Pat Robertson in 3..2..1...

OK, now this time none of you can deny it was (Chinese or US) orbital lasers. With Haiti and Chile and Taiwan there was some wiggle room, what with the devil and all. But Cuba? Totally lasers.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was overheard to say, "Oh, for Allah's sake, I already told you everything. A room shaker? Really?"

This is a great set-up for a Nicholas Cage movie.

A 5.6 is pretty mild. The one in Haiti was over 100x as powerful. This is just a little shake.

Hopefully the earthquake will generate enough waves so that the inhabitants can enjoy some superb water boarding.

So, every single minor quake is going to get greenlit now?

I wonder why God chose to give the enemy combatants in Guantanamo such a mild quake when he killed so many innocents in Haiti?

Twigz221: A 5.6 is pretty mild. The one in Haiti was over 100x as powerful. This is just a little shake.

Shake,shake,shake

That's it. The terrorists have won.

God is a terrorist. I can't wait for the War on Heaven.

Better get this in quick....

No, we aren't seeing more earthquakes. We are seeing the results of better instruments and science, plus more people living in earthquake-prone areas, plus almost instant and ubiquitous global communications.

Jeez, the cigars will be all crooked now..

On the other hand, who doesn't like to hear about a good earthquake?

/Disaster Porn!

Where are the terrorists going to escape from prison to? Cuba? They'll just get shot.

smrtone: Better get this in quick....

No, we aren't seeing more earthquakes. We are seeing the results of better instruments and science, plus more people living in earthquake-prone areas, plus almost instant and ubiquitous global communications.

If we have better instruments to detect them then technically we are seeing more earthquakes aren't we?

Quick everyone, jump on the armageddon earthquake panic train!

No, wait, geologists say the planet gets about 2-3 earthquakes rated at 6.0 or lower...EACH WEEK.

Its just lately the majority of them have been in/near high population areas.

/Stupid scientists, what do they know?

altfarkette, was it a "big-ass truck", or a "big ass-truck"? Be specific.

Would have been more interesting if it had been this...

Handsome B. Wonderful: So, every single minor quake is going to get greenlit now?

It's not news

/ipso facto
//ergo est

It's weird - here in Alaska we get 35 to 40 earthquakes a day and a 5.6 wouldn't even make the local news. Of course, there's rarely any damage because people houses with wood frames.

Don't believe me? Look:Link

keithrogan: Of course, there's rarely any damage because people houses with have wood frames.


/pet peeve

macadamnut: keithrogan: Of course, there's rarely any damage because people's houses with have wood frames.


/pet peeve

Of course, there's rarely any damage because people houses with wood frames. Fixed!

keithrogan: It's weird - here in Alaska we get 35 to 40 earthquakes a day and a 5.6 wouldn't even make the local news. Of course, there's rarely any damage because people houses with wood frames.

Don't believe me? Look:Link

Yep. Same with california. As I post this, there have been 667 quakes in the last week (1.0 to 4.4) in California (new window)

Here's a link for largish quakes, globally (new window). There was a 6.2 in New Guinea just 4 hours before the Cuba 5.6 quake.

It looks like there are regularly five or six 5.0 to 6.0 quakes a day, globally.

Ok, I guess technically we are detecting and recording more earthquakes, but not actually experiencing more earthquakes.

choo better bet this will checke things up a bit

God has some splainin to do...

What a wheel of choosing may look like

Was in Havana 2 weeks ago
surprised the place wasn't leveled its so in disrepair
dead dogs on the sidewalks beggars everywhere

but the music is wonderful and ladies wear tight pants :-)

h`e`y` macareana!

A 5.6 isn't big at all. The earthquake scale is very imbalanced, the Haiti quake was worth a few dozen 5s.

BTW if you want a scary scenario get this: The Yellowstone supervolcano would destroy a huge chunk of the States, and cause weather conditions to go crazy. It erupts about every 30,000-40,000 years; it erupted about 30,000 years ago.

Them Cubans is evildoers. I heard they have a camp there where people are imprisoned without trial or evidence nor nothing. I'm glad I live in the land of the free and am not a Godless commie heathen.

SanjiSasuke: A 5.6 isn't big at all. The earthquake scale is very imbalanced, the Haiti quake was worth a few dozen 5s.

BTW if you want a scary scenario get this: The Yellowstone supervolcano would destroy a huge chunk of the States, and cause weather conditions to go crazy. It erupts about every 30,000-40,000 years; it erupted about 30,000 years ago.

You just watch a TV special or something? It's been known for quite a while, they just don't talk much about it because there's really nothing that can be done to either prevent or mitigate it.

By the way, the information in some of those shows is just plain wrong. The "supervolcano" eruptions take place only rarely, the last one was about 640,000 years ago. The last eruption really was about 13,000 years ago. The last three major eruptions were 2.1 and 1.2 MYA, plus the one 640,000 YA. There is no way to predict those events, there is no way to prepare for them, and there is no reason to go around worrying about it.

The only reason really to talk about it is to motivate people to colonize other worlds so civilization isn't threatened by those kinds of freak events.

SanjiSasuke: A 5.6 isn't big at all. The earthquake scale is very imbalanced, the Haiti quake was worth a few dozen 5s.

BTW if you want a scary scenario get this: The Yellowstone supervolcano would destroy a huge chunk of the States, and cause weather conditions to go crazy. It erupts about every 30,000-40,000 years; it erupted about 30,000 years ago.

Check out Lake Taupo (new window) on a map. 238 square kilometers of a single, contiguous super volcano caldera, filled with water up to 186 meters deep.

While Yellowstone's last "super volcano" eruption (eruption of over 1000 cubic kilometers of material) happened 640,000 years ago, Lake Taupo had one larger than that only 26,500 years ago.

It erupts on average once every 1000 years (28 eruptions in the last 26,500 years), and has one of the top three eruptions, globally, of the past 2000 years (the eruption in 180 AD - it was recorded by the Romans and chinese on the other side of the planet)

Puh-leeze. 5.6 isn't enough to upset my beer. Wake me when it hits 8.0. Till then we're just talkin' vague amusement.

Now watch me be the guy who dies from a 9.7 quake.

Dear_Leader: Was in Havana 2 weeks ago
surprised the place wasn't leveled its so in disrepair
dead dogs on the sidewalks beggars everywhere

but the music is wonderful and ladies wear tight pants :-)

Your description was intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

And what is it that you do that you get to to to Cuba? Ever since my Miami childhood 30 years ago I've had an urge to go because all the Cubans I knew said it was Paradise and I've always wanted to see it for myself.

My father causally dropped one day not long ago that he had been up and down Cuba twice as a very young man in the 50s before I was a twinkle. Ever since I learned that I've longed to take him back for my first trip, but the clock is ticking and he may die before Fidel.

I will go someday no matter what.