Recent Earthquakes - Map for 122-37

We're sitting at the dinner table.

Me: "Did you feel that?"

"Huh?"

Me: "Oh, come on. The chimes on the spiral fire-escape out there are rattling! Listen."

"Oh. OK. I thought you were kicking the table. The seagulls are squawking too. 2. something."

Me: "I say 3.5 and fairly nearby."

I came up to check

4.1 4.0 (updated)

2 miles ENE of Alamo, CA

Shake. Rattle. Roll.

Labels: California, life, quakes, San Francisco

   posted by Sal Towse at  9:08 PM|| |

Recent Earthquakes - Map for 120-40

Reno's rocking. ...

[ref] nineteen shakes >= 3.0 in the last five days. ...

3.5 2008/04/26 08:20:40 39.543N 119.936W 1.1 4 km ( 2 mi) NNE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

3.4 2008/04/26 02:11:59 39.525N 119.927W 2.1 3 km ( 2 mi) ENE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

3.7 2008/04/26 00:29:20 39.527N 119.927W 2.7 3 km ( 2 mi) ENE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

3.4 2008/04/25 23:43:50 39.521N 119.924W 1.4 3 km ( 2 mi) ENE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

4.7 2008/04/25 23:40:10 39.520N 119.930W 1.4 2 km ( 1 mi) ENE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

3.3 2008/04/25 23:39:59 39.516N 119.924W 1.7 3 km ( 2 mi) E of Verdi-Mogul, NV

3.6 2008/04/25 18:13:20 39.529N 119.918W 1.6 4 km ( 2 mi) ENE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

3.3 2008/04/25 10:30:10 39.531N 119.928W 1.4 3 km ( 2 mi) NE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

3.3 2008/04/25 01:42:58 39.521N 119.922W 2.6 3 km ( 2 mi) ENE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

3.3 2008/04/24 18:00:33 39.531N 119.929W 2.2 3 km ( 2 mi) NE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

3.6 2008/04/24 17:47:52 40.375N 115.374W 0.0 6 km ( 4 mi) ENE of Ruby Valley, NV

4.2 2008/04/24 15:55:49 39.527N 119.929W 2.8 3 km ( 2 mi) ENE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

3.0 2008/04/24 15:51:06 39.539N 119.938W 1.8 3 km ( 2 mi) NNE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

4.1 2008/04/24 15:47:04 39.533N 119.932W 1.1 3 km ( 2 mi) NE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

3.0 2008/04/24 00:33:15 37.891N 118.097W 5.5 42 km (26 mi) S of Tonopah
Junction, NV

3.0 2008/04/23 14:21:39 37.377N 114.696W 9.9 14 km ( 8 mi) SSE of Helene, NV

3.2 2008/04/22 19:06:54 37.992N 118.681W 5.6 38 km (23 mi) SSW of Qualeys Camp, NV

3.8 2008/04/22 13:40:09 41.221N 114.806W 7.7 18 km (11 mi) NE of Wells, NV

3.1 2008/04/21 12:14:10 39.517N 119.922W 2.6 3 km ( 2 mi) E of Verdi-Mogul, NV

Update: Earthquake wizards say the increasing 4.1->4.2->4.7 quakes don't follow the standard pattern of large shake followed by decreasing intensity aftershocks. They don't know quite what to make of it. CNN update

Labels: quakes

   posted by Sal Towse at  11:07 AM|| |

Magnitude 4.0 - WYOMING

Just saying ...

Labels: quakes

   posted by Sal Towse at  8:07 PM|| |

We walked the 1.7mi or so down to Postrio for a 7p dinner so we could use a gift certificate we placed the winning bid on at a non-profit event last June. The certificate was good for a chef's tasting menu for two. We splurged on the wine pairing with the meal and were well into dinner when I felt my chair give a shake.

"Earthquake," I said to his nibs. He nodded.

My chair shook again. "A good earthquake," I said. He nodded again.

My chair shook a third time and we looked up to see the inside of the light fixture above us begin to sway. The light fixture itself was locked in solid.

