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8.8 Earthquake Near Japanese Coast
radioweather writes "USGS is reporting a 8.8 (was estimated first at 7.9) magnitude earthquake off of the east coast of Honshu, Japan. Details from USGS. Tsunami warning issued. Japan's Meteorological agency is saying 20-foot or higher waves are possible from a Tsunami near Miyagi prefecture."
Look on the bright side - if the tsunami washes over Australia at least it'll put the bushfires out.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Quake was upgraded to 8.9 some time ago. Also aftershocks continue.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Maps/region/Asia_eqs.php
Code softly but carry a big magnet.
Wave moves slowly and silently inland, and carries parts of houses in full flames (!!!). This is insane.
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/03/11/sot.tsunami.hit.japan.cnn?hpt=T1
Mother Nature shows it's power. For better or worse.
user@ubuntubox:~$ stfu This server is going down for shutdown NOW!
Since Slashdot summaries are always a bit dated, it's been bumped up to an 8.9 by the USGS. The good news is that it was off-shore and 15.2mi down, the bad news is that it was off-shore and generated a large tsunami that is still wrecking havoc in Japan and may be heading elsewhere.
Best of luck to the Japanese; if anyone is prepared it's them, but I don't know how one prepares for something quite like this.
Meanwhile for the US there are active tsunami warnings in Hawaii, and NOAA has just issued a watch for the US West Coast.
I thought natural disasters were God's vengeance upon humans? If he had mercy, he wouldn't have smote them in the first place.
Or is this just another one of those strange religious things, like where the vengeful, hateful and all powerful being is going to condemn us all to to suffer in fire for ever and ever until the end of time - yet somehow still loves us?
There will probably be lots of deads and ruined in this. But it really hit the most prepared country of all. I can't imagine how it would have been if it did hit the US shores first.
Sorry, but really... Pray? How about actively supporting in a manner other than preaching to a non-existing man in the cloud.
Actually they've been hit by 3 + aftershocks. First one was a 7.9, second one is now recorded as an 8.9, third was a 7.1
That would require effort.
http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/
Sitting in Japan, translating from the news here~
largest earthquake since 300 years
nuclear power plants affected but nothing leaked
some factory at the coast started burning, they're showing it over and over again
8 people so far found dead
tsunami along almost the entire coast, 3meter to 10meters
It's very bad,
They're also warning of another earthquake which is predicted to happen shortly
Japan already got smashed. Further warnings for:
RUSSIA / MARCUS IS. / N. MARIANAS / GUAM / WAKE IS. /
TAIWAN / YAP / PHILIPPINES / MARSHALL IS. / BELAU / MIDWAY IS. /
POHNPEI / CHUUK / KOSRAE / INDONESIA / PAPUA NEW GUINEA /
NAURU / JOHNSTON IS. / SOLOMON IS. / KIRIBATI / HOWLAND-BAKER /
HAWAII / TUVALU / PALMYRA IS. / VANUATU / TOKELAU / JARVIS IS. /
WALLIS-FUTUNA / SAMOA / AMERICAN SAMOA / COOK ISLANDS / NIUE /
AUSTRALIA / FIJI / NEW CALEDONIA / TONGA / MEXICO /
KERMADEC IS / FR. POLYNESIA / NEW ZEALAND / PITCAIRN /
GUATEMALA / EL SALVADOR / COSTA RICA / NICARAGUA / ANTARCTICA /
PANAMA / HONDURAS / CHILE / ECUADOR / COLOMBIA / PERU
Earthquakes everywhere around the pacific. I'd be worried if I lived in california. It's been a long time since it had a big one.
I was waiting for something to happen after hearing about the massive solar flare yesterday, but nothing this big.
And how is that supposed to work?
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Mostly tsunami damage http://imgur.com/a/b29Uu
Atheists in Foxholes are tired of this religiously motivated slur.
"It is our blasphemy which has made us great, and will sustain us, and which the gods secretly admire in us." - Zelazny
8.8 on which scale? I recall we abandoned the good old scale for something a lot more vague. Not mentioning which scale is used is what? To add to the confusion?
Like an egg in a microwave : )?
"Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
Sitting here in a house near Seattle, near the water... Part of the NOAA site says there is no alert, part of the website says there *is* an alert - but the page with details is down. Waiting and watching...
I am just outside Tokyo and the shaking here was insane. The building shook for about 2 minutes, then it died down, but very shortly later the after-quakes hit. Over three hours after the initial quake and the building is still shaking. Trains are shut down, so people can't get home.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
Hi,
It's a common misconception that the power of a mag 9 earthquake is 10x more than an 8, or 1,000x that of a 6. It's not. It's more like 31,000x stronger than a 6. If you've ever had the misfortune to experience a 6, you can appreciate that the energy released by these big ones are rather hard to contemplate.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/measure.php
1 J = 1e7 erg
1 PJ = 1e15 J
Energy_petajoules = ( 10^(11.8 + 1.5*Ms) ) * 1e-07 * 1e-15
here's a picture of what this looks like, although ring size scaling has been reduced from the above formula to fit on the screen.
http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/2011/03/11/lhvpdd/03/messagelhvpd9-03.htm
And probably wouldn't even feel nearly so good in the end.
One that hath name thou can not otter
You can see live data from the Tsunami warning bouys here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_earthquakes_in_Japan
March 11, 2011 8.9 MW 2011 Sendai earthquake
November 15, 2006 7.9 ML 2006 Kuril Islands earthquake
June 12, 1978 7.7 Ms 1978 Miyagi earthquake
December 20, 1946 8.1 Mw 1946 Nankaid earthquak
September 1, 1923 8.3 ML 1923 Great Kant earthquake
Japan has had a large history of earth quakes, but this appears to be the largest ever recorded according to Wikipedia.
