Goodnight Irene

Jeff Masters, a meteorologist at the Weather Underground website, said the New Jersey shore could be especially hard hit. Waves as high as 15 to 20 feet (4.5 to 6 meters) could batter the Jersey coast, causing serious damage in a region that's not used to hurricanes.

"They just don't get these kinds of events there," Masters said. "I anticipate a lot of damage along the New Jersey coastline."

God, I hope Irene signals an end to that inane TV show - "Jersey Shores".
That would be a constructive result of this minor (Category-1) hurricane.

"Let's all be careful out there!"

OMG! - A new post! The Virginia quake

Yesterday's (2011-08-23) 5.8 mag quake in Virginia produced this interesting video that actually shows the seismic wave moving across North America. (for more info click HERE)

Just to keep things in perspective, the 9.0 quake that hit Japan on March 11th was over 1,000,000,000 (one billion) times stronger at the epicenter. Every whole number increase in magnitude is 1,000 times stronger than the lower whole number.
I've read that there is an identified fault that crosses the mid-line of Manhattan Island with the potential of generating a 6.5 quake. I don't know when (or if) NYC has upgraded their building codes to account for this hazard but it is easily conceivable that if/when it does occur the structural loss within the city could easily be in the 78%-90% range. The regional effect would be devastating, with major damage extending over a far greater range than we typically have in California.
Oh, yeah. In California a 5.8 is what considered "coffee stirring strength."  Nothing to get excited about. Feces occurs.

"Let's all be careful out there!"