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Jason Kelly, a financial writer living in Sano, Japan, shares his first person experience of the stunning events from the past several days.
First, from "In the Quake Zone":
The ground here in Sano, Japan is still shaking as I write at noon on Saturday, March 12, 2011, the day after the largest earthquake in the nation’s history. It struck 21.5 hours ago.
I was working at my desk as usual when my shoji — sliding doors of translucent veneer in the case of my office, though covered in white paper in most cases — began rattling on their rails. They’re the best early warning system I’ve found, so I knew an earthquake was arriving but had no idea how big it would be.
The early tremors that shook my shoji were nothing. The roar of the earth that followed is what really tipped me off that this was no ordinary wineglass rattler. Imagine a wind you might have heard high on a mountain sweeping down toward you. That’s scary enough. Now imagine that wind not being made of air overhead, but of earth underfoot, barreling up at you.
I shot from my chair to secure the office. I covered the computer, put my expensive vase on the floor, unplugged equipment, and was just heading for the kitchen when the quake slammed the building. The neighborhood surfed on dirt. The lights swung from the ceiling, then blinked out. For a second I thought they were smart earthquake lights that sensed the tremors and turned themselves off to avoid sparking a fire, but then I noticed that all the power was out.
From inside every cabinet came a delightful tinkling of glass as if a small party had broken out to toast the arrival of spring, then the party turned horrible in a fight between stemware and cookware in the kitchen, books and printer paper in the office, with a great attempt on all fronts to pour forth in a tidal wave of debris across the floor. The quake-resistant, spring-secured kitchen and office cabinet doors held fast, though, and no tidal wave appeared — at least not in my building. Farther north, a tidal wave of the real variety gathered strength to devastate the coastline with such fury that Hollywood special effects departments are going to need to rethink the way they’ve depicted such events. They’re even worse than portrayed.
Once the initial slam subsided, people rushed into the streets. The elderly, who are legion in Japan and prepared for anything, arrived in white hard hats. One of them asked me if that wasn’t an incredible quake, and I tried to lighten the mood by pretending I hadn’t noticed.
“Quake?” I replied. “Nothing happened here,” I said, gesturing to my place.
She looked confused, then turned toward her home. “This house has always given me trouble,” she began, and started to describe how it had shaken the dickens out of her. I felt bad and cut in.
“I was just joking,” I told her. “I felt it, too.” I thought for sure she would have known I was kidding. Pretending not to notice that quake was like pretending not to notice daylight. She looked at me without smiling, then said sternly, “This is no time for telling lies, Mr. Kelly.”
That’s what the Japanese call jokes like the one I’d just attempted, lies, and she was right. It was no time for that. I got caught up in the thrill of danger and my sense of humor is what I use to deal with such moments, but I cast it aside in a hurry and joined in conversations about who needed what, when the next wave of the quake crashed upon us. Then the next. Then the next.
So it went. Wave after wave coursed through the land, sending power lines swinging and roofs crashing and the ocean surging. The trains stopped. The emergency announcement system blared that the power had gone out due to the quake.
As darkness descended and still the power stayed out, people lit candles in their homes. I moved around the city to see how it coped with the situation, even as the tremors continued. Traffic lights didn’t work, so cars edged their way cautiously into big intersections until the police showed up later to direct. Islands of light betrayed where emergency power had kicked in: the hospital standing tall and staying busy, a home for the elderly that was a type of hospital itself, vending machines that apparently contain batteries to keep selling drinks through any crisis.
A few convenience stores had power, but quickly no food except the dried, instant variety, and then even that was gone. People bought magazines, which I thought odd until I saw by the looks on their faces that what they sought was a part of normal life that had seemed so banal half a day earlier. In a snap, anything that symbolized that placid pace through a typical day became valuable, so off the shelves it flew.
Darkness fell, really fell when no man-made glows pushed against it in a million domes of modernity. The stars came out. I noticed them with joy because they were much brighter in the purer darkness. They made me think of soldier stories where men noticed something beautiful in nature as they fought, like a flower on the edge of a foxhole or a red-winged bird singing on a branch shot through with holes. I observed the world through no such dire circumstance, but the post-quake landscape gave me enough of a nudge in that direction to better understand my fellow man under duress.
I climbed a hill at the edge of town to look down on the sea of darkness. It was creepy. Where usually an endless field of lights extends to Tokyo, only a few areas of light appeared. Directly below the hill, eerie pools of headlights moved slowly around, many looking for missing family members who were unable to take the trains home. There were no city lights around the cars, just the headlight pools drifting along invisible grids like ghosts shaken from their graves.