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_tsunamis_hit_japan_on_average_a_year#ixzz1GHSCzERb
This is the 5th largest earth quake in the last hundred years.
Chile 1960 05 22 9.5
Prince William Sound, Alaska 1964 03 28 9.2
Off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra 2004 12 26 9.1
Kamchatka 1952 11 04 9.0
Offshore Maule, Chile 2010 02 27 8.8
Off the Coast of Ecuador 1906 01 31 8.8
Rat Islands, Alaska 1965 02 04 8.7
Northern Sumatra, Indonesia 2005 03 28 8.6
Assam - Tibet 1950 08 15 8.6
Andreanof Islands, Alaska 1957 03 09 8.6
I was waiting for something to happen after hearing about the massive solar flare yesterday, but nothing this big.
And how is that supposed to work?
Didn't you see that documentary about next year? It's the neutrinos!
Or is this just another one of those strange religious things, like where the vengeful, hateful and all powerful being is going to condemn us all to to suffer in fire for ever and ever until the end of time - yet somehow still loves us?
No, he's a good guy if you give him a chance; he just sometimes can't help hitting me when I deserve it...
;p ): maltheism)
( http://groups.google.com/group/net.religion/msg/30925fd2c9a20cbd?
http://groups.google.com/group/net.origins/browse_thread/thread/2511f7a6ccacd6a9/7179db188c826528?lnk=st&q=%22Damager+God%22&rnum=5&pli=1
also, apart from classic dystheism and gnosticism (too bad the Demiurge preffered to brand gnostics as heretics and to supress them...
One that hath name thou can not otter
Meaning what? Neutrinos come from the core of the sun at a constant rate. They have nothing to do with solar flares, and the Earth is mostly transparent to them anyway. If they did dump energy into the rock on a small enough scale to cause something like this, then we would feel it too, in our bodies. We don't. Most of the radiation in the flare is stopped by the magnetosphere, the atmosphere and our bodies, where it damages DNA. I would be surprised if it penetrates 10 cm into rock, let alone 25 km.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Pray to the god who arbitrarily decided to cause this catastrophe? That makes a load of sense.
Sorry, but really... Pray? How about actively supporting in a manner other than preaching to a non-existing man in the cloud.
It wouldn't do any good anyway as the Japanese have no souls.
Not to mention, it seems wrong to submit to authority when s/he does something like this...
It's strange how God always sends tornadoes to the Bible Belt.
I think the parent meant: "May God have mercy on all the human scums dirtying the perfect waters of his holy tsunami with their blood and mangled corpses"
supermoon=syzygy at extreme perigee
Coincidence?
Set your phasers on "funky"!
Oh, you've decided it's "use the tsunami to score political points" time, now, is it? Okay, game on. How about the House appropriations committee's current plans to cut 10% from the NOAA budget, 5% from USGS, and (I think) 100% of Corps of Engineers funding for flood control and coastal emergencies?
http://xkcd.com/723/
Already seen one chick on TV credit facebook as a way people are communicating, so very sad.
The Asian fob on the Telly reported it from japanistan - theorizing that Godzilla woke up again.
OMG facts!
I was waiting for something to happen after hearing about the massive solar flare yesterday, but nothing this big.
And how is that supposed to work?
Well, I thought this was a more accepted concept than it is, but I guess not.
For your reading pleasure:
Change in magnetic field: an early warning system to understand seismotectonics
Universality in solar flare and earthquake occurrence
Earthquakes, Solar Flares, and Solar Wind Anaylsis
Whether solar flares can trigger earthquakes
Hopefully, that'll shed a bit more light on this growing theory for you. I don't think anyone is saying that every earthquake is caused by CME's, but when you have massive ejections like yesterdays they can certainly contribute to instability in the Earth's magnetic field, which leads to tectonic shifting.
Cheers!
My sig sags.
NHK: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/7472397 TBS: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tbstv
omg 9.6 may blow all Japan
I've been waiting for news of the impact of the waves when they reach Taiwan. Looks like they've come but had no major impact. Yay for that, hopefully the same will be true of the Philippines. I have friends in Manila -- hoping that nothing major in Taiwan means the Philippines will be okay.
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
The city closest to the epic center probably only had 30 minutes between feeling the quake and the tsunami making land fall. It's very eerie to watch cars speeding away from the on coming waves, some only making it a short distance before they were swallowed up . I feel so powerless to see the destruction, as it is happening, and not being able to do anything about it.
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed H
Pray to the god who arbitrarily decided to cause this catastrophe? That makes a load of sense.
It probably does if you are saying "don't do it to me too"! Or in the case of Westboro baptists "please do it to these heathens as well".
"This is a computer-generated message -- this event has not yet been reviewed by a seismologist."
Why is everyone blindly trusting the USGS computer? JMA is still asserting a 7.9.
They don't import Korean automobiles?
All I know is if I were a Chinaman, I'd want to be named "T. Sun". Then if anyone asked who I was, I'd say "TSunAmI"!
Are you from Westboro, by any chance?
Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
You can bet the WBC and various other fundamentalist idiots will be all over this, blaming it as God's punishment for some supposed transgression. Why God would choose to choose to snuff out unconnected random people and some industrial / farm zones will of course not be adequately explained in any way.
AC troll... you're feeding it. D:<
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
I hope they don't start slaughtering random foreigners like last time: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1923_Great_Kant%C5%8D_earthquake#Post-quake_massacre_against_ethnic_minorities
What version of Quake are they using on the Icculus CVS servers? ba-dum-cheesh. It's like rife isn't ronery anymoar.
