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Posted by Metaliant on 02-03-2008 at 19:42:

Thanks Cloud, but not another question, what about the 6 and 8 legged kind, eg spiders? Daft question I know, sorry.

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Posted by kimiko on 02-03-2008 at 20:14:

quote:

Originally posted by clouddancer
Kimi, that sounds so much like me.

I love learning and reading about earthquakes, volcanoes, huricanes, tsunami's etc. It fascinates me and I think it would be fun to experience them to a small extent, as long as my life was not put in danger or I could get away when ever I wanted too. *transporter anyone*

I agree so much CD...I am totally awestruck by the sheer force of mother nature. I absolutely love watching lightning storms in the summer...that is if I'm not laid out by a migraine..otherwise I am giddy as a schoolgirl. I get so hyper and when the storm's over it's kind of a let down for me! It's like nature's fireworks show!

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Posted by kimiko on 02-03-2008 at 20:38:

quote:

Originally posted by Hinotori

The hurricanes are all yours, CD!! I lived through 6 of them (not to mention the countless number of tropical storms) when I lived in Florida, and I am 100% done with it! I seriously could have lived the rest of my life without knowing Charley, Frances, Jeanne, Dennis, Ophelia, or Wilma on a personal basis.

My first couple of tropical storms were kinda neat - heck, I'd been through worse Nor'easters than those storms were! But then Charley came and it was a whole different story. Charley was supposed to hit Tampa (west coast of FL, opposite of where I was), but then it curved and hit Punta Gorda, cut across the state, and followed I4 to my area... Luckily I was a little farther north, and Charley lost some of his impact by the time it made it across the state (I think Charey was a Category 1 by the time it made it to our area). But wow the destruction it left in it's path! If you drive I4 from Daytona Beach to Orlando, you'll still see all the trees bent over. That's not they way they grew, that was from Charley... Personally, I lucked out on that storm... I only lost power for 28 hours. But the street behind mine lost power for almost 3 weeks.

Frances was a pain in the butt, because it stalled out off the coast of South Florida for 9 hours.... I was home from work (hurricane day - which aren't nearly as fun as snow days!), hunkered down and bored out of my mind before the storm even hit. Then I was stuck inside for another day until the stupid thing cleared....

But minus the howling winds, torrential downpours, threats of tornadoes (which are most likely to occur in the northeastern quadrant of a hurricane, which for almost all them was exactly where I was!), loss of power, the hot and humid conditions, blown off shingles from the roofs, mounds of vegetation debris, and constant worry that those darn pine trees are gonna fall and land on your house, yeah, they're just great... Evil

And I haven't even mentioned all the pre-storm prep and post-storm clean-up.... But I did learn alot about them (do's and don'ts) and did develop some nifty tricks for preparing for them!

BTW, I find it very interesting that Florida hadn't been hit with so many hurricanes in successive 2 seasons before I moved there, and that they haven't been hit by a single hurricane since I left.... Think someone was trying to tell me something???? Big Grin

I don't think I would enjoy the hurricanes as much if my property and love ones were in danger....also if I was down there my vacation would be seriously interupted.

Power outages, short ones anyway, can be fun. But the blackout in '03 was a pain in the butt because I was living on the 11th floor...no elevator and no running water and sweltering hot...not so fun...

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Posted by clouddancer on 02-03-2008 at 20:38:

Ohhhh! I love the power of lightning storms.

Especially at night, when you can see the lightning flash all around. It amazes me how many children are afraid of lightning. I see a lot of it in school when ever we have a storm. The children are all screaming about the thunder and I am sitting, saying calm down, while I am trying not to bounce off the walls with all the electricity floating around.

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Posted by Firebird on 02-03-2008 at 20:48:

Some lightning storms are so beautiful. It always amazes me the power of mother nature.