With most people early in bed, the shaking continued. Isolated reports from community leaders holding radios on the streets informed me on the way home that northern Japan lay in ruin. The voices came leaden, delivering facts so directly that their effort to suppress emotion was in a way more emotional than if they’d cried out their sadness at each collapsed school or deluged farmhouse.
The chain of facts overwhelmed me. There was no break, no “In other news” transition to a different grim event, much less a weekend human interest sideshow. One statistic after another emanated from the radios in a legato of misfortune.
Eventually I reached a saturation point. There’s a limit to how much disaster I’m capable of processing. The adjectives peter out somewhere beyond tragic and catastrophic and devastating, and then those once horrible emotionless facts become welcome as a way to make sense of the event and form a plan for moving ahead. Let’s reduce that number of missing people. Let’s get the lights back on. Let’s make toilets flush again. How about some real food on shelves? The disaster list turns into a checklist. That’s the human spirit, alright. Let’s crawl up out of this hole!
Through the night we huddled in our capsules atop the rumbling island. When the first photon of sunlight touched the Land of the Rising Sun, we became the land of the rising determined and got straight to work on our checklists. One day, they’ll be complete and life will become a boring string of daily predictability again, within which some kid is bound to complain, “Nothing interesting ever happens to me.”
To be so lucky, young one.
And a follow up showing the empty shelves in local stores:
The power interruptions and damage to infrastructure are leaving
stores in Japan’s earthquake area sold out. Gas stations are rationing,
but closing one by one as they go dry. Between a third and half of the
shops in my town, Sano, are closed for various reasons, not least of
which is to let society catch its breath. The following pictures were
taken by mobile phone at stores in Sano:
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Retail sales rocket in Japan! Bullish! Things just keep coming up fucking bullish, baby!
A few things every investor should know about Japan: blog post http://bit.ly/dOWfho
They must have sold out of iPad 2s. Everyone must be using Netflix today on them.
Print mo money!!!!!!
I EVEN HEARD THAT THE JAPANESE ITUNES STORE IS ALSO SOLD OUT!!!
I couldn't help but laugh at this post. Am I allowed to laugh?
Don't worry! THE PROBLEM IS SOLVED! BEnron will pump $40 Trillion directly into to nuclear reactor's core and plug the issue. Everyone go home and relax! The Telepromter In Chief has got your back!
Christmas Shopping on Steriods!
Everyone! Follow the criminal syndicate known as Wall Street...for they will lead you to prosperity!
Wind finder Japan:
http://www.windfinder.com/windreports/windkarte_japan.htm
For windsurfers....maybe has some other use...dunno
Seems like onshore in the day and offshore at night near the incident/Tokyo
The radiation scare is overblown.
Look at all the nuclear bomb tests that the US and Russia did within their borders in the 60s.
Hype hype hype
why don't you go over there, take off your shirt and lay out and catch some rays...let us know how it goes...just so you can prove your point.
I would, I really would.
I could show that it is hype. If I owned enough shares of STM, I would go down there and do just that.
If all of these reactors had a meltdown combined, it would not come close to all the nuclear arms testing that happened in the US.
I guess that explains part of the cancer rate then. ;-P
Right, because cancer rates have absolutely nothing to do with North Americans who don't exercise, and consume nothing but fries, coke, and twinkies on a daily basis.
So why was everyone worried about three mile island or chernobyl ...We did not even have a total meltdown yet. Wait another 36 hour until we see if this is hype ...
Why would the international community stop sending planes ect .....
Chernobyl HAD NO CONTAINMENT APPARATUS, NONE.
Well, I for one, am encouraged knowing the Soviets...er...Russians have Iran's back as they move on with their peaceful nuclear pursuits.
on Tue, 03/15/2011 - 12:10
#1055984
Well, I for one, am encouraged knowing the Soviets...er...Russians have Iran's back as they move on with their peaceful nuclear pursuits.
****************************************************************
1. the largest oil producing area in the world is the mid-east.
2. the second largest oil producing area in the world is russia.
3. who would benefit from de-stabilizing the mid-east?
4. wouldnt it be great if russia could get the U.S. to destabilize the mid-east and then supply the U.S. with oil?
this shit is simple... ketchup, tomato...
estimated 2.5 million curies of radioactive wastes in the Arctic
Sea , including 16 nuclear reactors. . About seven of the reactors still
contained spent fuel, as it was impossible to remove them due to
accidents etc. Waste water from naval and civilian reactors was
also dumped by special ships, which diluted radioactive liquid with
seawater. In addition, thousands of containers (estimated at
11,090 containers by Bellona ) of solid wastes from the Northern
Fleet and icebreakers were dumped. (Mr. Zolotkov has estimated the
it at almost 7,000 tons of solid wastes, and 1,600 cubic meters of
liquid wastes.)
