Video: New Yorkers Knew Of Earthquake Via Twitter Before Ground Shook

For a seismic wave to travel the 230 miles from Washington D.C. to New York City, it takes approximately 30 seconds.  That's roughly 27,600 miles per hour.

It only takes 25 seconds for someone to feel the ground shake, and post a tweet that says "I think we just had an earthquake", that can be read by someone in New York.

That is exactly what happened last Tuesday when a 5.9 earthquake struck near Richmond, Virginia.  When buildings shook near Washington Tuesday afternoon, the internet exploded, primarily on Twitter and Facebook. Twitter claims that readers in other areas were aware of the coming quake via their site before local seismographs registered any readings.  They're so proud of it, in fact, check out their new promotional video:



Twitter announced Wednesday that the D.C. earthquake created more site traffic for them than the death of Osama Bin Laden, and tied the level of traffic that they saw at the time of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March.  This tells me one of two things.  Either Twitter has quickly gained a large number of users, or Americans seriously have their priorities fucked up.

As an interesting side note, Eric Fischer created an animated map of the earthquake related tweets that afternoon.  The green dots represent earthquake related tweets.  Gray dots are tweets about other topics.  During the 28 second piece, each frame is one second.  The entire piece represents 12 minutes of elapsed time.

Oh, How The Mighty Oak Has Fallen

A matter of days ago, Donald Trump was the front runner amongst the Republican candidates for President of the United States.  According to a poll released today...eh, not so much anymore.

Public Policy Polling is a Democratic polling company that often polls Republican voters, to get a feel on how they're voting on conservative issues.  In this poll, they surveyed 610 registered Republican primary voters.  In April, Trump led the field in the same poll with 26% of the overall vote.  This month was a much different story.

Trump came in fifth with 8%, behind Huckabee, Romney, Gingrich, and Palin.  He was only one percentage point ahead of wingnut Tea Party conspiracy theorist Michelle Bachmann.  Some of the other results were also stunning.

53% of those surveyed said that they had an "unfavorable opinion" of Donald Trump.  Keep in mind, in the same poll, 61% of those polled said that they had a "favorable opinion" of Sarah Palin.  It appears that "birtherism" is on the decline. (I would think so after the President presents his long form birth certificate.)  The poll was conducted May 5th through May 8th, more than a week after the President released his birth certificate.  Still, 34% say that they believe that Obama was not born in the United States.  18% "aren't sure". Two weeks ago, 72% of Republican primary voters either said "no" or that they "weren't sure".  Going from 72% to 52% is a considerable improvement, but really?!  Still?!

To make matters worse for Trump, ratings have hit a downward spiral for 'The Celebrity Apprentice'.  For the episode that aired on April 24th, ratings were down 17% from the previous week's episode.  Then, on Trump's May 1st episode, his boardroom decision was interrupted by President Obama's announcement that Osama bin Laden had been killed in Pakistan.

That brings us to the May 8th episode, or as I like to call it, "Clusterfuckorama".  This was the episode in which not one, but three, yes count them, three "celebrities" left the show.  You would think that this would be a high ratings episode, right?  Think again.  Ratings for the episode were down 23% from the week before.  In fact, it was the lowest rated Spring telecast episode in the history of the 'Apprentice' franchise.

I have a feeling that NBC will soon be saying "You're fired" to "The Donald", just like the Republican party did last week.

A Fascinating Conversation With A Hospital Chaplain

As many of you know, I was in the hospital again last week.  It was my third hospital stay since the second week of March. As has been my experience, on the first morning of my stay, the hospital chaplain usually visits.  In the past, I've told them that I'm atheist, and they tell me to have a nice day and walk out of the room.  This time was remarkably different.

It was 9:30AM Monday morning.  Roughly 13 hours earlier, I had seen President Obama announce that Osama bin Laden had been killed in Pakistan.  I fell asleep the night before watching New Yorkers sing the National Anthem at Ground Zero from my hospital bed.  Monday, May 2, 2011, was the dawn of a new era for the United States and for the world.

The chaplain was a dead give away.  The nurses all wore soft soled shoes.  None of the patients on my floor walked past my room (I was at the end of the floor).  And, all of the visitors either wore tennis shoes or sandals.  I could hear his wooden heals on approach 45 seconds before he got to my room.  He walked at a very calm and even pace.

He entered my room and sheepishly peeked his head around the curtain to see if I was awake.  When seeing that I had already eaten my breakfast, he walked up to my bed and introduced himself.  His name was Ahmed.  He explained that he was Muslim.  Upon seeing my beard (albeit unruly and unkempt at the time), he asked if I was Islam as well.  Honestly, I probably could have entered a bin Laden lookalike contest at the time.  I told him I wasn't.  I explained to him that I was an atheist.

