Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Virginia earthquake rattles East Coast



Washington (CNN) -- The second most powerful earthquake in Virginia's recorded history was felt Tuesday by millions on the East Coast and prompted evacuations of office buildings and the closing of monuments in the nation's capital.

No major injuries or damage were immediately reported after the 5.8-magnitude earthquake, which struck about 40 miles northwest of Richmond. A surge in calls by cell-phone users affected service in many areas, federal officials said.

"It's one of the largest that we've had there," said U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones.

Magnitude-2.8 and -2.2 aftershocks were recorded later in the afternoon, with others possible in coming weeks, officials said.

Most federal buildings in Washington had reopened by late Tuesday afternoon, but officials were taking all precautions before giving the all-clear to some of its most iconic structures.

A helicopter inspected the Washington Monument and it was found to be structurally sound, the National Park Service said. The grounds were being reopened late Tuesday afternoon, but not the plaza and monument itself.

U.S. Park Police spokesman David Schlosser said to his eye, the monument was "clearly not leaning. It's standing tall and proud."

The Lincoln Memorial and Jefferson Memorial may reopen later Tuesday.

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A number of buildings were evacuated as far away as North Carolina and New York, witnesses reported.

The quake, which struck at 1:51 p.m., was shallow -- just 3.7 miles deep -- and was located 88 miles southwest of Washington near the town of Mineral, Virginia. The magnitude was initially reported as 5.8, then revised to 5.9, and then revised again back to 5.8.

Those unaccustomed to West Coast earthquakes were left wondering whether all that rumbling could have been caused by a truck, helicopter or some other force.

Kate Duddy was in an office building elevator in Manhattan, alone, when the shaking started.

"I have never felt a quake before. It was scary having no idea what the cause was," she said. "I felt the vibrations and the elevator stopped for a period of about five minutes."

Minor damage was reported in a few Virginia counties.

"We have received numerous calls for structural damage and collapse of residential structures," Louisa County spokeswoman Amanda Reidelbach told CNN.

Desi Fleming, a resident of Mineral in Louisa County, said the quake arrived with a rumbling "that sounded like a train coming to a stop." It knocked down two chimneys on the converted 1900-vintage home that now houses her parcel-shipping business.

Laura Southard of the state Emergency Operations Center said light structural damage was reported in Culpeper and Orange counties, but there had been no reports of injuries in the state.

The earthquake triggered the shutdown of a nearby nuclear power plant and the reporting of "unusual events" at 12 others across the East Coast and Michigan, U.S. authorities reported.

Dominion Virginia Power said both reactors at its North Anna plant, less than 20 miles from the epicenter, shut down after the first tremors. Reidelbach said the plant vented steam, but there was no release of radioactive material. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was monitoring the plant.

Tuesday's incident occurred in a known seismic zone in central Virginia, said Dave Russ of the U.S. Geological Survey. But the strength of the earthquake was a bit surprising. A 5.9 event occurred in 1897 near Blacksburg, he said.

At Washington's National Cathedral, spokesman Richard Weinberg said three 5- to 8-foot pinnacles had broken from the central tower. He said stone masons and engineers would assess the damage, which also included other pieces that broke and fell on the surrounding lawn.

The building was evacuated and closed to the public.

Wayne Clough, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, said the national museum's landmark castle on the Mall had cracks in interior walls. There was no immediate indication of structural damage, but the 150-year-old building will need closer examination, he said.

"You want to do an inspection to be sure about that," Clough said.

Clough, who's also an earthquake engineer, said the geography of the Eastern Seaboard helped transmit the shock from the Carolinas to New England. The underlying bedrock is largely a solid sheet, "so you get a lot more travel out of earthquake waves than you would in California," he said.

Court buildings in downtown New York were evacuated.

"I was trying to figure out what was going on, like everyone else," said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, who said he had been through many earthquakes when he lived in California.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at an afternoon news conference that the earthquake was felt "across the five boroughs" of the city, but there were no reports of injuries and "virtually no reports of damage."

The quake was also reported to have been felt on the island of Martha's Vineyard, where President Barack Obama was playing golf.

The earthquake slowed but didn't halt major transportation services.

Service at major airports throughout the region was disrupted, but all were reported to have resumed normal operations about 75 minutes after the earthquake struck.

