Getting Rippled

That disaster in Japan -- the quake + tsunami one-two punch -- has, one month later, caused a significant reduction of work hours at my job here on the other side of the planet. The physical shockwaves move quickly but also dissipate quickly. The intangible shockwaves (economic disruptions, supplier line gaps, the vacancies realized by the mass loss of human life, etc.) move across the world more slowly, but their effects are felt that much longer.

Factories are running out of Japanese-made parts. Workers have nothing to build. Companies are cutting back production. Auto manufacturers around the world have reduced production to 30%. Not BY 30%... production is reduced TO 30%.

This will go on until parts production plants in Japan are either rebuilt or companies find new suppliers. Who knows how long that will take.

And I try not to complain because A) I still have a job and B) I still have a beating heart. Many can't say the same.

Optimistically speaking this means I have more family time, although I now also have less money to spend on said family. Lots of trips to parks and Taco Bell!

But anyway, I want Japan to heal up. Not for my pithy sake (not to be confused with my pithy saké) or even for the sake of the corporate landscape, but for the Japanese themselves. I try to empathize: what if the ocean, covered with flaming debris, ate my city? Followed by swamped reactors radiating my vegetables? Then the want of a cozy job takes a back seat to much more essential tasks like rebuilding and survival.

So heal up, Japan. Take care of yourself first. We can get by on limited inventory for a while. Just make sure your citizens are provided for.

And for goodness sakes stop building your nuclear facilities so close to the shore.

Signed,
One good-hearted (yet still too often ignorant) Americano.


Oneida - "Doin Business In Japan"

Broadcasting the Apocalypse

The drive home last night was brutal, the worst all winter (which is saying a lot considering what hard hitting winter we've had). The snowflakes were huge and plentiful, which killed visibility. It was like driving into a forest of sparklers. The roads turned to slush. It was windy. It was late. I was tired.

I got home at 4 a.m., took a shower, popped onto the computer to make some pre-bed Internet rounds, and discovered eastern Japan was in trouble. There was the massive earthquake (8.9?! Seriously??) followed by the vicious flooding. Then there were serious aftershocks. Then more flooding. Fires. Maybe a nuclear meltdown.

It's all on CNN, CBC, BBC. Al-freakin'-Jazeera.
Youtube.
The end of the world will be televised and streamed.
It may or may not star John Cusack.

I remember when the 2004 tsunami wrecked Indonesia. It was a couple days after Christmas. I was living in Vancouver, walking home from work. There was a big fat headline on "The Province" that said "60,000 Dead" or something clearly exaggeratory like that. "The Province," you must understand, is a newspaper for people who like their news tabloid-style. Clearly they were making stuff up.

Then I got home, checked the Internet, and discovered that 60,000 was a conservative estimate.

[As an aside, what does it say about the state of print media if I always have to second-guess it? If a newspaper is the first to break news to me I always feel like I have to cross-check the information online.]

The Indonesia footage was unbelievable.
The Japanese footage is unbelievable.
These are great/awful times we are living in.

I'll go to work tomorrow. I'll think about somebody's livelihood being crushed by a sludgy wall of flaming ocean. I'll think about those tiny white vehicles driving away too slowly. Then I'll go home and eat lunch.

People died last night.
Pray for the living.


Sorry if this is depressing.
I'm going to go read a book.

Cat Power - "Cross Bones Style"