FROM JC

Yesterday we covered the Japanese earthquake and mentioned its coincidental proximity to the near-record solar flares. It turns out that America experienced coast-to-coast earthquakes as well, just smaller ones. But they were still dramatic.

On the East Coast, ABC-7 New York ran a story yesterday headlined, “1.7 magnitude earthquake jolts residents awake in Roosevelt Island, Queens.” While no property was damaged by the small shaker, there were loud booms, power outages, and a shocking tsunami of exploding manhole covers:

Media reports described the Manhattan earthquake as rare.

Washington DC was also hit by a small but sort of terrifying 2.3 magnitude, middle-of-the-night quake, as reported by local WTOP News in an article headlined, “Geologist explains the ‘very scary’ earthquake felt by Maryland, DC residents.” Residents who noticed reported hearing sonic booms and feeling disquieting house movement around 1am.

On the West Coast, closer to the edge of a tectonic plate, parts of California were shaken a little bit harder, as reported by the UK Independent in yesterday’s article headlined, “Earthquake shakes California with 4.1 magnitude tremor on New Year’s Day.” The quake occurred just offshore near Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

Japan, Manhattan, DC, California. It almost makes you think the whole world was affected by something that can cause earthquakes, which could not possibly be carbon dioxide or cow farts. Well, it would take a truly earth-flattening level of flatulence, which we’d probably notice. So I doubt it.

Weird!