The "Virginia Earthquake" in a Nutshell

An earthquake that reached 5.8 on the Richter scale shook Virginia, Washington D.C. and New York City today, and it was felt, according to website commenter anecdotes, in states as far away as South Carolina, Georgia, Massachusetts, Ohio, Maine, and in Canada.

The event had a shallow focus at 6 kilometers' depth; it took place at precisely 17:53 UTC. Two aftershocks followed in the first hour, in the magnitudes 2.9 and 2.2. By coincidence there had been a 5.3-magnitude earthquake in Colorado earlier.

There was apparently no damage to public transportation in New York City. Trains in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania reportedly had to run at 25 mph as a precaution for possible aftershocks; the Washington D.C. metro was cleared so that it could be examined. Buildings like Goldman Sachs's and the City Hall were evacuated, however, and the Newark and John F. Kennedy airports were shortly shut down. The Pentagon in Virginia, and the White House and Capitol Building in D.C. were also cleared. Notable damage befell the spires of the National Cathedral — Wikipedia: "the sixth-largest cathedral in the world."

The North Anna nuclear facility, in Virginia near the epicentre,

Blogspotting: Epi Log

Epi Log: A repository of cookery blog paraphernalia, which I discovered today, at the American culinary website Epicurious, which is owned by Condé Nast and has been online since 1995.

It originated on March 9, 2006 itself. Despite a low profile and modest number of comments it has held steady and is unusually prolific; today it has three blog posts already.

The well-written, very succinct posts are contributed by divers food writers and editors, from the print and pixel realms; some work for the magazine and others are expert friends; and there is a New Englandy, New Yorkish focus.