The shaking stopped and as we always do, we began to guess what the magnitude had been. I guessed a 3.2 somewhere in the near East Bay.

No one in the restaurant seemed fazed by it all. The women sitting next to us mentioned it to the waiter. "You probably just had too much to drink," he replied.

re the magnitude Turns out I was nowhere near: the quake was a a magnitude 5.6. 5 miles NNE of Alum Rock, CA (in East San Jose, up in the hills where I grew up). 9.2 km (5.7 miles) deep. Lasted quite a while too. We didn't feel the quake as strongly as we would've if the quake had been shallower.

We haven't had anything as strong as a magnitude 5.6 in quite a while.

Hadn't seen this at the USGS site before. His nibs says he'd seen it: it's a relatively recent addition to their set of earthquake goodies:

Real-time Forecast of Earthquake Hazard: Maps showing the probability of strong shaking at any location in California within the next 24-hours.

The Web is a wonder.

Update: According to the Chron, the quake was the strongest since the Loma Prieta in October 1989. I thought so last night, but couldn't find any verification for the gut feel. The Chron also quotes folks saying that this quake, which happened right where the Calaveras splits from the Hayward, might have consequences for spots further north on the fault lines. Batten down those hatches!

Labels: food, life, quakes, San Francisco

   posted by Sal Towse at  11:11 PM|| |

Quake brings WWII PT boat up from ocean floor

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- Wreckage from a World War II torpedo boat was tossed up from the sea in the Solomon Islands after a powerful 8.1 earthquake hit the area in early April, an official said Friday.

Jay Waura of the National Disaster Management Office said the explosive-laden boat was exposed when reefs were pushed up three meters (10 feet) above sea level by the April 2 quake, which caused a devastating tsunami in the western Solomon Islands that killed 52 people.

The Solomons' coastline is still littered with decaying military wrecks from World War II, including the torpedo patrol boat commanded by U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

[...]

Do you have your earthquake kit ready?

Labels: history, quakes

   posted by Sal Towse at  5:25 PM|| |

A long ramble (perhaps) to follow about our excursions on Monday and dinner at the Cliff House.

Suffice to say, that we were pumped to find one of Hough's books



at the Cliff House gift shop when we stopped by to check out the merchandise before dinner.

Labels: books, life, quakes, San Francisco

   posted by Sal Towse at  11:47 PM|| |

Recent Earthquakes - Info for event nc40193932:

A moderate earthquake occurred at 4:19:54 AM (PST) on Monday, February 26, 2007.

The magnitude 5.4 event occurred 52 km (32 miles) W of Ferndale, CA.

The hypocentral depth is 0.4 km (0.2 miles)


Right at the seaward edge of the Cascadia subduction zone.

We'll be having dinner with Susan Hough on Thursday after her author talk at Kepler's down in Menlo Park for her newest book: Richter's Scale: Measure of an Earthquake, Measure of a Man

(In the area? Stop on by! Thursday March 01, 2007 -- 7:30 p.m. at Kepler's in Menlo Park)

(Buy now!)

I'm sure the our dinner conversation talk will turn to local earthquakes and Cascadia and Hayward and San Andreas. It always does.

Labels: book promotion, books, bookstores, life, quakes, writing

   posted by Sal Towse at  11:26 AM|| |

A minor earthquake occurred at 3:46:15 PM (PST) on Friday, February 23, 2007.
The magnitude 3.4 event occurred 3 km (2 miles) ESE of Berkeley, CA.
The hypocentral depth is 11 km ( 7 miles).

A sharp jolt here. No rumble. Set the collection of chimes attached to the fire escape jingling.

Labels: quakes, San Francisco

   posted by Sal Towse at  3:59 PM|| |

We've had a couple shakes recently including a 4.4 off the coast in far north California, along the Mendocino fault.

I thought I felt another one. So I clicked on my handydandy USGS map and nada.

