ELB wrote:AlaskanInTexas wrote:
I've seen this joke a lot over the last day and understand the spirit of it, but if an earthquake were to move the ground enough to knock over that chair, buildings would be on the ground.
Well, maybe. I can look at one of those cheap plastic chairs and it will fall over. Even (or especially) if I am sitting in it.
I was about 9 miles from the Northridge earthquake epicenter, and saw a lot of strange stuff in that one, and in the many aftershocks. For instance, later that day I was out in the yard when I saw water leaping out of a five gallon pail straight up into the air about two feet. It was so unnatural looking that I was astounded -- it looked like something out of a Exorcist movie. I could not see any reason for it. Then I heard my house very gently creaking and realized it was an aftershock, but I could not feel it myself when I was standing on the ground. If I was in the house, I could feel the shock, as the house very slightly swayed I guess, but standing on grass-covered ground - no. Earthquakes are peculiar events.
I was living in Pasadena when the Northridge quake hit. That apartment building that pancaked into the underground garage that they kept showing on TV is where a coworker of mine lived. She went to bed on the 2nd floor, and woke up on the first.