Science and Technology

[Fox News] Is the East Coast on the brink of a major earthquake — and are we prepared?

The earthquake that struck the East Coast earlier this month was felt by an estimated 42 million people and luckily caused little damage, but what are the chances of a bigger, more powerful quake striking the area? And if it does, what could it look like — and are we prepared?

The April 5 phenomenon was a 4.8 magnitude earthquake centered near Whitehouse Station in New Jersey, which is about 40 miles west of New York City.

Shaking was felt from Washington D.C. to Maine, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and it followed a much smaller, 1.7 magnitude earthquake in New York City on Jan. 2. 

Earthquakes are rare along the East Coast, with the most powerful one in the last 100 years hitting in August 2011, clocking 5.8 on the Richter scale. It was centered in Virginia and felt from Washington, D.C. to Boston.

4.8 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE STRIKES NEW JERSEY, SHAKING BUILDINGS IN SURROUNDING STATES

Before that, an earthquake in South Carolina in 1886 is understood to have measured between 6.6 and 7.3 on the Richter scale. There is no definitive measurement of that quake since the Richter scale has only been around since the mid-1930s, but the tectonic shift still killed 60 people.

Professor John Ebel, a seismologist in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Boston College, tells Fox News Digital that when quakes start breaking 5.0 on the Richter scale, damage begins to occur. 

For instance, the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria last year measured 7.8 and resulted in the death of nearly 62,000 people as tens of thousands of buildings were either destroyed or severely damaged.

California’s Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, meanwhile, measured 6.9 and caused 69 deaths, and the 1994 Northridge earthquake in the Golden State clocked 6.7, killing 57 people. Thousands more were injured. 

“As you go above magnitude five, the shaking becomes stronger and the area over which the strong shaking is experienced becomes wider,” Ebel says. “So if you get a magnitude six, the shaking is ten times stronger than a magnitude five. So had this month’s earthquake been a 5.8, rather than a 4.8, then we would be looking at damage to unreinforced structures in the greater New York City area.”

“Now I have to qualify this and say that in the past few decades, New York City has had an earthquake provision in its building code while New Jersey, New York and Connecticut have all adopted some version of earthquake provisions in their building codes,” Ebel explained. “So modern buildings that are put up today will actually do quite well, even in strong earthquake shaking… If you have a magnitude 6 or even a magnitude seven.”

In terms of the Tri-state area, Ebel says that the region has had smaller earthquakes, but it’s been spared anything that’s been significantly damaging.

An 1884 quake in Brooklyn did cause limited damage and injuries. Seismologists estimated it would have measured in the region of 5.0 and 5.2, while a quake jolted Massachusetts in 1775 in the region of 6.0 and 6.3.

WHAT TO DO DURING AN EARTHQUAKE AND HOW TO PREPARE

“In 1884 there were things knocked from shelves, some cracks in walls that were reported, particularly plaster walls, which crack very easily if a building is shaken,” Ebel said. “There were some brick walls that had some cracks and people panicked because of the very strong shaking.”

A magnitude five earthquake hits the tri-state area once every 120 years, says Ebel, who penned the book “New England Earthquakes: The Surprising History of Seismic Activity in the Northeast.”

“The question is, can we have something bigger? And in my opinion, yes we can,” he said. “We can’t predict earthquakes, and we don’t know when the next one is going to occur, but we do have a low, not insignificant probability of a damaging earthquake at some point.”

Ebel said that the April 5 earthquake has left seismologists baffled since it didn’t occur on the Ramapo Fault zone, highlighting just how hard it is to predict the phenomenon from occurring. The Ramapo Fault zone is a series of small fault lines that runs through New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Spanning more than 185 miles, it was formed about 200 million years ago.

“Right now it’s a seismological mystery,” Ebel said. “We have some earthquakes in our region where we don’t have faults mapped. But that’s even true in California. Not every earthquake occurs on a known or mapped fault in California, so there are still a lot of seismologists have to learn about the exact relationship between old faults and modern earthquakes.”

Ebel noted that buildings aren’t the only thing to consider when earthquakes strike. In the California quakes, overpasses crumbled while the electrical grid can go down too, causing electrical surges and fires.  

Toxic chemicals were knocked off of the shelves of a chemistry building in 1989 and the building had to be evacuated, Ebel said. 

