earthquakes

As ghouls swished gently over my head, it was as if the floor was shaking.

No, wait, that was the floor shaking.

At first I wasn't sure if 3D movie technology had advanced even further than I thought. But it turns out that Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas wasn't supposed to be that scary.

The crowd at San Francisco's Sony Metreon mall took the 30 seconds of rolling in stride, but there were all sorts of whispered queries as to whether that was the movie or an earthquake.

And when the lights came on after … Read more

It was only because I was changing my son's diaper at 8:04 PM tonight that I wasn't online immediately after the house stopped shaking. But when it did, and I did, and the boy was asleep, and the house was checked for damage (none), and the wife was confirmed OK, what's the first thing I did? I went to the USGS Web site to see what had happened and to Twitter (via Snitter) to see how my friends were doing.

As I've written before, disasters are social, and Twitter is a great social platform for … Read more

A few weeks back we thought we'd stumbled across the ultimate gadget for the seismically obsessed with the "GraGraph" personal Richter scale. But already there's another on the drawing board that does it one better--it's portable.

If it ever becomes a reality, Citizen's "Seismic Watch" concept may be the first earthquake detector that can be strapped to the wrist, according to OhGizmo. Yet given the nerve-wracking way it works, it might do more harm than good by causing a heart attack: Once a quake has been predicted, the watch automatically switches to … Read more

If you live in Kansas, the Japanese obsession with earthquake-detection devices might seem a bit insane. But we can guarantee they'll be of interest to anyone from California or other parts of the world where fault lines run free.

Usually, the gadgets we've seen claim to give some kind of early warning--and are therefore of dubious value. The unpronounceable "GraGraph," however, seems more realistic: It supposedly indicates the Richter-scale strength of a temblor as it's occurring in real time, according to SCI FI Tech. That's something people might actually buy, as evidenced by … Read more

Here's something that makes especially good sense whether you live in a cramped studio apartment or a mansion in earthquake country.

The LCD desk mount saves space and will make sure you never break another computer monitor--at least not by knocking it onto the floor, accidentally or otherwise. The device is affixed to the edge of a desk or even to the lip of those unsightly holes left for cables and wires. The biggest plus of all, as far as we're concerned, is that it supposedly requires no tools.

The mount, which can handle screens up to 24 … Read more

Escape from New Orleans, a topic for scientific inquiry--and who better to study the problem than a scientist at Louisiana State University? Now Brian Wolshon has gotten a federal grant to continue his research. In an emergency, how do you get people out of town?

Even back before Katrina hit, the folks at LSU were thinking about disasters and the incumbent evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people.

Computer modeling developed at Los Alamos National Lab will be used in a new effort to understand, plan and predict evacuation. And the variables are daunting. Just try predicting the kind of … Read more

Even if the world is crumbling around you in a massive earthquake, there's no reason to lose your fashion sense in the rubble. You can still be the best-accessorized refugee in the bunker or tent city with one of these quake detectors from Japan's Ubukata Industries.

I4U News says these devices, which also double as smoke detectors, are equipped with sensors that will warn of temblors with magnitudes of 5 or more. (For those of you outside earthquake country, anything beyond 6.5 or so will likely give you religion in a hurry.) At $124 it's not … Read more

Being firmly ensconced in earthquake country, Crave has always taken a keen interest in anything that claims to provide early warning--or any warning--before The Big One hits.

And just our luck, Tokyomango gives us a two-fer that addresses our twin obsessions of quakes and technology with an item titled "Super Multifunctional Earthquake Detecting Device." We're not exactly sure how it's supposed to detect earthquakes, but it apparently has plenty to help keep you occupied while you wait for one, including a radio, an LED flashlight and a charger for multiple devices.

But if you're … Read more

Those of you who don't live in earthquake country may scoff at these, but Californians will understand their need all too well.

These devices, which Akihabara News says are common in Japan, are meant to secure your desk and computer equipment in the event of some major shaking. The pads and brackets supposedly work "without glue or nails," but we're not sure what kind of mechanism is used to keep them in place. (Velcro won't help much in a 7+ magnitude quake, as we saw in San Francisco.)

They might not be the most attractive … Read more