I was at the Airport here, and I was told to get my ass among the rest of the pilots to be briefed in taking the most expensive of airplanes into the air ASAP. So this was the first briefing that was actually brief, and I am exstatic and Shocked because I want to go home to be with my grandmother in the attic. But my Briefer demanded I get a plane onto the Tarmac and into the airrr and I said my grandmother needs comfort, but they pulled guns to my head and said that the planes are worth more than my grandmother.
This is the same God that decided to create a massive earthquake and tsunami in the first place, right? You can't believe in an omnipotent being and then absolve him of responsibility for a disaster like this, or on the other hand you can't expect him to have mercy for people he has obviously decided to kill. Of course if you were sane, you'd realize that religion is just a form of mind control to prevent the poor from murdering the rich.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
There's a LIE that there are no atheists in foxholes.
Fixed that for you. It's just like the rest of the crap spewed by religious nuts - made up. I am an atheist, I have faced death, I have actually been clinically dead and was revived after a couple minutes, and I am STILL an atheist.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
The present is ending all the time.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Here's an useful suggestion instead:
Take that time you'd spend praying and work overtime. Donate the extra money to whoever needs it.
Heard rumors. Anybody have any facts?
News is expecting tsunami to hit Hawaii around 8am CT, That will be pre-dawn for them. Hope they are waking up and climbing to high ground!
Our lack of understanding is not equivalent to God's arbitrariness.
Also, some people see no difference between causing and permitting, when it is supposed to be the Omnipotent doing either the causing or the permitting.
Everywhere you could live in a real world is dangerous. Would you rather this Omnipotent God put you in an unreal world so you could try to experience life there?
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
Well, if we were talking about a mere human without the power to save the eternal soul, sure, that would not be someone you would want to submit willingly to.
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
When you can't do anything else, praying may not be a bad thing?
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
There is no Tsunami. Its just surfer propaganda. :p
Yes There Is Some Movement On The Bowies THAT I CAN SEE? Im Estmating the West COAST AND HAWAII
THE Distance Of This Wave Is Auctully Closer To HAWAII AND THE WEST COAST THEN THE ONE IN CHILE So Id Be On the Look Out For Some big Waves These bowies Can only move a bit But there looking for current For current Moving foward fast A TIDAL WAVE In DEEP WATER is only A foot or so high ? But when it biulds up on the crest off The Outer Shore It gets much bigger we are still dealing With that new volcanic fisher in HAWAII . TODAY Is A Very STRANGE DAY Indeed.
Creating a world that has earthquakes and tsunamis and then putting people on it is evil?
You'd suggest, I suppose, that He put the people on a world without earthquakes and tsunamis?
An unreal world, perhaps? Where the people He creates can experience everything but reality?
It sounds to me a little like an action game without the action.
If God is omnipotent, He also has power to bring the people who died today back to life. Further down the road, in a better world.
No idea whether the orginal poster was being sarcastic, however.
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
News says, there is at least one nuclear power plant burning: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/11/japan-declares-nuclear-emergency-quake I am scared now.
Nope, I think you mistook me for someone else.
when you have massive ejections like yesterdays they can certainly contribute to instability in the Earth's magnetic field, which leads to tectonic shifting.
Er, no. The way the game of "science" is played, one must first show data establishing a valid statistical correlation between coronal mass ejections and earthquakes, then a plausible model establishing causation. Or, present the plausible model establishing causation, and then predict earthquakes to occur in the future, with a success rate that differs from random chance in a statistically significant manner.
The reason the relationship between CMEs and earthquakes is not "a more accepted concept than it is", is that no one has done either of the above. It shouldn't be hard: The occurrence of CMEs varies with the sunspot cycle and, therefore, one would expect a cyclic variation in earthquakes if this hypothesis were true. Note that near the solar maximum we expect two or three CMEs per day, so this has to be figured in, too.
Reviewing your links:
1. The Mukherjee and Mukherjee paper notes that there was increased solar activity, and then an earthquake occurred (the 2001 Gujarat earthquake). In fact, in the "entire world, a total of 65 earthquakes have been reported on the same day". However, there is no evidence presented that that was an unusually high (or low) number of earthquakes for a day, that other earthquakes occurred on similar days with high solar activity, or that they did not occur on days with low solar activity. In fact, some of that data presented -- in particular, the GOES X-Ray flux data -- is irrelevant to the argument, since X-Rays do not affect the Earth's magnetosphere (the protons arriving two days later, do that) and, in any event, they cannot pass through the Earth's atmosphere and so cannot affect the surface (let alone the rock below). Despite the heading of section 2 of the paper, no "correlation" between CMEs and earthquakes is presented -- just a single coincidence. I went to the dentist on 26 January 2001 -- did that also cause the Gujarat earthquake? The same amount of evidence is presented for both hypotheses.
2. The de Arcangelis, et al. paper does not even mention a causal relationship between CMEs and earthquakes. Rather, it notes that the statistical properties of the two phenomena are the same: Their distributions are both power-law. This is interesting, but so is the distribution of Internet links, and a million other phenomena. It's nice work, but does not support your hypothesis.
3. This guy just took a single month's worth of earthquakes and compared it with "solar activity" (without defining the term). Even the author didn't make any conclusions as a result, so why should the reader? Besides, 2010 was one of the quietest years of solar activity in human history -- just wait 'til 2013!
4. Do you have a link to the entire Jain paper, or are you citing the abstract as the reference? Without the paper it's hard to conclude anything, but even in the abstract the author states, "Our investigation preliminarily shows that each earthquake under study was preceded by a solar flare of GOES importance B to X class by 10-100 hrs. However, each flare was not found followed by earthquake of magnitude >4.0." This situation can occur with unrelated events, simply when one (a flare) is more common than another (an earthquake). Note that B-class flares are incredibly common, and in many years this level of energy represents the standard amount of X-ray flux arriving from the sun, without any flares.
