I live in earthquake country and I'll tell you, earthquakes can be pretty fun. Nobody has ever talked about this as far as I know but after an Earthquake there's almost a giddiness among the people who felt it. Comparing stories, talking about those dishes that fell from the shelves or the way the dogs in the neighborhood started barking, car alarms going off etc. Some earthquakes are fun, some obviously not so much.
To be clear, any earthquake where somebody is hurt is a solid 0.0 on the fun scale, but one where nobody is hurt and everybody gets to take some time out of the day and compare notes, get out of work or school for a few hours would be a solid 8.0.-- doctorremulac3, Mar 30 2014 All the Californians are voting...-- normzone, Mar 31 2014 //any earthquake where somebody is hurt is a solid 0.0 on the fun scale//
I'm pretty sure that any earthquake large enough to be enjoyable will also injure someone - falling chimney-pots; hot coffee in crotch; collapse of skyscraper - that kind of thing. I mean, even amusement parks kill people once in a while.
The offset needs to be set a little higher.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 31 2014 No, that's all part of the joy of the Richter scale - type approach.-- normzone, Mar 31 2014 //hot coffee in crotch//
Well, funny injuries don't deduct and might even add to the fun scale number. Pie accidentally smashed in the face, big fat guy dropping a bowling ball on his foot, snooty rich guy getting splashed by dropping his monocle in his champagne glass. The ideal earthquake turns any situation into a Three Stooges bit.
San Francisco is full of annoying artists. I'm picturing a guy with a beret and an ascot holding a paintbrush an inch away from his canvas featuring a Picassoesque Rembranty portrait of a woman with about 10% Monet thrown in. "Vis ze last stroke I finish ze masterpiece!" The the rumbling and shaking starts and he draws a mustache on her. That's a solid 9.0 right there.-- doctorremulac3, Mar 31 2014 //Picassoesque Rembranty//
Mmhmm?-- pertinax, Apr 01 2014 I'm not sure that any earthquake large enough to be enjoyable will also injure someone. We were in Tokyo on holiday just after the big Fukushima earthquake and we saw no damage in Tokyo despite it having suffered a big earthquake (just one museum closed - an old building - but that was it). We were there for a week and there were big aftershocks every day, but no structural damage to anything, and no one seemed concerned (Even when we had an earthquake when were on a subway train which was stopped at a station deep underground, with the train carriage rocking from side to side, no one looked even slightly alarmed).-- hippo, Apr 01 2014 They cover earthquakes pretty well here. People are encouraged to call radio and tv stations to tell their stories and I believe hospitals and emergency services officially report damage and injuries as well as part of standard protocol. The best calls are ones that ask the reporter what they're wearing or make a comment about Howard Stern's private parts.-- doctorremulac3, Apr 01 2014 //I'm pretty sure that any earthquake large enough to be enjoyable will also injure someone//
Fun and injury are clearly linked: Fireworks, Spitfires, Motorcycles, Flaming Sambucas, Lion Poking, Gasoline fights, anything involving a waterfall and a barrel.
Also, fun countries are dangerous, and safe ones aren't much fun. Brazil and Belgium, for example. The key, with both activities and countries, is finding the sweet spot where the fun pay off comes at a relatively low risk price.
A moderate earthquake also has the advantage of being free-at-the-point-of-delivery, unlike Spitfires or drinking.-- bs0u0155, Apr 01 2014 Back in '97-'98, we had a big ice storm in Maine. It went on for weeks. Hundreds of thousands of people went without power and thousands without heat as well. People came together and pooled resources and for a month or so we lived in a perfect communist society orchestrated by local radio stations. It was even on CNN for a couple of minutes.
Everyone who remembers the Ice Storm of '98 has a hatful of stories, and we all sit around and tell them on hot summer afternoons when the only snow for miles around comes in cone form. Except for the people who died of CO poisoning from gas generators or lost limbs to frostbite or were horribly maimed in roof collapses, the storm was a grand adventure that left us with fond memories of togetherness and the righteous satisfaction of surviving great adversity.
Some of us even had a good time.
[+]-- Alterother, Apr 01 2014 Of course nothing comes close to the fun of a massive thunderstorm that knocks the lights out. You get the primal excitement of the tribe gathering together in time of "crisis" without any real danger.
I think there's evidence that people can thrive in crises situations. I've heard people who lived through certain parts of WW2 that said it was the most alive they've ever felt. Obviously it wasn't that way for the people getting killed, but those who strove and survived sometimes speak of the experience as almost religious.
I'm fascinated with evidence of our caveman past that pokes through in modern life. I think there's probably chemicals that the brain releases to keep us up to task during crisis situations. Like the brain says "You're going to be fighting for your life in a second, how about a little shot of something to take the edge off?" It's like having a friendly sympathetic bartender built into your head.-- doctorremulac3, Apr 01 2014 //I've heard people who lived through certain parts of WW2 that said it was the most alive they've ever felt//
You only live twice: Once when you are born. And once when you look death in the face (You Only Live Twice, Chapter 11)-- bs0u0155, Apr 01 2014 //(You Only Live Twice, Chapter 11)//
(Bows head and genuflects) So sayeth the almighty Bond.-- doctorremulac3, Apr 01 2014 Schadenfreude? Fun for who?
As a Californian who travels, I know several regions where people will smile when California falls down. Even, or ESP. If death occurs
That said, yes we need to laugh & have fun more-- sophocles, Apr 01 2014 [Alter] See how much fun socialism can be? [tongue extracted from cheek]-- RayfordSteele, Apr 02 2014 Preaching to the choir, [Ray]. If I had my druthers our economy would be a loosely regulated barter system and all forms of speculation would be prohibited. So would centrally-controlled credit systems and lots of the other sneaky shit the politicians and bankers have made legal when nobody was looking. I've hated money since I was old enough to understand it, but it's a necessary evil if I want to stay in the country I love.-- Alterother, Apr 02 2014 [soph], As California is a tax donor state, they won't be smiling for long.-- RayfordSteele, Apr 02 2014 [rayfordsteel]. Sure they can & will still smile. From recent history, the states paying less tax than the benefits they collect are saturated with cognitive dissonance & embrace myths & untruths as they consider facts & science "elitist"-- sophocles, Apr 03 2014 Sorry I was talking poorly about the south USA, where I spent some time. I also spent time in Detroit, & they are a bit wiser there in spite of the horrible challenges they've faced for the last 50 years. I'd rather have a big earthquake which we can recover from in 3 years , even stronger, than face 50+ years of racial strife & disfunction-- sophocles, Apr 03 2014 random, halfbakery