How to tell the natives...

[gridlore]

Rebuilding my mail sigs, I'm digging through the Traveller Mailing List's archives. I found this gem.

A handy guide to identifying San Franciscans during an earthquake:

Tourist - less than three years = runs in circles, screaming.

3 - 10 years = pauses, then heads under strong furniture or doorway. Has earthquake kit.

11 - 20 years = waits to see if it is the big one before budging from couch. Has "earthquake kit" consisting of flashlight with dead batteries, deck of cards, and an old army blanket.

21 - Native = waits for shaking to stop, then immediately starts placing bets on magnitude and epicenter. Has picked out stores to loot in case of the big one.

Comments

[kshandra]

21 - Native = waits for shaking to stop, then immediately starts placing bets on magnitude and epicenter. Has picked out stores to loot in case of the big one.

Guilty as charged.... ;-)

[mdlbear]

Yup. Been here nearly 35 years; flower_cat is a native. First thing we do is play "guess the magnitude"; we're rarely off by more than half a point on the close ones.

[kengr]

Oh? What stores have you picked?

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Trader Joe's and Pacific Cycle to begin with.

[kshandra]

There's a Torrid and a Lane Bryant in the local mall.... *vbeg*

[aurictech.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Based on my reaction to the last earthquake I experienced (I was visiting a friend at DLI when there was a minor quake), I'd rate somewhere in the 11-20 year category.

Of course, it didn't hurt that I'd felt more powerful earthquakes back in St. Louis....

[tavella.livejournal.com]

Hey, I didn't budge from the couch and was on the laptop looking at the USGS site before the shaking had even stopped for the last biggish one a few months back, and I've only been here four years.