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These geektastic electronic musicians play the kind of songs that make you want to click your left mouse button excessively while nerding out online.
They have a style all their own, part electronic, part hip hop, with some nerdcore rapping thrown in. Their songs would make the ultimate soundtrack for nearly every video game ever made, plus you can dance to it!.
Speaking of video games, this time around the trio plays their own version of the song Earthquake by Labrinth using an app game called Grabatron.
It’s catchy, rugged enough to appeal to the hip hop heads that might get an earful, and I would have played their tracks non-stop in my walkman back in the day, as I worked at getting my initials on the high score pages of my fav arcade games. Geeks up, schmucks down!
–via GeeksAreSexy
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In 1968, the town of Gibellina in Sicily, Italy, was destroyed by an earthquake. Its residents decided to rebuild the town in a nearby (and hopefully more stable) location, thus turning the original site into a ghost town.
That's where art stepped in. Juergen of the travel blog for91days wrote
Between 1985 and 1989, a Sicilian artist named Alberto Burri used the old city’s ruins as the canvas for his most audacious work of modern sculpture. The resulting concrete cemetery is a bold piece of art, a comment on death, and a moving tribute to the devastated city.
Burri covered the streets of Old Gibellina with concrete, preserving the layout of the blocks. Walking around his monument is unsettling. You’re not just standing on the gravestone of a city, but actually tracing the lines of its corpse. Block after block of grey concrete rises from the concrete ground, like the ghosts of buildings. They’re high enough to peer over, so that the rest of the graves are always visible, along with the verdant valley stretching out into the distance.
See more pics: Link - Thanks Juergen!
Seismic measurements recorded on August 23rd during the earthquake centered in Virginia show how the shock wave traveled across the USA. If you didn’t feel it, it was because the movements measured are very small.
What you’re seeing here are vertical displacement measurements from an array of detectors that are part of the USArray/EarthScope facility (you can read more about the array and the animation on the IRIS website). These are very sensitive instruments; note the scale on the lower graph showing the motion is only about 40 microns top-to-bottom! That’s less than the thickness of a human hair.
Read more at Bad Astronomy Blog. Link -via Metafilter
Did
animals know that the 5.8-magnitude earthquake was to hit the East Coast
before it happened? Maybe so, according to zoo keepers:
Behavior ranged from jumping into trees and "vocalizing," to banding together.
Red ruffed lemurs sounded a distinct high-pitched barking about 15 minutes before the quake, and then again after the shaking stopped.
Apes, including the orangutan Kyle and the Western lowland gorilla Kojo, abandoned feeding-time chow seconds before humans felt the quake and climbed to the top of a "tree-like structure."The easy-going pandas "did not appear to respond to the earthquake," zoo officials said. Also in the Great Ape House, the orangutan Iris began what zoo keepers describe as "belch vocalizing" before and after the quake. They describe the sound as an unhappy noise normally reserved for "extreme irritation."
And just before the quake, the zoo's flock of 64 flamingoes gathered close together in a "tight, flocking behavior," Moore said.
They looked, he said, "like a big pink ball."
The East Coast is still recovering from a less-than-devastating earthquake that shook walls, knocked stuff over on desks and generally didn’t do a whole lot of damage. The folks over at BuzzFeed have gathered together a gallery of images that shows just how simple it will be for the folks on the East Coast to recover from the kind of tremor that Californians feel on a weekly basis. Damage caused by an earthquake has never been so hilarious!
Link Image via Ashley Colassard
Hurricanes in the east, earthquakes in the west and tordanoes in the middle. Where should you live to avoid natural disasters?
Matthew Ericson, Joe Burgess and Bill Marsh of The New York Times created this infographic guide to find the safest and most dangerous places to live in America:
The analysis below, by Sperling’s Best Places, a publisher of city rankings, is an attempt to assess a combination of those risks in 379 American metro areas. Risks for twisters and hurricanes (including storms from hurricane remnants) are based on historical data showing where storms occurred. Earthquake risks are based on United States Geological Survey assessments and take into account the relative infrequency of quakes, compared with weather events and floods. Additional hazards included in this analysis: flooding, drought, hail and other extreme weather.
So, where should you live? The metro areas with lowest risk:
The highest risk:
Our hearts go out to the tornado victims in Joplin, Missouri, and in Oklahoma, which happened just weeks after the deadly twisters that struck six southern states. It makes one wonders, what's up with all these tornadoes?
Weather experts were at a loss to explain the deadly flurry of tornadoes, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it had found no link between the recent storms and climate change. Environmentalists disagree. Is global warming to blame?
