Tsunami forecast

An 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of northern Japan Thursday afternoon, triggering a massive tsunami watch.

tsunami forecast

I just can't get over that graphic. It's amazing - and terrifying - to see how widespread the destruction can be from such a huge earthquake.

Shuttle launch

I've always wanted to watch a shuttle launch and want to now even more after reading The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe last year in Literary Journalism class. Today the shuttle Discovery made it's last launch. My sister-in-law took her kids and drove down to Florida to watch. One of my Lit. Jour. classmates and her boyfriend went down to watch. Even some of Kezia's friends from Denmark flew over to the States to witness the launch. And I was stuck in a hot office in northern Tanzania. I consoled myself by watching this video that Jonathan found and sent me. It's pretty cool, but I'm sure it's nothing like witnessing the real thing.



There are only two more launches before NASA shuts down the program. One is April 19. I definitely won't be back by then. The other is June 28. I think I'll try to work on going to that one. I mean it'll be history so I deserve a chance to witness it, right?

A new 'ology'

Today, while visiting Dictionary.com for another reason, I noticed one of the features: cryptozoology. How intriguing! I had no idea such a thing as "the study of evidence tending to substantiate the existence of creatures whose reported existence is unproved" existed! (Apparently even Google Chrome doesn't know about cryptozoology...a 'misspelled' red line appears underneath it.)

Maybe someday somebody will actually prove there is a Loch Ness monster, Ogopogo or Sasquatch! That would be exciting.

Free press

I read a headline on allAfrica.com today that made me wonder, so I clicked the link and read the whole story. Now I'm aggravated. Why can't the press throughout the world have the same freedoms it enjoys in the west? People in developing countries deserve a free press just as much as those in developed countries. Sometimes I'm embarrassed by my (soon-to-be) chosen profession...

Prosperous countries

Why do I always find these things so interesting?

This interactive graphic is especially cool because you can select several different countries and compare them.