Massive earthquake of Chili coast

Other News and current events
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From the Bad Astronomer:

Blogs / Bad Astronomy « Canis Minor shoots for the sky Magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Chile coast submit to reddit . .

Last night at 06:34 UTC, a huge earthquake struck on the coast of Chile, with a reported magnitude of a numbing 8.8 on the Richter scale — making it one of the largest earthquakes recorded on Earth since 1900.

A tsunami warning has been issued for the entire Pacific ocean. This is no joke; the tsunami gauges in the deep ocean have registered a wave spreading from the quake. I don’t know how big the amplitude is, but there have been confirmed reports of waves a meter high in Chile. That may not sound like much, but water weighs a ton per cubic meter/yard, so a wave that high has a lot of destructive power.

The tsunami should hit Hawaii around 11:05 local time, and it’s not clear at all how big it will be. In 1960, a larger earthquake happened off Chile and a tsunami hit Hilo, Hawaii causing quite a bit of damage. If you live anywhere near a Pacific coast, please check the local news and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. Also, a live stream of news from Hawaii is on HawaiiTsunami.com. I’ve been listening and the coverage is pretty good.

If you live in Hawaii, now might be a good time to check out that higher ground you hear so much about. At the very least, stay away from the beaches! People are already starting to evacuate the coasts, so if you choose to get out, the earlier you get moving, the better. Traffic is bound to get snarled. Please please please don’t panic. Stay calm, and keep focused.

It’s unclear if this will be a big wave or not. But if you’re in Hawaii you should consider moving to higher ground.

Here is a map by the NOAA of the modeled energy wave expected from the earthquake:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/files/2010/02/noaa_2010_quakeenergy.jpg

It’s unclear to me just how big a wave this means in terms of real height (it’s a model, not an actual measurement), but it should bring home that you should take this seriously.

I’ll note that the Richter scale doesn’t translate perfectly to energy released, but roughly speaking an 8.8 quake releases the energy equivalent of 20 billion tons of TNT, or 400 time the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated (Tsar Bomba, a 50 megaton test done by the USSR in 1961). If the measurement hold up, this will be the fifth or sixth strongest earthquake recorded since 1900. The strongest ever recorded, in 1977, was magnitude 9.5, also in Chile.

Source

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Santiago and its six million residents withstood the quake fairly well, according to authorities, although some major churches in the city centre and the international airport sustained serious damage.
This is from the News24 article. These huge natural disasters are always awful to deal with, but what annoys me is that some of our credulous brethren are bound to find some "spiritual significance" in the fact that the only serious damage was to some churches and the airport. Now we are going to hear that "they needed a lesson because they were 'in sin'" or some other similar BS.
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Im expecting the ‘repent, the end is nigh!!!’ cries at any moment.
the Rapture bunch must be having a field day.

They must be stockpiling canned beans and bibles in their bomshelters as we speak.

Now I have been doing some surface research of late, regarding plate tectonics, continental drift, etc. Haiti is situated on the Caribbian plate. Now this poor bugger is being scarped from west to east by it’s nothern cousin, the north american plate, pushed at by the south american plate and cocos plate. so al this tension builds up. and inevitabley, shit happens.

Now Chile sits pretty much on top of the join where the south american plate and the nazca plate joins, and not too far north of where the nazca, south america and antarctic plate meets. each buggering pretty much in its own direction.
so ja, same scenario.

Now, I am hardly a specialist in plate tectonics, but Im sure one can figure, that if pressure builds in one spot, and gets released (earthquake), then other spots of pressure gets even strained more, and kaboom, another earthquake.
this shit happens at such grand scales, that i can barely comprehend the massiveness.

its not god. its nature, and its not mother nature being pissed off at humans neither. its super enormous pieces of earth, scraping against each other, grinding away over and under each other. causing shit as they go.
and continental drift is creepingly slow. like inches at best per year, not discernable to a layman.
so for years, buggeral will happen, then one day. shazam! and the shize goes.

now, apeshit storm in eupose, that can be mother nature being peeved at us. but more likely byproducts of global warming.

if a country had to be punished in equal to their sins, then america would have sunk away in a molten pit of lava yonks ago.
and us south african white sods would have been chowed sif by rampant lions back in the colonialist days.

its not god. its nature. pure and simple. and im waiting for some relious kook to come at me with the end is nigh. what an education it will be!

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@gothcatgirl… you have a unique way with words, I was chuckling right through that very interesting post. :smiley:

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thanx :smiley:
i try.

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This is the warm up for 2012/12/21. We are all going to die! ::slight_smile:

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I’ll go park on the Drakensburg. Apparently that’s the place to be.

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Yup, I agree, beautifully put Gothcatgirl ;D ;D ;D

A Christian on Facebook sent me an invitation to look after the pets (cats/dogs) after the Rapture. He sent it to me because he recons, as an atheist, I won’t be going so I may as well make myself useful and look after domestic animals because they ain’t going on the Rapture either. I sent him this reply: “Sign me up. At least I’ll have better company than before the Rapture.” Hehe.