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Posted by kimiko on 02-03-2008 at 20:50:

quote:

Originally posted by Metaliant

quote:

Originally posted by kimiko
August 22, 1949 Queen Charlotte Island

8.1 Canada's largest historic earthquake since 1700.
The shaking was so severe on the Queen Charlotte Islands that cows were knocked off their feet , and a geologist with the Geological Survey of Canada working on the north end of Graham Island could not stand up.

Canada's largest historic earthquake and the first they mention is cows falling over???

*wondering just how much shaking was needed and how many drunken rednecks would be needed to equal that force?*

I feel sorry for the cows, probably wondering what was going on. But why just cows, what about the other 4 legged animals?

I don't know why they didn't mention any other animals...but here's an interesting blurb that might explain...

Animals & Earthquake Prediction
The earliest reference we have to unusual animal behavior prior to a significant earthquake is from Greece in 373 BC. Rates, weasels, snakes, and centipedes reportedly left their homes and headed for safety several days befor a destructive earthquake. Anectdotal evidence abounds of animals, fish, birds, reptiles, and insects exhibiting strange behavior anywhere from weeks to seconds before an earthquake. However, consistent and reliable behavior prior to seismic events, and a mechanism explaining how it could work, still eludes us. Most, but not all, scientists pursuing this mystery are in China or Japan.

We can easily explain the cause of unusual animal behavior seconds before humans feel an earthquake. Very few humans notice the smaller P wave that travels the fastest from the earthquake source and arrives before the larger S wave. But many animals with more keen senses are able to feel the P wave seconds before the S wave arrives. As for sensing an impending earthquake days or weeks before it occurs, that's a different story.

A recent popular theory purports that there is a correlation between Lost Pet ads in the San Jose Mercury News and the dates of earthquakes in the San Francisco Bay area. A thorough statistical analysis of this theory, published in California Geology in 1988, concludes that there is no such correlation, however.

The most recent paper published in a scientific journal in the U.S. on this subject by a respected scientist was in 2000, and it is summarized here...

The paper poses this question: Is it reasonable for a seismic-escape behavior pattern to evolve, and can such a genetic system be maintained in the face of selection pressures operating on the time scales of damaging seismic events? All animals instinctively respond to escape from predators and to preserve their lives. A wide variety of vertebrates already express early warning behaviors that we understand for other types of events, so its possible that a seismic-escape response could have evolved from this already-existing genetic predisposal. An instinctive response following a P-wave seconds before a larger S wave is not a huge leap, so to speak, but what about other precursors that may occur days or weeks before an earthquake that we dont yet know about? If in fact there are precursors to a significant earthquake that we have yet to learn about (such as ground tilting, groundwater changes, electrical or magnetic field variations), indeed its possible that some animals could sense these signals and connect the perception with an impending earthquake.

However, much research still needs to be done on this subject. The author suggests establishing a baseline behavior pattern that can be compared with reactions of various environmental stimuli, and then testing various potential stimuli in the laboratory. Of course, the presence of these stimuli still needs to be researched with regard to precursory phenomena preceding an earthquake, for if these signals aren't present in the environment before an earthquake, a connection is irrelevant.

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Posted by kimiko on 02-03-2008 at 21:02:

Here's another reference (kind of amusing at the same time) to animal behaviour before an earthquake:

September 29, 1969 South Africa

6.3 This damaging earthquake was centered northeast of Cape Town, South Africa. The shock took 11 lives and left many homes and businesses in ruins.
Worst hit by the unexpected event were the towns of Tulbagh, Wolseley, and Ceres, located about 55 miles northeast of Cape Town.

Tulbagh was described as a "ghost town," after the shock ravaged 70 percent of its buildings and left most of the population homeless. Pipelines were severed in Ceres, and sixty houses were evacuated due to severe structural damage. Because water pipes had been destroyed, water had to be carted through the streets and distributed to each family for household needs. Damage was less severe in Wolseley, but walls collapsed and some houses were condemned. Several landslides covered the roads in the area, and brushfires were ignited, possibly the result of rock friction caused by the earthquake. Several aftershock occurred through the next few weeks. Buildings weakened by the main earthquake sustained more damage in some towns.