In old Japan, myth has it that earthquakes are caused by a giant catfish (namazu). After the Great Ansei Earthquake of 1855 which hit Edo (now Japan Tokyo), a new type of color woodblock print blaming the fish became popular. Pink Tentacle explains:
These prints featured depictions of mythical giant catfish (namazu) who, according to popular legend, caused earthquakes by thrashing about in their underground lairs. In addition to providing humor and social commentary, many prints claimed to offer protection from future earthquakes.
The Japanese are just a different breed altogether. Not only was there very little looting after the big earthquake and tsunami, their mafia groups are now also helping out with the relief effort!
Hours after the first shock waves hit, two of the largest crime groups went into action, opening their offices to those stranded in Tokyo, and shipping food, water, and blankets to the devastated areas in two-ton trucks and whatever vehicles they could get moving.
The day after the earthquake the Inagawa-kai (the third largest organized crime group in Japan which was founded in 1948) sent twenty-five four-ton trucks filled with paper diapers, instant ramen, batteries, flashlights, drinks, and the essentials of daily life to the Tohoku region.
An executive in Sumiyoshi-kai, the second-largest crime group, even offered refuge to members of the foreign community—something unheard of in a still slightly xenophobic nation, especially amongst the right-wing yakuza.
The Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan’s largest crime group, under the leadership of Tadashi Irie, has also opened its offices across the country to the public and been sending truckloads of supplies, but very quietly and without any fanfare.
The first use of the word “tsunami” in an English language publication was in the September 1896 issue of National Geographic Magazine. Eliza Ruhama Scidmore used the Japanese term to describe what we used to call a tidal wave or (more correctly) an earthquake wave.
Scidmore’s article in National Geographic gave the world a gripping insight into the horror of the 1896 tsunami. A few survivors, who saw it advancing in the darkness, reported its height as 80 to 100 feet, she wrote.
“With a difference of but thirty minutes in time between the southern and northern points, it struck the San-Riku coast and in a trice obliterated towns and villages.”
In what today looks like an eery precursor of the 2011 tsunami in the same part of Japan, the 1896 wave “washed away and wrecked 9,313 houses, stranded some larger craft–steamers, schooners, and junks–and crushed or carried away 10,000 fishing boats…Thousands of acres of arable land were turned to wastes, projecting rocks offshore were broken, overturned, or moved hundreds of yards, shallows and bars were formed, and in some localities the entire shoreline was changed,” Scidmore reported.
Read more about the 1896 disaster at NatGeo Newswatch. Link -Thanks, Marilyn!
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Dark Roasted Blend has a mega-post on earthquakes and tsunamis -not only the recent disaster in Japan, but earthquakes from other times and places as well. There are photographs, an explanation of how and why earthquakes and tsunamis happen, and diagrams showing how the U.S. is under threat of a big earthquake as well. Link
(Image credit: Japan Times)
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Buzzfeed has collected 41 art projects to raise money for disaster relief in Japan all into one post. Most incorporate the rising sun from the national flag as a motif to represent Japan, although some use Japanese pop culture icons to get the idea across. My favorite (although it is difficult to select just one) is this Red Cross robot lifting the sun, available on a t-shirt. Link
Amazing, indeed. The picture on the left is dated 3/11. The picture on the right is dated 3/15. Meanwhile, a stretch of highway near my home was repaved in only 18 months. If you can read this post in Japanese, maybe you could give us more details. Link -via reddit
To help us understand earthquakes after the big one in Japan, Smithsonian has republished an article about how scientists study earthquakes of the past to predict and prepare for future quakes. Past disasters left clues behind, like dead cedar trees in Washington state.
In one of the more remarkable feats of modern geoscience, researchers have pinpointed the date, hour and size of the cataclysm that killed these cedars. In Japan, officials had recorded an “orphan” tsunami—unconnected with any felt earthquake— with waves up to ten feet high along 600 miles of the Honshu coast at midnight, January 27, 1700. Several years ago, Japanese researchers, by estimating the tsunami’s speed, path and other properties, concluded that it was triggered by a magnitude 9 earthquake that warped the seafloor off the Washington coast at 9 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on January 26, 1700. To confirm it, U.S. researchers found a few old trees of known age that had survived the earthquake and compared their tree rings with the rings of the ghost forest cedars. The trees had indeed died just before the growing season of 1700.