All you state above may be true, and if so, a horrible reality; regardless, they should not be used as a rationalization to minimize what may be a rapidly worsening multiple-reactor meltdown scenario in progress, all less than a gas tank away from Tokyo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7gFlSGXt_k
You need your containment apparatus pal.
Your euro has been dumped by Spain:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1364047/Back-currency-The-Peseta...
Depends are on sale at K-mart. Run Forrest, RUN!
. It shows that the meduim of exchange funtion and the store of value function in money can indeed be split by market forces.
The spent fuel ponds @ every nuke plant in Japan have no containment, either.
Only pumps, valves, some loops of pipe and hopium.
The spent fuel ponds @ most reactors have no containment apparatus.
Some pumps, pipes, valves and hopium ..
Most have tons of intensely radioactive spent fuel.
Maybe you shoulda spent the day in Pripyat on April 26, 1986 you idiot.
I cant believe that people don`t think that the Japanese in 2011 have the same issues as the commies in 1986.
Cars still had carburators in 1986 you fool.
these Japanese reactors were built in the 70s, FOOL.-
Upgraded and updated many times IDIOT
A good old paint job does wonders to a nuclear plant...
I think that's what they call white wash.
Those Jap reactors date from the 1970s, though.
I hope you're right, but then again there weren't many residential neighborhoods near White Sands either - location, location location.
Yeah but allot of people are worried about the wind.
I visited the Trinity site in White Sands when attending college in the area. Pieces of Trinitite (green glass formed during the blast) still glow in the dark. Grass still does not grow at Trinity's ground zero and that was in the late '90s.
It's too early to panic in the US, but in Japan it's another story. I'd get the hell out so fast they'd think I was a tornado.
Yep,and a hell of a lot of dead folks beacause of it, and more to die, and many dying now from cancer, with no reason why.
Never smoked, drank, abused themselves one day of their lives.
Such a shame Japan got hit with this shit,instead of the more worthy I can think of.
The airborne radiation is likley to settle in HUGE areas on the globe.
More dead people who were never there.
Wonder why they went the cheap route and did not built to similar US Specs?.
They are GE designed reactors state of the art in their time...
Yep,and a hell of a lot of dead folks beacause of it, and more to die, and many dying now from cancer, with no reason why.
Never smoked, drank, abused themselves one day of their lives.
Such a shame Japan got hit with this shit,instead of the more worthy I can think of.
The airborne radiation is likley to settle in HUGE areas on the globe.
More dead people who were never there.
Wonder why they went the cheap route and did not built to similar US Specs?.
I'm finally getting the point of this. God is sending his "see what's happening" message to the people of the USA. If you don't understand what can and will happen in the future and that you should now be making preparations for such events here, then you're missing the point.
This is like a very elaborate wake up call for America.
Oh yeah, BTW, BTFD!
People ought to pay attention. When the SHTF here, the stores will be wiped out in the blink of eye.
A few of my neighbors thought I was crazy because I keep several boxes of MREs and calcium hypochlorite tablets (for water).
They're seriously re-thinking their own strategy now.
http://www.katadyn.com/usen/katadyn-products/?gclid=CP6Ctev40KcCFYRa7Aod7Fq2Eg
http://www.obesetoathletic.com/kelptablets.html
everyone should have these two.. I recently added the Kelp Tablets.
I can vouch for the katadyn. Works on Japanese river water, Thailand tap water, & Indian tap water too.
Centerline,
Yep, and we're a MELTING POT,the violence would be unstoppable.
This is one reason the Japanese have not alllowed mass imigration, they KNEW it would screw their culture and traditions, just like it has here.
Let me get this straight...you're saying God is punishing the people of Japan in order to send a message to the people of the USA?
I guess the Lord really does work in mysterious ways.
Didn't you know? God loves US citizens much much more than he loves Japanese ones. That's why he chose to incarnate as a blond white man. Look at any Renaissance painting for confirmation of this fact.
So, Americans are all Ayrians huh?, last I lklooked we were the most diverse ehtnically nation on this planet.
What once was a blessing is now a curse.
Renaissance painters , typically always paint people of their race,just as some blacks think He's Black,but since he has no ethnicty, it is a moot point.
God is Spirit.
No that was Glen Beck. Seriously.
Somone is pulling your leg.