All of the above does not prove, or even argue, that CMEs do not cause earthquakes. Rather, it says that no significant evidence of such a link has been established. Until it has, one might argue with equal validity that any other random physical phenomenon does, too.
Nah, I wanted to make this point anyway, and the troll lets me do it without being the first to start throwing mud. :)
The Saudi Sheik's must think their prayers have been answered.
People are much less likely to go out and protest today with this dominating the news.
And those that do can be safely shot dead, and the world won't notice.
http://slashdot.jp/article.pl?sid=11/03/11/0847255
unsigned char *A;
Yes
Yes, if you want to make the claim that your deity is a good one.
Of course. Just like how Katrina was God's punishment for New Orleans. Of course, God got so angry he ended up backing his hurricane up all over three states and still couldn't wet the feet of the drunkards in the French Quarter, but hey, he's a perfect God so he meant to do that.
A magnitude 8.8 earthquake caused by Godzilla stomach being upset struck Japan off its northeastern coast this morning, shaking buildings in Tokyo for several minutes and forcing people out of their home, and prompting a tsunami. Officials set up emergency response teams to provide huge ammounts of Alka-Seltzer to Godzilla.
CNN is saying the tsunami is coming ashore in Hawaii now, they said they've been evacuating all night so hopefull there will be no deaths. A buddy of mine in Japan said he felt the shaking for "6 or 7 hours" he's checking in regularly on facebook so i know he's safe. thoughts and prayers to all those affected.
I came to the datacenter drunk with a fake ID, don't you want to be just like me?
stopped by the magnetosphere
Take two magnets. Place one on the table. The magnetic field is that magnet's "magnetosphere". Now, take the other magnet and attempt to push the north end of the magnet into the north end of the other magnet's "magnetosphere". Notice that the force exerted by the magnetic fields pushes the magnet around on the table.
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, including the repulsion of magnetic fields.
I have never seen a wave like that and at first because of the video perspective I didn't understand how truly large it was.
I also am fascinated by the fact the wave doesn't come crashing down, instead it is a slow gradual event onto land, ever steadily rising.
It gives a false sense of security to those who seek higher ground as the wave height is too gradual to determine.
I noticed sever people on a bridge, about 30 feet above the ground who thought they were safe but soon found out the wave crested over the bridge after a few minutes.
-Hack
Got Geometrodynamics? Awe, too hard to figure out? Too bad.
There's a saying that there are no atheists in foxholes
Not amongst atheists, pal.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
I have actually been clinically dead and was revived after a couple minutes, and I am STILL an atheist
I take it there were no lights calling you, celestial choirs and St Peter saying "hi" then?
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
http://www.landoverbaptist.net/showthread.php?t=60991
Nope. There was oblivion, and then the feeling of being poked, prodded and ventilated as this happened in an ER (fortunately for me) right after I was brought back.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
LOL "I said I was immutable, immortal, omnipotent and all-seeing, not fucking perfect!"
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Live news stream here (at least as of posting this comment)
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/foxtokimekitonight
Cosplayers.net - The Cosplayers Network
Try this if you want an approximate reaction. Put a magnet in the microwave for one second.
Spoiler: Nothing exciting happens.
Magnetic influence from a solar flare on Earth's magnetic field could be adequately compared to the effect that a spray of water from a garden hose would have on a boulder.
A very short spray and a very large boulder. Also, you are actually trying to move the boulder, not just getting it wet.
Also comparable: put a tiny magnet on one side of a large room and wave at it with a larger magnet from the other side of the room. Wave only once.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
You'd suggest, I suppose, that He put the people on a world without earthquakes and tsunamis? An unreal world, perhaps? Where the people He creates can experience everything but reality?
Surely God would decide what was real or not? He could choose to have earthquakes and tsunamis if he wanted? If He existed, that is.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Truth is, atheists are all douches who have no respect.
Atheists wonder whether you have a sense of irony...
While news of the death and devastation begins to filter in, I wanted to ask knowledgeable slashdotters if they knew of any undersea cable outages due to the tsunami (this IS a news for nerds site).
I am not familiar with how the main fiber optic trunk cables are strung out along the pacific ocean seabed. I wonder if there was a desire to keep them close to land (so they can make landfall more easily). If so, wouldn't they be right on top of "the ring of fire" and thus more vulnerable to events like this? Or perhaps the designers deliberately laid them out away from major faults? (Or perhaps they are relatively invulnerable to events like this, though the energy released in a mag. 8.9 earthquake makes it hard for me to believe anything could be so designed).
In any case, I'm in Vietnam and I'm reading this and posting this to slashdot which is presumably a U.S. site so our Internet connectivity does not seem to be majorly impacted.
Truth is, atheists are all douches who have no respect.
At least they're not potty-mouthed like you.
You cunt.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
The Japanese government just declared an atomic state of emergency. They are denying that any radiation is being leaked, but admitted that one reactor lost its cooling capacity. People are being evacuated.
In the event of an earthquake, nobody would need to worry about the wind getting lose.
Pray to what god? None of the arab gods (allah, jehova etc) have much influence in Asia, and certainly no power at all outside the coast of Japan. Or are you talking about the Sun Godess? I'm sure the emperor (being her descendant and all) is already on it.
Most of the radiation in the flare is stopped by the magnetosphere, the atmosphere and our bodies, where it damages DNA.
Well, that's all right then.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Jesus wanted to convince us that there is a god and there is salvation, through him.
And you feel this gives you carte blanche to act like a dick.
