tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16899684.post1974690635474280852..comments2023-09-23T00:37:29.396-07:00Comments on Mom's Cancer Blog: I Feel the Earth Move Under My FeetBrian Fieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16347700145666751363noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16899684.post-3776464985048380152007-05-21T18:00:00.000-07:002007-05-21T18:00:00.000-07:00...Yeah, but then you have to live in Hollister.........Yeah, but then you have to live in Hollister....<BR/><BR/>Sherwood, I knew you'd have a story. Thanks for sharing it. I know about the different feel of the p- and s-waves but also realize my sense of time is pretty distorted during an earthquake. Unless I have the presence of mind to actually watch a clock during one--usually when I'm more concerned about which sword of Damocles or pot rack is hanging over my head at the moment--I don't trust my judgment of concepts like "fast" or "slow." I know the Loma Prieta quake was a big one because I knew I could not have physically run from my lab to the parking lot in less than 20 seconds or so, and I still got out there to see the ground ripple; that's about the best I can do under the circumstances.<BR/><BR/>R, don't try to shake my rock-solid irrationality with facts. I thought I taught you better than that.Brian Fieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16347700145666751363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16899684.post-13079105491819903632007-05-17T21:15:00.000-07:002007-05-17T21:15:00.000-07:00You keep on watching out for the earth moving unde...You keep on watching out for the earth moving under your feet; I'll keep tabs on whether or not the sky comes tumblin' down. That way, we've got it all covered.<BR/><BR/><I>Our sport is guessing whether a temblor is small and nearby or large and distant.</I><BR/>The way I play that game is to try to determine whether the p-waves (thumpitty-thumpitty) and the following s-waves (swaying motion)come right on top of each other or are noticeably separated. If the latter, then it's probably a pretty big one far off. If the former, then it's nearby. Of course, I'm usually too freaked out to be quite so analytical.<BR/><BR/>[Re Loma Prieta, 1989] <I>I imagine my friend Sherwood, whose home I reckon was right on top of the Loma Prieta epicenter, has a much scarier story to tell, assuming he was in the area at the time.</I><BR/>I wasn't; I was in a scarier place (in retrospect): Oakland. I had just gotten my current job in Cupertino, and was still living in an apartment in the Adams' Point district near Lake Merritt. I was watching the pre-game show for the Series and, when the quake hit, I thought it wasn't much (the apartment building was anchored solidly to bedrock.) A few unwashed dishes cracked in the sink, but that was it. I heard a strange rumbling noise outside -- which I later learned was the Cypress Structure on the freeway collapsing, a noise I heard in nightmares for long after.<BR/><BR/>That night provided one of the most spectacular views of a dark, dark night sky I have ever seen, punctuated occasionally by the blue, distant flashes of exploding transformers.<BR/><BR/><I>But the fact is that, although some locations are better than others--bedrock beats alluvial plain--almost nowhere on the West Coast is safe.</I><BR/>Actually, places like Hollister (one of California's three self-proclaimed "earthquake capitals") is probably pretty safe precisely <I>because</I> of its frequent shakers, which continually release the stress along its part of the San Andreas rather than having it all blast out at once every century or so. But try telling that to some visored actuary in an insurance office in Iowa.Sherwood Harringtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09575868746160608731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16899684.post-90401008743655575162007-05-17T11:13:00.000-07:002007-05-17T11:13:00.000-07:00...it's like my geology class...Well...what I was ......it's like my geology class...<BR/><BR/>Well...what I was told was there's about 26% chance that in the next 30 years an earthquake of M6 (I think) or bigger will happen on the Hayward fault (a.k.a. Rodger's creek fault, ya know, the one that runs right under our house) and there's a 30%-70% chance of a M7.9 quake on the southern part of the San Andreas fault system within 30 years. I've never heard of a really loud quake before, without much ground motion...it sounds like something underground exploded! I should send my professor a link to this, he'd have a field day.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com