The Iron Yuppie

I have heard at least a few people comment that the apocalypse is upon us, what with the earthquakes/tidal waves, locusts and hurricanes from 2004. My feeling is probably that it is just random bad luck, and the human mind combines these events together to think that this time is different that all the previous times it happened (either in recorded or prerecorded history).

One thing that I was particularly irritated by was the concept that the earthquake “changed the rotation of the Earth”. Come on. A: What the hell is that supposed to mean and B: even if it meant that it lengthened or shortened the days for the rest of the Earth’s lifetime, by how much could the quake have affected it?

It irritates me that newscasters (I saw this on Foxnews, but I’m sure plenty of other agencies also reported this) felt the need to augment the description of terrible event with such a ridiculous description. Watch, I’m going to alter the rotation of the Earth right now!

Stage direction: Dave jumps into the air

Sorry I had to do that everyone… I had to prove that it was absurd. All the hyperbole and exaggeration causes something that is already amazingly large to be lost in the reporting.

One thing that the earthquake and tidal wave reminds me of is exactly how small and insignificant we really are. The Earth and Universe have been having these types of events occur since the beginning of time; this earthquake, which is not even the strongest in the last 100 years (though it was 100x stronger than the one that hit Seattle in 2001), is just par for the course.

Nonetheless, I strongly encourage everyone to donate money, time or whatever you can to help those in need. Based on Joel’s endorsement, I suggest OxFam. 50,000 dead at current measure… it’s more than I can even comprehend.

posted by Iron Yuppie  # 12/28/2004 11:15:00 AM