The sad thing is, I know atheists who make better Christians than you. You should be ashamed.
While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house: And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
Job 1:18-21
PM 3:00 West Coast ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douche
What? I can be a douche sometimes too.
Anyone else watch Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 last year?
Media that can be recorded and distributed can be recorded and distributed.
-kfg
As Usual- I just saw a CBS Weather girl actually say "And it is so surprising that it is sunny on the west coast with all this going on" ! Are media people born with dog shit in their brains or does a small dog have to sit over them while sleeping and make nightly deposits to get it to the level they have in adult life?
"Computers are a lot like Air Conditioners" "They both work great until you start opening Windows"
http://japan.person-finder.appspot.com/ As we all might have guessed the phone lines and cellphone systems are disabled still. But the internet is a very persistent entity. Simple and effective. Hope this gets more records.
Anyone else read this article yesterday?
http://www.space.com/11084-supermoon-earthquake-storm-natural-disasters.html
Not that I believe in astrology, but that's quite a coincidence.
Take that time you'd spend praying and work overtime. Donate the extra money to whoever needs it.
Today's xkcd speaks directly to that topic. The discussion has several variants of your suggestion.
But that's a lot more work than a minute or so of praying, which lets believers feel like they've "done something" when all they did was talk to their invisible deity who didn't do anything to prevent the latest disaster.
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
I have family in Tochigi prefecture whom I can't get in touch with. The phone lines are down, and I assume my brother's lost his Internet.
I've used the Google finder at: http://japan.person-finder.appspot.com/, but perhaps some folks on Slashdot might be able to offer advice on how to proceed in getting in touch.
Nah, I wanted to make this point anyway, and the troll lets me do it without being the first to start throwing mud. :)
LOL so did you post the AC troll first then?
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
hawaii only had a 7 foot roll, was spared anything major, so there probably won't be any problems. however, the shape of the seafloor and harbors can magnify these kind of waves, so if you have any family on the west coast, tell them to get to high ground right now, if they haven't already done so
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
More modpoints to you if you find video of her saying that. Bravo, bravissimo!
Are the HAM operators providing vital communications at this point?
I live in Chile and experienced last year 8.8 earthquake. I really understand how people in Japan are feeling, and I can only give them my best wishes and support!
From what I understand, everytime Japan gets 1 of these, California is due to be hit next, within 1 yr. typically.
(Above all else, I hope this works out OK for them and not too many people die)
I hope I am wrong for once. I seem to remember this being a "trend" of somekind that has actually reliable statistics/patterns behind it. Anyone care to correct me on this note, please do. I hope I am wrong.
whoever57, take care of yourself man, and stay safe (get out of there if possible too).
Never a miscommunication.
This was insane. I report Yokohama felt the shock, and the aftershocks but... floating houses and hundreds of dead and even more disappeared. Touhoku is pretty much, fucked up. Holy shit!!!!!!! And now the Nuclear Power Plants... Jesus! I live somewhat close to some of those u` -`)p
I have to say, that is one of the better comments I have read in a long time. Well done :)
bouncing about unharmed during the quake
Atheists want to convince us that there is no god and there is "freedom", through them.
No, actually atheists just want you to STFU. I have nothing else to offer you - especially not "freedom".
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Should've left geohot alone.
Good thing you were only mostly dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead.
The only difference is the organization of cells on a molecular level. I doubt that running out of ATP and being flooded by Calcium ions will make you see "god".
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
You know it's satire, right?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landover_Baptist_Church
It's true that there are people who do not believe that it's a parody, and they are even tolerated and trolled on the forum, but yeah... it's a joke.
If there were no earthquakes, tsunami, wars, etc., it wouldn't be this world, and it wouldn't be in this universe.
It wouldn't be interesting, either.
Sure, we don't like the bad stuff to happen. But if we make a world where nothing bad can ever happen, it works out that nothing good can happen either. At least, I've thought about this for a really, really long time and I can't figure out how even God could make a world with nothing but good in it.)
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
I think I see the source of the argument here.
Freedom implies non-optimals. Or, rather, freedom is equivalent to the existence of things mortal humans consider non-optimal.
Some people get so uptight about danger that they want freedom to quit existing too.
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
I'm wondering if you're using a sock puppet to make faith arguments sound bad.
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
Okay, define a "good" world to me.
Show me how a good world can exist where there are no natural or man-made disasters.
But I want one thing in it -- the possibility of good things happening. If good things can't happen, I won't accept your claim that it's a good world.
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
When you can't go there and join in the relief efforts, partly because the earthquakes haven't stopped enough for relief efforts to really begin, partly because the roads are closed, partly because you have to be making sure your own family is safe, prayer, or perhaps a few moments of silent reflection, may the best you can give for the moment.
Prayer is not necessarily off-topic.
I'd suggest that it's not worse than posting comments here.
(And I'd like to post more replies, but I have things to do. Most of the country is still functional, and we need to keep it so, so that the relief work can start once the earth and seas have settled back down a bit.)
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
Depends on your understanding of God.
Some of us who believe, believe He wants to talk with us about things. Prayer for us is a duplex connection.
In this case, the prayer is something like this:
"Is there something I can do?"
And the answer yesterday and this morning is that my first job is to see to my own family's safety.
And it's not like I really spent a long time coming to this conclusion. More to the effect of taking a moment to check whether what I was doing was the best. Atheists will do basically the same thing, just call it taking a moment to think, or to check their conscience.
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
We're all deluded. Why blame the other guy for his delusions instead of trying to understand your own?
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
http://www.youtube.com/nhk?gl=JP&hl=ja
unsigned char *A;
The way you say that makes me think you think I think God is just being coquettish (sp?).
I don't, FWIW.
Actually, I do think I understand, in part.
