Earthquakes and California attitude

being born and raised in California, it has long been a source of amusement to me the fear, dread, and sometimes terror, that many transplants to the Golden State feel about earthquakes. While not foolproof, it's often a way of identifying people not really from California, much like people who say "Cali". (Note to those from California: if you were born here, and raised here for any significant portion of your life, and you still say "Cali", well, you're stupid.)

Many of us from California regard earthquakes, both as potential threat, and when they happen, as something to be fairly glib about. Now, don't misunderstand me here: people who have lived through the 1989 Loma Prieta quake (which interrupted the start of Game 3 of the Bay Bridge World Series), or Northridge quakes, probably feel somewhat differently about them, likely similar to people who live in the high desert of southern California, which gets earthquakes pretty constantly. But those of us in most of California tend to find the idea of earthquakes borderline entertaining.

So this morning, I felt what I thought was an earthquake at 11:47am. I'm going to go ahead and admit the slightly embarassing circumstances that probably made it possible for me to feel this particular seismic event: I had only recently woken up, and was sitting on the toilet, reading.

I felt like the toilet (and, by extension, me) were wobbling forward and backward, and I looked down at a water bottled that was sitting on a perch of several books on the floor, in whcih the water was sloshing around a bit. By the time I looked at my watch, it was basically over.

So, Dr. Smartypants, who likes to follow earthquakes, soon after came upstairs to chat, and I sent her down to check on this potential earthquake. Sure enough, there was a magnitude 4.8 earthquake 5 miles N-NW of Tahoe Vista, California at 11:45:58am, about 95 miles away as the crow flies.

Whoopee! I was right! See what I mean? It's just fun to feel earthquakes here most of the time.

Sure enough,