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Accidental Supervillain on Trial for Causing Earthquakes
Tremor-Plagued California Fault About To Unleash The Big One

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Dresan
12/15/09

In reply to Accidental Supervillain on Trial for Causing Earthquakes
"Supervillain by Accident" should be the title of a movie that must be done.
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bobwoo
12/16/09

Or the name of the next rock/alternative band to tear up the charts!
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comics0026
12/15/09

In reply to Accidental Supervillain on Trial for Causing Earthquakes
Deliberately means he did it knowing that an earthquake could happen, right? Was he on site when they were drilling? 'cause that would be stupid.

And why would he deliberately cause an earthquake? Nobody wins in an earthquake, especially the guy who caused it. Odds are he'll end up falling into a fissure or being crushed by falling debris.
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JRD_2
12/15/09

In reply to Accidental Supervillain on Trial for Causing Earthquakes
I don't know anything about Swiss law, but from an American law perspective it seems bizarre that they're apparently charging him under a criminal statute with an intent requirement. In the U.S. this would more likely be a civil negligence case; I can't see it being prosecuted criminally assuming (as seems to be the case) that he had the necessary permits and was in compliance with applicable regulations.
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OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear
12/15/09

@JRD_2: I agree. For too long super villains have had a loophole in American law.

Someone ought to do something about this.
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earthclanbootstrap
12/16/09

@OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear: David Bowie must bring the full might of Guild sanctions to bear!
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pitpat
12/15/09

In reply to Accidental Supervillain on Trial for Causing Earthquakes
Hmm, "Markus Haering" is an anagram of "Mega Shark Ruin"
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goldfarb
12/15/09

@pitpat: that's Dr. Mega Shark Ruin to you Sir!
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ManchuCandidate
12/15/09

In reply to Accidental Supervillain on Trial for Causing Earthquakes
Is there going to be a new town called Uterville?
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OzymandiasX
12/15/09

In reply to Accidental Supervillain on Trial for Causing Earthquakes
I don't know. I'm not sure the Swiss government's claim has a solid foundation.

Though I'm sure being taken to court for this has rattled Mr. Haering.
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OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear promoted this comment Edited by OzymandiasX at 12/15/09 3:04 PM OzymandiasX was starred OzymandiasX was unstarred

OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear
12/15/09

@OzymandiasX: I think their claim is groundless.
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goldfarb
12/15/09

@OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear: and their arguments are full of holes...
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Gann
12/16/09

@OzymandiasX: It is kinda shaky. There are quite a few cracks in their logic.
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Tenshi21
12/15/09

In reply to Accidental Supervillain on Trial for Causing Earthquakes
It's a frame job! It was that maniac in neighboring Latveria what done it!
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Roklimber
12/15/09

In reply to Accidental Supervillain on Trial for Causing Earthquakes
3.4 in the Richter scale? That's nothing. California gets hit by dozens of 3.x quakes every day.

Recent quakes in California and Nevada (updated every hour or within 5 minutes of a large quake)
[quake.wr.usgs.gov]
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Ryuku
12/15/09

@Roklimber: Just don't tell Arnold, he'll sure to find a guilty party and make it pay the state's debt.
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Bill-Lee
12/15/09

@Roklimber: I live in the Bay Area. I think we've become jaded, because even more noticeable Earthquakes barely garner a reaction. Some friends and I were eating out one night and there was a noticeable tremor. Didn't even stop people from eating. Some people held onto their glasses to keep them from tipping over.
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NerD: Blattella
12/15/09

@Bill-Lee: I don't think it's being jaded. There just needs to be a serious one to really make it stand out.

The last one I remember was 3 months ago, it was a good shove, and that was it.

Disappointing really.
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Roklimber
12/15/09

@Bill-Lee: I know what you mean. I lived in Orange County (Southern CA) for over 10 years. My first 4.2 woke me up real good. Another 4.5 happened when I was playing chess online and my opponent (who was in some other part of the state) also felt it. My desk and computer monitor shook quite a bit, but not enough to get me out of my house. A couple more 4.x and I stopped caring altogether.
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
12/15/09

@Roklimber: My thought was "3.4? How did they even notice it? Much less $9 million damage and extrapolating to possible $500m?"
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Roklimber
12/16/09

@Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.: My thoughts too. Quite an exaggeration, no?
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lazyeight
12/16/09

@Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.: It's entirely posssible that there was $9M or more in damages. Don't forget that the buildings there are old, for the most part. Picture construction consisting of building blocks (granted, big effin stone ones), with no structural components other than arches and gravity. When they move, they stay moved. It's like the devestation one hears about when there are quakes in Turkey - the damage and loss of life is exacerbated by the type of construction (basically, mud bricks)CA didn't start taking seismics seriously until the 20th Century.I remember when the LA City Hall was the tallest bldg downtown, and the hue and cry when Arco built the twin towers (which are now lost in the skyline, and go by another name) about how they'd act in an earthquake. Worse yet is the mud volcano in (Phillipines?, Sumatra?) that was started by drilling and continues to flow (as the Spice must).
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Edited by lazyeight at 12/16/09 5:48 AM lazyeight was starred lazyeight was unstarred

Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
12/16/09

@lazyeight: Hmm. Could be, with buildings that are centuries old.

