Kinda Lame

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Of all places in the world - Christchurch, New Zealand was hit today with a 7.1 magnitude earthquake. Because I’m an American I had no idea that, as Wikipedia puts it, “The Christchurch urban area is the second-largest in the country by population, after Auckland.” I don’t care, I still think the whole things is ironic given the name of the place. I don’t think they will garner a lot of donations.

According to reports;

The quake was felt widely across the South Island and as far north as Wellington and Palmerston North.

Power is out to most of Christchurch and rural Canterbury, and the central city has been closed down by police because of the amount of rubble in the streets. Water pipes have ruptured and there are reports of flooding in some eastern Christchurch areas.

As many as 1000 residents from Christchurchs seaside suburbs may be evacuated due to flooding from broken water and sewage pipes. Civil Defence said a decision would be made shortly on whether to evacuate residents from New Brighton to Aranui or Linwood High Schools.

Emergency services have rescued about 10 people from holes in the ground including a person who was trapped in a pit in River Road after the ground collapsed.

via Chch state of emergency – national | Stuff.co.nz. Also see residents’ reactions to the quake from stuff.co.nz.

See this twitter search for possible updates from people inside the area of Christchurch.

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The Washington Post is reporting that the offices of the Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel and others (their parent company is known as Discovery Communications Inc.) have a hostage situation in Silver Springs, Maryland. The man is said to have an explosive device on him;

A man with what appears to be an explosive device on him has taken at least one hostage at the Discovery Building in downtown Silver Spring, Montgomery County Police said.Cpl. Dan Friz said police received a call about 1 p.m., of shots fired in the lobby.Tactical officers are on the scene and developing a plan to deal with the situation.Police initially said the building was being evacuated, but employees said they were told via email to stay at their desks.

Officers have not fired their weapons, Friz said.

via Post Now – Discovery building being evacuated.

For more information and possibly news as it develops please see the following Google live search link:

GOOGLE: Live Search Results for Discovery Building

And this just reported on Twitter:

Update: Alleged Discovery Channel HQ gunman ID’d as James Jay Lee; has history of protesting outside building – NBC

See this live Google search on James Jay Lee:

GOOGLE: Live Search Results James Jay Lee

Update: CBS News Live Video of Hostage Situation at Discovery Channel Offices