Although earthquakes still cannot be predicted accurately, the body of data is growing that may lead to better forecasts. Link
(Image credit: Brian Smale)
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Many who are shocked and saddened by the devastation in Japan don’t know anyone in the country. But we all know Maru. Link -via Buzzfeed
Japan was hit with a massive earthquake (magnitude 8.9 - that's the equivalent of 336 megatons of TNT), which has in turn triggered tsunami in the Pacific Ocean.
Coverage: BBC | CNN | ABC News (Yes, not neat, but wow. Stay safe, guys.)
Phil Johnson, a homeowner in New Zealand, has put a rock up for sale. The rock found its way to his home during the recent earthquake in the Christchurch area.
For sale 1 owner 25 – 30 tonne landscape feature (answers to the name Rocky) …
He is in pristine condition (just a little bit of concrete dust). Suitable for garden feature, or as in our case a magnificent addition to your living area.
Rocky will enhance your “indoor outdoor” flow considerably, especially if you load him in through the garage roof like we did.
The other pictures at the auction site are just as interesting. The Q&A section is priceless! Humor aside, the proceeds from this particular auction go to the Christchurch Earthquake Relief Fund. The current bid is $8,000. Link -Thanks, Phil Fahey!
1. The first recorded earthquake was in China in 1177 B.C.E.
2. China is also the birthplace of the seismograph. Built in 132 C.E. by a man named Cheng Heng, it consisted of eight metal dragons holding eight carved balls over eight frog figurines. If an earthquake made the ground vibrate, the dragon facing the quake’s source would (naturally) drop a ball into the mouth of its corresponding frog.
3. Of course, it didn’t really work.
4. But it did look cool.
(Image credit: Flickr user Muséum de Toulouse)
5. While dragons aren’t that good at predicting earthquakes, other animals might be. According to ancient reports, critters in the Greek city of Helice headed for the hills just before a massive quake leveled the city in 373 B.C.E.
6. There’s some modern evidence, as well. In 1975, Chinese officials evacuated Haiching days before a massive earthquake, based both on warnings from seismologists and the strange behavior of local pets.
7. Before leaving Alabama, Shawnee leader Tecumseh told a Creek chief, “I …shall go straight to Detroit. When I arrive there, I will stamp on the ground with my foot, and shake down every house in Tuckhabatchee.” Coincidentally (or was it?), he arrived in Detroit on December 16, 1811, the day of the New Madrid earthquake- the largest ever recorded in the contiguous United States.
8. The most violent earthquake ever measured in the world hit Chile in 1960, coming in at a terrifying 9.5 on the Richter scale.
9. The atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, was “only” considered a 5 on the Richter scale.
10. In theory, a quake can actually measure 11, or even higher. The formula for the Richter scale has no upper limit.
11. Speaking of Charles Richter, the American scientist was supposedly an avid nudist. Rumors persist that his wife was so distressed by his penchant for hanging out in the buff that she divorced him because of it.
(Image credit: Flickr user dullhunk)
12. One guy not to trust for earthquake predictions? British soldier William Bell. In 1761, right after two earthquakes uncannily hit England exactly 28 days apart, Bell smelled opportunity. He claimed a follow-up quake would be hitting the country four weeks later. Accounts depict Bell runnning through the streets of London ranting about the impending destruction. Amazingly, it worked. Folks were so panicked that hundreds actually slept in boats on the Thames thinking it would be safer than their homes. Luckily, the quake never hit. But Bell quickly lost his street cred and eventually ended up in an insane asylum.
13. In early 2001, FEMA prophetically listed the three most likely disasters to hit America: a terrorist attack on New York (check), a hurricane in New Orleans (check), and a massive earthquake in San Francisco. Nervous yet?
__________________________
The article above is reprinted from Scatterbrained section of the May- June 2007 issue of mental_floss magazine.
Be sure to visit mental_floss‘ website and blog for more fun stuff!
Most photographs of earthquakes depict damage to buildings and roads, or fissures in the earth. The one above is most unusual. On April 4, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck northern Mexico and the Baja region just south of the U.S. border.
Brothers traveling in Mexico during Sunday’s deadly earthquake photographed this surreal sight: The power of the quake lifting a layer of dust off a mountain range. “We felt the truck shake and the roads cracking,” Roberto wrote to NBCSanDiego. “We stopped and looked at the big hills, and the force of the quake shook the mountains and dust stared to come up.”
Link, via Found Here. Photo credit Roberto and Adrian Marquez Marquez.
“In 1905, an unknown cameraman filmed a streetcar trip along San Francisco’s Market Street. The following year, the Great Earthquake struck, and he filmed the trip again. This is a five-minute silent film that edits together excerpts of his two films. Footage from the Prelinger Archives, edited by Matt Lake.”