An interesting event occurred in the streets of Cape Town on this day, only a few minutes before the earth started shaking. Hundreds of rats suddenly began running through the streets, as if they sensed something unusual was about to happen. One observer said, "Franly, I was more terrified by the rats than by the tremors." The shock caused no damage in Cape Town, and the rats disappeared when the earthquake ceased.

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Posted by Metaliant on 02-03-2008 at 22:50:

Scratches head. "The mind is boggling away now"

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Posted by Ebonyswanne on 02-03-2008 at 23:07:

quote:

Originally posted by Firebird
Some lightning storms are so beautiful. It always amazes me the power of mother nature.

I love watching a lightning storm, along with the wind and the strong smell rain as it pours down from the darkened sky.The cool feel refreshing feeling that slight spray of mist from the rain as you stand on the verandah watching the show is all part of it.

Trees being stuck by lightning can be spectacular, and then you cringe when it hits a power pole and you know you won't get power back until the morning...

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Posted by Metaliant on 02-03-2008 at 23:35:

I typed in Ring of fire into Wikipedia and found a page of the underwater volcano ring in the Pacific. Here's the page .

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Posted by lborgia88 on 18-04-2008 at 12:43:

I was woken up at 5.40 AM this morning, in Indianapolis, Indiana, by an earthquake! The room shook slightly for about 20 seconds or so, and that was it.

I heard on the news that it was 5.2 on the Richter scale, and centered somewhere in Illinois.

So, that makes three earthquakes so far that I've ever felt -all mild ones, thankfully.

Posted by kimiko on 18-04-2008 at 13:06:

What a way to wake up! I'm glad everything's ok.

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Posted by Transmute Jun on 18-04-2008 at 13:12:

Wow, how exciting! I'm glad it wasn't severe.

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Posted by lborgia88 on 18-04-2008 at 13:33:

Oh, it was exciting . It woke my boyfriend up too. Wink1

Posted by Transmute Jun on 18-04-2008 at 13:38:

LOL... when I was in undergrad I lived at an all-girls dorm for 2 years. In second year one morning a fire alarm went off at 5:30 am... some kind of electrical short in an ancient building. So all of the girls filed out onto the lawn... not to mention a few sheepish guys in frilly bathrobes! pound

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Posted by lborgia88 on 18-04-2008 at 13:58:

quote:

Originally posted by Transmute Jun
LOL... when I was in undergrad I lived at an all-girls dorm for 2 years. In second year one morning a fire alarm went off at 5:30 am... some kind of electrical short in an ancient building. So all of the girls filed out onto the lawn... not to mention a few sheepish guys in frilly bathrobes! pound

Oh, that is too funny! Let's see, if Ken and Joe ended up in this situation, I could definitely see Ken being "sheepish" but I bet Joe would be smirking.

Posted by Transmute Jun on 18-04-2008 at 14:08:

quote:

Originally posted by lborgia88
Oh, that is too funny! Let's see, if Ken and Joe ended up in this situation, I could definitely see Ken being "sheepish" but I bet Joe would be smirking.

Except, both of them probably would have exited the building in a non-conventional manner. Wink

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Posted by lborgia88 on 18-04-2008 at 14:23:

That is true.

Dorm life has changed over the decades! My mother lived in a dorm at the University of Connecticut in the early 1960s, and she told me that they had strict curfews, and that there were no men, ever, in any part of a women's dorm except the lobby.

Posted by gatch72 on 18-04-2008 at 14:43:

The earthquake was felt here in Owensboro KY too. Thats where I live.

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Posted by Metaliant on 18-04-2008 at 16:24:

quote:

Originally posted by lborgia88

quote:

Oh, that is too funny! Let's see, if Ken and Joe ended up in this situation, I could definitely see Ken being "sheepish" but I bet Joe would be smirking.

Sorry I think I read that wrong. Joe would be smirking because he would be wearing a frilly bathrobe?

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