February 2, 2009

Minor quake shakes New Jersey

Per the Post Chronicle, New Jersey experienced a minor earthquake tonight at 10:35 p.m. EST. The quake had a magnitude of about 3.0 per the report.

Here are some of the first tweets from the affected area.


@__Deb (New Jersey): Okay, we just either had a small earthquake or there was a big explosion somewhere nearby


@rdy2freefall (Mendham, N.J.): Omg did anyone else feel that? Legit I think there was just a mini earthquake in jersey!



One New Jersey resident, @devyanks90 did not think earthquake at first.


@devyanks90 (Dover, N.J.): gas line explosion somewhere in town. the house shook pretty badly


He soon corrected himself.


@devyanks90 (Dover, N.J.): no gas line explosion. only a minor earthquake (2.9-3.5) this might be a first for new jersey

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Earthquake in Peru

Per @BreakingNewsOn, "A strong earthquake struck 110 miles from Lima, Peru." Preliminary reports put the magnitude of the quake at 5.7 and 5.8.

Here's some of the first tweets on the incident from Peru.

@froncal1 (Lima, Peru): Hubo un temblor y me quedé sentada!!! (There was an earthquake and I was sitting!!!)



@Camuss (Lima, Peru): te dije que era temblor... http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2009cpa1.php (I told you I was shaking...)


@Karikuy (Lima, Peru): just experienced a 5.5 earthquake that is said to have been off the coast of Peru, funny, I thought it was just a large truck passing by.

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Shoe thrown at Chinese Premier Wen

Per the China Post in Taiwan, a protester hurled a shoe at Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao as he spoke at Cambridge University on Monday, echoing the incident involving U.S. President George W. Bush last month in Iraq.

Reaction poured in worldwide.

@stevelee (Beijing): soon any press conference/speech made by a head of state will require the removal of all footwear post shoe bomber us airports

@jonmasters posted from Cambridge, U.K. itself.

@jonmasters (Cambridge): What's more shocking - that a shoe was thrown at a human rights violating Chinese dictator or that the audience blame the protester?

@patr1ck tweeted this from Chinatown in San Francisco:

@patr1ck (San Francisco, Calif.): Shoe throwing is, by far, my favourite new form of terrorism.



At one point, @davesgonechina suggested the YouTube video of the incident (http://tinyurl.com/acrbpf) was blocked.

@davesgonechina (China): Stupid that they're blocking the shoe throwing video... Wen handles it well, audience applauds in support. Shoe thrower loses.

He told @breakingtweets that the video has since returned.

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Brits wake up to snow

Per BBC, southeast England was plummeted by snow flurries that forecasters are calling "the most severe" in six years. The commute has been difficult and some schools are shutting down this morning in the London area.

The trending topic #uksnow is now No. 1 on Twitter, as tweets are flying in all across affected areas. Here's a sample.

@helenduffett (London): http://twitpic.com/1am11 - Schools all closed: who wants to come sledging? #uksnow IG8 7/10


@aaroscape (London): Some people are out with their walking poles, others are running around in their pants throwing snow balls. #uksnow


@jimbobthomas (Farnham, Surrey): #uksnow Over a foot of snow on the Hogs Back, work is cancelled!! Cats are having fun, Joyce is a vague black tail poking over the top.

@chrsoz (London): snow carnage! 8 inches where i am in s london. all buses in london cancelled (beeb), trains still running, roads screwed. #uksnow

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