It just floors me how many people in the country today have absolutely no sense of humor.....I mean NONE. A story was posted in the "Breaking News" section of the online version of the local paper....about a 3.2 earthquake in the Ducktown, TN area along US64. Here's what transpired:
DUCKTOWN, TN -- A minor earthquake rattled the mountainous area of southeastern Tennessee, western North Carolina and northern Georgia on Saturday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
The 3.2-magnitude temblor happened about 11 a.m. Saturday. Its epicenter was located about 55 miles east of Chattanooga, near the town of Ducktown.
Becky Cearley, a dispatcher with the Polk County Sheriff's Department, described the incident as "pretty intense."
"It shook the whole entire building for what seemed like forever, but it was just a matter of seconds," she said. She said she received no reports of damage or injuries.
A dispatcher with the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office in North Carolina, just east of the epicenter, also said there were no reports of damage or injuries, but a couple of people did call wondering what had happened.
The U.S. Geological Survey received reports of light shaking as far away as Gainesville, Ga., about 60 miles to the south.
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COMMENTS
Posted by 14Liberty on 08/01/09
>>>It shook the whole entire building...
What did she expect it to do? Shake one part of the building and leave the other alone?
Posted by GhostBear on 08/01/09
3.2 is a nice little jiggle but it really isn't "intense"...moved here from Alaska...earthquakes there are intense.
Posted by jakey09 on 08/01/09
i am in blue ridge, ga with my family for the weekend, and we all felt it this morining. it really want that intense where we are, and it only lasted for maybe 10 seconds. at first we didnt even realize it was an earthqauke at first.
Posted by 5by8cell on 08/01/09
14Liberty,
I hope the "14" is your age. It would shed light on your obvious emotional and intellectual immaturity. We could chalk your judgemental comments up to the usual fact that your parents aren't giving you enough attention.
Either way I hope you get a "feel good" by imagining yourself above everyone else because those digs usually come back around and bite.
If you are a minor - grow up! If you are an adult - don't waste our time with your belittling comments.
Oh yes, and good luck on YOUR judgement day!
Sincerely,
Member 826
Mean people removal squad
Posted by GhostBear on 08/01/09
I thought 14Liberty's comment was actually kind of funny....
"Lighten up Francis" - Sgt Hulka
Posted by asimpleplan on 08/01/09
I heard there was a Krispy Kreme convention up there.
Posted by asimpleplan on 08/01/09
Hot and Now, everyone run!
Posted by vandenplas on 08/02/09
I agree with GhostBear, I thought 14Liberty's comment was hilarious!
Posted by mgenkit on 08/02/09
Unless you're used to them, earthquakes can be scary - especially if they're in zones where the building codes aren't designed for them. Huntsville's had its share of them, both man-made in the 60's with the almost-daily rocket test-firing going on at the Arsenal, and from the New Madrid fault running along the Mississippi river. There were a couple of actual quakes from the fault that everybody thought were just test-firings during that time.
Huntsville actually CAUSED a quake that was felt over the entire Eastern half of the country in October of 68 due to the first stage of the Saturn V rocket in the Davidson Center doing a full-duration launch test-firing of the 5 F-1 engines that went up as Apollo 4. It was felt into the Great Lakes, to the East Coast, almost down to Cape Canaveral (would have given them a little warning of what to expect vibration-wise when Apollo 4 launched later) and halfway through Texas. Heard past the Mississippi, past the Kentucky/Tennessee line, to the Gulf Coast of Alabama and past Atlanta. Next day Washington called and said "Thou shalt not test-fire on a cloudy or high-humidity day." It had busted windows for hundreds of miles, and Nasa had to pay for them all! The affected area was all under the same cloud cover and allowed everything to bounce off the clouds and amplify vibration and sound farther than normal. It would cause them 100 grand not to test fire after that, but they obeyed the injunction.
Huntsville's building codes are not quake-minded, so if we ever get a really good one from New Madrid like the geologists are saying we're overdue for, you're gonna see all of those houses the idiot developers built on the sides of the mountains come sliding down because NONE of them are ANCHORED to the side of the mountain drilled down into the bedrock. And even if they were, the wood framing would snap, they're built so shoddily.
There's only a thin layer of unstable soil on top of limestone bedrock, and when that soil starts sliding - and it will - vibrated loose, there goes the neighborhood! And a lot of others are going to collapse as well because of shoddy construction from these bloody developers and their contractors throwing houses up and not doing a good job of it. And any houses left standing after the initial one could get taken down by the subsequent tremors that always follow the monsters.
And the overpasses on the Parkway and the bridges over the Tennesee River will probably give way as well - they're not designed for quakes, either.
And downtown Huntsville's literally liable to get swallowed up because it's sitting on not one, but TWO caverns, one on top of the other, and a good 6-8 richter scale quake would be enough to cause the floor to buckle under the courthouse (it's got a whale of a load on it!) and whups, there goes downtown.
I just hope this potential disaster waits until I'm on the other side.
Posted by 5by8cell on 08/02/09
Finally! A comment directly connected with the news-worthiness of the article.
A bit unsettling to read your findings, mgenkit, but thank you for sharing your knowledge.
I doubt the Krispy Kreme folks are having any convention, asimpleplan, given their state of financial woes. Unfortunately like most things people love about the South (manners included) they may soon be a part of our past.
I am curious. Would this backlash directed at one innocent comment be so funny if the same comment were made by a survivor of the World Trade Center attacks? Or perhaps a midwest farmer forced to ascend to his roof just prior to feeling his "entire house" shaking by the onset of a rising river as it rushes by and takes everything he owns.
Please don't miss the point folks. "Lightening up" and encouraging such behavour will be our eventual downfall. Each time we chose not to care, not to engage, not to stand up hardens our souls and dims the honorable light within us.
Think about this the next time you "moo" your way along with the herd towards the house we do not speak of in the presence of cattle! Don't take that plunge from a bridge your parent so wisely warned you about (for those readers over the age of 40???).
Empower those who use it to lift others up - not themselves above others..... ya'll
Please do not hesitate to correct me if I have misspelled "ya'll."
Off to my next soap box... chao!
Posted by ghostbear on 08/02/09
5by8cell.....I hate to tell you this ....get over yourself. I lived in Alaska, you rememer the Good Friday earthquake......3.2 is nothing. Next time you are at WalMart see if they have a sense of humor in your size.
Posted by ghostbear on 08/02/09
@mgenkit....a 6.0-8.0 earthquake will cause damage ANYWHERE regardless of the building codes. I know, I moved here from Alaska....the land of 'quakes. I lived less than 1/2 mile from a faultline. Good grief...you and 5by8 need to stop "preaching" at everybody and grow a sense of humor.
Posted by ghostbear on 08/02/09
Oh....mgenkit.....can you provide references for your claim that the Saturn V test fire causes an earthquake? I can't find references to it anywhere. I DID find the event of 11/9/1967 at MERRITT ISLAND, FL that caused an earthquake in the wildlife refuge. It was NOT in Huntsville....I was here in 1967 and sure don't remember anything you describe. http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4205/ch9-5.html
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