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4.0 Earthquake Near Concord, California

Posted by timothy on from the live-from-the-scene dept.

craighansen writes: Just felt a small earthquake, which I confirmed at USGS was a magnitude 4.0 at 2015-05-03 22:13:19 UTC, followed by a magnitude 2.7 a minute later, both located near Concord, California.

17 of 128 comments (clear)

  1. A story for those who by justthinkit · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A story for those who don't understand orders of magnitude?

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    1. Re:A story for those who by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 2

      It appears to be strong enough to break the slashdot RSS feed... every link goes to a "Moved Permanently" page with yet another link... the quake must have shifted some bits around in storage...

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    2. Re:A story for those who by Rei · · Score: 3, Funny

      Speak for yourself. My lander was near the epicenter and I lost five crew :( I was aiming for Diablo Canyon to pick up some radioactives but I had to return to orbit to recrew.

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    3. Re:A story for those who by choprboy · · Score: 5, Informative

      A story for those who don't understand orders of magnitude?

      As a former Californian, the magnitude scale goes something like this:
      3.5 - Huh, what? When did that happen?
      4.0 - Ehh, something moved slightly...
      4.5 - Oh, I actually felt that one there.
      5.0 - Heh, that actually qualifies as an earthquake.
      5.5 - Oh boy, we are starting to shake pretty good. Stay away from the glass, this one might be a little rough.
      6.0 - Find a doorway quick and hang on! This one will be rough.
      6.5 - Oh crap, duck and cover! 20sec of destruction, 2 weeks of "The Big One is coming! Are you prepared? Will you die?!" news stories.
      7.0 - Oh $h17!!! This one is going to hurt.
      8.0 - Wait, what? You mean the Big One is real?

      Scale +/-0.5 depending on where you are located in California (i.e. Bay area vs. Inland empire). A 4.0 ranks as barely noticable ...

    4. Re:A story for those who by monkeyzoo · · Score: 4, Informative

      Below are the California earthquakes of equal or greater magnitude (i.e., not much to speak of) this year...
      The point is, a 4.0 earthquale is NOT NEWS! Sorry

      5/3 4.01 in Concord
      4/24 2 quakes at 5.5 off the coast near Eureka
      4/10 4 quakes: 4.5, 4.5, 4.85, & 4.8 off the coast near Eureka
      3/30 4.02 in Baker
      3/27 4.2 near Fresno
      2/14 4.49 near Death Valley
      1/29 4.26 near Eureka
      1/28 2 quakes: 5.14 & 5.6 near Eureka
      1/20 2 quakes: 4.71 & 4.9 near Monterey
      1/14 4.06 near Eureka
      1/4 4.5 near Santa Clarita
      1/1 5.3 off the coast near Eureka

    5. Re:A story for those who by craighansen · · Score: 2

      An expression of caution following a quake "predicts" many more quakes than will really occur, as the probability is still less than 50%. Knowing of increased probability merely opens considerations of what to do during a "cautionary" period - minor adjustments such as lowering speed on the Transbay tunnel, or postponing crane lifts or tower climbs might be the kinds of things to do, but people may well tire of making these adjustments when nothing happens repeatedly. Bringing all life to a screaming halt or evacuating the cities isn't an appropriate response, but expressing relief at small shocks is what got those Italian scientists/bureaucrats convicted (all but one overturned on appeal). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

      I earned some ridicule today because a 4.0 quake wasn't followed by a larger quake - was even adjusted to a 3.6 magnitude. I was surprised when it posted to the front page - I thought it was just a note that might get combined into some other posting - slow news day, I guess. A few thousand people posted to the "I felt it" links on the USGS and similar sites, and enough people pressed "+" on the firehose to outweigh my own personal "-".

  2. Hai Guyz by dohzer · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hai guys I just saw a bird fly past my window at 2015-05-03 22:32:45 UTC, followed by a moth seven minutes later.

    1. Re:Hai Guyz by dissy · · Score: 2

      * Dissy has liked this post.
      * Dissy retweets.
      * Dissy has donated $5 to your kickstarter.

  3. Seriously? by Malenx · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Michigan had a 4.2 earthquake over the weekend and all we posted were memes like http://i.imgur.com/bExOngH.png. You'd think California of all places would be less surprised.

  4. What the... by DigitAl56K · · Score: 2

    Jesus, timothy.

    I just took a shit. It was kind of average as far as shits go. Maybe it's front-page material now though?

  5. Re:Seriously, Why is this a Story? by ColdWetDog · · Score: 2

    Hey, it's not raining at my house. Moreover, we're going to have dinner in a little while.

    Is Slashdot trying to out-twitter Twitter?

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  6. Not news by r.samuel.klatchko · · Score: 3, Informative

    According to the USGS Earthquake Facts and Statistics, there are 13,000 4.0 - 4.9 earthquakes every year (so about 1 every 40 minutes).

  7. ALSO... by monkeyzoo · · Score: 5, Funny

    I looked out the window today in Seattle and saw what looked like water falling from the sky. It was collecting on the ground in puddle and making cars wet. I just consulted the NOAA website and confirmed that there was indeed "precipitation" in the Seattle area. Stay tuned for updates.

  8. 4.0? That's all? by Walter+White · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Pfffft! Michigan had a 4.2 yesterday. http://www.detroitnews.com/sto...

  9. And Northern California Yawns by Kozar_The_Malignant · · Score: 3, Informative

    For those of us who actually live in northern California (where Concord is located), nothing under 5.0 is worthy of notice. Perhaps in Concord, New Hampshire it might be newsworthy.

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  10. Re:Concord gets those all the time .... by Brett+Buck · · Score: 2

    Rain would be a far bigger story.

  11. Oh shit by sootman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I take it no one on Slashdot's esteemed editorial team has every lived in an earthquake area? As a former northern CA resident, I'm here to agree with the others that anything less than a 5.0 is not news. Seriously, if I felt a 4.0 at night, I probably wouldn't even mention it to friends the next day. If they're going to start posting about every 4.0 earthquake, I'll have to leave. There are a lot of those. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/ear...

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