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Archive for the ‘Environment’ Category

Guam Cats, Beware! Toxic Mice Are In The Air!

Posted in Environment, Humor, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on February 24, 2013 | 3 Comments »

Brown snakes are overrunning Guam.  They came to the island aboard U.S. ships after World War II.  Now they are multiplying like crazy, have killed off virtually every native species of bird, and are biting humans and wrecking power lines.  As a result, Guam’s jungle areas are coated with spider webs, because the birds that normally would eat the spiders aren’t there to keep the spiders in check.

Guam’s snake infestation is giving Hawaii the heebie-jeebies.  If a pregnant brown snake, or a mating pair of snakes, hitched a ride on a boat and landed in the snakeless Hawaiian Islands, Hawaii’s beautiful bird population — which has no fear of snakes — could be decimated.

Guam officials are concerned that the brown snake problem could hurt Guam’s reputation as a tourist destination.  No kidding!  Guam sounds like a nightmare.  If your small island is infested with biting snakes and spiders, you’ve already managed to creep out the vast majority of humans.  All Guam needs to do to complete the hair-raising, creepy-crawlie trifecta is to throw some scorpions into the mix.

The U.S. government has come up with a drastic solution to Guam’s brown snake problem.  It will drop dead mice laced with painkillers over the island’s jungles.  The theory is that the brown snakes will eat the mice and die by the score.   Presumably, the government has some reason to believe that other mice-eating creatures won’t gobble down the tainted mice.

I’m not so sure — and I therefore composed this bit of doggerel:

Brown snakes hitched a ride to Guam, hoping to find some lebensraum

They bred and grew to levels absurd, ’til little Guam had not a bird

And as the bird population ebbed, the isle became more spider-webbed

Then Uncle Sam said it’d help poor Guam, by inventing a toxic mice bomb

So, cats of Guam!  Good cats, beware!  Toxic mice are in the air!

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Rubber Tire Recycling

Posted in Columbus, Environment, tagged , , , , , on October 12, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

As I’ve mentioned before, I am all in favor of increased recycling and minimized use of landfill space.  I zealously recycle cans, bottles, plastic, and paper items.

So, I was happy to see that our neighborhood playground has done its part by using shredded rubber tires to spread under the swings, teeter-totter, and slide.  I discovered the recent addition when I walked past with the dogs, and noticed a distinctly springy feel underfoot.

The black shards of shredded tire look good on the playground — like high-end mulch, but without the odor — and I have to believe that the rubbery surface is much safer than cement or asphalt (the preferred surface in the death trap playgrounds of my childhood) or wood chips, which was the immediately preceding surface.  The rubber shards are an inch or two deep, and when you walk across them you feel like any kid toppling off the teeter-totter and falling onto the springy surface would be likely to bound three feet in the air.

Well done, New Albany!

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Another Impending Benefit Of The Utica Shale

Posted in Environment, Ohio, tagged , , , , , , on August 27, 2012 | 1 Comment »

Eastern Ohio is enjoying an economic boom from the discovery of apparently enormous natural gas deposits in the Utica Shale formation, far underground.  The discovery not only has led to economic growth and lower unemployment rates — as well as the promise of less dependence on foreign sources of energy — but it also is likely to have a significant positive environmental impact.

The U.S. Energy Information Agency, a part of the Energy Department, said this month that total U.S. carbon dioxide emissions for the first four months of this year fell abruptly to the lowest level in 20 years.  CO2, of course, is one of the dreaded “greenhouse gases” that are blamed for “global warming.”  The drop in CO2 emissions is attributed to power plants switching from coal to cheap, and plentiful, natural gas.  The discovery of large natural gas deposits elsewhere in the U.S. has caused the price of natural gas to fall dramatically in recent years.  With the Utica Shale drilling coming on line, the surge in the supply of natural gas means that the price should stay low — even if the demand for natural gas increases.

As the linked story indicates, businesses pay attention to price, and when it comes to behavior modification good intentions about reducing greenhouse gases can’t hold a candle to lower prices.

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Garbage, Our Leading Economic Indicator

Posted in Environment, The Economy, tagged , , , , , on July 30, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Amidst the durable goods orders, and factory output analyses and aging inventory evaluations that typically are the focus of the dismal science, there lurks an economic indicator that is highly accurate and smelly, too — garbage.

