Huge earthquake..Japan

[8bitagent]

I feel that RI is usually very skilled at predicting events through rigorous analysis, pressing of information, and discourse. With this event, I feel that we all are experiencing so much shock and information overload that it is difficult. This event, as a (most likely) (largely) natural disaster, also seemed to occur without our thorough discussions and theoreticising...but beyond my shock, my question is: what will this mean for the socioeconomic future of Japan? We all know that it is a society with a low birthrate and with an ever-advancing median age. I'm used to seeing posts by members here with expertise in this area providing analysis...but like I said, perhaps we're all just experiencing a little more information overload than normal.

I don't want this to come off as insensitive in any way; there's always value in understanding and exploring all potential outcomes of a given scenario and it's something we're good at.

Sadly the event is not surprising, given this period we've entered of mass earthquakes and other disasters(mass animal die-offs too) It dovetails with the Arab revolution and the *really* insane shit I can almost bet will come down the pipeline this year. These disasters are events that can't be controlled or orchestrated, they are simply part and parcel of *what's going on* in this planet and the galaxy.
There will most likely be events many times more shocking than this to come as we head into *that* year, but if we are to filter this event through an RI lens...it may be just to see the totality of change.
The soul shattering mass trauma of earthquakes such as haiti or Earthquake/tsunami combos such as this and the Indonesian one in 2004 are those moments that make us take pause and see outside the
realm of political guessing games and pop conspiratainment.

In the movies, we have this disconnect even in films based on true stories. Hell even documentaries...you aren't *there* per se. So when we see films like 2012, Knowing, The Day After Tomorrow or any other disaster film it feels otherworldly. When we log onto news sites and see the jaw dropping devestation, it feels like a still from a film or concept art. Maybe it was the aftermath of New Orleans that brought that "over there" feeling more home. To think of entire cities completely uprooted and swept away in an instant, like some sort of geo etchaketch...well it is hard to wrap your head around.

Japan went from a very Nazi level of evil government to the shining light of innovation, peace and a marriage of old world beauty and futurism. So many of us have had a life long interest and love for Japan, as well as a curiosity and over romanticizing...but now, to see Japan in THIS state, like out of the aftermath of a monster film or apocalyptic anime film, it's hard to process it all.

The only thing I can read, as far as an RI lens, is that this is merely the opening gates of "wtf" times. Call it "2012 whether you believe or not", "inevitibility" or the anger of mother earth...but shit's going down.

[eyeno]

I stumbled across some of the usual Haarp stuff today in connection with all this and saw Benjamin Fulford's name. I had forgotten all about him because I haven't run across his name in a long time. I remember hearing some of his stuff a long time ago and am vaguely sort of familiar with who he is but I really don't know much about him. He seems to have been employed in some fairly high level jobs in the past.

Question. Is he a nut job or is he on the level?

[justdrew]

I stumbled across some of the usual Haarp stuff today in connection with all this and saw Benjamin Fulford's name. I had forgotten all about him because I haven't run across his name in a long time. I remember hearing some of his stuff a long time ago and am vaguely sort of familiar with who he is but I really don't know much about him. He seems to have been employed in some fairly high level jobs in the past.

Question. Is he a nut job or is he on the level?

he's part of project Camelot's farm team IIRC

made claims that the asian mafias were secretly declaring war on western illuminati more or less.

[SonicG]

I feel that RI is usually very skilled at predicting events through rigorous analysis, pressing of information, and discourse. With this event, I feel that we all are experiencing so much shock and information overload that it is difficult. This event, as a (most likely) (largely) natural disaster, also seemed to occur without our thorough discussions and theoreticising...but beyond my shock, my question is: what will this mean for the socioeconomic future of Japan? We all know that it is a society with a low birthrate and with an ever-advancing median age. I'm used to seeing posts by members here with expertise in this area providing analysis...but like I said, perhaps we're all just experiencing a little more information overload than normal.

I don't want this to come off as insensitive in any way; there's always value in understanding and exploring all potential outcomes of a given scenario and it's something we're good at.

Sadly the event is not surprising, given this period we've entered of mass earthquakes and other disasters(mass animal die-offs too) It dovetails with the Arab revolution and the *really* insane shit I can almost bet will come down the pipeline this year. These disasters are events that can't be controlled or orchestrated, they are simply part and parcel of *what's going on* in this planet and the galaxy.
There will most likely be events many times more shocking than this to come as we head into *that* year, but if we are to filter this event through an RI lens...it may be just to see the totality of change.
The soul shattering mass trauma of earthquakes such as haiti or Earthquake/tsunami combos such as this and the Indonesian one in 2004 are those moments that make us take pause and see outside the
realm of political guessing games and pop conspiratainment.