I could only imagine the type of conversations he was having that morning, with bin Laden being shot the night before.  Immediately, without even hesitating, he started defending his religion.  You know, he started going into the "Islam is a peaceful religion" bit.  I had to interrupt him.

I explained that I knew that the Prophet Muhammad was a messenger of peace, and that Allah is a peaceful god.  I told him that for centuries, people have killed others in the name of their prophet or their god.  Sometimes that prophet's name is Jesus.  Sometimes, that's their god's name.  Sometimes, they don't even know the name of their god.

"There is fanaticism in every religion", I said.I explained to him that I used to be an "ordained minister" (what a joke).  I told him that the reason why I am atheist now, is because I saw the fanaticism in the church I was in as well.  Religion attracts crazy people.  There are crazy Muslims, just as there are crazy Baptists, Pentecostals, Methodists, Lutherans, Catholics, and Jehovah's Witnesses.

Then I dropped a bomb on him.  I told him I owned a Koran.  I purchased one last September 11th on International Buy A Koran Day.  He was surprised that 1.) a "non believer" would own a Koran, and 2.) that there was actually an international show of support for the Muslim community in which people would go to a bookstore and purchase one of their holy books.  He was almost moved to tears.  He asked me if I had read any of it, which I said that I did.  The copy that I have is in both Arabic and English.

He asked me if I was married.  I told him I was.  He asked if I had a "good wife".  I told him that I had a wonderful, supportive wife.  I said that with the health problems that I have been dealing with recently, if it weren't for her taking care of my daughter and myself in and out of the hospital, I don't know how I would have made it.   Ahmed extolled the virtues of a good wife, though the way he did so was somewhat antiquated.

"A good wife will take care of your children.  She won't spend all of your money.  She'll make sure you have a clean house to come to when you get home from work."

I found it to be a bit laughable, but I got his point.  I have a wonderful partner.  I have spent most of the last six weeks on my back.  Not only has my wife taken care of our two year old single handedly, but she has also waited on me hand and foot.  She has cooked my meals, refilled my drinks, and brought me my medication.  She has picked up my share of the household chores. She has also driven me to and from appointments for the last few weeks.  I really am lucky to have her.

My conversation with Ahmed lasted the better part of an hour.  It was the most pleasant conversation I have had regarding religion in recent memory.  Considering what had happened the previous day, I'm sure Ahmed had thought the conversation was going to go into a different direction.  It's a rare and wonderful thing when two individuals with such varying concepts on religion can come together, have an educated conversation about their beliefs, walk away feeling respected, and have an untold respect for the other in return.

Bill Maher: 'What Does Obama Have To Do To Get The GOP Off Of His Back?'

During George W. Bush's presidency, Republicans proved that they were neither fiscally responsible or "tough on terror".  Obama comes into office in January 2009, having to clean up the mess left by his predecessor.  Last week, Osama bin Laden is killed by a Navy Seal strike team.  Still, Obama can't seem to catch a break from the GOP.

On last Friday's 'Real Time', Bill Maher calls the Republican party out on the carpet.

George W. Bush Finally Responds To Bin Laden Death

As expected, he completely fucks it up.

Please Help, The Stupid Hurts

I just read an article on Boing Boing, stating that the fifth most popular Osama bin Laden related search on Yahoo on May first was, "Who is Osama bin Laden?".

Oh my fucking god!  Really?!?!?  Are you kidding me?!?!?!?  According to Yahoo 66% of the searches came from people between the ages of 13 and 17.  Two things about this statistic disturb me.  One, why haven't any of these kids been taught about bin Laden?  Second, I'm assuming that the other 33% of these people that are searching Yahoo are stupid fucking adults.

Here is a snapshot of Twitter that was taken yesterday.  Interesting side note:  on Sunday night, at the time that President Obama was making his announcement,  Twitter reported that their website was receiving 5116 Tweets a second.

Americans are getting dumber by the day.  I shudder to think of our Presidential options for 2024.  

Soundtrack Of My Life - 05/02/2011 'Everyday'

Last night, with the news that Osama bin Laden had been killed, it was near impossible for many of us not to think of September 2001.  If anything positive was gleamed from the events that tragic day, it was that people became more neighborly.  For a short time following 9/11, though the vast majority of people were severely depressed, they were friendlier than what they were on September 10, 2001.

I found that people would say hi more often, when passing them on the street.  Someone would hold the door for you, or would hold an elevator, when before they wouldn't take the time to.  The nation, for lack of a better term, was polite.  In time, the civility went away, and everything went back to normal.

