This event, like the recent Florida hurricanes, Mt St Helens, et al, should serve to remind us that despite our hubris we're just a thin layer of biological slime on an immense geological and meteorological machine. A little humility is in order.

This is nuts. I went off to the ARC drop point, but was told that they weren't going to take goods - just money. So, slightly slighted, I asked what the money was going to be spent on. Food and clothing were the first two words that came out of the guy's mouth, and I had exactly that in my hands!

If I had inc¤me, I'd have given some money. But (1) all I could afford to give was just food and clothes and (2) the ARC isn't my top choice of charity (I'd rather have given to MSF). So I headed off to a Mosque I know where I was sure that they'd be very happy to take the donations. The place was packed with goods! It restored my faith in Mankind. :-)

OT: On the way back home I heard that Jerry Orbach had died. I thought, "Time to bring the flags to half-mast," but I noticed that all of the flags I passed weren't. Maybe it was too soon for Orbach, but the tsunami happened a day and a half ago - Everyone knows about it by now. Isn't it proper decorum to lower the flag for victims of natural disasters?

[sigh] Well, at least I know that my contribution, small as it is, will go to those who need it.

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I say, give what you can to whom you can. I say - pray if that is in your theology, or think positive thoughts, or vibe positive enery, etc, etc. We can do both, give in this world material goods (cash is also a material good in this sence) and give in the spritual realm too! But at the very least remember that for the over whelming majority of us who live in the west (that includes Europe and North America, the most affluent societies to have existed on Earth)even if we lose everything we have overnight or to a natural disaster here, we will never be as badly off as the majority who lost everything along the coasts of the Indian Ocean. Also remember that the dead, are less poorly off than the living, the dead are dead - nothing more can happen to them now, the living must go on living - surviving - rebuilding.....

The magintude of the disaster does put our puny powers as a species in focus! Even now with all our technology and science, we are unable to predict these kinds of events, and are completely powerless to prevent them in any case. What I find most disturbing is that no warning system exists to at least mitigate some of the potential effects of an event like this. This point is even more striking when you realize that the US military can watch an Afgani shepherd take a crap behind a bush from 25000 miles in space. But then again they can't catch Osama either - so I guess asking the US military to do anything usefull maybe calling on them to do the impossible.

Hope for the best, give what you can, help if you can.

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<br>
<br>
<b><i>Choosing the lesser of two evils, is still choosing evil.

>>>so I guess asking the US military to do anything usefull maybe calling on them to do the impossible.

Let them drop their guns and climb on C-130's to Sri Lanka and Jakarta to start building ports, roads, hospitals power plants, whatall- something usefull. They can always go back to Iraq.
They'll be there for the next 15 years anyway...cc

> >>>so I guess asking the US military to do anything usefull maybe
> calling on them to do the impossible.
>
> Let them drop their guns and climb on C-130's to Sri Lanka and Jakarta to
> start building ports, roads, hospitals power plants, whatall- something
> usefull. They can always go back to Iraq.
> They'll be there for the next 15 years anyway...cc

According to the news, there's a carrier group that has been dispatched to do exactly that.

EDIT: One of the few events I was in on in the Air Force was hurricane Elena when it rolled over the Mississippi gulf coast in 1985. For a week I was clearing the runway so the C-5s could land with relief supplies, digging people out, becoming a human traffic light, etc. It's actually advantageous to have a US military presence in a disaster area.

[ A Prayer for ALL those effected / affected ] . . .

O(ff)T / O(n)T -

> anybody else hear - on the News - regarding the fact that *No* animals have been found . . . that it seems they all hit for higher ground just 'bout the time of the earthquake (and before the waves hit) . . . ???

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BOINC Wiki . . .

Science Status Page . . .

> [ A Prayer for ALL those effected / affected ] . . .
>
> O(ff)T / O(n)T -
>
> > anybody else hear - on the News - regarding the fact that *No* animals
> have been found . . . that it seems they all hit for higher ground just 'bout
> the time of the earthquake (and before the waves hit) . . . ???
>
>
>
>
I heard as well...fascinating..isn't it!!

While I'm sure not all made it out, the small ones probably washed away.

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<p><img src="http://boinc.mundayweb.com/one/stats.php?userID=97">

> I just had an eeire thought: How long until there's a tsunami flick?
>
> Remember how after Shoemaker-Levy 9 we got a lot of asteroid films? Hollywood
> is going to really suck this up...
>
Guess you havn't seen "Day After Tomorrow", where New York City is over-run by a huge wave.

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<p><img src="http://boinc.mundayweb.com/one/stats.php?userID=97">

> [ A Prayer for ALL those effected / affected ] . . .
>
> O(ff)T / O(n)T -
>
> > anybody else hear - on the News - regarding the fact that *No* animals
> have been found . . . that it seems they all hit for higher ground just 'bout
> the time of the earthquake (and before the waves hit) . . . ???

I hear animals do this as they can detect low frequency radio waves that are
emited when rocks like quarz are put under intence pressure. I think it works
like an electric scale, when you stand on it the plates of metal (or what ever
it is) give out a small amount of current. I will try an find some links.

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<pre>Death is the one thing we all face</pre>

> This is nuts. I went off to the ARC drop point, but was told that they
> weren't going to take goods - just money. So, slightly slighted, I asked what
> the money was going to be spent on. Food and clothing were the first two
> words that came out of the guy's mouth, and I had exactly that in my
> hands!
>
> If I had inc¤me, I'd have given some money. But (1) all I could afford
> to give was just food and clothes and (2) the ARC isn't my top choice of
> charity (I'd rather have given to MSF). So I headed off to a Mosque I know
> where I was sure that they'd be very happy to take the donations. The
> place was packed with goods! It restored my faith in Mankind. :-)

I'm glad you didn't just give up, you are to be commended not only for giving in the first place, but for taking the extra time and trouble.

