But what about after things have settled down? What happened to the people in New Orleans, for example? Most of them couldn't have moved back in like nothing happened. Their houses were probably not there anymore.
So where are the Japanese survivors going to stay? Next, what's going to happen now that they've only got their clothes on their backs? They lost all their documents and any belongings that might have sentimental value to them (like their diaries, thank goodness I blog instead), and together with the massive number of people in such a situation, how long will it be before they can find a place to live, get back their documents, get free food aid, withdraw money from ATMs and get a job again?
These things never seem to appear on the news. Reporters are more keen to discuss the bad things then the recoveries unless the news help restore public confidence, which would help certain people at the top.
First, what about clothes? The survivors of the tsunamis were probably all wet. Who has been providing free clothes for them? What about the rather large ones? What if some of the survivors were sumo wrestlers? I'm not joking; we're talking about Japan here. Would those charities have clothes that fit them, even tightly if at all?
Next, where are they sleeping? And are they sleeping on made-shift bunks, mats or the ground? Who's providing those? Was it that easy to find dry ground after a tsunami?
Third, what are the banks doing to prepare for the incoming flood of lost document reports and desperate need for cash withdrawals?
Fourth, what about all the cash that was lost during the disasters? Would such a strong earthquake damage the bank vaults? Would the following tsunami and flood be able to enter them and thus damage their cash stores? Could those bills still be used after soaking in seawater for days? I mean, banks usually give out kind-of-new notes right? You can never find a bank that hands you a wrinkly note that feels as if someone crumpled it into a ball and tried to straighten it again afterwards. Or are the banks going to employ some methods unknown to me to restore them?
Fifth, certain sources said all their supplies of bottled water from the PRC are getting bought up by the Japanese. They're also buying massive amounts of Chinese rice. What else are they buying up? Fish?
Sixth, what happens to those who didn't have much savings in their bank accounts? What about those low-income workers who have lost everything and had little or no savings to fall back on? Do they get monetary aid from the government?
Seventh, wouldn't seawater eventually cause a buildup of materials (minerals?) on the plant, causing an increase in insulation and hence lowering the effectiveness of the seawater? I mean, all steam power plants use chemically treated water for that very reason, right?
Eighth, what jobs? Is it going to be a decent-paying job to be a recovery worker (or whatever they call those guys who clean up the mess after the earthquake and tsunami) after the disaster so that the blue collar workers can at least afford food when it becomes available?
Ninth, how long before they properly restore the power grid? Won't that have to take place only after everything is dry or something? What other conditions need to be fulfilled before they can begin to restore it?
So after visiting Reuters, I found an answer to one of the questions.
As for all those people who said this was karma, I'd say that this Mr Karma dude's half a century late.
After digging out the box containing all the documents for my previous desktop, I confirmed that I had bought a WD My Book Essential then too, which is the external hard drive I'm currently using. Haven't used the new My Book Essential that I'd just bought yesterday since it's not urgently needed.
But they are different. For one, the current one only has USB2.0. It also has the Mimeo Autobackup feature but only as a 30-day trial. Also according to the manual, its power LED is supposed to switch off when I click on "Safely Remove Hardware" but it never does.
EA contacted my school last week to recruit translators.
Hmm........................................................................................................................
No, really. I'm chuckling right now and considering whether I should give it a try. Nowhere does it say I need a degree or a certificate of any sort to apply. All I need to do is to pass their aptitude test.
Doesn't this job sound like a game tester but without the play-the-games-100-times monotony? Wouldn't this mean I'm going to be able to test Battlefield 3? AND GET PAID FOR IT?!???
I'm obviously proficient in English and I'm kind of fluent in Simplified Chinese. I have plenty of gaming experience outside the sports genre. I'm proficient in MS Office, Windows (I can even hack the Win95 password) but I don't know what "database applications" refers to. I'm also unsure if I can "work under pressure in a dynamic, team-oriented and deadline-driven environment". I only have excellent interpersonal and communication skills when I have sufficient sleep. I'll probably be a "team player with positive attitude and commitment to help develop great games" if I like those games I'll be working on. I have nothing against working on a contractual basis and as far as I can tell, I'm most likely residing in Singapore currently.
But what about my current commitment?
Tried Dragon Age 2. After all the anti-hype about how bad it was, I was curious about how bad it really could get, especially when Bioware has such a good reputation in the RPG genre IMO.
A few days ago I had watched someone stream the game. All I watched was the early introduction part where they were running from Lothering. As far as I could tell, it looked decent enough, but the other viewers were blasting at how bad it looked compared to the previous game.
I didn't have that fantastic an experience with Dragon Age 2. I felt it got too tedious after playing half the game.
Now that I've tried it, I don't actually mind the graphics. I'll go as far as to say it's pretty good in today's standard, about as good as ME2. The point is that as long as it doesn't hurt my eyes, as long as I can see the expression and understand what it's expressing, it's decent enough. I mean, c'mon, if that's bad then what about The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and the two recent Fallout games?
What I believe is that Bioware is trying to accommodate to the general slowness in graphics card upgrades among the gamers nowadays.
Story-wise, the game is good enough atm. I'm only in the very beginning where I just got my first quest from companion working in the cityguards. Can't comment much about it.
Voice acting is bad though. As usual, not enough emotion.
Music was nice since they made improved versions of the theme music, which brought back certain memories that I'd associated with the previous game.
The last thing I feel I should mention is that the Hard difficulty is indeed rather challenging and requires a lot more than brute force in order to survive the battles.
Oh wow what did I type that was so interesting to so many people??
172 views yesterday? Over 30 views on the last rant just today alone? And I'm getting views from China if I'm seeing the Audience map correctly?
What?
This is my norm, judging from my occasional visits to the Stats page: roughly 100 views a day, 0-10 views for the newest rants within 24 hours after they're published.
Hence my surprise.
The last rant merely described what I did at the IT Show, what I had for dinner and breakfast and that I bought some ground coffee on Saturday. It's kinda like Lord of The Rings, which was just an unnecessarily long account of some dudes who trudged to a volcano and dumped a ring inside.
I guess some people visit the blog more for the language and less for the content.
Too bad for them I don't type like that all the time.
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