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View Poll Results: Which event would generate more attention in Silicon Valley?
The ground moving under our feet 4 44.44%
Water falling out of the sky 5 55.56%
Voters: 9. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 09-28-2013, 09:42 PM
 
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Saw the threads about earthquake worries and seasons and climate of Silicon Valley so I created an "unscientific" test to how often you feel earthquakes and how dry the climate really is:

Since San Jose is in earthquake country and also a semi-arid climate, which event would generate more social media postings, conversation about the subject, and news coverage from journalists in the Silicon Valley?

A) The ground shaking under our feet (a feelable earthquake)

B) Water falling out of the sky (measurable rain)

Last edited by DwightOnFireE; 09-28-2013 at 10:52 PM..
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Old 09-28-2013, 11:29 PM
 
Location: Madison, WI
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I voted for rain, not because any single rainstorm gets more press than an earthquake, but there are a lot more rainstorms than earthquakes, and surely if you add up the column inches/broadcast hours devoted to each over the past 50 years, rainstorms would win handily.
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Old 09-29-2013, 09:13 AM
 
Location: San Jose, CA
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For about a month after an earthquake, the answer is the earthquake. A year if it's a serious one like Loma Prieta.
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Old 09-29-2013, 11:07 AM
 
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A big local earthquake may get a lot of new coverage for a few weeks but big earthquakes are rare. They always talk about the "big one" after every moderate earthquake. The big one has been within "the next 30 years" since I was in grade school 30 years ago so really it has been within the next 60 years thus far. Every time we get some rain after a period of no rain the news really gets into it like it is the seventh plague of Egypt or something. So I would say that rain get more coverage because there are more storms.
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Old 09-29-2013, 04:26 PM
 
Location: Silicon Valley
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It seems like you hear more about lack of rain, than rain, regarding the reservoirs. The media will talk all year about the shortage of rain, then we have a normal rainy season which usually takes care of the reservoirs, then they start all over the next year with the lack of rain stories.

Unless we're in a huge drought or there's a weird rainstorm, we just expect rain in the winter. Not really noteworthy or worth discussing, other than - glad it's not snow lol! Or people talking about hoping the rain here means snow up in the mountains for skiing.

On the other hand, earthquakes don't happen very often, but people will talk about them when they happen with more enthusiasm than any rain conversation.

It's a draw for me, so I didn't vote.
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Old 09-30-2013, 11:50 PM
 
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I moved to San Jose from Virginia a little over 2 years ago. San Jose is definitely dry and gets very little rain most of the year. What you call rain, we call sprinkles. What you call "pouring", we call regular rain. I've only seen a real rain about 10 to 15 times since I moved here. The rest of the rain I've seen were sprinkles, mostly in winter. One of the rainiest days I've seen in San Jose was a couple of weekends ago and everyone seemed in shock that their Saturday picnics and outdoor festivals were rained out. People here are too dependent on counting on perfect weather. Back home, you'd have a plan B and no one would give it a second thought.

On the other hand, I have yet to feel a single earthquake. Ironically, my family and friends I left behind, all felt the East Coast earthquake of 2011, two months after I moved here. Every now and then, someone back home will ask me about all the earthquakes I must be feeling in California and they are surprised when I told them I haven't felt one yet. So I vote for rain. Back in Virginia, rain wouldn't even warrant news coverage though unless it was a major storm.

Last edited by BridgesBurner123; 10-01-2013 at 12:03 AM..
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Old 10-01-2013, 11:13 AM
 
Location: Colorado
2,483 posts, read 4,352,312 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DwightOnFireE View Post
Saw the threads about earthquake worries and seasons and climate of Silicon Valley so I created an "unscientific" test to how often you feel earthquakes and how dry the climate really is:

Since San Jose is in earthquake country and also a semi-arid climate, which event would generate more social media postings, conversation about the subject, and news coverage from journalists in the Silicon Valley?

A) The ground shaking under our feet (a feelable earthquake)

B) Water falling out of the sky (measurable rain)
I voted rain too. When large earthquakes occur they certainly get a lot of coverage, but it's not specific to San Jose because it's usually felt over a much larger area. On the other hand, a tiny trickle of rain over downtown will summon storm-tracker overlays if not interruptions of your regular tv programming for hours.
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Old 10-01-2013, 08:31 PM
 
11 posts, read 15,587 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by otterprods View Post
I voted rain too. When large earthquakes occur they certainly get a lot of coverage, but it's not specific to San Jose because it's usually felt over a much larger area. On the other hand, a tiny trickle of rain over downtown will summon storm-tracker overlays if not interruptions of your regular tv programming for hours.
I refuse to have my TV programming interrupted so no cable here. You can watch anything you want on the internet. But I have heard that the local stations go into "Stormwatch Mode" over a light rain shower. Very funny.
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