In the movies, we have this disconnect even in films based on true stories. Hell even documentaries...you aren't *there* per se. So when we see films like 2012, Knowing, The Day After Tomorrow or any other disaster film it feels otherworldly. When we log onto news sites and see the jaw dropping devestation, it feels like a still from a film or concept art. Maybe it was the aftermath of New Orleans that brought that "over there" feeling more home. To think of entire cities completely uprooted and swept away in an instant, like some sort of geo etchaketch...well it is hard to wrap your head around.

Japan went from a very Nazi level of evil government to the shining light of innovation, peace and a marriage of old world beauty and futurism. So many of us have had a life long interest and love for Japan, as well as a curiosity and over romanticizing...but now, to see Japan in THIS state, like out of the aftermath of a monster film or apocalyptic anime film, it's hard to process it all.

The only thing I can read, as far as an RI lens, is that this is merely the opening gates of "wtf" times. Call it "2012 whether you believe or not", "inevitibility" or the anger of mother earth...but shit's going down.

Interesting comments and I may even be a bigger believer in the inevitability of 2012 but it seems that the prior lack of these natural disasters was more the outlier. The earth is indeed a living being and I doubt it is angry but rather doing something that it has to do naturally. I am not denying AGW by any stretch but massive plate shifts are going to happen no matter what.
Also, as an ex-pat with over 10 years living in Japan, I have to say that you paint a very rosy picture of Japan- of which you do admit. It has not been that innovative as far as energy generation/conservation (obviously) with its numerous nuclear power plants and the damming up of basically every single river in the country. I'm sure you have some familiarity with Alex Kerr?
That said. I think the problem just comes down to one of perspective. At the very worst, I imagine, 2012, whatever "form" it takes, will force us to change our perspective of one that seeks constant economic growth at the price of ecological and psychic devastation to one that at least seeks to slow that illusory economic growth to the point where everyone realizes that freedom comes not from property or goods, but from each other.

[SonicG]

I stumbled across some of the usual Haarp stuff today in connection with all this and saw Benjamin Fulford's name. I had forgotten all about him because I haven't run across his name in a long time. I remember hearing some of his stuff a long time ago and am vaguely sort of familiar with who he is but I really don't know much about him. He seems to have been employed in some fairly high level jobs in the past.

Question. Is he a nut job or is he on the level?

Pretty standard nut job. GLP wank-off illuminati BS with wild predictions that never even get close to coming true.

[SonicG]

Has this been shared?

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/ ... -slip.html

In these tough economic times, isn’t it nice to know that calamitous natural disasters needn't have an adverse affect on your investment portfolio? After the 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan failed to induce a market nosedive, CNBC’s Larry Kudlow expressed his relief in terms that seemed to appall even his fellow cheerleaders for capitalism: “The human toll here,” he declared, “looks to be much worse than the economic toll and we can be grateful for that.” (Skip ahead to 0:38 on the video after the jump.)

(via Doug Henwood's email list. His comment: "What an odious human.")

[SonicG]

Sorry for the multiple postings but my workload has temporarily slowed but probably just by coincidence.
Anyhow, I love the Alicublog for his skewering of the RWNJs.

BEYOND PARODY. I was joking that now would be a good time for Republicans to push for nuclear power. But Media Matters shows us that some of them have already done so at Fox Business.

These lunatics are saying that the Japanese reactors got through the tsunami "without a dent," which proves that we should get nuclear plants up and running now. Among the choice quotes: "Regulations don't make ya safe, safety makes ya safe!" Also they claim wind power is more dangerous than nuclear because a hawk flew into a turbine.

I've tried for years to figure out what motivates them, but I'm leaning toward the explanation that they were sent by aliens to destroy the human race. (h/t zpleat)

UPDATE. Ole Perfesser Instapundit doubles down, publishing an alleged letter from a constituent who tells us he's in Tokyo. While "alarmed at the nuclear crisis unfolding in Fukushima," the reader points out no skyscrapers collapsed, "so let’s not trash nuclear energy and Japanese engineering, please." If you question the safety of nuclear power, you're attacking Japanese engineering! Years of claiming people who oppose their politics are therefore opposing America have left them with this mental tic, I guess.

Most normal people are actually celebrating Japan's rigorous building codes, which probably saved many lives and are the sort of thing modern conservatives consider Big Gummint, fascist, etc.

UPDATE 2. Commenter MikeJ observes, "Any time something horrible happens Republicans will say we need to have more of it right here. The only thing surprising is that so far I haven't heard any Republicans argue that we should have an earthquake."

links and comments at
http://alicublog.blogspot.com/2011_03_0 ... 2988928074

[23]

This is the real threat that few people are talking about:

an imminent and minimum 7.0 aftershock in the next few days... which may be the trigger for the nuclear disaster that we all fear.

P.S. If you want to be ahead of the curve, you may want to keep a steady pulse on this site for the next few days: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/ ... es_all.php .