And oh yes, if the world is going to end we’d better take the advice of the credulous and store up some tinned food. Makes perfect sense that we need to do that in order to survive the friggen end of the entire world, don’t you think? (wtf!!)

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OT: http://www.youvebeenleftbehind.com/services.html

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Went to this site. I at first thought it was a kind of joke-site but then went to their “Statement” tab only to realize these guys are actually being serious. (wtf!!) ;D

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and i bet you they have customers. sigh ::slight_smile:

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This site isn’t a joke either! I wish I’d thought of this first; the idea of siphoning money out of the pockets of the thick and credulous has enormous appeal.

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How do you choose someone to look after your pet after you’ve taken up into the arms of God? Easy, according to the aforementioned site. Here’s the hilarious table:-

Post Rapture Pets
Evaluating Pet Sitters / Others
“Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord”

1st Thessalonians 4:17
Deciding who to leave your pets with can be very confusing. Fortunately, I’ve
come up with a quick way to evaluate potential caretakers.

Each person needs to be evaluated on two dimensions.

  1. Rapture Index
  2. Reliability Index

Fortunately, both of these can be evaluated by knowing only one fact about the
person - their religion. Simply consult the table below to find their Rapture
Index and Reliability and use the following formula.

Suitability Index = Reliability Index * (100 - Rapture Index)

You should try to get several people lined up with high Suitability Indexes, but
for different reasons. For example, you could get an Atheist and a Baptist.
[tr][td]Religion
Rapture
Index
Reliabilit
y Index
Comments
Atheist
0
90
Not going to be Raptured. Will
probably think the whole thing is an
alien abduction. Ask to see PETA
membership card.
Buddhist
0
30
Many Buddhists are Asian and could
consider dogs/cats to be ‘game’
Hindu
0
90
Unlikely to eat pet. It could be their
reincarnated uncle.
Mormon
20
70
‘Extended Family’ makes pet care
easy!
Catholic
30
70
Guilt based reliability. Won’t be
Raptured unless Pope says it’s okay.
Jewish
0/50
80
First number is for Reform Jews.
Second is for Orthodox. Both have
practiced ‘guilt based’ reliability for
thousands of years longer than
Catholic.
Baptist
60
60
Probably will get Raptured and
probably would take care of your pet.
First Baptist
70
50
More likely to be Raptured. May
accidentally drown pet at mass
baptism.
Southern Baptist
80
40
Pretty likely to be Raptured. Will
write strong letter to congressman if
not. Could take frustration out on pet.
Pentecostal
90/100
30/0/100
First number is standard
Pentecostal. Second is for snake
handling version.
The third number is for if your pet is
a snake, and they are snake
handlers.
Satanist
0
0
Not going to be Raptured under any
circumstances. Will be very busy
with ‘Tribulation’ parties. You
probably don’t want your pet going to
one of those.

Sorry, table buggered up, but you get the gist.

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This is the warm up for 2012/12/21. We are all going to die!

Hmm, It would make more sense if it was 2112/12/21, no? We have a hundred more years! Rejoice!

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Yes BoogieMonster, that’s the site this idiot sent me to. I seriously thought he was joking and replied in “joke-mode”. He has since replied in “no-I’m-serious-mode” and I’m gob-smacked. He even asked me if I thought the entire NT was a fraud and I said, in effect, “yes, duh …” I sometimes wish we had no integrity like these Christians, then we, too, could siphon money off these poor ignorant and gullible/credulous people.

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I’m not so sure you’re talking to me steve. But hey, to continue the trend, they can always just call us caring animal-loving atheists:

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just kinda wondering. if the big G made all things. that would include Fluffy and Cuddles. Surely He wouldnt submit them to a slow death of starvation and neglect, when their saved owners ascend into the clouds?
what kind of a sicko mind would put HIs own creations through such a horrible end?
I know the suffering for your faith thing, is quite big with G. Recently enough, like, the holocaust…

But what the hell did the poodles of the world do to deserve being alone in a desolate, and im sure, scorched to shit world. afraid, alone, hungry, cold…
I would burn in hell any day, knowing I could provide a safe, warm, secure home for my pets till the very end. Or at least spare them the agony. and not leave them behind to die of hunger, selfish bastards.
and be it God, or the decrepid little masochist child next door, you hurt my pets, I will kick your ass brother!

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I think atheists would make much better Gods than God >:D
Even the Christian’s other deity, the Devil, would make a better God than God. ;D

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He’s done it before. Remember all the fluffies and cuddles that did not fit onto Noah’s ark?

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Fixed that for you and…

fixed that too…

God is a right bastard. This we know. Nevermind all the animals, if God created atheists, what about us then?