A study has concluded that, of the 21 categories of items shipped by rail, the one that has the highest correlation to Gross Domestic Product is garbage.  Trash has an 82 percent correlation to economic growth.  The correlation is logical, and obvious, because the more people produce and purchase, the more they throw out.  So, if you want to assess how the economy is doing, keep an eye on the volume of refuse collected by your friendly neighborhood garbagemen.

Unfortunately, the garbage indicator isn’t predicting good economic news — carloads of waste are way down.  We’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed that the decline no longer accurately predicts economic activity and instead reflects that our neighbors have finally gotten serious about recycling and composting and other trash-minimizing activities.

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Reducing Our Garbage Footprint

Posted in America, Environment, tagged , , , , , on July 12, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

Every Thursday, the houses in our neighborhood put their trash out by the curb for pick-up. When I walk the dogs on a Thursday morning, I’m always amazed by the cumulative output, from just one neighborhood in just one suburb of just one American city.

My goal therefore is to make sure that our house sets out the smallest amount possible.  I toss every bottle, aluminum can, milk jug, and other plastic item in their recycling bin.  I break down even the most sturdily constructed cardboard box and throw every stray scrap of paper — newspapers, brochures, mail-order catalogs, and junk mail included — into the paper recycling container.  I put food scraps into the garbage disposal and rake yard waste into the beds behind our shrubs.  I know these efforts are small, but the multiplication effect means that little efforts can have large consequences.

In any case, I feel better knowing that our garbage footprint is as small as possible.  Some years ago I had a case involving landfills that addressed how they are constructed and operated.  I learned how they are lined, and capped, and how leachate — great name for the fluid that inevitably seeps out of  crushed garbage, isn’t it? — is collected.  Landfills are carefully regulated and engineered, but the fact remains that they are permanent pockets of garbage buried across the landscape that will forever limit how those locations can be used.  I don’t want our little household to contribute unnecessarily to their proliferation.

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Moving Into A Dim Future

Posted in America, Environment, Technology, tagged , , , , , , , on April 23, 2012 | 1 Comment »

I don’t like the new light bulbs.  There, I said it, and I feel better.

I know the new bulbs are supposed to be far more energy efficient, but I’m not convinced that will be the case.  People like me don’t care for the new bulbs’ milky dimness, and I think many people will try to compensate by clustering lamps around, looking to make up through quantity what the bulbs lack in quality.  If you are using many bulbs where before you were happy with the sharp light cast from one 100-watt bulb, are you really saving much energy?

And what about their costs?  I’m confident the lack of 100-watt light is affecting my eyesight; reading a book for too long in the twilight glow of a 60-watt bulb gives me a headache.  Could this be part of  an elaborate governmental plan, borrowed from a cheap sci-fi thriller, to make Americans toss aside their books, turn on their TVs, and turn their brains into more malleable, disinterested mush?

Speaking of costs, we know that the new bulbs are more expensive — a lot more expensive.  The next generation of energy-conserving bulbs, an LED bulb produced by Philips, will go to market costing $60.  $60!  It’s supposed to last 20 years, but does anyone really believe that — and if they did, would they pay $60 for one measly light bulb?  If Americans are irked by $4-a-gallon gas, how are they going to react when buying one light bulb costs as much as a fill-up of a 15-gallon gas tank?

In America, production of 100-watt bulbs has ceased, production of 60-watt bulbs (which I think are too dim) is being phased out, and soon production of 40-watt incandescent bulbs will be banned.  In short, our government is causing us to spend more and more for less and less light.  It’s something to ponder while we enjoy the romance of candlelight.

What does this mean for our society and culture?  I’m not sure, but I think it’s hard to move boldly into the future when you’re stumbling in the darkness.

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Sitting On A Gas Price Spike

Posted in America, Environment, Humor, Politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 29, 2012 | 2 Comments »

Dear President Obama and Members of Congress,

Could you please talk to your chauffeurs about the price of gas?  I know that you probably don’t drive or gas up your own vehicles, but your handlers and advisers and staffers just might, and therefore might know what I’m talking about.