Japan is /has always been on the Pacific RIM OF FIRE.
This is just ONE more, that happened, except with Nuke Reactors built to shitty specs,so they eat it.
Hell of a mess, and my heart bleeds for the Japanese people.
Not too worry. We had the BP mess and nada has changed. In fact we just awarded them new licenses to drill baby drill.
If you think God (or Gaia, as Glenn Beck said last night) has anything to do with this, trust me, you are missing the point entirely.
And just so you do not miss the point of my comment, let me be clear: you are an idiot.
The god Glennn Beck worships is not the christian GOD, nor is Gaia(any god at all).
Do some homework.
Starting to think your a bit of an idiot.. The japanese reactors were state of the art GE designs, they were not skimped on which is why the containment vessels have lasted this long. Modern vessels are stronger but then so is virtually modern everything..
...and my wife thinks I'm crazy for storing food and water.
You are crazy. It's not like you can eat food and water.
Oh, wait. Right.
My wife too.
Ditto. We're in NYC, and I have to keep my "preparedness" on the DL. The wife found my storage stash of emergency items a couple of weeks ago, and said I was going way too far with the peak oil/doomsday reading... maybe so, but I doubt any Japanese citizens would say that's overly strange behavior.
Amazing here in the US, even in New York, how many people are altogether oblivious of world events. Co-workers are talking sports and surfing ESPN. Let them eat iPad! Just bought 200oz of Ag physical. Time will tell who's responding accordingly.
Physical. Good call.
Any clown out there who thinks he/she has silver or gold and comes out on the street after SHTF with a piece of paper in their hand reading ETF.... well, I hope they have an ambulance ready for that person. Oh, wait, ambulances won't be available. Oops!
That's the idea.
BUT, that said, if god forbid TSHTF in your locale, how much fiat cashish does it make sense to have on hand? I hate holding it, but would think that right away the dude at my local deli might be a bit mystified by a 1oz silver round. Thoughts?
I think that would depend how much cash you have, and how much Ag, Au, and food supplies you have already bought.
I keep some cash (FRNs) on hand just in case the power goes out and the ATMs don't work, as well as good 'ol physical junk silver and SAEs. Plus the stored food, water, and gas, of course. Good idea to keep some of everything to prepare for almost anything.
>> I hate holding it, but would think that right away the dude at my local deli might be a bit mystified by a 1oz silver round. Thoughts?
1) The SHTF and you want to go to a deli???? There are MUCH better uses for cash / Ag / Au after the poop impact. Deli food wont be one of them.
2) Use your food first, use your paper cash quickly for missing items in your stash and use Ag/Au after they have returned to use. (Like booze, antibiotics, other stuff) check price boards and you will see when it comes back.
3) Use PM jewelry first. People wont think twice about a guy trading a silver / gold ring and acting like it's the last one he has. (and don't carry a lot) People will mark the guy with coins for tracking and raiding if possible.
Yep. Well said. Use your jewelry and/or junk silver first. Don't go straight for the SAEs...keep them stashed in your batcave until (hopefully much) later. And don't forget that an unopened box of ammo will act quite nicely as a unit of trade.
You might want to make her aware that a fault line runs through Manhattan.
As long as I keep two cases of Monopolova amongst the stash, my wife puts up with it.
Same here. That's how I know it is right thing to do. LOL.
best benchmark ever, right?
I am standing and applauding.
My excuse is 'hurricane preparedness'... Gov of
Florida insists we be prepared.
A year long hurricane would not use up our supplies...but it would definitely blow the roof off.
Hello UGrev
I don't know where you live, but we live in Alaska. I work for the State now and have been involved in the Alaska Partnership for Infrastructure Protection (AAPIP) for several years. Needless to say, we live in an earthquake prone area. It took awhile, but my wife is finally into preparedness. She selected "Alas Babylon" at Barnes & Noble 18 months ago, read it cover to cover in less than 3 days. It changed her perspective notably. Keep working on your family using polite reasoned discussion. My son, who now has a 2 year old, and lives in Alaska, called this past Sunday evening to say that he and his wife are refreshing their earthquake survival kit which I put together for them several years ago. Remember, WTSHTF if you don't already have it, you will not be able to get it. I made a presentation to APIP several years ago on just exactly what will happen in Anchorage if we have another 8+ quake. No electricity means no everything including ATM, internet (electronic payroll, Fed Wire etc.), no way to check out at the supermarket as they all use barcode scans to run their check stands. The list goes on and one. Even cash will only go so far as the merchant's willingness to accept it if they have no means of inventory control. No electricity means no natural gas to the consumer as natural gas needs to be pressurized in order to flow. Once you shut down the gas flow, every single meter in town will have to be manually reset to resume flow. It is just above zero degrees outside today and we have had three weeks of below zero temperatures. Remember, if you don't have it, you will not be able to get it.