I pulled up the larger look and ... What's that over there in Nevada? A 4.1? Followed by a flurry of aftershocks? Those are good shakes for an area where nothing ever happens, in an area where the nearest fault (the Furnace Creek Fault) is twenty-five miles or so away.

"Look at that," I said. "Weird."

His nibs looked over my shoulder.

"How close is that to Area 51?" he asked.

... or the Tonopah Test Range, for that matter.

Pull up the earthquake-Nevada map side by side with the Area 51 map.

Line them up. See what I see?

Those earthquakes (a 4.1, 3.2, 2.9, 2.6 &c., all clocking in at approximately 4 miles underground) are clustered off Hwy 95 between Goldfield and Scotty's Junction.

Close enough to spit on the end of the Nellis Air Force Range in Nye County, NV.

What's going on?

Art Bell and George Noory need a headsup, wouldn't you say?

Labels: quakes, woowoo

   posted by Sal Towse at  4:09 PM|| |

Well, clobbered that old post (this one?) while I was writing up something new.

(Let's see if I can recreate the old post.)

We listened Friday night to Vienna Teng at the Independent, preceded by a delish dinner at NOPA.

While we were watching the show, my seat gave a shimmy, but then the seats at the Independent (and the tables) tend to shimmy.

If there'd been chandeliers, the chandeliers would've rattled.

No one else seemed to notice.

Quake on the Susan Hayward Fault. One large. Two aftershocks.

1.4 23:31:09 37.855N 122.234W 9.1 4 km ( 2 mi) N of Piedmont, CA
2.2 23:11:47 37.856N 122.237W 8.7 4 km ( 2 mi) ESE of Berkeley, CA
3.7 22:49:57 37.861N 122.237W 10.0 4 km ( 2 mi) ESE of Berkeley, CA

Here's hoping my friends in earthquake country have their houses tied to their foundations, a stash of water put away and whatever they'll need when they need it.

On Thursday night we were out to dinner (more on that to follow) and one of our dinner companions said he'd been talking to some cops about what they thought he'd need after an earthquake. Water, they said. A radio with batteries or a hand crank so you can get the news. And a side-by-side.

We don't have a side-by-side.

Oh.

[sorry for the writeover and repost and feh. ...]

Labels: quakes

   posted by Sal Towse at  9:20 PM|| |

A 3.5 this Saturday morning at more or less the same spot as before -- the Susan Hayward fault in Berkeley.

Three over 3.0 in less than three days?

Uh Oh.

Labels: quakes

   posted by Sal Towse at  8:20 PM|| |

We still had a few odds and ends to get for gifts. Our extended family downsized the gift giving last year so the adults have a gift exchange. Only the offspring under 18 are exempt.

We'd sent off the gifts for the much-loved wicked stepdaughter and her family back where it snows a couple weeks back. But still.

Jettison. Jettison. Jettison. Let's see. I'd decided unilaterally to heave-ho the stockings from Santa this year. After more than thirty years of stocking prep, I was tired. Santa's elf was retiring. I haven't told the younger nib yet. He flies in on the 23rd and I'll break the news then. I don't think my mom will miss hers. No more windup Godzilla monsters or reindeer meatballs for Dad's stocking. It's just not the same. His nibs and I decided heave-ho it was. No need to find little somethings to stash into stockings. Scratch that off the list.

There are still three under 18 who need gifts. A gift for me to give to Mom. A gift for his nibs to give to my bro. Or maybe it was the other way around. We needed gifts for the younger guys and one for the older younger guy's guy. Gifts for each other except we already gave each other gifts and are more into the random gift giving than not. Some of my gifts, already purchased, needed a specific x to finish up the package.

So we walked downtown to Stacey's Books (581 Market Street ... support your local bookseller) yesterday afternoon, a mile or so. Found what we needed at Stacey's, except that they didn't carry a magazine I wanted a copy of to accompany the subscription I'd bought for one of the youngsters, so it was off to Fog City News just down Market Street where I found the magazine I wanted. If you are ever looking for an obscure magazine, stop at Fog City and see if they have a copy in their racks. Amazing place.

