We're number 4 in the Ring of Fire which has seen big earthquakes in western South America, then New Zealand and then Japan over the last 2 or 3 years. Lots of activity off the coast of Oregon.

I wonder how bridges built ten years prior to the 1965 quake will fare in a strong earthquake.

According to the DOT there are 914 bridges which need to be retrofitted in this state. 278 have been completely retrofitted. 496 are on the waiting list. And the rest are in progress.

Wow, that book cover just screams "thoughtful, sober inquiry".

so no electronic version of the book? Wait, you read an advanced copy? do not review a book I cannot go buy, that's not fair.

will you loan me your advanced copy in apology? I will bop up to Capitol Hill for it. Cause the damn thing doesnt come out for a whole 2 weeks or so. Unacceptable .

WE'RE ALL GONNA DIIIIIIE!!!!!!!

The Richter scale is terrible? Hmm. May I propose the Panic Scale? The power of earthquakes will be measured in Notifbutwhens.

THE BIG ONE that is going to level Seattle and collapse the viaduct and liquify the waterfront? Definitely, like, 12.4 Notifbutwhens.

@7: A sharp change in local gravity anomaly indicates that there's some boundary between geological units.

Geez, I really gotta refresh the supplies in the earthquake kit...

(he said for the 17th month in a row)

Seriously, they gotta do something about how they convey the strength of an earthquake to use pleebs. I know we don't use Richter any more, but the Magnitude scale is just as obtuse. A 5.0 is 10x stronger than a 4.0, but has 30x the energy? Sure. Ok. How about on a scale from 1-100, with 100 being the worst shit imaginable, how earthquaky was it?

While we're at it scientist—110% humidity? Really? Did old hydrometers only go up 90 or some shit?

What say you, science?!

@13: Or we could teach logarithmic scales in school.

Any relationship to this?
http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adv…