Central (Police) state of NY. The only disasters we get are really bad snow storms, ice storms and the occassional skunk. :)
When I was still "sleeping" and my wife was preggo with my 2nd child.. we had a snow storm. 3 days, no electricity. Everytime she bitches at me for what I'm doing now, I just remind her of that and she goes away for a while :)
me three
my wife, who ignored my pleas to sell our house back at the peak of the housing bubble, was livid when I wanted to use space to store emergency supplies. She needed it to store about 10 years worth of blank canvasses for her 'painting.'
At least if things go bad, we can eat the canvas.
If SHTF happens, look at your wife with shinny eys holding a knife and fork, a la Coyote, and just say "told you so!". Then of course eat the wife when you get hungry enough, she will most likely diserve it.
me three
my wife, who ignored my pleas to sell our house back at the peak of the housing bubble, was livid when I wanted to use space to store emergency supplies. She needed it to store about 10 years worth of blank canvasses for her 'painting.'
At least if things go bad, we can eat the canvas.
Getting your significant other on the same page is of utmost importance. I cannot stress this enough.
My wife could give two fucks less about preparing, instead insists we continue to plow money into retirement, all the while inhaling the magic ferry dust and pixies that she reads in the MSM. I gave up years ago, and found it was more enjoyable pissing into the wind. She would rather watch stoopid fucking teevee--who gets the best house type of shit---rather than listen to me dropping hints of the big one that is sure to come our way.
Wow, I'm one of those wives who *is* into preparedness (I thought "nesting" was a girl thing). Maybe that's because I already figured out that retirement simply isn't going to happen for us. I will remind you of the Programmer's Maxim: "It is easier to get forgiveness than approval." With that, go out and buy food/med supplies. Once it's there, it's not like she's going to throw it out (but if she tries, she's obviously crazy and you need to find a not-crazy woman to be with). Consider how to store water and/or dig a well (don't forget the battery backup for the pump.
Well that just confirms I married a crazy women. Still I did manage to turn septic tanks into artesian wells on two of our properties when we went on the city sewer. Every time it rains we collect water and typically have about 30,000 gallons after the spring. Meets all the demand for our agriculture.
I am mystified by this. Aren't us ladies supposed to be the ones who are concerned about security and safety? I'm the one who orders all the supplies in our household.
Why is there a mystery? you women have been liberated from that role.. mostly.
Mystified here as well. Where I live it's the men who don't have a clue. I dumped my significant other several months ago because he wouldn't wake up & get with the program (or should I say break free from the program?)...
LET HER GO HUNGRY!!!........ now you hold leverage.... Damn I am going to stock up now
Get some little blue pills too!!!!!!!!
Thanks owe you one.
Buy the fooking dips takes on another meaning. I prefer French Onion.
BTFD is sooooo 2010. Buy the fucking meltdown!! Yeeeee-hhaaaaaa!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcW_Ygs6hm0
Your average US supermarket will be totally cleaned out within a couple days without resupplying. When the shit hits the fan here (hello, with yellowstone we have a huge potential catastrophe) you better be quick.
If Yellowstone were to blow (not likely in our lifetimes) it would be pointless to rush to the supermarket. Charlie Frost's approach would be as good as any other.
Watch for the Ash. Historically the South was buried in 2 to 3 feet of ash accumulations from Yellow Stone. Be best to head east to Asheville NC HA!
I have been through TMI. Wait.
I have felt small quakes, but they were in granite and were quite big events for us. One time it was a 4.2 150 miles north and we heard the wave pass under the house in the rock below and the whole house went bump one time as the top of the underground wave raced through the rock underneath our feet.
In trucking I would fall out of bed in 5.0's and later not worry about em. Let the rocking take you to sleep.
Been through hurricanes, after the first day what does it matter which way the wind blows eh?
Tornadoes are more fun, scream of sirens and 5 minutes of terror; followed by a sleepless night as the squall line passes through in a proper outbreak.
The waves were awesome, but nothing like the dry North Texas land that will be 5 feet of water as soon as you hear thunder in the distance. *Snaps fingers just like that.
Let the stores sell out. I'm worrying about when the Mass of Sheep discover online sales with credit cards and have convoys of UPS trucks laboring under the burden to deliver packages to millions across the USA.