I still think a) they pulled the $50m out of their butt and b) they shouldn't charge this guy, it certainly wasn't deliberate.
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omgwtflolbbqbye
12/15/09

In reply to Accidental Supervillain on Trial for Causing Earthquakes
Great, he already has the tech, now the Swiss courts are going to give him a motive to put on spandex and take his revenge.
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Belabras
12/15/09

In reply to Accidental Supervillain on Trial for Causing Earthquakes
I think they will have trouble proving the 'deliberate' part.

That said, he should have invested in more Kyptonite.
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Cory Gross
12/15/09

@Belabras: Yeah, it's not really deliberate... What would be the supervillain earthquake-machine version of manslaughter? Public mischief?
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jmg134
07/10/09

In reply to Tremor-Plagued California Fault About To Unleash The Big One
Well there goes LA. I live in SD so please spare us.
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Roklimber
07/10/09

@jmg134:

Don't worry. San Diego has its own sources of trouble, like crazy tank-drivers and, if I'm not mistaken, dinosaurs. (Didn't Jurassic Park 2 take place in SD?)
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cletar
07/10/09

In reply to Tremor-Plagued California Fault About To Unleash The Big One
Well, better late than never, Lex Luthor. Maybe with Superman tied up in all that litigation, your long delayed plan can finally come to fruition.
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Magicant
07/09/09

In reply to Tremor-Plagued California Fault About To Unleash The Big One
A couple thoughts - keeping in mind I'm not a geologist but I play one on TV (that is, if I was on TV and there was a role for me as a geologist)

1) Parkfield is in the middle of nowhere, halfway between San Fran and LA. It would suck for those in the vicinity but doesn't seem like it would be a big quake for the major cities.

2) Increased activity doesn't necessarily mean "major" quake, does it? Is there proof of that? It may just mean a quake is coming, but it could be a 3.0 or something.

3) The world isn't ending until 2012.
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Roklimber
07/09/09

In reply to Tremor-Plagued California Fault About To Unleash The Big One
Wait, didn't Superman fix the SAF in 1978? Why is it acting up now? Did he screw up? Jeez... one simply cannot trust superpowered aliens these days, can we?
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krispykrink
07/09/09

In reply to Tremor-Plagued California Fault About To Unleash The Big One
Loved the 1989 quake during the battle of the bay. I surfed my couch in my living room and a buddy of mine got tossed out of his pool. Bring it on!
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crashedpc - Haifisch
07/09/09

@krispykrink: ... I was watching Sesame Street and Zazoo the Zebra was on.
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Grey_Area
07/09/09

@crashedpc : ゴキブリ and 蟑螂 division: I was working in downtown SF as a messenger. Saw a huge chunk of masonry miss squashing a little old lady by inches. Hordes of shellshocked dust-coated commuters staggering out of the BART (subway) stations like zombies.
Then the sun set and things got WeIRrDd.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
07/09/09

@Grey_Area: Great, after revealing just how young I am I feel like a wee tyke.
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Mathmos
07/09/09

@krispykrink: My sister was stuck in a collapsing building and had to jump onto the roof of the next building. Not really fun. I went through an earthquake in the Seattle-Tacoma airport. Sound like a freight train from a few feet away, everything shaking (duh), light fixtures and anything not bolted falling, water spraying from broken pipes, broken escalators and elevators, etc. After I got back from being marched out onto the runway I rented a car, drove to Portland and caught another flight.
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allium
07/09/09

@Mathmos: San Jose. Indian Summer, 5 pm on a Tuesday. I had foregone my math homework for a round of Super Mario Brothers and was just getting up to switch the TV over to the World Series when the house started shaking.

"Oh well," I thought. "Another quake." (That's how we roll on the Isle of Califa.)

Then the liquor rack in the other room crashed to the ground, the floor decided to juggle me around a bit (no mean feat), and I figured it would be a good idea to stay prone for a while.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
07/09/09

@allium: You were in San Jose too, eh? Lucky you, you had Nintendo. Thankfully we only lost teacups.
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stereobot
07/10/09

@allium: Did you finish your game of Super Mario Bros? Do you know how to get to the Minus Worlds? Say what you will about them - sure, you swim forever until you run out of time, but at least there are no earthquakes to be found in the Minus Worlds.
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