Holy shit -- I felt it here!! I didn't know WTF was going on, the whole house was shaking!!

Felt it here on Long Island, too.... a rumbling shake.

I felt the earthquake in Toronto as well.

And, the California girl says "I didn't feel a thing." How weird is that?


I can imagine how the people must feel, but I do kind of chuckle. It's so second nature here. We panic when it's a 7 something (of course it depends on how close to the epicenter you are). We don't evacuate until you duck & cover and even then it's over by the time you do so.

Anyway, glad to hear no damage/injuries. That's all they are talking about now. I wanna get back to Libya.


TIS


Oh, and by the way....Welcome to my world.

TIS, you'd appreciate this... the local tv stations are breaking their regular programming to cover this story and the streets in Manhattan are filled with people just milling about.

The Manhattan D.A. was holding a news conference and half the reporters ran out of the room when everything started shaking.

Really felt it here in Brooklyn, too. Can hardly believe it, but it happened.

It hit at around 1:55pm ET, while I was on the phone with a friend in Manhattan. My building started shaking, and the chandelier light in my bedroom started moving back and forth very noticeably. It must have lasted for around a minute or two. My friend saw (and felt) it in the building where he works.

I've heard about things like this happening in the northeast, but this is the first time I've ever experienced it firsthand.

What next??

I haven't put on the TV or radio yet, but I think I'll be doing that right now.

Signor V.

I am watching coverage on tv now and yea, hundreds of people roaming around.

They are reporting now that it was a 5.9 (not 5.8). I am amazed it's that strong for that area. They didn't say or I didn't hear where it was centered. They did say there could be aftershocks, which are usually considerably smaller in strength. They did say however, they didn't expect much in the way of aftershocks.

Btw, did you say it was a shake or a rolling sensation or a jolt? Just wondering.



TIS

TIS, it was a shaking back and forth movement. It lasted about a minute.

KiKi is hiding under the bed, and she is not afraid of anything.

From first reports (In D.C. Anyway) they said it was more like a jolt (usually quick and possible cracking noise). There's also a "rolling" sensation quake, sort of like a wave. I find that the shaking time always seems longer than it actually is. One minute of shaking is a long time for a quake.

I heard too, they felt it in Detroit. I e-mailed my sister to see if she felt it. How about you Lilo, did you get "all shook up."

TIS

I thought the cat was under my chair. Then my daughter jumped up and said she felt the same thing.

It was definitely a shaking here, the house was rocking back and forth and I thought I was losing my mind -- but it didn't last a minute, more like 10-15 seconds

I felt it here in downtown Manhattan. We are on the 17th floor and I felt my chair shaking and the monitor was moving. Lasted about 10 seconds. A lot of people left their buildings - when I looked out my window you could see them near the entrance to the Staten Island Ferry.

Here's a short video of the earthquake being felt in NYC. Cyrus Vance, Jr., the Manhattan district attorney was holding a news conference and this is what it looked like:

So far, no aftershocks here in Brooklyn - though on the news they said there might be some, as it's the normal thing after an earthquake. We'll see.

I think that some people in Virginia, near the epicenter, have already felt them. Again, this was according to the news reports.

They're not concerned about tsunamis, because scientists who are monitoring all this said everything was centered too far inland for any to occur.

Very unsettling (no pun intended) feeling, though.

Signor V.

SC,

I can imagine how fearful those people would be.

I just heard Mayor Bloomberg. He sounded like he was rushing through the message. I don't speak Spanish but when I heard his Spanish in his message, I had to laugh. I could tell by his pronunciation he wasn't speaking it well.

TIS

The mayor speaks Spanish fairly well; certainly enough to get his point across to a very large segment of his constituency in their native language.


Next stop here .... hurricane on Sunday.

Great. Thanks for the heads-up, tho!

As long as we don't get tornadoes in California. We don't have basements to go to.

Boy, wouldn't that be crazy if weather reversed? Yikes!



TIS

Mayor Bloomberg has been "advised" by some Hispanic leaders here in NYC to stick to English! His Spanish is excruciating to my ear, so I can only imagine what it must sound like to the Hispanic community.

He gives new meaning to the word "Gringo."

Signor V.