The price of gas is spiking.  Here in Ohio, the average price per gallon increased 20 cents last week, and the price continues to climb rapidly.  This week, on my drive to Cleveland, a three-quarter tank fill-up cost more than $60.  Just to make sure you understand, that is not a good thing.  $60 is a lot of money.  If you have a job that requires you to drive a lot, as many of us do, higher gas prices suck.  As you’re driving, watching the fuel gauge drift down, you feel like you’re sitting on that sharp gas price spike, if you catch my drift.

Please don’t tell us nothing can be done about it right now, because drilling for oil in America wouldn’t affect prices in the short term.  Incidentally, why does that rationale only get used to avoid developing our natural resources, and never when we are talking about things like building commuter rail lines that wouldn’t be ready for years?  In any case, no one expects you to snap your fingers and lower prices immediately.  We do know, however, that the law of supply and demand works, and if we collect the oil and gas within our borders it will result in lower prices than would otherwise exist.  We just want you to stop flapping your gums and get off your duffs and do something to avoid the likelihood that we’ll be dealing with $6.00 or $7.00 or $8.00 a gallon gas for the indefinite future.

Speaking of commuter rail, please don’t lecture us about public transportation.  Out here in the Midwest, we don’t have the luxury of subsidized Amtrak trains as a travel option, and most of us who need to drive can’t plan our business trips around bus schedules.  You need to accept and embrace the fact that ours is a country of car owners and drivers, and we need gas.  Welcome to reality!

So please, figure out how to get our oil and gas out of the ground and into our tanks, and to do so in a way that is environmentally sensitive.  If you can’t do that, we’ll find somebody who can.  If that happens, perhaps you can experience firsthand the joys of crushingly expensive gas as you are driving to your cushy lobbying job or your next lucrative speaking engagement.

Sincerely, the American Commuter

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Two Sides to Every Dispute

Posted in Environment, tagged , , , , , , on January 18, 2012 | 1 Comment »

Here’s is an interesting article which points out reasons why the Keystone pipeline was a bad deal all along. Of course this is contrary to Bob’s article and point of view expressed in his blog earlier today, but in an effort to be fair and balanced I thought it was worth posting. This decision was clearly not an easy one for the president.

If you don’t have time to read the article here is a brief recap.

TransCanada made it known that most if not all of the extracted and refined oil from the pipeline would be exported and sold over seas not kept in the United States.

Currently their are Canadian oil reserves stored in the midwest and part of the pipeline deal was that TransCanada could drain these reserves and export them which would raise gas prices in the United States especially in the Midwest.

The original TransCanada permit application stated there would be a peak workforce of 3,500 temporary jobs.

The current Keystone pipeline in Canada leaked twelve times last year.

Nebraska Republican Governor Heineman opposed the pipeline because the proposed route of the pipeline was to run through an aquifer in the state that supplies clean drinking water to 2 million Americans plus water for the agriculture industry. His reasoning was does it make since to create 3,500 temporary jobs when even a minor spill near the aquifer would jeopardize more jobs not to mention the health of the citizens of his state.

I’m not saying the pipeline is a bad idea, but I have no problem with the Obama administration taking their time to consider this project carefully. Have we already forgotten our frustrations watching video day after day of the Gulf Oil spill releasing oil into the ocean ?

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The Keystone Pipeline And Lilliput

Posted in America, Entertainment, Environment, Politics, Reflections, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 18, 2012 | 1 Comment »

Today President Obama rejected a proposal to build the Keystone Pipeline. It is one of those decisions, I think, that carries a deeper message about our country, its leaders, and where we are headed.

The proposed pipeline would run 1,700 miles, carrying oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.  It was opposed by environmentalists, who hate the idea of a pipeline crossing the heartland and argue that it would invade sensitive environmental areas in Nebraska.  It was supported by business and labor unions, who say it would be like a colossal public works project — except the $7 billion cost wouldn’t be paid by the government, but by the company that wants to build the pipeline.

The pipeline issue posed a difficult political choice — so the Obama Administration punted and blamed Congress.  The State Department said that the denial was due to Congress imposing an unreasonable 60-day deadline on the Administration’s decision on the project.  Congress, of course, says the 60-day deadline was necessary because the Administration was dithering and proposed to delay any decision until after the 2012 election.  The story linked suggests that the Administration’s decision today was motivated by various carefully weighed political considerations.

