On the Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami

Its Sunday, March 13, 2011 and this is The Side. No dumb lines this time around. Friday I posted up my usual comic reviews and a top 10 list which I was pretty happy with. The main thing on my mind was my kids' birthday. Then the news came in. I felt pretty douchey posting my goofy shit when there was so much serious shit going on. Some things happen and you get a real idea of how small you are. I thought a lot about it this weekend. I was distracted a bit by the birthday party and work and other things, which I'm thankful for. It gave me a lot of perspective in dealing with a bunch of four-year-olds at a Tinkerbell themed party.

THE QUAKE

I've been in earthquakes, but only minor ones. It was the variety of you get woke up in the middle of the night, everything is shaking, and you say "fuck this" and go back to sleep. The one that hit in Japan was not of that variety. I could throw up a ton of links with news on the disaster, but really all you need to do is go to wherever you get news from and it'll be there. The quake was as bad as any Japan has ever seen. The tsunami was worse in terms of destruction and deaths. People are watching the damaged nuclear reactors cautiously, checking radiation levels, cringing at the explosions, and holding their breathes while they pray the worst doesn't happen.

Japan wasn't the only country affected. We're all on the same planet, and when something so major happens its effects travel. In this case its very literal as a tsunami was sent rocketing across the pacific ocean towards the United States. We suffered nowhere near as much damage as Japan, but you have to appreciate the magnitude of what happened so far away when its effects physically hit here.

I had to explain how tsunamis function to a kid I work with. He doesn't have much of a science background. These waves are only a couple of feet high, but they're moving as sometimes hundreds of miles per hour. So when the the ocean gets shallower near the beach you get a massive swell that causes the damage. Its not some massive wave that crests over the horizon.

I live very near the east coast, and we had our tsunami scare a few years back. There was never any threat, but the local news folks needed ratings, so when the tsunami hit Indonesia they used that as a catalyst for scare stories. Scare stories are when news goons try to scare you into watching. We get those annually with hurricane season. "Are you prepared for the worst?"

So I was in no danger, but there are people I know that were. I don't talk to Kristie as much as I used to. She lives in Hawaii, and when this happened I was immediately concerned for her safety and my other friends there which I made the acquaintance of through her. Thankfully, she's safe. In the aftermath she wrote a very poignant piece about living in the aftermath of just a warning that needs to be read.

Here on the mainland the effects were felt along the west coast. One of the Vloggers I follow, Philip DeFranco, lives out there. He's very clever. He jokes about a lot of things, and can be very mocking and flippant. Not this time.



So think about the effects that are felt by the people here. Now trace them backwards. A mother calling concerned for her son, and the son reassures her he's fine. A young woman witnessing two girls making very worried phone calls, some of which may not have been answered. That's just the outskirts. That's the outer ripples of an event that changed and ended many lives.

I keep thinking about this little kid. I saw him at the Youth Butokusai back in 07. he was the youngest one in his group. These Japanese kids were doing a Kenjustu demonstration and looking like young samurai. The little guy was so young that they didn't let him use a real sword. Still there he was out there with his toy plastic sword, keeping up with the moves of his older teammates. I have no clue what his name is, and doubt I would recognize him if you showed me a picture. I remember thinking how great all those kids were, and now I'm praying they're all alright.

There's donations being taken up now for aid. Our president, whom I usually disagree with, has pledged aid and Naval ships are headed in to help. I spoke previously about the horrible NBC show HARRY'S LAW in which a judge on the show stated that Americans don't care about foreigners. The writers and producers of that show don't know Americans and the amount of love and support that's been shown to the people of Japan is a testament to that. We're in an economic crisis. People are out of work here. Families are losing their homes. This earthquake/tsunami reminds us of how much worse things can be, and still despite the tough times, we give.

Out of great tragedy can come great inspiration and hope. Pray for the people of Japan.

MUSIC!!

U2's first video, before they became overly douchey.



That's it for today. there's a lot of charities scrambling to raise money to help those affected by the earthquake/tsunami. If you can, make a little donation, or at least spread the word. Thanks.