In my office, sitting in front of a computer, I thought someone was behind me moving my chair; no one there!? Then I thought the guy across from me was moving his desk. I was getting a little dizzy. Next, people started running toward the exit. I joined them and then remembered my cardinal rule; never leave the building without your car keys. By then it had stopped. Outside the wires and cables on the poles were bobbing and swaying - cool, an earthquake.

An earthquake haiku by our own MC!

Twitter was all a-buzz after yesterday's East Coast earthquake. I must say there was a lot of sarcasm (not too much shown in what I've posted) on both coasts, with the West Coast basically thinking the media "overdid it". BUT one remark (not included here) was a great comeback from an East Coaster who commented something in the line of: "Yea, let a California travel in a foot of snow or in a rain storm and they panic. (which is true) I wish I could find it.

Anyway, here's a few of the tweets.

TIS

http://www.businessinsider.com/earthquake-tweets-2011-8#take-that-obama-

Haiku syllable counts:
5
7
5

Out-side-the-wi-res
And-cab-les-were-sway-ing-Cool
An-earth-quake....and 2 more syllables.


Outside the wires,
And cables were a-swaying.
It's an earthquake, cool.

Now there's a haiku.

Ive been staying with my partner in Christchurch, New Zealand for the last few months. For those that dont know, the city had been rocked by a number of pretty bad eartquakes (a 7.1 in Sept. 10 and a 6.3 in Feb. and June) along with a whole bunch of smaller ones (2's, 3's, 4's and 5's)

Anwway, after I got there, having come from Australia, I was curious to see what a big earthquake felt like.
The small ones aren't so bad, but after the 6.3 in June, with the whole house shaking and new cracks opening up it was like "okay, I dont really need to see what bigger ones are like" The 6.3 was bad enough, Im not really keen on experiencing any more. They're actually kinda freaky.

It was like God was punishing me for my curiosity. "You wanna feel a big one? Ill give you a big one bitch!"

TIS, Some of those tweets made me laugh out loud, but I think my favorite was "Looks like Chris Christie just jumped into the race."

I went to the gym, and then came home and ate a candy bar. What the hell was I thinking?

Hey now, don't be too hard on yourself. You worked-out and now you need to treat yourself right?? Hey, I'm just saying...fair is fair. LOL


TIS

You're right! Plus, I survived an earthquake! The least I deserve is a candy bar!

Another "duh" moment from The Land of the World's Stupidest Criminals:

Peter Downing will serve 13.5 years in prison followed by four years' intensive probation for the shooting death of Brett Huggins, who appeared at his front door while intoxicated in March. A witness told Sheriff's deputies that Huggins knocked once, Downing opened the door, Huggins took a step inside, and Downing fired a shot. The witness called 911 and, while on the phone with dispatch, said he saw Downing walk outside and kick open his own door.

Susan Downing, his mother, said Downing had had a tough childhood and has a learning disability. "He is kind," she said. "That was such an unfortunate thing that happened," she added, referring to the shooting.

On cross-examination, Deputy County Attorney Steve Sisneros listed Downing's record, including eight prior felony convictions for violent crimes, and asked his mother how she reconciled them with her description of him as "an ideal son."

"I don't believe he did those things," she said.

Ok, TB this is a good one. California has it's stupid criminals too. In San Diego, CA A guy dressed in a Gumby suit tries to rob a 7/11 store of cigarets & cash. He said he had a gun and as he fumbled in his pocket some change fell out and he ended up walking out.

I heard this story this morning on the radio and it led to all kinds of gumby jokes (i.e. I'll bet he stuck out like a sore thumb & how will he like the pokey).

I also noticed that the young kid walking in the same time as Gumby didn't even take a second look. Is it that common?

Another dumber-than-dumb moment from the Land of the World's Stupidest Criminals:

Firefighters were summoned to a trailer home to put out a blaze that started in a mattress outdoors and spread to the home. The couple reported that they were trying to rid the mattress of bedbugs by covering it with a plastic sheet, then heating it with a heat lamp. The mattress caught on fire, and it touched the trailer.

Police routinely accompany firefighters to the scene. When police arrived, they checked the trailer's license plates and determined it had been stolen a week earlier. The couple were arrested and charged with grand theft.