The deeper message, I think, is that we increasingly seem to be a country that can’t get things done.  In my view, approving the pipeline makes sense.  It would create lots of jobs during these tough times.  It would inject huge sums into our economy.  It would allow us to get more oil from a safe source, rather than relying on oil from more volatile areas of the world.  Given Iran’s latest saber-rattling talk about closing the Straits of Hormuz, the latter point may be the most important point of all.  (And don’t talk to me about focusing on alternative renewable sources of energy — the reality is that we need oil now and will need it for the foreseeable future.  Our energy needs aren’t going to be met by the magical ministrations of Tankerbelle, the petroleum fairy.)

Obviously, environmental issues must be considered in deciding where the pipeline should go — but why should they quash it altogether?  It already is designed to run through the sparsely populated  central region of the United States.  We need to remember that we live in a country that is criss-crossed and tunneled through with pipelines, power lines, generators, underground storage tanks, highways, railroad, and other delivery systems.  I’m confident that the experts can find an appropriate location for this pipeline and install the protections needed to make it as safe as is reasonably practicable in an uncertain world.

America used to be fabulous at this type of massive project, like the transcontinental railroad, the Hoover Dam, the Panama Canal, or many others.  Those projects had broad political support because they promoted development and commerce.  Does anyone doubt that Democratic Party icons like Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Lyndon Johnson would approve this pipeline?  Conversely, does anyone think the interstate highway system could have been built so speedily if the current regulatory morass that has grown up around consideration of environmental issues existed in the ’50s and ’60s?  Consider that, the next time you drive on our interstates and see the hills that have been sheared off or tunneled through so that you can get from point A to point B at 65 mph.

So now we’ll wring our hands, and hire consultants, and do impact studies for months and years more — all the while leaving people without a job unemployed when they could be working, leaving our economy moribund when it could be helped, and leaving our reliance on energy from volatile regions unchecked when it could be reduced.  Does any of that really make any sense for our country?

America has become like Gulliver, the slumbering giant tied down by thousands of Lilliputian restraints and political considerations and regulations and standards and policies and statutory notice and comment requirements, to the point where it is unable to move.  We need to break those ties and start moving again.

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Lawn Service

Posted in Environment, Growing Up, Reflections, Uncategorized, Work on December 17, 2011 | 2 Comments »

I’ve just come in from doing my weekly “lawn service” chores. At this time of year that is reduced to “raking” leaves and pine straw off the yard and driveway. I say “raking.” That’s what it used to be. Now it’s blowing. No one rakes much of anything anymore, everyone blows their leaves, grass clippings (snow) with a gasoline or electric powered blower. It isn’t quite the exercise that raking was, but it is almost as satisfying to see the cleared area when you are finished.

I really enjoy doing yard work. For over 40 years I went to an office every day (a whole lot of weekends too) and at the end of the day was left with many things to re-do the next day. Everything required review, revision, further analysis, more editing, comments from the client and more revision. And, of course, the client wanted all of it “yesterday.” With yard work you can look back at the end of a particular chore and see what you have accomplished. You might go back and trim a little more but at the end of the day, the job is done. And there is no client. (There is a wife, but that’s different.) While you have to do the same chore again the next week, it’s not the same as arriving at the end of the day knowing you are not done and that tomorrow you will have to review, revise, redraft, correct, discuss, revise again and still wonder when you are “done” if you have adequately covered all of the necessary points. Then at three in the morning you awaken to again consider the myriad of details hoping that you have covered them all appropriately. Not so with yard work. Yard’s mowed. Won’t think about it again until next week. Yard’s trimmed, done for a week. Bushes trimmed, they look neat and I did it. Of course, if you were making your living doing yard work for others, you might worry about the business of doing yard work. But as a home owner, these are of no concern.

For some reason it irritates my wife that I insist on doing my own yard work instead of hiring a service to do it for me. She alleges that the reason she wants a lawn service is her fear that I’ll have a heart attack, stroke or something. I think it’s because she doesn’t think I do the same job those “professionals” do. After all, the lawn mowing part is done by me sitting on my Cub Cadet rider mower. The “raking” is accomplished with a gasoline powered blower and the bush trimming is done with a gasoline powered clipper (and some minor hand trimming). If I have a stroke out there, I was as likely going to have it sitting on the couch.