If Yellowstone caldera blows (supervalcano) everything to the east in the U.S. that wasn't destroyed will eventually be buried in 3-9 ft. of ash...eventually. I don't think location matters much if you are in the continental U.S. to the east.
(It will solve global warming.)
Not sure what the estimates are on the other three.
The two in California and the one nearby Yellowstone are "small" relatively speaking.
Recall the snowstorm that hit VA? shelves cleared out in 2 days. That was for a snowstorm. In a major SHTF situation, I give it a few hours and several hundred dead ala Walmart on black Friday.
The LAST fucking thing I'm doing is going to the grocery store. Americans have been programmed to NOT care about each other; that for some reason, individuality sans community is the way to live. It's a sure way to get your shit rolled by Humongous and crew.
That storm in '93 buried entire telepone poles, cables and two story homes too.
It took a front end loader working 24/7 to clear a path down a two lane road 10 miles to a junction at another road. A day or two later you drove between two walls of wet melting dripping snow with a strip of blue sky overhead while sliding on the ice down below. Approximately 14 feet wide, enough for two cars or one truck and walls 50 to 70 feet high.
Had a fireplace going before the storm during the storm and after the storm. Others who waited to light the fireplace were greeted with houses full of smoke because of cold chimney.
The house oil tank was full, but after a while, the house quit heating because the snow that buried the whole thing insulated it well enough.
And the blessed silence. Aside from the old fashioned TV and AM radio.
Here in NC, the mere mention of snow will clear out the milk, bread, and water (that one makes me laugh) in a couple of hours. Multiply that by 100 and you will see what happens when something big actually happens. Last place you want to be is walking out of Costco with the last 12 pack of toilet paper when things go bad.
pods
Your average US supermarket will be totally cleaned out within a couple days without resupplying. When the shit hits the fan here (hello, with yellowstone we have a huge potential catastrophe) you better be quick.
And it takes trucking 2 to 5 days to load beef in the meat triangle and another 3 to 5 days both coasts to deliver same.
Milk is drawn locally every morning and delivered same day to Dairy 100 miles or less away.
Eggs gathered and trucks loaded several per day at each farm. A truck load of eggs will keep Albany NY in eggs for up to two days (Grand Union Distribution)
We have 5 Pipelines from Texas and Gulf however we need trucks to deliver to gas stations. When the trucks start "Split Loading" for two gas stations in the same trailer it's time to stock up on gas. We have 6 week's worth on hand for work or 5 days (And nights) worth for power.
The gas station I worked at once for years drew 8,000 to 12,000 gallons per day for sales at about .04 cents margin profit and occasionally required a truck per day in high peak times before storms. Each truck was 8800 gallons or slightly less due to temp.
We kept 4 tanks. One for each grade and a extra reserve. Enough for 48 hours max.
However the scream of the generator pumping 18 kilowatt will draw zombies with guns.
Ammo, check, armor, check, defenses, check.
It's best to share than to be killed.
But when it's all gone, what then? Oh Colonial Technology and Old West Technology combined will help you make a living doing something.
we are on the same wavelength. mre? check. reloading supplies? check. pistols and rifles? check. charcoal and chlorine to treat water? check.
and if i die i will kick lloyd blankfein's ass in hell.
Just finished a few bags of charcoal. Getting there. Little by little.
Working on the old Austrian Wood Gas / Charcoal making technology now as well. Might as well make myself useful in a post disaster society.
It's crazy, even my wife is on my wavelength now. She is going forth to do her part in the overall program.
My neighbors have started to plant already. Our crops are still in the sunroom waiting to be planted.
5 years ago, I would have hysterically laughed and seriously considered committing anyone to a sanitarium who said be prepared now (And I was thinking a cold war book and shovel is adequate LOLZ...)
Now, no one is laughing. We are trying to finish getting ready while it is still possible to do so.
Can't wait for ZH to blame Bernanke for the earthquake.
It was Lloyd B.....
Pay attention, or even better yet think for yourself.
We don't blame Benocide for the earthquake.
Bernake is responsible for the Tsunami.........OF DOLLARS.
You mean it's not Bernanke's fault? Link, please.
Its true! All the weight of those extra FRNs knocked the earth from its axis by 7cm...
Headlines crossing indicating that more than 200 people have been wounded in clashes in Bahrain
Whoopee.
The way they breed and marry young, there will be replacements plenty soon enough.
What is that Yen currency symbol on the prices? I always just assumed they used the Y with the two lines through it.
Gee, I could have photographed fully stocked shelves here in downtown Tokyo. The only shortage is in milk and eggs because they come from Hokkaido and other points north.
