Creator: Boobquake didn't shake Earth

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - The creator of Boobquake said the results are in: Boobquake did not move the earth.

On her blog, Purdue Senior Jennifer McCreight said there were 47 earthquakes yesterday that according to the U.S. Geological Survey. That number may sound high, but there are many earthquakes nearly every day and 47 is not an abnormal number.

McCreight said to be statistically abnormal there would have had to have been over 148 quakes yesterday - over three times the actual total. That's bad news for the theories of Iranian cleric Kazem Sedighi, who proposed last week that immodest women cause earthquakes, sparking off this event.

The 6.5-magnitude earthquake in Taiwan had many buzzing that Boobquake had moved the earth, but the event's creator said that's not the case.

"Sorry to be a buzzkill - hey, I'd like magical control over plate tectonics too - but that single earthquake wasn't significant. Earthquakes between 6.0 and 6.9 magnitude happen, on average, 134 times a year. That means we had about a 37% probability of an earthquake of that magnitude happening on Boobquake just due to chance alone - hardly an improbable event that needs to be attributed to an angry deity," stated McCreight on her blog.

The average magnitude of earthquakes yesterday was actually slightly lower than the average for the past two months, causing McCreight to quip that perhaps the hypothesis that immodest women reduce earthquakes needs to be examined.

McCreight is aware that her study has some flaws. For example, as she said on her blog, it would have been nice to have a control planet available where women wore only burkas yesterday.

Still, even if some criticize her results, she considers the event a success.

"Boobquake was originally intended to be a humorous exercise in scientific and skeptical thinking - that we should test claims people make, especially when they're ridiculous. And what could be a better way to do that than to question the methods of boobquake itself?" McCreight stated on her blog.

For graphs and additional commentary on McCreight's results, you can check out her blog.

Purdue Professor Lawrence W. Braile, from the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, has also offered commentary on the Boobquake event. You can read his comments and analysis here (PDF), and check back later today for our interview with Braile.

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