It was a bit early to eat (6p or so), but not too early and we were done shopping, heading home.We had a choice of places to eat on the way home (Sam's, where we'd eaten just last week, any place on Belden Place, The House, and a couple hundred other choices). We opted for Belden Place and, specifically, for Cafe Bastille, where we'd eaten once before.

Cafe Bastille
22 Belden Place SF 94104
(415) 986-5673

French. Duh. All of the restaurants on Belden Place have an interior room or two and an outside eating area in the Belden Place alley. We walked in off the street without a reservation but we were early enough in the evening that that was no problem. Last night the weather was getting nippy, so we opted for eating inside. We were seated near the bar, rather than down in the cellar where we'd eaten the other time we'd been in.

I hadn't remembered the food being as good that time as it was last night.

Last night it was very tasty.

His nibs started with Dungeness Crab Cakes served with french-fried fennel sticks, a mashup of greens and a spicy Pineapple and Chipotle Salsa. I had the Foie Gras Terrine served with orange marmalade (really!) and a basil-aioli swish on the plate. At the side was a puff pastry stuffed until it ooozed with cheese. We swopped halfway through. Both were delicious.

The two crab cakes were mostly crab with just enough filler to hold them together. The salsa was spicy enough to warm all the way down. The terrine was delicious and who would've ever thought that an orange marmalade would go well with it? The puff pastry was delicious and only about a thousand calories.

His nibs had the Braised Lamb Shank with an incredible sauce. Baby carrots and boiled new potatoes were added separately just before serving and so were crisp, not soggy. The lamb melted in your mouth. I had the roast duck, cooked medium rare (and, by golly, it came out medium rare!) sliced with sauce and with a scrumptious lentil dish spread underneath. [Update: and steamed asparagus spears. Peeled stems! I never go to the effort to peel asparagus stems. yow! How could I forget!] We gave each other bites for tastes but didn't swap the plates.

We had a bottle of red wine from Cahors, imported by Kermit Lynch, the astounding import guy and wine merchant in Berkeley. Clos la Coutale. 80% Malbec, 20% Merlot. Way different from any Argentinian malbec blend we've ever had. Smooth and tasty enough that we decided we need to track down which San Francisco wine merchants carry Kermit Lynch imports. (Looks like San Francisco Wine Trading Company fer sures. I don't know if K&L or Wine Club have any of his imports ...)

For dessert we split the cognac creme brulee. The top cracked just as it should and the creme inside was soft but not oozy -- not thickened excessively with carageenan or whatever, like you often find. Alas, no Bonny Doon vin glaciere on the dessert wine menu and nothing there seemed an acceptable substitute so I continued nursing my glass of water.

The service was excellent. The guy who came by to take away plates and fill water glasses was always there immediately when he should be and never hovering when you wished he'd be gone.

The only shadow on the meal was a loud-ish patron at the bar who was overly effusive and talky-talky with the staff, talking about buying her skirt in Paris (a short short short mini skirt that she was wearing over black pants) and introducing herself to other people who came to wait at the bar for their tables. I know her name. I know her grandfather's name. I know what her boyfriend said when she bought the skirt. She reminded me of someone. Who? Who? Finally, thanks heaven, I realized right before we left that she reminded me (mannerisms, brain power, personality, mental whee!) of the woman who lives across the street from my parents. Man, that would've kept me awake all night.

So, why was the food so earthshaking at Cafe Bastille?

My seat shook. I looked down the banquette to see if someone'd just plopped themselves down or hauled themselves up. Nope. I looked around. I noticed his nibs looking around. "I felt a shake," I said.

"I did too," he answered.

No one else seemed to notice.

3.7 in Berkeley last night. 7:12 p.m.

[Update: For those folks unfamiliar with our earth cracks, that tremor (followed by a 2.2 aftershock at 00:55 this morning) was right, smack, dibby-dab on the (affectionately known as "Susan") Hayward fault, it was.]

Labels: bookstores, food, quakes

   posted by Sal Towse at  11:38 AM|| |