MAJOR CATASTROPHIC EARTHQUAKE IN SEPTEMBER 2010!!!

ewmayer · 2009-11-16, 18:03

Someone has been distributing small square paper flyers with the following warning in my area:

Quote:

Major Catastrophic
EARTHQUAKE
COMING
September 2010
In the greatest US ecological & environmental
disaster of the century, all the experts agree.
Severe infrastructure damage to hit !
Banks, Jobs, Gas, Electric, Roadways > Ruined!
..................DO NOT GET TRAPPED!..............
***Be Wise * Play it Safe * Plan Ahead***
All details at 2ww4.blogspot.com
Warning the people, 2ww4 is a non profit, volunteer distribution

My Comment: Where to begin ... "All the experts" apparently does not include numerous folks at the USGS in Menlo Park, California, who appear frequently on our local Bay Area news broadcasts and when asked about this kind of earthquake prediction, pronounce it "bunk". Note that that doesn't make them "right" ... it simply makes them "not experts". Next, the "Banks and Jobs" catastrophe has already occurred, but not as a result of an earthquake. Lastly, on a grammatical note, wouldn't it be the earthquake hitting and *causing* the infrastructure damage? Inquiring minds want to know.

But just to be safe, I suggest readers having any spare cash (or stuff they can sell to raise such) to buy all the land on the side of the various faults opposite that which will fall into the sea.

Seriously, I realize it's natural to be skeptical of loud unsupported claims like the above, but if you visit the 2ww4 website, they really do make some compelling scientific arguments, for example

Quote:

Invasion2Come is the warning of the Invasion of America in WW3 and the Invasion of the Lord Jesus Christ to overthrow the world in WW4. The links above, as well as signs I have received, are an abundant compilation of testimonies of direct downloads from Heaven.

So some geologically influential Hispanic fellow named "Jesus" with megalomaniacal tendencies is going to try to "overthrow the world" next Fall? I trust the keeper of the above blog has notified Homeland Security...

rogue · 2009-11-16, 20:09

They must be competing with the December 2012 folk...

ewmayer · 2009-11-16, 20:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by rogue

They must be competing with the December 2012 folk...

Yeah, but that whole 2012 thing is just an elaborate marketing gimmick for the Hollywood movie, whereas this here 2ww4 "quake before Jesus, your Lord and Master" deal is - as the website assures us - for real.

I expect the scientistically-brainwashed folks will claim that it's just a religio-pretentious prank designed to scare the bejesus (pronounced "bay-HAY-sooss") out of the credulous.

rogue · 2009-11-16, 20:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewmayer

Yeah, but that whole 2012 thing is just an elaborate marketing gimmick for the Hollywood movie, whereas this here 2ww4 "quake before Jesus, your Lord and Master" deal is - as the website assures us - for real.

I expect the scientistically-brainwashed folks will claim that it's just a religio-pretentious prank designed to scare the bejesus (pronounced "bay-HAY-sooss") out of the credulous.

People believe that the world will end in 2012. Read this.

Here are some other predictions for the end of the world:

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/When_is_th...d_going_to_end
http://www.religioustolerance.org/end_wrl18.htm

although these are pretty whacked out. I just love the logic behind some of these predictions.

jasonp · 2009-11-19, 02:56

I don't remember where I read it, but a flat-earther wrote a letter to somone at one of the national labs during the cold war; apparently he was concerned that Soviet nuclear tests would tip the earth their way and everyone would slide off. The gov't employee wrote back that there was nothing to worry about, the US planned equivalent nuclear tests on their side of the earth at the same time. Unfortunately the flat-earther was so gratified that he wrote a glowing letter of commendation to the employee's superiors :)

ewmayer · 2009-12-02, 15:38

At the risk of being seen as just another self-promoting forum (im)moderator, I am sticking this thread. I intend to check back next September - if I am still around to do so, having avoided getting "to hit" by the "major infrastructure damage" or "ruined" like the banks - to see how this whole thing panned out for the perspicacious flyer-distributing prognosticators.

(Since their prediction is so dire it makes me wonder whether we need a new word here, e.g. "negnosticator").

xilman · 2009-12-02, 16:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewmayer

(Since their prediction is so dire it makes me wonder whether we need a new word here, e.g. "negnosticator").

Seems appropriate to me. Etymologically your neologism means "knowledge denier".

It is a Latin-Greek hybrid, though it has good company. Other common examples include "bigamist" and "sociopath".

Paul

ewmayer · 2010-01-07, 18:13

We just had a significant shaker here in Silicon Valley, at around 10:10am PST. Using the seat-of-the-pants estimation method described in this thread, time lag between the P and S-waves roughly 1-2 sec, so I'm guessing it was within 10 miles of my work in Sunnyvale. Guessing ~5.5 for magnitude.

