Tininess: a re-education.

Guys. Guys. Calm down. Everybody just calm down. I know, I know --- we felt an earthquake. In Rhode Island. And that never happens, except for that one time when it did. And that other time. It’s crazy. Let’s all just take a deep breath, and then get to our Facebook pages to tell each other how it just happened, at which point we can agree with each other that yes, it did. It totally happened.

But let’s get one thing straight: you know how a lot of people saying how incredible it is that seismic activity that originated in Virginia could be felt here? Well, it isn’t. It isn’t at all. Know why? Because Virginia and Rhode Island are not that far away from each other. It’s true! 

Let’s review: Rhode Island is small. Very, very small. And it’s situated in a part of the country where states tend to be small. I think that when you live in a very small state surrounded by other small states, you tend to lose perspective, so as a public service, I’d like to provide a refresher course on just how small Rhode Island is. Ready?

Okay. First, let’s look at the distance between Mineral, Virginia, the epicenter of yesterday’s quake, and Providence, where I work, and where my office building swayed ever so gently for a couple of seconds.

The purple line is the way you’d go to drive from one city to the other, but since the effects of shifts in tectonic plates tend not to stick to interstate highways, I’ve added the red line, which is the straight-up, a-to-b, as-the-crow-flies distance. The purple line is just under 500 miles, and the red is about 430.

Now. In 1931, there was an earthquake of similar magnitude that had its epicenter near Valentine, Texas, and it was said that the effects could be felt as far away as Oklahoma. I’m not sure which part of Oklahoma the US Geological Service was talking about, so I’m just going to measure to from Valentine to the OK border. In this map, which is to the same scale as the one above, the purple line is 477 miles, and the red is just under 400. And that’s all in one state, albeit a gigantic one.

And so, as you can see, it is not unthinkable that an earthquake can be felt, however slightly, four or five hundred miles away from its source. Even though that’s equivalent to several Rhode Islands, that in itself does not mean that it’s a great distance. It is not.

Still not convinced? Okay. This is George, the world’s largest dog. He is comically huge, but it’s hard to tell in a picture just how big he is, so for scale, I have included Rhode Island (and let's remember that my graphic design skills are limited, please):

See? That gigantic, adorable dog will devour us all! Ha ha ha. If that still doesn't do it, here's a final example, and this should really leave no doubt in your mind that Rhode Island is not large. This enormous pumpkin was actually grown in the Ocean State. You may remember that stretch of early fall a few years back where the sun was blocked out and thousands fled in terror at the sight of a behemoth jack-o'-lantern-to-be getting ready to have its revenge on anyone who'd ever taken knife to squash before, which is pretty much everyone in New England. Anyway, the great big pumpkin was picked and taken across state lines to be shown at a fair:

See that fella standing next to it? No fewer than twelve Rhode Islands could fit around that guy's waist. He could attach them together with sturdy jump rings and wear them as a belt! Because the state is small.