As I do these tasks with my enhanced power driven equipment, my mind often wanders back to when I was a kid and had my own fledgling lawn service in which I would go around the neighborhood asking to mow yards to get some spending money. In those days we had a push mower that had metal wheels, cogs , blades and a handle that was made of wood with a cross piece bolted to it for grips. At nine or ten or so, that bolt was just the right place to hit you in the chest when the wheels locked up from running over a stick. I’m surprised I didn’t grow a bone spur on my sternum. When I was “finished,” the old lady (probably all of fifty years old) would inspect the job and always find something I didn’t do right (usually a legitimate find). After I did or re-did what she wanted, while missing out on the pick-up baseball game the neighborhood kids were playing, she gave me the fifty cents I charged and said “don’t forget next week.” Shoveling walks in the winter had much the same story just different equipment (no snow blowers in those days). I haven’t seen a kid mow a yard in years. While we don’t have snow down here, I don’t remember seeing a kid shovel a walk in the last few decades I lived up North, either.

Around here it costs about $70 + a week for a lawn service to come do what I do. Granted with two or three people doing the mowing, blowing and trimming it gets done quicker, but I contend they don’t do as good a job as I do because it isn’t their yard. At $70 a week, it didn’t take long for me to amortize my mower, blower and trimmer and $70 worth of gas and oil covers most of the in-season work. Ultimately, I will no doubt reach a point in life where infirmities or the inevitable will put an end to my doing my own yard work. Then there will be plenty of time to hire “professionals” to do those enjoyable tasks they call work.

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Looking To Frack Up The Utica Shale

Posted in Environment, Ohio, Technology on October 13, 2011 | 1 Comment »

In Ohio, the efforts to tap into the oil and natural gas buried deep in the Utica Shale formation are moving ahead rapidly, notwithstanding concerns on the part of environmentalists and some legislators about the potential impact.

Today the Columbus Dispatch ran an article noting that permits to drill and use hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” techniques in eastern Ohio have gone from a trickle to a flood recently.  After only one such permit was issued in 2009 and only two in 2010, 42 permits have been issued so far in 2011 — 27 in the last three months alone.  Democrats in the Ohio House of Representatives want a moratorium on fracking until after the U.S. EPA has completed a study about it, but the momentum toward drilling, and the extraordinary interest in the economic activity that inevitably would follow the drilling, seems irresistible.

Recently Kish and I were in Carroll County — where more than a third of the already permitted well sites are found — and the interest in the Utica Shale was overwhelming.  Carroll County went through an “oil boom” of sorts decades ago; even today you see lots of old wells (like the one in the picture accompanying this post) out in the fields, still pumping away.  So, the idea of well-drilling isn’t scary per se, and residents seem to be happy about their lease payments and willing to dream about their possible royalties.  At the same time, however, they wonder what impact the drilling will have on their way of life — and what might change.

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Upbeat About The Utica Shale

Posted in Environment, Ohio, Politics, Technology, tagged , , , , , , , on September 28, 2011 | 2 Comments »

Eastern Ohio — home to many depressed communities and unemployed residents — is becoming a boom area thanks to a rock formation called the Utica Shale.

The Utica Shale lies far below the surface under parts of eight states.  Geologists believe that it may contain huge reserves of natural gas and oil and that one of the best areas to get at the resources is eastern Ohio.   Big oil companies are moving into the area, buying lease rights and getting ready to drill in earnest.  Today one of those companies, Chesapeake Energy Corp., said that initial wells in the Utica Shale showed strong production, which has heightened the interest even more.

Because the Utica Shale is so far below the surface, the companies use deep and horizontal drilling technology and then apply a technique called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” to free the resources from the shale.  Environmentalists argue that fracking poses undue risk of groundwater contamination, but the oil companies contend the process is not dangerous and has been used safely for years.

For the citizens of eastern Ohio, the Utica Shale find is an economic godsend.  The sale of lease rights are making landowners wealthy, oil companies are setting up shop in the area, and the eventual extraction of the natural resources will produce a host of new construction and long-term blue collar and white collar jobs.  The state will want to ensure that the wells are operated safely, of course, but the impetus to develop the resources and bring jobs to the area seems irresistible.

