Earthquake??

[ocpaul20]

Anyone feel that earth movement at 12noon today? Could have been some testing going on, or an earthquake but it made all the windchimes rattle in our 14th floor apartment.

Strange that it was almost dead on 12 o'clock, so I suspect that earthquakes dont keep time like that. I have never felt an earthquake before but the earth moved for me - that definitely was something odd .....

I doubt we will ever know what it was unless it was really an earthquake, however there were no aftershocks. I though they always came afterwards.

[gato]

I felt it, too. It only lasted about 5 seconds. Probably a 5.0 on the Richter. I grew up near San Francisco and was there for the 7.1 earthquake in 1989, which lasted about 30 seconds. This one was much smaller. Just a little rattle.

[badatpool]

Yeah, i felt it. I was lying on the bed and i thought i was dreaming...

[venture160]

5.1 from Hebei around 11:56, I felt it too in my office, the whole building shook, freaked everyone out.

[Craig]

We felt it as well right across the street from BLCU on the 23rd floor. We both thought we imagined it until we noticed the water in the humidifier sloshing around.

[kudra]

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Maps/10/115_40.php

if you click on the dot where the earthquake was, you will get to the page for recent quakes.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/usptad.php

you can submit a report to the US Geological Survey and contribute to the march of scientific progress.

[gato]

5.1 from Hebei around 11:56, I felt it too in my office,

Hey, my guess was pretty close. I must have been through too many earthquakes.

[roddy]

Yeah, i felt it. I was lying on the bed and i thought i was dreaming...

Easy life for some, lying in bed at 12pm. I was already up and eating breakfast . . .

Completely failed to notice it, but I was on the ground floor at the time so no scope for swaying. When I got outside I discovered this scene of destruction, but then I remembered that's what large chunks of Beijing look like anyway.

[bokane]

I slept through it completely. What a lame excuse for an earthquake.

[etcetera24]

Easy life for some, lying in bed at 12pm. I was already up and eating breakfast . .

That's a heck of a fryup there Roddy! Got some hidden culinary skills have you?

[adrianlondon]

Baked beans in China? Fantastic; I thought I'd have to leave that culinary delight back home.

I've not met a Chinese person who likes baked beans. Despite all the things some of my friends eat, including bits of animals even the original animal wouldn't recognise, if I try to feed them baked beans on toast they all shudder.

[roddy]

That was a Fish Nation breakfast - not bad, but a little on the pricy side at 50Y.

[svenaldo]

I was in the shower when everything around me started moving, didnt know what was going on, ran out to the living room and all the light fittings were swaying around.

Glad i didnt imagine it!! I live on the 19th floor of an apartment building in Tianjin and can honestly say it would stand no chance if there was a reasonable sized earthquake.

[yonitabonita]

Feel entirely jipped for missing the excitement. I was recovering from an exam and a mild earthquake would have been just what I needed to get my mind off it.

Roddy - Are they real meat sausages? ( you know, not the meat powder just add water variety). That breakfast looks damned fine from where I'm sitting. Where's Fish Nation?

[niubi]

i don't think any of us in our film history class at bfa felt it - i certainly didn't. i remember low 5 earthquakes in seattle, but this didn't register with me at all.

[roddy]

Seems that only people on higher floors felt it to me - never even been near an earthquake before, so I'm not sure how they work.

Roddy

PS Breakfast sub-discussion: They are meat sausages, and they're not bad. However, overall I'd only describe this breakfast as 'decent', not 'outstanding.' The bread, for example is not so much toasted as dried, and is just your standard white bread, and the included orange juice and coffee are nothing special, and you don't even get a refill with the coffee - at 50Y, I'd expect a little more. Fish Nation is on 南锣鼓巷, north of the Pass-By Bar and the Downtown Hostel, if you want to try it. I've heard great things about the breakfast at Paul's Steak and Eggs (back of the Friendship store at Jianguomen) but never tried it myself. Never been very amused by the service there, but food has been good when I've been. I've also enjoyed breakfast at Grandma's Kitchen at Jianwai Soho - more Americany than Fish Nation, but you get a bottomless coffee for 16Y, so you could easily spend the entire morning there 'studying' (both GK and FN have wireless, not sure about Pauls.)

To be honest, for best value, I'm not sure you can beat the full breakfast at Sculpting in Time.

[heifeng]

I was on the 14th floor and didn't even notice it until some coworkers pointed out some bookcases and lights swaying...No matter how small this earthquake was it didn't stop everyone from discussing Tangshan for the next few hours and the chain of text messages that followed saying a bigger one was going to occur between 5-10 pm....but in my opinion if I don't hear a ton of car alarms going off then it's not really a big earthquake...either that or there are just not many cars with alarms set in the vicinity.......

[mrtoga]

Small earthquake but interestingly no Chinese media reported it for 20 mins until Xinhua came out with their official line, which the other media then followed.

Recent directive from the govt that media organizations can be fined for "misrepresentation of states of emergency" or something like that, so no-one wants to report until the facts are clear. This obviously will lead to a vacuum of information.

On the breakfast aside, I had a very poor one in Lush last week I may try steak and eggs this weekend though, especially if it also has a bottomless coffee deal. The service is indeed not terribly efficient but they are very sincere in their subsequent apologies!

[roddy]

If you are in that area anyway, then for my money Grandma's Kitchen is a much nicer place to sit and study / work with your bottomless coffee after breakfast. If you're just eating and running to the office, it probably doesn't matter so much. Must be a ton of other breakfast options around there though.

What did Lush do to your breakfast? Haven't been back there for ages (haven't even been in Wudaokou for months) - generally found the food ok but portions small, and the service irritating.

Guess I should split a breakfast discussion off . . .

Roddy

[heifeng]

On the breakfast side:

The best breakfast in my opinion is a 1 yuan 鸡蛋灌饼....plus it's just fun watching the stall operator poke a hole in the 饼 and pour in the egg...add some lajiao and other stuff...very tasty

earthquakes:

I wonder what Chinese regulations on construction are to minimalize the damage from earthquakes...even without earthquakes just from "settling" and maybe some questionable construction work it seems many buildings "age" quite quickly....I kid you not, the ground floor room I am planning to move far away from literally has a huge ridge in the floor that has finally cracked open along the floorboards and it's not even from any earthquake..hehe..If I had a skateboard and no furniture in my room I could literally use it as a ramp...