*****

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/ma ... -survivors
Japan earthquake aftershocks threaten survivors
National meteorological agency warns of 70% chance of a tremor of magnitude 7 or higher in the next three days

Hundreds of aftershocks have continued to batter the coast of Japan more than two days after the worst earthquake in the country's recorded history, offering no respite for survivors.

Thirty of them have measured more than magnitude 6, and Japan's meteorological agency has warned that there is a 70% possibility of a tremor of magnitude 7 or higher in the next three days, and a 50% risk in subsequent days.

"The rule of thumb for aftershocks is that you can expect a factor of about one magnitude less than the biggest shock. The other thing is 'Omori's law' – really an observation – that the rate of aftershocks decreases in a very predictable way," said Alexander Densmore of the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience at Durham University.

"If you know something about the area – and this is an area with a large number of earthquakes – you can make predictions for the number of aftershocks for each day that follows."

But tremors can continue for months after an earthquake. The earthquake that sparked the 2004 Asian tsunami, estimated at magnitude 9.1 or more, was followed three months later by an 8.6 tremor that Densmore said was almost certainly related, although some seismologists argue it was not a true aftershock.

He said: "The bigger the earthquake, the bigger the change in stress and the more aftershocks. There are many more aftershocks than after the Sichuan earthquake in China [in 2008], but that was magnitude 7.9 and this was 8.9. You have 30 times more energy released.

"It's not about how much the ground shakes, but how much energy is released, because that's what gives other parts of the fault increased stress.

"That's what aftershocks are: areas around [the location of the original shock] relieving stress. But those also affect other parts of the fault: you get a cascade effect."

Shocks can also have a cumulative effect on the risk of landslides, he said. Hill slopes are weakened and rock is loosened, allowing subsequent tremors, even if smaller, to trigger slips.

But Japan's buildings – unlike many buildings elsewhere – should stand up well to aftershocks, he said.

"[They] are designed to move: they have expansion joints and shock absorbers ... You are not creating cracks which get bigger and bigger.

"If they can survive the main shock they should be okay.

"The important thing is that they don't collapse, even if they are damaged; as long as they don't actually fall down, that's 95% of the battle."

[8bitagent]

I stumbled across some of the usual Haarp stuff today in connection with all this and saw Benjamin Fulford's name. I had forgotten all about him because I haven't run across his name in a long time. I remember hearing some of his stuff a long time ago and am vaguely sort of familiar with who he is but I really don't know much about him. He seems to have been employed in some fairly high level jobs in the past.

Question. Is he a nut job or is he on the level?

he's part of project Camelot's farm team IIRC

made claims that the asian mafias were secretly declaring war on western illuminati more or less.

Oh man, I almost fell out my chair laughing when I saw that Ben Fulford thing. And what was that one project camelot "scoop", with the "former Illuminati master turned Italian DJ Trance rave?"

[8bitagent]

I feel that RI is usually very skilled at predicting events through rigorous analysis, pressing of information, and discourse. With this event, I feel that we all are experiencing so much shock and information overload that it is difficult. This event, as a (most likely) (largely) natural disaster, also seemed to occur without our thorough discussions and theoreticising...but beyond my shock, my question is: what will this mean for the socioeconomic future of Japan? We all know that it is a society with a low birthrate and with an ever-advancing median age. I'm used to seeing posts by members here with expertise in this area providing analysis...but like I said, perhaps we're all just experiencing a little more information overload than normal.

I don't want this to come off as insensitive in any way; there's always value in understanding and exploring all potential outcomes of a given scenario and it's something we're good at.

Sadly the event is not surprising, given this period we've entered of mass earthquakes and other disasters(mass animal die-offs too) It dovetails with the Arab revolution and the *really* insane shit I can almost bet will come down the pipeline this year. These disasters are events that can't be controlled or orchestrated, they are simply part and parcel of *what's going on* in this planet and the galaxy.
There will most likely be events many times more shocking than this to come as we head into *that* year, but if we are to filter this event through an RI lens...it may be just to see the totality of change.
The soul shattering mass trauma of earthquakes such as haiti or Earthquake/tsunami combos such as this and the Indonesian one in 2004 are those moments that make us take pause and see outside the
realm of political guessing games and pop conspiratainment.

In the movies, we have this disconnect even in films based on true stories. Hell even documentaries...you aren't *there* per se. So when we see films like 2012, Knowing, The Day After Tomorrow or any other disaster film it feels otherworldly. When we log onto news sites and see the jaw dropping devestation, it feels like a still from a film or concept art. Maybe it was the aftermath of New Orleans that brought that "over there" feeling more home. To think of entire cities completely uprooted and swept away in an instant, like some sort of geo etchaketch...well it is hard to wrap your head around.