It’s hard not to contrast the Utica Shale boom with the government effort to spur green energy.  Oil and gas companies are spending billions of dollars to get at natural resources that have proven value and can be obtained using established technology.  They have moved rapidly to identify the potential resources, obtain drilling rights, and erect rigs and start work.  And this burgeoning economic activity has not required costly government subsidies, slow-moving government bureaucracies, or politicized, heavily lobbied programs that advantage one manufacturer over another.

This textbook lesson in the speed, nimbleness, and efficiency of capitalism will create new wealth and lots of new jobs in Ohio that cannot be moved overseas.  All of which should lead everyone to ask:  if we want to immediately create jobs here in America, why isn’t the government making sure there are no unnecessary barriers to the development of our other existing natural resources?

 

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‘Shroom Season

Posted in Columbus, Environment, Food, Ohio, weather, tagged , , , , , , on September 19, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

It’s been a wet and humid few weeks in central Ohio, and we now have some unexpected fungal visitors in our front yard.  It’s the first time I can remember finding mushrooms in the lawn itself, as opposed to in the shady and damp areas underneath trees and shrubs in our flower beds.

These are two of a number of rapidly growing mushrooms in the yard.  Because I know almost nothing about mushrooms, I decided to see whether I could figure out what kind of variety these mushrooms are — and whether they are edible.  To my wholly uneducated eye, they look pretty much like the mushrooms you buy at the grocery store.

From my examination of the photos and descriptions on this website, I’m guessing that these are “meadow mushrooms.”   They clearly aren’t Morels, Chanterelles, giant puffballs, or “Shaggy manes,” and they don’t have the bumpy caps found in other varieties.  According to the website, if these are “meadow mushrooms,” they are edible.  The website also helpfully adds, however, that there is “no test or characteristic to distinguish edible from poisonous mushrooms.”  Given that mushroom poisoning can be fatal, I’m not going to take a chance on eating these buggers.

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The Shores Of Lake Erie, As They Once Were

Posted in Environment, Ohio, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 18, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

A heron scouts for prey at the Sheldon Marsh Nature Preserve

When we were up at Lake Erie over the summer, Russell and I took a long walk through the beautiful Sheldon Marsh Nature Preserve.  Located in Erie County, the 465-acre Preserve contains some of the last undisturbed stretches of natural Lake Erie shoreline.

The marshes, swamps, and woods at the Preserve

Strolling through the Preserve gives you a good sense of the sprawling wetlands and lake-marsh-forest ecosystems that used to be found everywhere along Lake Erie’s shores.  Starting from the lake itself and heading inland, you walk past barrier beaches, swamps filled with cattails, woodland marshes, hardwood forests, and “old fields.”  The ecosystems gradually change from one to the next, each marked by their own mix of flora and fauna.

The Preserve is home to hundreds of different species of birds and different kinds of wildflowers.  Among the birds that call the Preserve home are herons, red-tailed hawks, wood ducks, terns, woodcocks, and numerous songbirds.

The curious water flowers at the Preserve

Russell and I particularly enjoyed watching the white herons at the Preserve, absolutely motionless on their perches and patiently scanning the water, looking for a meal.  We also were fascinated by a water plant with broad green leaves and a single, fist-like bud that grew on a thin stalk and then opened into a bright white flower.  These curious plants grew in profusion on the edge between the swamp and the marshland.

The Preserve is free and is found along U.S. 6, just west of Huron.  Autumn is supposed to be a good time to visit, particularly if you like bird-watching, because the Preserve is a favorite spot for migrating birds.  It’s well worth a visit.

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Quakin’ All Over

Posted in Columbus, Environment, Ohio, tagged , , , , on August 23, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

I was sitting at my desk this afternoon when suddenly everything started shaking.

It was a weird sensation.  I suddenly felt the building swaying, and the air pressure changed and affected my inner ears.  It felt like a wall of air was moving through the room, and I wondered if I was just imagining things.  And then, in a split-second, it was over.  We didn’t even have time to go outside.

A relatively modest  earthquake hit the east coast this afternoon, with trembling felt in Washington, D.C., New York, and Boston to the east and, at least, to Columbus to the west.  If it had occurred on the west coast, or in one of the more earthquake-prone parts of the world, it wouldn’t have been a big deal.  We aren’t used to earthquakes in the Midwest and on the east coast, however, so we get to be kind of wussy about it.  It was the first time I think I’ve ever felt an earthquake, and I can’t say I’d like to be in another one.

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