The AP just sent out an alert that a 5.9 earthquake has hit Virginia. Initial reports say it was felt all the way from North Carolina to Toronto.

UPDATES:

· My sister just called from Philadelphia to tell me that the ground shook there for about five seconds; nothing like anything she's felt before. We had a couple of small tremblers in my childhood, but this must certainly be the largest quake to hit the East Coast in my lifetime.

· Coincidentally (unless it really is the End Times, in which case this is no coincidence), a "rare strong earthquake" measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale hit Colorado last night. By comparison, the Nisqually quake was a 6.8, roughly ten times stronger than the quake that hit Virginia today.

· Initial reports say the quake was strong enough to break glass and knock items off store shelves in Virginia, but there are no reports of injuries.

· Apparently, the Virginia epicenter is just miles from the aging North Anna Nuclear Generating Station. According to Wikipedia, the Nuclear Regulatory Agency estimates the annual risk of a quake intense enough to cause seismic damage to the core at 1 in 22,727. By comparison, your chance of winning $10,000 by buying a single ticket in a multi-state Powerball lottery is 1 in 723,145.