family were screaming and running out into the street - I bet even in LA it was pretty scary, let alone San Diego.

[ellarien]

I felt it here, just -- my chair wobbled under me and the building creaked a bit afterwards -- so I put in a report for Tucson. I'm not sure I'd have noticed if I hadn't been sitting down, but it went on for what seemed like a while and I thought it must be an earthquake -- and then went back to doing my taxes and forgot about it until I saw sartorias post.