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Ramblin' 'Bout My Babies
I don't have any particular point to make this morning, it's just 0719 and I'm bored and awake and thinking about my family ( Read more... ) -
Amelica Has a Huge Erection
I'm having some seriously mixed feelings regarding the outcome of the election the other night, above and beyond the fact that I regard both Obama and McCain as corporate whores from political parties that have become nigh indistinguishable from each other. An awful lot of Kool-Aid was guzzled this election year by an awful lot of otherwise ( Read more... ) -
It Starts When the Shaking Stops
Fighting has broken out in Dujiangyan over packets of dry noodles. Daci's family keeps telling us that they're fine, that they are staying in a place they consider safe, and that the government has promised to feed everyone... so they don't want to leave. Daci thinks food shortages are just going to get worse ( Read more... ) -
Aftermath?
Daci just spoke with her mother again, and the latest news from the government is that their building is condemned and will be rebuilt, but it will take at least two to five years or more during which time it is suggested that they live in a tent ( Read more... ) -
"Dujiangyan is dead..."
"Dujiangyan is dead ( Read more... ) -
(Untitled)
After that single phone call that got cut off after only a couple of minutes, we have been unable to reach mama in Dujiangyan. There is a big dam upriver and not far away that has cracks in it, and we're kind of hoping the family has left town and headed for Le Shan or Chengdu. The local engineers say the dam is stable, but if they're wrong and ( Read more... ) -
Chinaquake '08
After Skypeing every ten or fifteen minutes to both the home and cell phones all afternoon and evening, we got my mother-in-law on the cell very briefly just now before the connection died. Her apartment is TRASHED, she tells us, but the whole family and even the dog are all OK! Everyone is sleeping outside for fear of aftershocks. We weren't ( Read more... ) -
Earthquake in China
A 7.8 earthquake hit China last night, and the epicenter was just a few miles from where my in-laws live. The school and the hospital in their neighborhood have both collapsed, with ~900 students trapped in the rubble of the school. Mama's home phone is ringing, but there's no answer... and her cellphone is unreachable, which is not surprising ( Read more... ) -
Towards a Rational Activism
Something that has been really annoying me lately is the way that activism in America has degenerated since the 1960s. Possibly this is because political involvement in general has seriously lapsed since I was a tot; perhaps it has something to do with the fact that no unifying youth movement like the hippie culture of the '60s exists today to pit ( Read more... ) -
BLOW IT UP BEFORE STEVE PERRY MAKES A SPEECH
DISCLAIMER: This rant is highly dependent on a particular cultural context. If you're not American or Canadian, there are a lot of things here that you probably won't understand even if you think you do. Remain calm ( Read more... )