So guess what Pennsylvania got for me for Christmas? My first earthquake!

My first earthquake! Lancaster, PA gets hit by a small (but noticable) quake!

It struck just after midnight. There was this shaking, then a weird rumbling noise, then worse shaking while the noise continued. Then it just ebbed off to nothing.

My first thought as it was happening (you know, not being an earthquake kind of guy) was what semi truck just ran into which house?! My second thought was maybe it was a bomb … but not hearing an explosion I was kind of not sold on the bomb idea. Still, I ran outside and looked around for lights or fire or smoke or sirens. Nada. Zip. Zero. No one seemed to be having problems. No damage anywhere that I could see. And my own house checked out just fine on my inspection.

My wife turned on the news. Again, zip.

We searched the internet. Nothing.

Even today, the morning after, the best internet article we can find is from WGAL, and it’s pretty unimpressive as news reporting goes. Okay, so it was only a 3.3 on the Richter scale, there were no damages, and no one got hurt. But it’s not like this happens every day. Isn’t this exactly the kind of thing that “news” is supposed to be?

But anywho, so that was my first earthquake.  As earthquakes go, it was nice that it was so minor, but still noticable enough to, you know, notice it.  And I didn’t freak out.  I’m ashamed to admit I didn’t run for any doorframes or anything earthquake-savvy.  I didn’t even realize that it was an earthquake until it was well over.   But it was kind of exciting!

It’s the Vernal Equinox. Yay! Winter is officially over! (In theory. Looking out your window may reveal different results.) Personally, I’m already seeing flowers bloom and rain fall like mad. There’s not a speck of snow on the ground. Spring has sprung!

But while Mother Nature is doing her best in spite of our efforts to poison the Earth and bring about “Global Warming”, technology has taken a few serious blows. Oh my! Is it some nefarious plot by nature to reclaim her power over us? I’ll let you decide.

Pennsylvania, the state you may remember as being previously bone-headed when their roads iced up, causing major highways and even their famous state turnpike to be down all night long with many stranded motorists, and heard PA state officials say things to the tune of, “the roads aren’t being salted because ice gives more traction,” has done it again. Any and all voter registration forms completed online in PA were made quite available for anyone to view all of the included information such as name, date of birth, driver’s license number, and political party. All by simply changing the unique number request parameter included in the URL of the voter registration site to a different number. Since each online registration is given a unique number, all you had to do to view someone else’s was change that number to a different one. Go through all of the numbers possible, and you’ll have gone through all of the online registrations. Can we say, “Oooops!” Once again PA proves their genius to the world and renders online voting unsafe for everyone in the state.

Meanwhile the US military has run into yet another nasty snag in their efforts to crossbreed a helicopter and an airplane. The V-22 Osprey is having problems with their AE1107C “Liberty” turboshaft engines made by Rolls Royce. The engines simply wear out too fast, making it costly and difficult to keep the Osprey in the skies. While not exactly new to problems in its development, this is certainly no boon for the V-22.