September 1st, 2011 issue #1035

September 1st, 2011

Quake closed Carmike
In the immediate aftermath of the Tuesday, August 23 earthquake, it appeared Charlottesville had avoided the building damage that closed two schools for a year and crumbled countless chimneys in Louisa County near the quake's epicenter. Turns out, at least one building in town sustained enough impact for a temporary shutdown.
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Stocking up: Gourmet eats... après le déluge
Fortunately Hurricane Irene didn't bring the rain and winds and days without power that 2003's Isabel did, nor did the Cuckoo quake leave us electricity-less. But with microbursts and Snowpocalyse-type events popping up all too frequently in this area, you know it's only a matter of time before the power goes out.
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What's next: Is the quake just the beginning?
Unless you were in the presence of a perceptive animal– and there were scattered reports of skittish dogs– it came without warning four seconds after 1:51pm on a sunny Tuesday, August 23. At 5.8 on the Richter scale, it was the biggest earthquake to hit Central Virginia during human habitation, the biggest in Virginia in the era of measured earthquakes, and, according to the state geologist, taking note of reports stretching from Canada to South Carolina, "the most-felt earthquake in human history."
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The week in review
Most disaster prone: The 5.8 magnitude Cuckoo quake August 23, followed four days later by Hurricane Irene, causes the governor to raise the inevitable question: When does ...

Good afternoon, Irene: Eat, drink, and be merry...
Irene may have stood us up, attracted as she was to the coast and the mountains of Vermont (Hey, prayers for those affected by the rains up there, and for those all along t...

Socialism: Relax, it could be coming to your living room
So you’ve got a solid grip on your middle-class status, right? You have a decent job, you take care of yourself, and you don’t need no stinkin’ handout from the gover...

City steal?
July 11 Lattitude 38 LLC to Brian Sosdian, 120 Riverbluff Circle, $395,000, Charlottesville Chris Otrok & Mary Stegmaier to Benjamin Converse & Sophie Trawalt...

Page-turner: Can renovations write new neighborhood story?
Address: 708 Page StreetNeighborhood: 10th and PageAsking: $299,900Assessment: $182,300Year Built: 1925Size: 1716 fin. sq. ft.Land: 0.17 acresCurb Appeal: 7 out ...

Property auctions
September 7 at 2:15pm at the Albemarle CourthouseProperty: 5476 Green Creek Road, SchuylerDebtor: Sean L. WrightAmount owing: $175,000Bidder brings: $15,000 or 10 percent...

Anxiety variety: Artists unnerve with unseen energy
“Conflict, conflict, conflict!” is the mantra for aspiring screenwriters out to craft a successful script. But it also describes the current underlying the sculpture, p...

Big gulp: Swim smart to avoid drowning
Ariel, the Little Mermaid, would probably win every Olympic gold medal in swimming. She’d blow Michael Phelps out of the water. Oh, wait, that tail might disqualify her f...

Fear inspiring: 'Don't be Afraid' a horror classic
Haunted house movies awaken within us the 5-year-old afraid to go down the stairs with the basement lights off. Sure, there's a light switch down at the bottom, but you nev...

Rock Gods: Sermons From The Hold Steady's Craig Finn
Ever since their breakthrough album Separation Sunday, the Hold Steady have written songs examining characters in difficult situations (addiction, sex problems, dangerous c...

Crosswalk bombshell: Officer texting before hitting wheelchair man
For nearly four years, the dashcam video of a County police cruiser striking a wheelchair pedestrian in a crosswalk in broad daylight was the most shocking aspect of the ca...
Exclusive photos from quake-torn Central Virginia
First year: Sullivan picks Dukie for provost
UVA President Teresa Sullivan marked her first anniversary at the helm of Virginia's flagship university with a press briefing in the Rotunda's Dome Room and the announceme...
Rattle on: We've had 'more than 100' aftershocks
Still feeling multiple aftershocks every day? Friends saying you're dreaming? You may not be, according to a top earthquake scientist, who says that there have been "more t...
Snap: Faith Mission Fellowship sings
Members of Free Union-based Faith Mission Fellowship regale passersby with their songs of Christian hope and inspiration on a recent Thursday night.
Snap: Risky dogness
Passing through an unsignaled intersection in hurricane-torn Glenns, a pickup truck toolbox provides a breezy but unstable ride for a dog. (Note: an earlier posting gave th...
Tritium trouble? Nuke fears rise with quake, self-policing
After the nuclear catastrophe that followed the earthquake and tsunami in Japan last spring, some Central Virginia activists cautioned that a similar nightmare could unfold...

Read the writing: Penmanship can reveal deep truths
Handwriting analysis is no longer for freaks and psychics. Multinational companies hire handwriting analysts to understand personality traits of prospective job candidates....

Tech a go-go: Hokies looking to jump to SEC?
With UVA’s first game staring us in the face, I was set to address Bowl game hopes (there apparently are some), probabilities of beating Virginia Tech (a Tech fan made me...

Flying frass: Grasshopper poop travels far
Q. Did you catch the entomological journal study titled, "Flying distance of frass kicked by the grasshopper Atractomorpha lata and factors affecting the flying distan...

Another multi-million-dollar spread up for bids...
This time it's a 7,800-square-footer built in 2007 and recently offered for sale by owners Fred Trainor and Melissa Russell through Better Homes real estate for $4.9 millio...
Irene cancels: Bad weekend to go to New York
Airlines are usually the first to cancel in bad weather. With Hurricane Irene ready to slam into the Eastern Seaboard, trains and buses are getting scratched as well.
Pressing on: Cville Amtrak trains to roll through storm
While many flights may be grounded and while Amtrak is canceling some trains "south" of Washington, DC, Friday thru Sunday, August 26, 27, and 28 in anticipation of Hurri...
Table of contents
COVERWhat's next?Earthquakes, hurricanes– the disasters have been coming fast and furious these last weeks, but you'll be ready for your next natural disaster with ti...

Full Stories List for September 1st, 2011 issue #1035