Nerd’s eye view: When Stephen Shore of...

Nerd’s eye view: When Stephen Shore of L.A. phoned the customer assistance line of a computer company in Seattle, the clerk said, “Hey . . . you guys had that earthquake, didn’t you?” Obviously in awe of the shaker’s magnitude, the clerk added, “I’ll bet there were a lot of hard disk crashes.”

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Beckjord’s Cube: Inspired that actor Jerry Van Dyke “survived the 6.6 quake due to having a four-posted bed that propped up his falling room,” Jon Erik Beckjord has developed an earthquake-protection bed made out of pipes.

“The more thick the pipe is, the more security,” says Beckjord, who contacted The Times to share his specs. There are additional “bolt-down options and covering for the top of the cube, such as one-inch plywood. . . . And anyone can make one for under $200.”

In the interests of journalistic disclosure, we should say that we attempted to induce Beckjord to go into business with us and market the invention. But he rejected several of our suggested accessories, such as wheels (so that a resident could move from room to room) and pontoons (in case there were some problems with the water heater).

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Welcome to El Lei: Larry Sulkis heard a local TV station’s news break, which was sponsored by the Hawaiian Tourist Board. The lead story? A 5.0 quake that hit the Hawaiian Islands.

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Old Unfaithful?We mentioned that a geyser in the northern California town of Calistoga began erupting at slower intervals last December--just as it did before three other large earthquakes, including the 7.1 Loma Prieta (1989).

But Paul Silver, a geologist who believes California’s Old Faithful may have a talent for predicting some shakers, isn’t ready to say it was warning us about what was to befall Northridge.

“I haven’t seen the the data yet,” he said. “But there are a lot of other things that could affect the geyser. And it’s really pretty far away (from Northridge). We’ve only been able to confirm cases of less than 150 miles away.”

Well, in that case, we’ll stick with our detection method: earthquake weather.

If we could only remember what constitutes earthquake weather.

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Naked assault: We’ve heard from several quake victims who were pelted Jan. 17 by unusual items. For instance, Ed Lange of the Elysium Institute, a Topanga nudist colony, says he was skulled by the book, “The Importance of Wearing Clothes.” Nice irony, we agree. But our question is: What’s that revolutionary book doing in his house, anyway?

miscelLAny:

Health/fitness instructor Jillian Hessel will hold two free workouts for earthquake victims at 10 a.m. Friday at Van Nuys’ Fulton Junior High and noon at Van Nuys High School. Her theme: “Getting Grounded . . . Finding Your Inner Epicenter.”