Perhaps the more startling aspect of the video to a modern viewer is the realization that a century ago people walked, ran, drove, rode bicycles and horses wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted in the streets. The first electric traffic lights weren’t invented until a decade after these segments were filmed.
Via ArchaeoBlog.
The 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile apparently had some profound effects on this giant spinning rock we live on. NASA calculated that the figure axis, along which Earth’s mass is balanced, shifted by about eight centimeters.
Perhaps more impressive is how much the quake shifted Earth’s axis. Gross calculates the quake should have moved Earth’s figure axis (the axis about which Earth’s mass is balanced) by 2.7 milliarcseconds (about 8 centimeters, or 3 inches). Earth’s figure axis is not the same as its north-south axis; they are offset by about 10 meters (about 33 feet).
It also disrupted the Earth’s rotation, shortening each day by 1.26 microseconds. No worries, though, because at that rate we shouldn’t notice any real effects for a while, but in 500 (edit by Alex 3/3/10 – more like 25 million) years or so, sunrise will be around 10:30 PM. Link
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by 
You might remember the picture of Disaster Girl that was a popular meme a couple of years ago. Jack Shepherd at Buzzfeed called the child pictured here “Disaster Girl’s evil grandma”. She is actually Flickr user Nathan Callahan’s mother, pictured after the Long Beach earthquake of 1933. Link -via Buzzfeed
Some residents in the Upper Midwest were surprised to be shaken by an earthquake last night.
The United States Geological Survey reported that the earthquake, which had an estimated magnitude of 4.3, was centered near Virgil, about 50 miles northwest of Chicago, at a depth of about three miles. There were no immediate reports of aftershocks… Amy Vaughan, a geophysicist with the agency, said that the tremor was only the second notable earthquake in more than 30 years to rattle the area. Even though the quake was relatively small, it was felt by residents as far away as southern Wisconsin…
One of the best sources for information on earthquakes is the U. S. Geological Survey; the map above shows that earthquakes are common along the Pacific coast, but in just the past week they have also been recorded near the New Madrid fault and in New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas, and the Rockies. A comparable map of world earthquakes is available at the same link.
This amazing footage is from an Arcata, California news station. We don’t know why a dog was in the news room, but the canine knew something was up several seconds before any humans could feel the earthquake that shook northern California on Saturday.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Geekazoid.
How do you earthquake-proof a building? Apparently it involves allowing the building to shake in a controlled fashion. Clay Dillow explains one new use of this approach:
A research team led by Stanford and the University of Illinois successfully tested a structural system that holds a building together through a magnitude-seven earthquake, and even pulls it back upright on its foundation when the quaking stops. The key: embracing the shaking, by limiting the damage to a few flexible, replaceable areas within the building’s frame.
When a quake strikes, the new system dissipates energy through steel frames in the building’s core and exterior. These frames are free to rock up and down within fittings fixed at their bases. Steel tendons made from twisted steel cables run the length of each frame, keeping the frames from moving so much that the building could shear. When the quake stops, these tensile tendons pull the frames back down into the “shoes” at their bases, returning the building to its plumb, upright position.
So where does all that energy go? At the base of each frame is a flexible steel “fuse” that takes the brunt of the force, keeping the frame and constituent tendons from shouldering the entire load. The fuses are easily replaceable when they blow — just like an electrical fuse — so after a quake, the building can be refitted with fresh fuses for its next bout with Earth’s occasional tectonic fits.
Earthquake-prone Japan has a market for these suits that you strap onto your cats and dogs so that they can survive for days after a major earthquake. Each suit contains all of the necessary gear including water, biscuits, aromatherapy oils, and rubber foot pads, all contained in the pockets of a flame-resistant coat.
Link (in Japanese) via Rinkya via Popped Culture
Today, Japanese scientists are going to shake a six-story wood frame building on a table to simulate a 7.5 Richter scale earthquake and evaluate its effects on the structure:
“We’re taking it to an earthquake level that’s associated with being on the verge of collapse,” said civil engineer Michael Symans of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, who helped design the test building. “We don’t expect it to collapse, but we expect it to be very vulnerable to a strong aftershock that could cause it to collapse.”
The 23-unit condo building currently sits on the world’s largest shake table, a 50-by-60-foot structure in Miki, Japan. The table will simulate the motions of the 1994 earthquake in Northridge, California, amplified about 1.5 times. Sensors on each floor of the building will record motion and detect internal damage, generating valuable data about how wooden structures perform in a quake.
You can watch the webcast live at 11 AM EDT today.
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