Do tell. I've read other reports of people saying that outside the immediate disaster zone, life is basically normal. Which of course makes plenty of sense, but isn't much of a news story.
Exactly. Here in Kansai, everything is fine, but not exactly normal. It was the same after the Kobe quake in '95: Kobe devastated; everywhere else, shopping. Some people are still looking to hear from loved ones in Tohoku. Some are watching their stock portfolios and quarterly earnings vaporize. Most are watching too much TV and getting caught up in the "Great JaPanic".
I've seen the CNN coverage & they make it look like the END OF JAPAN. I disagree. Time will tell.
In the meantime, please donate to the Salvation Army & the National Search Dog Foundation. They are on the ground in Tohoku & deserve your support.
Cheers,
Beef
That's the kanji symbol for yen.
Domo arigato :)
Frustrated financial writer? Maybe financial writing to pay the bills, but the author seems to find great expression writing about other things.
+1
DaddyO
The richest man in the neighborhood has fresh water and food. Love it.
FEMA has evidently been stocking body bags, emergency rations etc all along the New Madrid fault in response to some University of Chicago projections that there is new evidence it could let loose at any time. It would be interesting to see a map of nukes sites anywhere along or near that fault.
This one? And I think it's university of illinois... http://mae.cee.illinois.edu/news/reportusa2.html
fascinating - the 15.3 million MRE's projected for a 7.7 on the New Madrid fault (per that report) is very close to the recent RFP for 14+ mln MRE's...
We have Nuclear One not far away in Arkansas and I believe Mississippi and Missouri has a few as well. Mostly coal fired round here and a bit of gas. Nat Gas is cheap.
A proper 8.0 near Memphis will reduce the city to flaming rubble, drop bridges up and down river and destroy St. Louis. Our only hope is that the I-40 Bridge holds up because we are gonna need it. Or get a bunch of Navy LCAC's to shuttle back and forth across that old miss.
Not to mention we think there will be 100,000 hurt, 30,000 dead and most all hospitals north and east of Hot Springs Destroyed. If they did not start the pyres the first week to burn the livestock and bodies, sickness and desiese will take the rest.
I have incorperated world war one style trench crossing techniques because the many small bridges we have will be lost as well in the two possible routes to Missouri or Kansas.
Keep in mind Cotton was the one thing that would grow after the 1840 earthquake (That was said to ring church bells in Boston) because of all the sand blows that covered the land.
It is quite possible that we ourselves will be consumed by a sandblow in the next big one. I don't think I would like us to go out that way.
New York City and surrounding area sits on Granite. There is a Fault there. They have had 4.0's that scared the east coast shitless from Providence to Richmond at times. I remember hearing those pass under the earth like waves coming and going.
The New Madrid earthquake period ran from 1811-1812. The aftershocks were quite large.
The National Level Exercise for 2011 is a New Madrid quake emergency.
In 2009 it was San Andreas.
The nuclear plant in Arkansas is on the other side of the state in russellville (keeps the river/lake warm all year!) http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/state_profiles/arkansas/ar.html
Oh I forgot one other thing. Auto Zone hyped their big earthquake proof headquaters in Memphis. A large building stuffed with all the very best such as base isolation etc.
I see that thing as a monument to corperate stupidity, building a place like that for a headquarters into what will essentially be a dead city with no employees alive to report to work.
If we have a large earthquake in memphis... then katrina will look like a cakewalk... the term chaos will not remotely do the state of affairs justice.
looks like USA 2013
The financial propaganda machine can spin this many bullish ways.
When I was in Russia in 1996 many people I met told me that the reason American grocery stores always had so many packed shelves was because the American people could not afford to buy the food on the shelves. Little did the average Russian know, just shows you how powerful propaganda can be.
just like back in the USSR
mr kelly, i enjoyed reading your memoir. i hope you continue to write about your life experiences in your new home, in japan. i think you are very talented in writing down your thoughts and observations with words. it is probably good therapy. it helped me to understand this epic event. please continue to author your hours and days ahead.
+1
Poetic.
We are all dirt surfing until we take the big dirt nap.
This was posted by a Japanese colleague on his FB page:
The Japanese wouldn't quit killing whales, so the Sea rose up and smote them with a terrible vengeance.
...because the non-vengeful gaia made an exception?
Non-vengeful Gaia?