“And you think about hospitals and some industrial facilities having that situation,” he explained. “So you have these things that are not catastrophic necessarily, but are going to be a real problem.”

And an earthquake doesn’t necessarily have to rattle land in order to cause destruction.

A jolt out at sea could trigger a dangerous tsunami, like the one on the edge of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland in Canada in 1929. It was felt as far away as New York City.

Waves as high as 23 feet crashed on the shore, according to the International Tsunami Information Center, with up to 28 people losing their lives. 

“A tsunami is not necessarily a very high probability event, but it’s one that we have to think about also,” Ebel says in relation to the East Coast.

The Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011 was triggered by an earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

Ebel says a tsunami similar to 1929 could cause a storm surge along the lines of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, where 43 people died in New York City. 

“The threat of an earthquake is not as great as in California, but it’s something that we have to take into account and have emergency plans for and have building codes for,” Ebel says. “Our state and local emergency management agencies in all the northeastern states do earthquake planning — what we call tabletop exercises — where they pretend an earthquake occurs.”

“So those kinds of preparations are made on a regular basis,” he concludes. “Building codes are constantly being reevaluated and approved, not just for earthquakes, but for fires and chemical spills and all kinds of things. So we’re getting more prepared all the time.”

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Science and Technology

[Fox News] Get a handle on your time: Google Calendar tips and tricks

Before we get into it, I’ll acknowledge what you may be thinking: Using Calendar means handing over even more info to Google.

Win an iPhone 15 worth $799! I’m giving it to one person who tries my free daily tech newsletter. Sign up here while you’re thinking about it.

SEE WHAT THE HOME YOU GREW UP IN LOOKS LIKE NOW AND OTHER MAPS TRICKS

Sure, but here’s my take: For the sake of convenience, most of us choose a Big Tech company or two that we’re OK sharing a lot with. If you use Gmail and Google Maps, adding Calendar to the mix won’t make much difference in terms of privacy.

Here are some ideas to get the most out of it

Spoiler: A lot more than just meetings and dentist appointments. And yes, you can definitely use you preferred calendar app for all these things too, if Google isn’t your thing.

Let’s get to the tricks

FIX AUTOCORRECT IF IT’S DRIVING YOU DUCKING CRAZY

A little know-how goes a long way in getting more out of your everyday software.

Know when people are free: I use this daily at work. Put your cursor in the box labeled Search for people under the Meet with heading. Everybody in your organization should be searchable here, so no more setting meetings no one can attend. You can also create a new meeting, add guests and click Find a time under the date to see the attendees’ availability side by side!

WATCH OUT FOR THE NEW ‘GHOST HACKERS’

Automatically share meeting minutes: In your meeting details, click Create meeting notes under the event description to generate a Google Doc that automatically gets shared with attendees. It includes a built-in outline with the meeting date, attendees, notes and action items. Pro tip: Attach additional notes, docs, slides or whatever else to the meeting so no one’s looking around for them later!

Never miss a beat: When setting an appointment, simply click Add Notification. Choose how long before the event you’d like to be reminded. Boom! Whether it’s 10 minutes or a day in advance, Google Calendar’s got your back. No more oops moments.

You know I have more amazing tips up my sleeve. Get more Google Cal secrets.

Get tech-smarter on your schedule

Award-winning host Kim Komando is your secret weapon for navigating tech.

Copyright 2024, WestStar Multimedia Entertainment. All rights reserved. 

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Business

[Fox Business] Don Julio’s grandson on drawing from family, heritage while kick-starting additive-free tequila brand

It’s been over 20 years since the González family sold Don Julio Tequila to liquor giant Diageo – and now, the namesake’s grandson is forging his own path in the spirit industry with an emphasis on additive-free blanco tequila.

Eduardo “Lalo” González, grandson of Don Julio and co-founder of Lalo Spirits, and his childhood friend and co-founder, David Carballido, through simple catching up, proposed a lack of Mexican ownership and culture within the tequila industry.

In 2015, the pair of friends drew from a heritage of over 100 years of spirits making and refined their own SKU of the liquor.

TEQUILA EXPERT SHARES THE SECRET TO A SIMPLE, DELICIOUS COCKTAIL

As a leisurely project, González and Carballido crafted an exclusive tequila that belonged to the land of Mexico to share privately among friends and family.