I'll admit, it did take a while before I understood that the difference between NP and NP complete is part of why we have to have things happen in this world, that seem non-optimal to us. While I'm not going to ask you to understand that immediately, I would like you to exercise a little understanding.
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
Well, it's the morning after, and the danger has not passed yet. That was why I was suggesting staying sober.
(For my part, drugs, including alcohol, aren't where I'm going to take my worries/concerns/frustrations/sorrows/etc. But that's my choice.)
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
A world in my understanding is neither good nor evil. It's neutral, because there are no deities, no creation and no intention in it. It just works the way it works, in the same way that gravity sometimes works to my advantage and sometimes may harm me.
However, if you claim that the world is created by something for you to inhabit, then it's different. The creator then is responsible for the way the world works. Just like you "create" the world your children inhabit, and it's generally considered bad parenting to leave dangerous things around.
So let's say we meet somewhere in a field. If I trip on some hole that just formed naturally there, then that's not good nor bad, it's just the way it was.
If you however go around digging holes, then invite people into the same place, then you're either being actively malicious, or at least negligent, neither of which IMO can be called good.
So I think that if the world has a creator, in order to be called good, he should have made a world devoid of tsunamis and earthquakes. Since they exist, it indicates that the creator if any is not good, but either malicious or negligent.
revolutions breaking out, weather going to sh*t, now record breaking quakes in the Pacific; has anyone checked to see if an island is rising from the Pacific floor?
A world in my understanding is neither good nor evil. It's neutral, because there are no deities, no creation and no intention in it. It just works the way it works, in the same way that gravity sometimes works to my advantage and sometimes may harm me.
In my way of thinking, a world that "works the way it works" is a good world. (Thinking about the first several verses of Genesis.) I don't think we disagree in substance there.
However, if you claim that the world is created by something for you to inhabit, then it's different.
How so?
The creator then is responsible for the way the world works. Just like you "create" the world your children inhabit, and it's generally considered bad parenting to leave dangerous things around.
Well, there is theory and there are ideals and then there is practical reality. You can be fully diligent and children can still find ways to make the world you let them live in dangerous. Even if you have enough money to remove every last danger you can recognize.
So let's say we meet somewhere in a field. If I trip on some hole that just formed naturally there, then that's not good nor bad, it's just the way it was.
If you however go around digging holes, then invite people into the same place, then you're either being actively malicious, or at least negligent, neither of which IMO can be called good.
So, if I invite you over for a game of golf, I'm malicious or negligent?
Now, before you go getting mad at me for that, let me tell you what happened to a friend of mine. This wasn't the holes, it was the balls. He and his fiancee enjoyed playing golf. Just before their wedding date, they were playing a round at the local course and a stray ball hit her in the head. (They had to postpone the date until she recovered from the surgery. But she did survive, they did get married, and neither she nor her family held it against him.)
So I think that if the world has a creator, in order to be called good, he should have made a world devoid of tsunamis and earthquakes. Since they exist, it indicates that the creator if any is not good, but either malicious or negligent.
No golf courses, either, I suppose?
No schools where the kids can get drugs from friends who make bad decisions?
Asking God to remove all dangers is really asking a lot.
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
that thing still here, omg!
http://www.cow-spot.co.uk/tokusatsu/16/src/1299894351742.jpg
We disagree in that I think creation entails responsibility. A created world isn't automatically "good".
You make it, you're responsible for it.
You claim the existence of an omniscient and omnipotent diety. I'm sure it shouldn't have any problem with that.
Plus not like earthquakes are a tiny thing. It's one of the biggest things that can possibly happen. And it comes with the planet, due to plate tectonics.
No, I think things like that are largely unfortunate coincidence. Though having not ever played golf I can't know for sure. For all I know there might be some sort of scheduling to try to avoid things like that.
No, those are human solutions. Remember you claim there is an omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent deity. What trouble would it be for something like that to tweak the trajectory of balls in the air to ensure nobody's head is ever hit?
I think it's one of the problems of the claims of omniscience and omnipotence: any obstacles automatically become inexistent. Tracking the trajectory of every object on the planet? No problem. Tweaking what's needed to prevent freak accidents? No problem either.
With great power comes great responsibility. So with absolute power comes absolute responsibility. Your god then is either directly responsible for a ball hitting your friend's wife head, or at least negligent for having allowed it.
1. Who on earth decided that a Nuc plant was safe on the shores of a country that regularly experiences Tsunami?
2. When telling us how safe Nuc power is, refer to rule number one.
We can sit here and argue how safe Nuc power can be, but the problem is no matter how safe it can be in theory, some asshole engineer will put in place a Death Star feature.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
I had written a longer reply, then I tried to log in without going to a separate window because that doesn't seem to work in the current interface in the version of FF I'm using, and I lost that all.
My wife is telling me I shouldn't be engaging in this kind of conversation with people I don't really know on a Sunday morning.
The short version is that, if you admit that death may not be the end of the soul, a lot of assumptions about the behaviour of an omnipotent, omniscient, benevolent, etc., deity change. He can save the eternal souls of people who leave or are removed from this world. Which doesn't answer a lot of your questions, I'm sure.
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
I haven't read anything connecting these two events but I'm willing to bet that the Moon's approach is, in some part, responsible for the recent disasters.
No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it!
Why?
I think an afterlife introduces more problems than it solves.
For one, I don't think it does anything to the morality of what I said in the previous post. If you watch your child cross on a red light and get hit by a car without doing anything, it still won't be considered good parenting even if you take him to Disneyland afterwards.
Also, at least in the conceptions of heaven I've heard of, whoever gets there can't possibly be you. This is because it's described as being a place of no suffering and eternal happiness.