Many charities only take money for causes such as this, but it really is for good reason. It is much more efficient to buy the goods over there rather than getting them here and shipping them over. Besides the money saved in transportation costs, the food and supplies are usually cheaper in those areas, so the money goes a lot farther. Still though, there really does need to be options available to allow people with excess goods or people on fixed incomes to contribute. A prime use for military depots and aircraft I would say.

And I love that you found help at a Mosque, that's what religion is supposed to be about.

This may not be a politically correct thing to say but here goes anyway;

Firstly my heart goes out to all that have lost loved ones in this terrible natural disaster.

What is beginning to disturbe me is the swarm of reporters here (UK) that are pouncing on returning tourists. Yes I'm sure these people feel lucky to be alive. Yes I'm sure they have seen some terrible sights in the last few days.

Being alive is not the only thing they should be grateful for. The main thing is that they can jump on a plane and in less than 24 hours be back in a comfortable life where everything just returns to normal.

It is those left behind, the locals who have lost family, friends, business's, homes and hope that we must feel truely sorry for. They have little to look forward to except disease and starvation. it will be many years (if ever) before many of these communities can "return to normal".

As I say I feel for anybody who has lost loved ones regardless of nationality but I am tired of listening to returning tourists who have "lost everything" and only have the clothes they are standing in.

I hope the media can move past this and keep the focus on the people left behind so as to encourage the international community to work on a long term solution to the many problems these people are going to face in the next months and years.

Angs

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Them that's got shall get
Them that's not shall lose
So the Bible said and it still is news
Mama may have, Papa may have
But .....

If all those folks had nice houses up on the hill
Then only the fisherman would have bought the farm....cc

> What is beginning to disturbe me is the swarm of reporters here (UK) that are
> pouncing on returning tourists. Yes I'm sure these people feel lucky to be
> alive. Yes I'm sure they have seen some terrible sights in the last few days.

The news has it's own version of Boyle's Law, having to expand or contract available news to fit the half-hour or forty-page container it's in. This and the effort for ratings leads to the exploitative sticking of a camera in the face of a local at the airport to try to put a face on it like yours or mine.

I'm trying to imagine being there and not trying to spend the rest of the vacation time helping out.

> Being alive is not the only thing they should be grateful for. The main thing
> is that they can jump on a plane and in less than 24 hours be back in a
> comfortable life where everything just returns to normal.

A really good quote came from the movie Soul Man. It's about a white kid who disguises himself as black in order to get a scholarship. He gets caught near the end of course. At one point he's sitting across from James Earl Jones who says, "You have learned what it's like to live with discrimination."

The kid replies, "Not really. I knew if it got to be too much I could always go back."

> It is those left behind, the locals who have lost family, friends, business's,
> homes and hope that we must feel truely sorry for. They have little to look
> forward to except disease and starvation. it will be many years (if ever)
> before many of these communities can "return to normal".

Our biggest problem is that we can relate better to the death of one far easier than we can relate to the deaths of 50,000. Unless people we personally knew are among the lost or unhomed, it doesn't seem somehow as real to us. How choked up do people get over the movie Titanic, and contrast this to how people react when they first hear about the real Titanic tragedy in a textbook.

In the current tragedy, we didn't know the guy who worked at being the best tradesman, husband, and father he could be, only to see his home and family swept out to sea. We don't relate to the vain young woman who had a lot to learn about how to treat people but deep down had a good heart yet will never get the chance to learn and grow and love. We can't remember the little girl who had a smile like the Sun and died helpless and in terror. In a group of 50,000 dead, these are likely common stories, yet we don't see it.

What is beginning to disturbe me is the swarm of reporters here (UK) that are pouncing on returning tourists.
If only you knew what was being broadcasted here...o0(I think I'm gonna be sick)

I hope the media can move past this and keep the focus on the people...
[Valley girl voice] "And here's Britney's new boyfriend! Like, *ohmygod*, y'know?"

No American has that kind of stamina of focus. When it comes to the news, Laci Peterson got 10x more airtime than Iraq, which got 10x more airtime than the Sudan, which got 10x more coverage than Rwanda.

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BUSH and POWELL Planning tour of Tsunmi Region!

Just Annouced on Fox News Channel Can't find anything on the net Yet

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> > BUSH and POWELL Planning tour of Tsunmi Region!
> >
> Powell? Didnt he resign? Or is his son going to issue indecency fines?


He won't leave untill Bush Swears in for 2nd term...

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Just saw on text-tv that the number of deaths are up to 115,000 after Indonesia had raised their number to 79,940. A raise on 27,940 people!

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> Just saw on text-tv that the number of deaths are up to 115,000 after
> Indonesia had raised their number to 79,940. A raise on 27,940 people!
>

On the news they show the tide come in today washing in 1000 dead people.

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<pre>Death is the one thing we all face</pre>

My numbers always appear to be either inflated or the worst-case numbers. 117K dead, 1 1/3 M displaced, 300K injured, unknown missing.

Some new year's, huh?

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> My numbers always appear to be either inflated or the worst-case numbers.
> 117K dead, 1 1/3 M displaced, 300K injured, unknown missing.
>
> Some new year's, huh?
>

BBC and Sky Uk say 125K dead.

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<pre>Death is the one thing we all face</pre>