Where would you get an idea like that? Only city folks think Gaia wouldn't kill you just for fun.
some form of karmic justice; i had the same thought when i saw all the fishing boats washing ashore - whales 1 - japan 0
Ok BTF DIPSHITS you are about to enter the all you can eat BTFD buffet. You can BTD tommorow and then the next day and the next day until you realize it isn't a dip yet a plunge and when the buffet is over you won't have two dimes to rub together. We just got bit by the Cobra and are only feeling the sting from the bite. Just wait and see what happens when the venom sets in and starts to shut the body down....
http://snakevenomandcancer.webs.com/snake.jpg
I moved everything to cash yesterday. Even my wife's 401(k), she finally understood what I have been taling about. Up to now, been riding the Bernanke bucks equity wagon to infinity and beyond. Buying some silver tonight.
Point is, even the BTFD crowd is likely to get out of this mess for awhile. We need to see what happens with those reactors first.
Our middle east friends are taking advantage of all eyes focused on the land of the rising sun. They'll be no more rebels after a few days in any MENA country...
Nice move.
I'd also like to add that the S&P has always experienced a HARD correction whenever its PE/10 was above 20. We're still over 23 now. There have been no exceptions over the past 140 years. Each correction has also ultimately brought the market below its historical P/E10 (~16.3).
6.0 Mw - OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
yet another quake
Does anybody have information about the status of
Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rokkasho_Reprocessing_Plant
It was reported to be run in emergency cooling by diesel Generators on Saturday too.
And they where speaking about stored Fuelrods from about 25-30 Powerplants in it.
There is a moron reporter from CTV providing evident exaggeration about the situation in Tokyo. He fled to Shizuoka where at 22:30 JST a quake struck (serves him right). I felt it here in Tokyo. It was 6.0 Richter and 6+ on the Japanese scale locally in Shizuoka and a 3 here. It feels a bit like you are on a ship and the house rattles a bit. I experienced 5- on Friday, which was a bit harrowing.
I think the situation in outlying Tokyo is worse (like the author) because they implemented rolling blackouts there while they spared 22 of the 23 special wards of central Tokyo so life is pretty normal here. Only eggs and milk are missing from the markets and the department stores close at 6 pm, which is a bit annoying. (The department stores have high-end supermarkets in the basement.) Of course the elite lives here so they aren't going to cut the power for us. Also the people in the outlying areas commute like 90 minutes to 2 hours to central Tokyo. And then they are cutting the train services for these poor people.
The gas station around the corner appears to be only selling 20 liters per customer but unlimited diesel. There were not any lines in mid-afternoon.
I live near Shibuya station if anyone is familiar with Tokyo.
p.s. I have a funny story about an irate American demanding a radiation suit at a Lowe's type store, but don't have time now.
Does Lawsons or any of the 24hr marts still have any dorayaki? If so, a couple of those and a "Joe", and I guess I could survive. Regards to Hachiko, since you are near.
Certainly. And I doubt they are in short supply. I don't frequent Lawson's et al. much but paid my exorbitant TEPCO electric bills there yesterday (they have separate meters for HVAC and for general power supply). I think just the base fee for service is like 3000 yen per month per bill.
Yen is sneaking back toward its all time high.
10,000 monkeys with 10,000 typewriters could eventually duplicate all of the writings of Shakespeare, a black swan will occasionally, out of the blue, bark out a loud QUACK, and even a broken clock is correct twice a day... But Glenn Beck and other end-of-times evangelicals are broadcasting with dollar signs in their eyes that the massive earthquake wreaking havoc on Japan is God's way of saying that all of His Children who aren't Jewish or Christian deserve to die.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/14/glenn-beck-japan-earthquake-god_n_835573.html
You would have expected more rational thought from a guy who believes God sent his son down here to die by crucifixion so that everybody could go up to heaven.
What is more absurd is to believe that something as complex as a single celled organism (which is more complex than anything man has ever created) could happen by chance. Especially one that happened to have all the instructions inside of it to reproduce itself. Hell, even the chair that you are sitting on would never happen by chance.
You could well be correct. What does that have to do with my post?
What does rational thought have to do with whether or not you believe that God sent his son to die? It seemed to me that your post was either making fun of people who believe that God sent his son to die, or you were saying that atheists are incapable of rational thought. Care to clarify?
I chose the explanation that you were being sarcastic and implying that people who believe God sent his son to die are irrational. I believe that there is ample evidence that God did indeed send his son to die. In fact I believe that the fossil record proves that we did not evolve from a chance life form.
10 billion monkeys with 20 billion typewriters would never even duplicate one of the writings of shakespeare.
That aphorism only works when you bring infinity into the equation.
What besides God could supply monkeys with the means to exist for eternity? The chances of man existing for eternity without God are zero. On a long enough timeline...
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