But think of what that means. It means that every single thing that used to drive you is gone. So you like golf? In heaven you won't need it, because playing it can't possibly make you happier than you already are. If in life you strived to help people that will be gone as well, because eternal happiness can't be compatible with awareness of people's suffering. If you had family or friends remaining when you died you can't possibly care about them anymore, because worrying about them isn't being happy. If you created works of any kind, there's no point anymore. There's no way you can get a feeling of accomplishment because you're already as happy as you can be at all times.
So the way I see it, even if heaven existed, as described there's nothing to look forward to in it.
The other problem is that there is plenty evidence for personality being linked to the brain, so if you no longer have one you can hardly be yourself. For that matter, which version of you would go to heaven? As you can see from the linked article, brain tumors and damage can change people to the point of making them entirely incapable of religion.
It was time to go to church, among other things.
More assumptions come out here.
Your example about the red light? Do you have children? Do you know how hard it is to get them to listen to common sense some times?
I expect you will again assert that God should be able to save such a child even if the parent was simple unable to react fast enough. But you skip a whole lot of other possibilities.
For example, which is going to be more emotionally damaging? Getting hit by a car and then finding himself alive (as a spirit) in a different world, a world connected to this but different, perhaps being met by the people who were his grandparents in this world, or being hauled around in a harness from age two because the parents ar unwilling to let the poor child make any "wrong" decisions?
By the way, the perfect God I believe in is also capable of healing emotional damage, especially in those who are willing to be healed.
Which version of heaven? God owns this universe. He has all versions of heaven that are necessary. People go to the heaven they are willing to prepare in this life to receive. It's a little more involved than that, because many people don't get all the chances they should in this life and God can and does make allowances for that, but forces no one to a heaven they don't want.
Hell is mostly for people who aren't willing to go to heaven at all. No, don't tell me you don't think people would willingly reject heaven. There are plenty of people who don't like having to make choices, and heaven is full of choices.
None of the things that you think motivate me in heaven? I think otherwise. But, then, the heaven I would choose is not the heaven you thought you were describing, by any means.
Personality being linked to the brain? FWIW, the body will not be resurrected without the brain.
But I think you're jumping to conclusions. We can demonstrate, for instance, that certain stimulations to the brain can cut temper short, but, then, so can sleep deprivation. Those, and all other experiments I've seen mostly demonstrate that we are human, and subject to a variety of influences, rather than demonstrating that we would have no personality without a brain.
There is far more to religion than I think you have considered.
If you are not willing to consider what I have offered, perhaps you would at least allow that even an avowed atheist will allow a person a moment of silence in respect of the dead and the suffering, particularly if that moment of silence involves asking oneself what can be done to help those who are suffering.
For some people, prayer may be useless or even less than useless. It is not so for most of the people I know who regularly pray.
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
No, but I remember being one. Sure, parents aren't all powerful. That's why people should only be held responsible only as far as they are capable of doing something.
Yep
You seem to only think of extremes. As if I was advocating having every kid on a leash, or something. No, I'm just saying that for the sake of example: That if while you're watching and have plenty time and ability to react you just stand there and watch your kid run into a busy street, that it doesn't constitute good parenting.
No, which version of you I mean.
Your personality can dramatically change through the time. One can be idealistic and liberal as a teenager, depressed and conservative as an adult, and then get Alzheimer and forget about pretty much everything. Some illnesses can even cause your personality to switch back and forth. So which of those would be the true you?
Now you could conceivably say that at the very least the version of you without Alzheimer. What about things like Down Syndrome? Some things are permanent and are there from birth. Then the healthy version of that person never existed in the first place.
Then there's that many things like that aren't just "on" or "off", they're on a spectrum where too much of it may lead to a miserable life, but the right amount works wonders.
Nah, I don't doubt it at all. All the religious ideas of heaven sound rather horrible to me. If christian hell is something of a torture pit, then the christian heaven is some sort of Ned Flanders' "Re-Neducation" style world, with lobotomy and all.
How are you so sure you'll get to choose? I don't remember anything in the bible about that
Nope, it's pretty well tested. Thanks to things like research, experiments and studies of brain damage we already know pretty w
The example about the red light, I am a parent. I have been in situations where I watched my children walk into danger from their own choices. I tried to talk them out of those choices, but they insisted. In some cases the danger has been physical and I have actually resorted, initally, to physical means to prevent them, but when they refuse to listen, well, preventing them from learning from their mistakes is also a form of abuse.
I personally don't consider idealism, cynicism, depression, being just plain tired, losing brain function, etc. as changes to personality, per se. These things are functional issues, and if the resurrection restores the body, surely it will restore the brain.
Okay, there is a range in which people can choose, say to be pessimistic or optimistic, which ideals to hang on to, that sort of thing. We can choose to moderate our reactions when we are tired, to some extent, so even a hot temper can be cooled somewhat without changing the essence of personality. In the religion which I assert (Christian), we talk about repentance, about discarding bad habits, that kind of thing. These things don't change our personality, they change the expression thereof, for the better, if we are guided by God.
We trust God, so don't have any reason to believe He will restore us to something we have not chosen by our thoughts and our actions. Quite the opposite, in fact, we believe we are reward and punished based on what we did with what we were given. And, yes, there is scriptural basis, for example, Jesus said, "In my house there are many mansions, ..." (New Testament, John 14: 2)
This kind of "deep doctrine" (not really so deep) is not going to by found be casual reading of books on the mythos. Some of them are taught to us through, well, prayer.
I think I can guess that you are going to claim it is all derangement of mind caused by too much fantasizing while one is on one's knees or something. The fact that one has to want to find it tends to draw jeers from the cynic: "Well, aren't you just seeing what you want to see?" and such.