“The reason why we only have blanco is because we want to honor the agave, and we want to showcase a clean and crispy version of tequila,” González, an Austin, Texas, resident, told FOX Business during a phone call. “We believe it’s not fair for the agave plant that the agave stays there for 5-6 years waiting to be harvested, and then you mask the flavors with barrels or additives.”

González collaborated with memories of his warm upbringing around agave fields and teachings from both his grandfather, Don Julio, and his father to unearth a tequila of his own.

Don Julio began working at his uncle Jose’s tequila distillery in El Salvador Ranch at just 7 years old. González says his grandfather fell in love with the agave fields and the impression kick-started a tequila legacy that continues today.

TEQUILA AND MEZCAL: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

“He was obviously very passionate about the distilling side of the business, but he was in love with the farming side,” González said.

His father, also Eduardo “Lalo” González, was the creator of Don Julio Tequila, and imprinted the significance of a story, the heritage and authenticity of a brand on his son. González says his father was prideful of the story that backed the widely known tequila brand.

“He was also very passionate about elevating the experience in the tequila world,” González said.

The additive-free booze first shared at intimate gatherings charmed taste testers. González and Carballido understood that they had something “special” and “wanted to share it with the world.”

In 2017, González and Carballido invited Jim McDermott, co-founder and CEO, onto the project. McDermott became an integral part of introducing the special occasion liquor to Texas.

NATIONAL TEQUILA DAY: HERE’S A CRASH COURSE ON THE DISTILLED LIQUOR

Lalo Spirits officially launched in Austin, Texas, in January 2020, just before COVID-19 rocked the world.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God, the world is about to end, but my baby was just born, my baby Lalo,’” González said. “We were like ‘Oh my God, we just launched a tequila brand, and we’re focusing on bars and restaurants and bars and restaurants are closing.’”

The core of Lalo is to remain clean and additive-free while providing a heritage-driven experience for consumers. The brand has no intention of releasing any other SKU or tequila expressions.

González says additives are often a way for tequila brands to cover up the poor taste of a spirit. When agave plants are harvested too soon, they provide bitter flavor profiles for consumers.

And while González says launching during a global pandemic was very challenging, the opportunities for clean brands were expanding.

“Since COVID, this additive free movement started to grow because people were more conscious about what they were putting in their bodies,” González said.

Much like Champagne, true tequila can only be referred to as such if the blue weber agave plants are harvested and the liquor distilled in designated regions of Mexico. In addition to this, there are four additives allowed in 100% derived tequila.

The first is oak extract, which is a barrel corrector for barrel aged products, and the second is caramel coloring. However, both of these additives do not apply to the process of making blanco tequila. Glycerine, which mutes flavors and contributes to the mouthfeel of the spirit, and syrups, which add sweetener and artificial flavors, are the other two.

González says brands do not have to disclose additives if they make up under 1% of the total liquid per bottle, though less than 1% can drastically alter the entire flavor of the liquor.

“Tequila tastes like agave,” he said. “It doesn’t taste like cupcakes.”

As for Lalo Spirits, you can guarantee a bottle of Lalo Blanco is additive-free.

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“It’s not a smooth tequila,” González said. “It’s a well-balanced product. It’s very clean, it’s very crisp. I think that’s what makes Lalo special. It’s very versatile. It brings people back to additive free, traditionally made tequilas.”

Tequila is regarded as the “fastest-growing” spirit, according to Gitnux, which makes the category a competitive one, even if your brand is impressioned with the Don Julio name.

“Honestly, many people will think, ‘You’re Don Julio’s grandson, and that it’s very easy to release your own brand, and you will have success right out of the gate,’ but the reality is, it’s more challenging than it seems,” González said. “I’ll say that it’s not enough to be Don Julio’s grandson.”

Even so, González safeguards the tradition of a family-owned distillery but with a personal element.

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Before officially branding, his partners approached González about naming the brand Lalo. Though he opted to forego the namesake because of added pressures and expectations, it was McDermott who corrected González on the reason for the decision.

“Jim was like, ‘No, you’re not getting it. It’s not because of you, it’s because of your father,'” González said. “It’s beautiful because he did the same thing for his father. When he launched Don Julio, he created his brand in honor of his father, and I’m doing the same.”

His father passed away in 2017 before the brand was revealed.

For more Lifestyle articles, visit www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle.

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