Japan hit by 8.9 quake and following tsunami

[Caliga]

Yeah, if the Japanese Emperor actually comes on national television to make a speech, it's not 'business as usual' in any respect for Japan.

[alfred russel]

Not only did Gilbert get fired, but he got fired for cracking jokes that weren't even funny.

All his jokes were unfunny. You live by the sword, you die by the sword.

[Josquius]

Well there are 10 000+ dead, about half a million people displaced, thousands of people still unaccounted for, a significant dip in the electricity production for the country, a massive amount of infrastructure to be rebuilt, potential long term health risk for the population of a major metropolis; it's the biggest disaster in the country since it was bombed into rubble by the Americans at the end of World War II.

Seems reasonable to me that they have constant rolling news, to be honest.

Yeah, makes sense for them, perfectly understandable. Annoys me though.

[katmai]

...

Hey, what ever happened to that OldMan dude?  Wasn't he an English teacher in Japan?

Yes, was and is.

Met up with him and Tonitrus last summer when Olds was in town.

He's on facebook you goofy Carpetbagger.

[Ed Anger]

BUG OUT!

[Admiral Yi]

The talking head on CNN is making a big deal out of the fact that the US is telling our citizens in Japan to stay 50 klicks away from the reactors instead of the 30 the Japs said.

[Ed Anger]

I'd love to be able to see the pictures from the Global Hawk they are going to use over the plant.

[Josephus]

The talking head on CNN is making a big deal out of the fact that the US is telling our citizens in Japan to stay 50 klicks away from the reactors instead of the 30 the Japs said.

The trouble with 24 hour news stations is that they have to make big deals of little things all the time.

[Admiral Yi]

The trouble with 24 hour news stations is that they have to make big deals of little things all the time.

Anderson Cooper followed that up with a little mini-rant about how uninformative and lacking in detail the press conference given by the PM's spokesman was.

[MadImmortalMan]

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/13/world/asia/satellite-photos-japan-before-and-after-tsunami.html

[MadImmortalMan]

The power plant:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=37.314492,141.026881&spn=0.015035,0.033023&t=h&z=16


What's the little swastika symbol just to the south mean?

[HisMajestyBOB]

The power plant:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=37.314492,141.026881&spn=0.015035,0.033023&t=h&z=16


What's the little swastika symbol just to the south mean?

Buddhist Temple.
Or Neo-Nazi hideout.

[Admiral Yi]

In Korea witch doctors (shamans, traditional healers, whatever) used to fly reverse swastika flags.

[ulmont]

The talking head on CNN is making a big deal out of the fact that the US is telling our citizens in Japan to stay 50 klicks away from the reactors instead of the 30 the Japs said.

80 klicks, not 50 or 30.  50 miles.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/world/asia/17search.html

[Ed Anger]

What's the little swastika symbol just to the south mean?

Windmill.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzPBKDJPmoY