blogwaffe

We had a 5.4 earthquake here in Southern California today at 11:42 am local time. I was at home on the couch talking to some fellow WordPress folk on IRC

[11:42am] mdawaffe_lap: my point was just that since meta_value is so generic, ORDER BY meta_value is trickier than first glance
[11:43am] mdawaffe_lap: earthq
[11:43am] mdawaffe_lap: big one
[11:43am] mdawaffe_lap: later

when the apartment started shaking. It took me a few seconds to realize what was going on before Michelle and I dove behind the couch. Our table is from IKEA. We wordlessly agreed that it might not stand up to having an apartment dropped on top of it. Though neither would have our backs; as it turns out, later research suggested that the table would have been a better choice after all.

It lasted 12 to 15 seconds. We went outside afterward and chatted with a couple other people about the quake, but for the most part life seems to have gotten back to normal very quickly for everyone.

It’s by far the biggest quake I’ve ever experienced, but not big enough to cause major damage. Certainly exciting, though.

More news from Pasadenans

Apparent Horizons’ first big one (no crude jokes, please. Remember, Apparent Horizons is a family place.)

This is my favorite beer; it tastes like Fruit Loops.

The Decemberists were playing at the Hollywood Bowl on July 7th (several weeks ago), and Michelle and I got cheap tickets.

They put on a really good show. Very engaging and energetic. I also really dug Andrew Bird and his Leslie-like cartoony speaker setup. His live performance, though, was head and shoulders better than his Armchair Apocrypha album I got off of iTunes after the concert.

The crazy part of the evening, however, was meeting Morena Baccarin.

Wait, what? Yeah, she was at the Hollywood bowl and, after a double take, I asked for a picture. She was super nice and graciously agreed. It was my first opportunity to interact with a celebrity in LA despite all the small world stories you hear from here and my living in the area for the past four years.

From a Caltech press release: Study implies certain types of brain damage can improve utilitarian moral judgments

The study constrained itself to “utilitarian moral judgments” which were themselves limited to having only two allowed answers, so maybe people with damaged prefrontal cortexes (cortexen?) are just faster at choosing between two options. You should read the paper and let me know. I’m not going to bother :) Here’s an excerpt from the press release, though.

Quick response! What’s the best thing to do on a lifeboat with one too many people on board? Should one throw a mortally injured person overboard to ensure definite survival for everyone else, or refuse to act and ensure certain death for all individuals in the boat?

If you said “throw the injured person overboard”, science has concluded that you have brain damage.