But my experience is that, for example, if one doesn't want to learn how to program in Java, one can read all the books on Java that there are and even go through the motions of typing in the examples and still not be able to program in Java. Wanting something is not a bad thing.
Moments of silence not used to to figure out what one can do are wasted. Pondering that doesn't include assessment and conclusion is not much use, either. Likewise, prayer. Prayer only for form is weak medicine. This is what I mean when I suggest that there is more to religion than you have considered. We put into it what we choose to put into it, and we get out of it what we put into it.
As an allegory, we can choose to spend our time on computers playing games and chatting about things that don't matter. We can also choose to use computers to do real work. (Most of us choose a bit of a mix.)
The implements of religion are tools which we can choose to use for own good or not. And, well, we often tend to have a bit of a mix in our choices there, too, I'll admit. I myself have done some pretty stupid things and some pretty good things because of my religion. When I recognize the difference, I tend to try to set aside the stuff that isn't helpful.
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
Within limits of course. Hopefully you don't intentionally let them get hit by a car or blow up the building just to teach a lesson.
Why not? You mean you don't know anybody whose excessive optimism, paranoia or depression is a defining characteristic of who they are?
For some people those things have far reaching implications. I suspect quite a few writers and painters would never have produced most of their work if they had an easy life.
You're not following the right motions then.
Programming isn't about copying examples from a book. Trying to learn programming by ritual is probably the worst way there is. Programming is about thinking and understanding, and rigid following of orders is the computer's job.
You definitely can learn against your will, if done in the right way. If forced to lift weights you'll get stronger, no matter how much you hate it. School has a lot of that kind of thing. Not saying that it's the best way to do it, but it does work.
If moments of silence were for thinking, they wouldn't exist in the first place. Instead we'd have "moments of thinking" where everybody would go for an hour or two and think in the way that works for them. Maybe sitting on a bench in a park, or in the kitchen with a cup of tea. Alternately, we'd do a brainstorming session.
People can't do deep thinking on a 5 minutes schedule. Moments of silence aren't about thinking, they're about doing a collective ritual for the sake of community building.
When you're a parent, you'll understand. But, yes, there are times when the only way to keep a kid from running into the street in front of a car is to tie him in a leash. What is right to do in such cases simply cannot be pre-determined.
God knows all things, but we don't. If God keeps us from the extremes, we will never have a hope of knowing all things.
You have to remember, I'm speaking from the point of view of one who believes he has evidence of life after death, and evidence of the power of God to save people's eternal souls from the damage we do to ourselves in this world. I do not believe that the physical death of the body is the worst thing that can happen to a person.
I suppose you're going to ask how I can argue against killing people if I assert that it's okay for God to let people do dangerous things? There are lots of things God can do without being evil that we would be evil to do. Partly, it's because He can and does take care of the mess.
BTW, you're preaching to the choir when you talk to me about how making the world too easy denatures art.
But, no, extremes of emotion and those tendencies are ancillary to personality, not core. Expressions, of personality, not the personality itself.
I don't advocate drugging people to get them to quit expressing themselves, I'm just pointing out that I don't agree (for instance) with the idea that going to heaven robs people of their personalities. (I noted, also, that the religion I follow does not teach that heaven consists of angels forever playing harps on clouds in some unrecognizable state arbitrarily called bliss, did I not?)
Somehow it seems to me that you are misreading my arguments. I am telling you that heaven is specifically not the brainless happy state that you seem to have become convinced that Christianiity teaches it is, and you keep trying to tell me that I'm wrong to believe in a heaven that is brainless bliss.
We're talking past each other.
Prayer (and moments of silence) come in all sizes and durations -- one second in an emergency, hours when you really need to work things out, maybe even longer.
Prayer for form is no better than education for form, but that doesn't mean that prayer must never match some form any more than it means that education must never match form.
And I think you would not disagree that collective ritual for the sake of community building is necessarily bad, if not overdone or repeated invoked without (heh) thought?
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
Neither I. Some forms of living can be really horrible.
Why wouldn't we want to know all things?
I hold that the morality of an action is evaluated at the time it takes place. Repairing the damage doesn't change the morality of the original action. It might invite leniency or forgiveness, but a wrong was still committed anyway.
Take for instance the story I heard about the Skull and Bones society at Yale. Apparently it's something of a club for crazy rich kids. The story goes that one of the ways they had to amuse themselves was to completely trash a restaurant, then at the end throw a heap of cash at the owner for covering the repairs.
So your claim here is that if they can (and perhaps guarantee) "take care of the mess", by for instance giving the owner enough cash for full repairs and compensating for the lost business, there's no moral issue with such a thing?
No, you're missing the point completely. What I mean is, for some people being crazy is the defining part of their personality. A sane Van Gogh or Dali might have become a store clerk, or just paint good but unremarkable portraits and landscapes, and be forgotten by history.
So, if Van Gogh goes to heaven, who arrives? The crazy guy? But then he's still crazy and suffering from it, and that makes heaven not very appealing. Van Gogh minus the crazy? But then that's not Van Gogh.
It practically has to be that, or it wouldn't be very heavenly. Eternity is a long time and provides plenty chances to get horribly bored. If there are other people there, you'll eventually bump into somebody whose guts you'll really hate, if they're anything like normal people.
But for that matter, where do you get your idea of what's it like? How are you sure you won't end up in say, Valhalla?
It can be bad when done at the expense of something more useful. Having a convenient and satisfying ritual at hand easily frees you from the need to do something. Doing something, no matter how pointless, can easily trick yourself into believing you've done your part, and settled the matter.
That's rather low on the scale of badness of course, but I wouldn't want to encourage it.