Earth shaking news

[altivo]

Or not. Today was all a-dither here in northern Illinois about the horrible, scary earthquake that hit just before 4 am this morning. I listened silently to several accounts of how frightening it was, and read several more online. All I can think is that this reaction must have been occasioned by bad dreams about the Haiti quake of last month,

Comments

[hgryphon]

Buzz works great for me, and I got a "do you want this?" message when I first logged in today. So I find it odd that you didn't. Anyways, you can go to your google settings and opt out.

[altivo]

But if you had said "no thanks" to the "do you want this" it would have kept showing you that panel every time you logged in. That's what happened to me and others. Persistent spamming until you said "ok".

[hrrunka]

Word on the Net seems to be that Buzz is riddled with "you havn't said we can't so we've pushed your info/profile/real name/whatever into all your friends' following lists" type stupidities, especially when you start connecting other places to it.

Now, where's that alleged opt-out option, I wonder...

[altivo]

In essence, they are behaving like Facebook. I guess many people think this is OK, but I'm not so sure about it. Facebook constantly gnaws at users to add "suggested" individuals based on who knows what algorithms. Often they are people you have never heard of and have no idea who they are. They do provide an option to ask why the person is being recommended, but the answer is often obtuse. I often see them explained as "friend of" someone else I do not know, or as having "three friends in common" or something like that

[avon_deer]

I remember the earthquake of two years ago here in Yorkshire. I think that was a 5 or high 4. I noticed buzz on gmail this morning. I have not looked at it yet. I do dislike "gadget creep" as a rule though. Do one thing and do it well is my motto for software.

[altivo]

Yes, and when one datacenter has its tentacles into everything, I can't help but wonder what they are mixing and matching. Or what they might be selling. Or worst of all, if they were hacked, what would the hackers get out?

[hrrunka]

We get the same sort of hysteria over here from tremors of similar magnitude...

[altivo]

People are madly warning each other of "what to do" in an earthquake. As if any of them will remember ten years from now when the next one comes along in this area. As it happens, in this case it was over before anyone could have done much of anything.

[mondhasen]

I can only recall one incident here of feeling 'tremors,' back in '66. It was strange, like the ground was fluid for just a couple of seconds... I didn't realize until then that we were in an area that was 'due for a Big One.'

Of course, all geologists in every area of globe tell the locals that "You're overdue for the Big One," every time someone else has a major quake.

[chibiabos]

And people always ignore them.

Quakes may concentrate around the edges of tectonic plates, but every place on Earth is vulnerable, and the "it will never happen here" or "will never happen to me" mentality is a very dangerous faith to live by.

[altivo]

I've experience perhaps two or three where I felt anything. To me it was never more than the same shake I notice when an overloaded truck passes on the nearby road. In one case, a can was shaken off a pantry shelf and fell to the floor. Admittedly, in the midwest, we don't usually get real shakers the way they do out west. But I'm amazed that these people who were so panicky don't run for cover every time a gravel truck passes their house.

[alaskawolf]

quakes are always something interesting to experience :)

[altivo]

Well, in Alaska anyway. Sometimes really dangerous. Here they happen about once a decade and amount to a quick bump in the night. When they hit in the daytime, people usually don't even notice them.