Nozz World Tour!

Yeah, that's right. Its Sunday, January 30, 2011, I'm ready for the zombie apocalypse, and this is The Side. All and all, I don't sweat a zombie apocalypse. The shambling dead don't scare me but I don't fear what I can outthink, outfight and outrun. The preparedness comes from the mountain of bagged leaves I amassed yesterday. It would make a convincing barricade.

Its like this every year. I make some decent headway in keeping the yard up. The weather turn and the leaves get ahead of me. I finally get back to dealing with the yard. I finally get all the leaves up, and by then they're getting ready to fall again.

I love my house, but its time for a getaway. Off we go!

NERDOM 'ROUND THE WORLD

I've seen a lot of kids who think they've got what it takes to be a manga artist and say they're going to someday move to Japan to pursue their dream. The majority of these kids can't draw worth a damn and have no clue about what it takes to make it as an artist there. I used to think it was just a fad appeal and that it would blow over. Made me wonder why kids like these weren't watching Disney or Pixar flicks flicks and saying they wanted to move down to Florida to work for them. Now I know. The level of nerdom in Japan overshadows the nerdom of Florida exponentially.



I think the kiddies think that Disney may have the Magic Kingdom, but Japan is the Magic Nation. They can sit and draw all the live long day and stay in a place like this.

I'm just thankful my young cousin Jacob hasn't fallen into this. He probably hasn't because he and his parents are all sane, rational people. Japan: seems like a lovely place to visit, but I wouldn't want to draw there.

WORLD AT LARGE

There's some crazy stuff going on around the world. Well, there usually is, but this could get really ugly. If you don't know that there's major protests going on in Egypt and that their government is on verge of a likely collapse then you really need to pay more attention. There's other protests popping up in Jordan and Libya. Egypt has killed the internet for its citizens because it was allowing them to get word out about what was happening and letting them organize to easily.



Egypt is a dictatorship. The people are sick of it and want reform. Obviously the dictator doesn't want that, so now we have protests that are getting very violent. Tunisia just had its government ousted and it looks like Egypt will follow suite.

But there's a problem. Assholes and bastards have taken notice and the potential for a power grab. The Muslim Brotherhood, who are dedicated Jihadists, have joined up with the protesters. This is bad because the Muslim Brotherhood has some organization and that alone can supply some stability if and when the current government collapses. This is bad. That's not even bringing into play the violence that has erupted, the artifacts in museums that have been destroyed, or the massive jailbreak.

America is in a tight spot because we know the current dictator is an asshole, but we also know that there's bigger assholes poised to seize power when he's gone. If we go in to try to help to make sure those assholes don't seize power we end up looking like imperialists who don't care about the Egyptian people.

This is why killing the internet is so dangerous right now. The people who were getting the world out don't know how many people here in America are pulling for them. Yes, there needs to be serious government reform there. No, we don't want a bunch of jihadist pricks taking over. I can do post after post, and tweet after tweet showing my support for the people who are living under a government they cannot tolerate. I truly hope for the best for the Egyptian people, because what's going on right now over there is going to have an impact over here.

We get our oil from that region, which is completely stupid, but the idiot hippies won't let us use our own resources and the government like to appease the idiot hippies. Energy is vital to the economy. Since we can't use our own, we're stuck having to deal with those who do have it, and these protests are going on right in the middle of things. So yes, we in America are affected by this. And don't start posting comment about alternative energy sources and driving your stupid electric cars. We are nowhere near ready to transfer over away from fossil fuel based energy resources. The technology isn't there.

But even that is down the road a bit. Right now there are people taking to the streets against a dictatorship and they don't know how many people around the world are sending them hopes, well wishes, and prayers.

Keep that in mind the next time you hear people talking about net neutrality and having a "kill switch" for the internet. Information is power. The Egyptian government took that power from its people this week.

MUSIC!!

While not a huge Joan Jett fan, this song is awesome. Easily as awesome as Megumi Fugii.



Thus completes our Sunday world tour. My continued hopes and prayers go out to the people of Egypt and I hope things turn out alright there. See y'all Wednesday.