A Slow News Day? Bring on the Doom Watch Dragons by Karla Stover

                           

                                                   BWLAUTHORS.BLOGSPOT.COM



Western Washington is currently experiencing a period of slow news. The snow storms are over, Seattle's delayed and over-priced tunnel opened but no one seemed to care, and our never-met-a-tax-he-didn't-like governor is last on the list of presidential candidate wanna-bes. And when slow news happens, the media brings out the old tried-and-true, WE'RE DUE FOR AN EARTHQUAKE---A BIG ONE because though "Earthquake Tracker," recorded 3 in the last 20 hours, the biggest only registered a magnitude of 1.6.

Being prepared requires either a backpack full of stuff that never leaves your side--er--back, or separate kits for home, car, and workplace. On the list is coins for phone calls so, apparently it hasn't been updated in a while.

Zhang's seismoscope was a bronze vessel approximately eight feet tall and six feet in diameter, resembling a samovar. "Eight dragons snaked face-down along the outside of the barrel, marking the primary compass directions. In each dragon's mouth was a small bronze ball. Beneath the dragons sat eight bronze toads, with their broad mouths gaping to receive the balls." When the country experienced bad yin and yang ( an earthquake ,) a pendulum inside swung in the direction of the tremor and tilted one of eight horizontal arms which opened the mouth of the appropriate snake. It opened its jaws and dropped its ball into the mouth of the frog beneath.

      


                                                          I vote for the pretty one.

As for preparedness, we have canned goods, pet food, and batteries, and everyone knows the water in the toilet tank is perfectly safe to drink.