or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
•
"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
•
"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
December 31, 2004
This Angry Planet
Whew. I just spent a week far away from normal life, and normal internet access. All my fascinating thoughts about life couldn't be put here. Instead, they had to stay inside my head or be expressed verbally to my family and friends. (And they voted for the "stay inside my head" option.)
Anyway, did anything happen while I was gone? Like, one of the greatest natural disasters of the past 100 years?
As it happens, Bob Harris is over in Southeast Asia himself right now. He has useful links to worthwhile relief organizations here, as well as further thoughts about the response of the US government. Tom Tomorrow also has links, lifted from Daily Kos.
When confronted with the calamities of this angry little world, I always find it useful to try to understand them. At least then you know why horrible things occur. Otherwise, you end up believing it's just god punishing us for unknown reasons.
So, here's a PBS special called "Savage Earth." They have a page about the Ring of Fire around the Pacific, and a section about tsunamis specifically.
Interesting fact: the tsunami caused by the legendary eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 killed 36,000 people, far fewer than have already died from this tsunami.
Posted at December 31, 2004 06:31 AM | TrackBackWhen the tsunami caused by Krakatoa hit the shores of the islands of Indonesia, the population of the archipelago was an estimated 30-35 million. Sumatra had about 8 million (probably less).
Today, after the effects of the 20th century, Indonesia has more than 4 times that population, and Sumatra has more than 6 times the population it had in 1883. So, if you multiply 36,000 by.....
Enough said.
Posted by: Alexis at December 31, 2004 02:14 PMI have started a one-man grassroots campaign to request that the 2005 Presidential Inauguration be stripped of its parties for all of the fat-cats and lobbyists, and to have the $40 MILLION DOLLARS of private money donated for those parties diverted, either to the relief effort in Southeast Asia or to purchase armor for the vehicles of our troops in Iraq.
I have created a blog which will serve as a communication platform for this project:
http://alburty.typepad.com/stoptheinauguration/
Please visit it often for updates.
And here's how I have begun:
I just sent this email off to Mercer Reynolds, who is heading up the inauguration committee. This is his email address at his company, which is (like, duh) a private investment company in Ohio. mreynolds@swrw.com. He is a golfing and fishing buddy of President Bush.
I’m going to see if I can track down the email addresses of the rest of the inauguration committee as well. http://www.inaugural05.com/aboutus/#exec. As I locate them, I will post them to my blog website.
You may also wish to send a copy of your email to your Senator(s) or Congressional Representatives. http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/
Spread the word. I want to propel this out into the world as quickly as possible. If you agree with its sentiments, forward this email to everyone in your address book. (Do them a favor, however. Please put their email addresses in the Bcc... mail header so that you're not displaying everyone's email addresses.)
Steve
________________________________________
Dear Mr. Reynolds,
If President Bush wanted to show true leadership and help restore America’s image in the world, he would cancel the $40 million worth of inauguration parties and contribute that money to the relief effort in Southeast Asia. The President should simply take the oath of office on the Capitol steps, ask for a moment of silence, and then go home.
With the nation at war in a battlefield where our own soldiers do not have proper equipment, and with the nations of Southeast Asia in such peril, throwing a $40 million dollar “party†seems not only an extravagance, it seems obscene.
Sincerely,
Stevan Alburty
New York City