EDIT: And here is what the USGS has to say:

Code:

MAG    DATE    LOCAL-TIME  LAT     LON    DEPTH    LOCATION
        y/m/d     h:m:s     deg     deg     km
 4.1  2010/01/07 10:09:35 37.477N 121.797W  9.0   10 km ( 6 mi) ENE of Milpitas, CA

Hmm, wonder how I was so far off on the estimated magnitude ... perhaps there's a significantly different structural response of my apartment in Cupertino (where I've been for all previously noticeable-to-me quakes) compared to my work (a much larger, airier building).

EDIT 2: When I entered my work address and the geographical coordinates given by the USGS for the quake into Yahoo maps, I got the picture below - if the coordinates are correct, that would place it right next to the Calaveras reservoir, which IIRC lies next to the Calaveras fault:

ATH · 2010-01-07, 21:12

Maybe it's a real time traveller this time coming back to warn us about The big earthquake?

http://www.snopes.com/humor/iftrue/insider.asp

ewmayer · 2010-01-08, 20:07

We had a Mag 3.8 aftershock 15 mins ago, at nearly the identical location, which is also very close to the epicenter of the 30 October 2007 Mag 5.4 quake described in the first link of my post above. It seems to be quite an active fault.

flouran · 2010-01-09, 04:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewmayer

We just had a significant shaker here in Silicon Valley, at around 10:10am PST.

You call 4.1 SIGNIFICANT?!!! lolz

Don't you remember the quake in '89? I would call that significant, but certainly not this one.

2010-01-07, 18:13	#8
ewmayer ∂²ω=0 Sep 2002 República de California 5×2,351 Posts	We just had a significant shaker here in Silicon Valley, at around 10:10am PST. Using the seat-of-the-pants estimation method described in this thread, time lag between the P and S-waves roughly 1-2 sec, so I'm guessing it was within 10 miles of my work in Sunnyvale. Guessing ~5.5 for magnitude. EDIT: And here is what the USGS has to say: Code: MAG DATE LOCAL-TIME LAT LON DEPTH LOCATION y/m/d h:m:s deg deg km 4.1 2010/01/07 10:09:35 37.477N 121.797W 9.0 10 km ( 6 mi) ENE of Milpitas, CA Hmm, wonder how I was so far off on the estimated magnitude ... perhaps there's a significantly different structural response of my apartment in Cupertino (where I've been for all previously noticeable-to-me quakes) compared to my work (a much larger, airier building). EDIT 2: When I entered my work address and the geographical coordinates given by the USGS for the quake into Yahoo maps, I got the picture below - if the coordinates are correct, that would place it right next to the Calaveras reservoir, which IIRC lies next to the Calaveras fault: Attached Thumbnails Last fiddled with by ewmayer on 2010-01-07 at 18:36

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2009-11-16, 20:09	#2
rogue "Mark" Apr 2003 Between here and the 6,959 Posts	They must be competing with the December 2012 folk...

2009-11-19, 02:56	#5
jasonp Tribal Bullet Oct 2004 3²·5·79 Posts	I don't remember where I read it, but a flat-earther wrote a letter to somone at one of the national labs during the cold war; apparently he was concerned that Soviet nuclear tests would tip the earth their way and everyone would slide off. The gov't employee wrote back that there was nothing to worry about, the US planned equivalent nuclear tests on their side of the earth at the same time. Unfortunately the flat-earther was so gratified that he wrote a glowing letter of commendation to the employee's superiors :)

2009-12-02, 15:38	#6
ewmayer ∂²ω=0 Sep 2002 República de California 5×2,351 Posts	At the risk of being seen as just another self-promoting forum (im)moderator, I am sticking this thread. I intend to check back next September - if I am still around to do so, having avoided getting "to hit" by the "major infrastructure damage" or "ruined" like the banks - to see how this whole thing panned out for the perspicacious flyer-distributing prognosticators. (Since their prediction is so dire it makes me wonder whether we need a new word here, e.g. "negnosticator").

2010-01-07, 21:12	#9
ATH Einyen Dec 2003 Denmark 2×17×101 Posts	Maybe it's a real time traveller this time coming back to warn us about The big earthquake? http://www.snopes.com/humor/iftrue/insider.asp

2010-01-08, 20:07	#10
ewmayer ∂²ω=0 Sep 2002 República de California 5·2,351 Posts	We had a Mag 3.8 aftershock 15 mins ago, at nearly the identical location, which is also very close to the epicenter of the 30 October 2007 Mag 5.4 quake described in the first link of my post above. It seems to be quite an active fault.