Japan went from a very Nazi level of evil government to the shining light of innovation, peace and a marriage of old world beauty and futurism. So many of us have had a life long interest and love for Japan, as well as a curiosity and over romanticizing...but now, to see Japan in THIS state, like out of the aftermath of a monster film or apocalyptic anime film, it's hard to process it all.

The only thing I can read, as far as an RI lens, is that this is merely the opening gates of "wtf" times. Call it "2012 whether you believe or not", "inevitibility" or the anger of mother earth...but shit's going down.

Interesting comments and I may even be a bigger believer in the inevitability of 2012 but it seems that the prior lack of these natural disasters was more the outlier. The earth is indeed a living being and I doubt it is angry but rather doing something that it has to do naturally. I am not denying AGW by any stretch but massive plate shifts are going to happen no matter what.
Also, as an ex-pat with over 10 years living in Japan, I have to say that you paint a very rosy picture of Japan- of which you do admit. It has not been that innovative as far as energy generation/conservation (obviously) with its numerous nuclear power plants and the damming up of basically every single river in the country. I'm sure you have some familiarity with Alex Kerr?
That said. I think the problem just comes down to one of perspective. At the very worst, I imagine, 2012, whatever "form" it takes, will force us to change our perspective of one that seeks constant economic growth at the price of ecological and psychic devastation to one that at least seeks to slow that illusory economic growth to the point where everyone realizes that freedom comes not from property or goods, but from each other.

Oh indeed man. As a "nerd" you grow up thinking of Japan as this megaopolis of all that is nerdy and cool; without thinking of the snaking coils of ugliness beneath. Overworked drone bees with suppressed personalities/enjoyability, tumbling birth rates, etc. Financially too, what was once thought to be this economic juggernaut, not so much now. I kind of just joined in on this thread, so I'd have to go back a few pages to get your perspective FROM someone who lived there for some time.

But yeah, that's a good summation...that, ultimately no matter what, it's one of those moments where we all will have to have major paradigm shift and seachange in perspective. I just have this sinking feeling that there really isn't too much that could surprise me. If I woke up , turned on CNN...and a mushroom cloud was over some major European city, total 1929 financial collapse...or a fleet of UFO motherships hovered above major cities...after waking up to 9/11, I honestly can't say I'd feel too much of a shock. Sadness depending on the magnitude of a gravely tragic event, yes.

Again, I honestly have no theories cept "things about to get really serious and weird, and weirdly serious" in the world. I also can't help but find a bit of food for thought with what Goro has been saying.
http://www.goroadachi.com/etemenanki/ After reading his posts this year, I began to genuinely worry about if there's something to what he's pinpointing(if so, I'd be hesitant to watch that April 19th final shuttle launch) I think in the back of some of our minds, there is almost this 'black woman hair salon gossip' like thrill of discussing these events to have something to disseminate. Seeing the sheer horror of so much of this stuff...Haiti, Japan, war, etc. I myself can't help but wish for when I was naive to all this and when things seemed more mundane.

[82_28]

[eyeno]

Oh man, I almost fell out my chair laughing when I saw that Ben Fulford thing. And what was that one project camelot "scoop", with the "former Illuminati master turned Italian DJ Trance rave?"

Now you are making me want to dig it up and read it for the lulz...

[Peachtree Pam]

This is via the Guardian

10:18 a.m.

The Australian broadcaster ABC has posted a series of before and after satellite images from around north east Japan which give a clear sense of how much devastation the tsunami caused. The viewer can slide back and forth between the before and after shots, seeing how entire towns have been swept away. See the gallery here.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/japan ... eafter.htm

[Sounder]

Sorry OT, but Sonic brought it up, and I can't help myself.

SonicG wrote…

That said. I think the problem just comes down to one of perspective. At the very worst, I imagine, 2012, whatever "form" it takes, will force us to change our perspective of one that seeks constant economic growth at the price of ecological and psychic devastation to one that at least seeks to slow that illusory economic growth to the point where everyone realizes that freedom comes not from property or goods, but from each other.

This is exactly it. Our current set of conceptual structures bias our perceptual processing toward objects and value found through their manipulation. But this is a stupid way to direct so much focus and effort when we observe that ‘life’ is found in relationships more so than in objects.

As when the Copernican model replaced the Ptolemaic model, a new psychical conditioning system is bound to change the assumptions that drive the interpretations of our perceptions.

It is my opinion that the ‘form’ that 2012 takes is up to us and our collective ability to access the ineffable so as to create categories and correspondences that show more respect toward reality than they do toward our anthropomorphic fantasies.

[82_28]

Astonishing video of the tsunami wiping away an entire town in 6 minutes.

http://video.l3.fbcdn.net/cfs-l3-snc6/8 ... cd6dc12abf

Sorry about the length of the link, but that happens to be the link.