At John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark-Liberty International Airport, control towers were evacuated, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said.

Amtrak said service between Washington and Baltimore was operating at reduced speed in the aftermath of the earthquake. An Amtrak statement warned travelers to expect delays.

Tish Walker, in Spotsylvania, Virginia, said she was spooked and staying outside for the moment.

"I used to live in California, so I know shaking and this felt big," she said. "I grabbed my dog and raced outside; my first thought is always that the furnace might explode or a cabinet crashes down on top of us."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/08/23/virginia.quake/index.html?hpt=hp_t1


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Sunday, August 21, 2011

getting ready for christmas 2011 yet? presents?

christmas-presents-2011



are you getting ready for christmas 2011 yet?, surprisingly yet again christmas is not that far away, we are now in august and nearly september, so christmas is about 4 months away, which is really not a whole lot of time away.



it is probably about time to at least to start thinking about what presents you want to get people, not really needing to buy the presents yet, but at least start thinking what you think people would like for christmas 2011.



start early deciding what presents to get people, because if you leave it while the last minute it is impossible to then try and think what to get people for christmas presents in 2011.



christmas-presents-2011
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Friday, August 5, 2011

Market Summary 20110805 ~ US Debt Analysis

 SPX closing at 1200.07 -- below secondary 3 pivot long term support 1225 shown on the SPX weekly chart is hopeful and is confirming the VIX long term breakout.  Diamond-H&S target to 1130, 1000, then, letting all bubble air out to SPX 555 final destination to complete A-B-C long term correction ~  It took nearly half of time to retrace the 2007 for most of markets, so it is possible that it could take half of the time to retrace. 


WOW, VIX did breakout and did follow through as shown on the weekly chart -- and is showing secondary breakout from 31.66 to confirm a continuation hope. Hopefully, it will go to 48 and to 90 ~





Hopefully, this is a real break of LT trend and a break from the Fractal Diamond as it was in the 2007 top -- alternatively Big VLT Adam & Eve H&S. So far, TA working out perfectly as it broke LT trend in Jun, backtested the broken trend.


For the market action, it's superb, but VIX has not shown new high from the 3 days ago suggesting that the real market sentiment has not changed taking today's action as a false signal. Most of traders must be not believing today's action and waiting for march low to break -- and some would further wait to break SPX 1220.

Breaking March low 1249 would be hopeful -- even though I see leading indexes are showing breaking LT trend. We first had the break on log scale chart long term trend line break in Jun.

$COMPX 2669.24 -75.37 -2.75%
$INDU 11866.62 -265.87 -2.19%
$INX 1254.05 -32.89 -2.56%



Incredible - a perfect contrarian indicator!
100% traders are expecting markets to go up as shown below on the Maxipain chart.

No one is expecting markets will break to downside. Entire world is brainwashed.














Click the charts for larger charts



quote:

According to the 2008 Financial Report of the United States Government, which is an official United States government report, the total liabilities of the United States government, including future social security and medicare payments that the U.S. government is already committed to pay out, now exceed 65 TRILLION dollars. This amount is more than the entire GDP of the whole world.

In fact, there are other authors who have written that the actual figure for the future liabilities of the U.S. government should be much higher, but let's be conservative and go with 65 trillion for now.

So, if the U.S. government took control of all physical assets in the United States and sold them off, it could not even make enough money to pay for everything that the U.S. government is already on the hook for.

from:

It Is Now Mathematically Impossible To Pay Off The U.S. National Debt
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/it-is-now-mathematically-impossible-to-pay-off-the-u-s-national-debt

also see(from September 2010):

US Government 'hiding true amount of debt'
http://www.news.com.au/business/breaking-news/us-government-hiding-true-amount-of-debt/story-e6frfkur-1225926567256

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/3464/debtfraudbomb.png



















The Senate passed a compromise bill to raise the U.S. debt ceiling. President Obama signed the measure, calling it "an important first step." FULL STORY

US Less Than 3 Years Away From Being Greece: Walker
The US is only a few years away from reaching the same debt levels that pushed Greece to the brink of ruin, former comptroller general and head of the Comeback America Initiative David Walker said.


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  • Is FEMA Ready For Hurricane Season?



  •  
    The Senate is set to take up the hotly debated debt-limit legislation at noon today as lawmakers stare down the deadline to avert a possible national default. FULL STORY






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