It was an atmosphere that I hoped to see return last night.  Instead, the scene outside the White House looked more like a Grateful Dead concert.  People were throwing beach balls and climbing light poles at two in the morning, chanting "Na na na na.  Hey hey hey. Good bye."  To the rest of the world, especially the Middle East, the citizens of the United States looked like jagoffs.

On September 11, 2001, the Dave Matthews Band was coincidentally scheduled to release the song 'When the World Ends' as their third single, off of their album 'Everyday'.  Based on what happened that morning, the single was pulled, and the video was scrapped.  The band and studio decided to release the album's title track, 'Everyday', instead.

The video featured (then unknown) '30 Rock's' Judah Friedlander, walking through the streets of New York's Greenwich Village asking random people for a hug.  It was filmed shortly after 9/11, and features a few cameos from some New York celebrities, such as Conan O'Brien, Blue Man Group, and Tiki Barber.  At the time, it was very touching and heartwarming to watch.  Even with his relative television fame, I don't think Judah Friedlander would be able to get enough hugs to fill three minutes of video in 2011.  It's sad how people have grown colder in the last 10 years.

Bin Laden Dead: A Look At How 9/11 Changed Me

I am sitting in a bed on the third floor of a Mesa, Arizona, hospital tonight, and watching thousands of people cheering outside the gates of the White House.  An hour ago, the President announced to the nation that Osama bin Laden was found and killed in Pakistan earlier today.  The man hated more than anyone in American history, second only to Hitler, is finally dead.

As the crowd of hundreds at Ground Zero at 1AM, stand together in celebration and sing 'The Star Spangled Banner', my eyes well up with tears.  I am proud of my country.  I am proud of the Navy Seals that entered the compound and shot bin Laden.  I am proud of my government and of my President.  Today, I am a patriot.  Looking back upon my life, I never would have pictured myself as a "patriotic" individual.  After all, I was never raised to be one.

In fact, it wasn't until September 11, 2001, that something within me changed.

The following is from a post originally dated September 11, 2009.  It was the first post written on this blog.

Growing up as a Jehovah's Witness, I was always told that it was wrong to salute the flag. I wasn't allowed to say the Pledge of Allegiance. I had to remain seated for the National Anthem. It's not that I had been intentionally disrespecting or desecrating the flag as a child. My parents never instilled in me the reasons why the symbols of our country, and the flag in particular, should be respected.

You can imagine the uncomfortable situations I had found myself in growing up. In the classroom everyday for years. At school assemblies. At sporting events. Countless dirty looks. People making comments under their breath. Even the occasional thwack to the back of the head with the words, "What's wrong with you? You a Commie or somethin? Stand up boy".

In my younger days, I saw it as an opportunity to "witness". To share my beliefs with others.  I would tell them that I wasn't standing because my religion wouldn't permit me to. Usually, that would be as far as I got. The offended spectator would turn a more enraged shade of red and that would be my que to face forward for the rest of the event and not make eye contact with anyone for the next 3 hours.

As I got older, I got wiser. I realized that by being in my seats during the National Anthem, I was only asking for trouble. So, I would generally take that time of the pre-game to go to the bathroom or grab a drink or a souvenir. Most times, I would just intentionally show up late to a game - skip the first 2 minutes of the period or the top half of the first inning altogether.

So how does this tie in to 9/11? I'll get to that in a second. But first: February 13, 1983. The Forum, Irvine, California. It was the NBA All Star Game. For some reason my dad was watching it on TV. I never remember him being much of a basketball fan. I've never been much of one either. But something special happened that night. The time came for the National Anthem. This is what we saw:

It gave me chills. As a 7 year old, I didn't know why. I had a feeling then that I couldn't put into words, that I wouldn't feel again until 18 years later. I left the church in 1996, but, out of habit I guess, continued my "tradition" of not standing for the National Anthem.

Then came September 11th, 2001. It's a day that, 8 years later, I still think about on a daily basis. We all tend to re-live the shots of the people running in the streets, the towers falling, and the planes hitting the towers. Today though, I had a different memory for the first time. I remembered the firefighters going into Ground Zero to tie an American Flag onto a beam of the World Trade Center. This was still while the area was unsafe. There was still a possibility of the surrounding buildings collapsing. It was their way of saying "We're still here. We're still standing".

When I saw that flag amongst the rubble, that feeling I first felt as a 7 year old had returned. It was pride. The flag reminded me of the anthem's lyrics itself: "Gave proof through the night, That our flag was still there, O say does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave, O'er the land of the free, And the home of the brave". It waved over many a brave volunteer in the days and weeks following the attacks.

September 10, 2001, was the last day I refused to sit for the National Anthem. Since the events of 9/11, not only do I show my respect to my nation and its flag, but I sing along with the Star Spangled Banner, and get choked up at the end. Every time.