What Are You Thinking?

[Vergil'sBitch]

No budgie seed... can't you just feed her the regular rubbish?!
GREAT... doctor's tomorrow.
I don't wanna go... i wanna stay home and watch Takeshi's Castle... or something... i don't wanna go!!!!!

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Shut up! Just shut up and leave me alone! You're a monster...

 

[Dante's Stalker]

I would very much like to never have to go through that again.
Ever. It was scary as hell, and I nearly shut down, and then when she closed her eyes and they told me to go, I nearly nearly nearly told them no. It killed me inside. I just wanted to pick her up and cuddle her and wake her up again.

Also she was very aggressive when she did come around. Was a very unpleasant experience for all involved. Especially me. So what if I'm her mother? She STILL doesn't have an off switch!

Also, there's been a couple of quakes here in the past two weeks. I find it interesting that they're giving people 10-20 years to quake-proof their houses. I don't think we're going to be that lucky with all the major quakes happening recently. I give it two years for the 'big one' to hit us.

And it might actually sink half the island. Or cause tsunamis that will sink it. Either way, I doubt there is going to be much of Wellington left when our long-expected quake comes. I'm just being realistic here. If the quake is of the same magnitude as the one that hit off the coast of Tokyo somewheres (which it's been predicted it will be), and you see the destruction just the aftermath of it caused to the landmass x distance from where the actual quake hit....yeah, even if it's 100km deep and hits us, there's still going to be nothing left.

 

[V]

^ I do think there's hope - the government could build a load-bearing wall in the same way a dam is built to take the full force of a tsunami along the populated coastal areas. It won't look pretty, and it will cost a lot of money, but it will save lives and property long term. I hope they consider it in NZ and Japan and other places vulnerable to earthquakes and tsunamis, because there will always be the risk of another one. Always.

Quake-proofing a house - how does one do that? Does it have to be reinforced to cope with sideways vibration, or else maybe just that people should not add too many storeys onto their homes? I remember a TV program about how in Japan they build tall buildings that can twist when an earthquake happens and avoid generating a certain frequency of vibration and not shake themselves apart. But that must be some complex technology that has to be built-in from the start...

 

[Vergil'sBitch]

what the f*** is wrong with ppl.
Its just f***ing sick

 

[SpawnShooter]

I think ill have an early one tonight, it seems bedways is rightways now, good night everyone!!

Im not sure, is that creepy? sorry if it is :\....sweet dreams bwhahahaha

 

[Daring Dylan]

I got an A on my math test! YAY!!!!!

 

[Dante's Stalker]

^ I do think there's hope - the government could build a load-bearing wall in the same way a dam is built to take the full force of a tsunami along the populated coastal areas. It won't look pretty, and it will cost a lot of money, but it will save lives and property long term. I hope they consider it in NZ and Japan and other places vulnerable to earthquakes and tsunamis, because there will always be the risk of another one. Always.

Quake-proofing a house - how does one do that? Does it have to be reinforced to cope with sideways vibration, or else maybe just that people should not add too many storeys onto their homes? I remember a TV program about how in Japan they build tall buildings that can twist when an earthquake happens and avoid generating a certain frequency of vibration and not shake themselves apart. But that must be some complex technology that has to be built-in from the start...

That's a very good idea, but I doubt the government will even consider doing something proactive to minimise the damage when it does happen. The impression I got from their chats on TV is that they are still of the mind that it will be a while before anything like that happens to us. Quake-proof is just reinforcing the walls and roofs and such of houses and buildings, I think. No idea how they do it or what exactly they do, though. I think there's a total of 400 and something buildings in the city that have been labelled quake-proof, with another thousand or so that still needs to be assessed. Unfortunately the building my partner works in is one of the older buildings. I just keep thinking he should go for the stairwell when a quake hits, and run up as many as he possibly can. Else he'll get squashed if he just ducks under his table, and they have such flimsy tables really. Plus a couple of people managed to actually get OUT of collapsed buildings in Chch because they ran for the stairs.

I really don't know how they can quake-proof houses though. Most places here are built with wood. Maybe that's their quake-proofing - wood won't hit you as hard as concrete and brick. It will still make it easier for a quake to flatten the ground though, wood isn't a barrier of any kind. Oh, and then of course, the survivors will have to dodge flying planks because Welly isn't dubbed Windy Wellington for nothing. The wind can physically blow you over here when it really gets going. I had the friggin wind practically rip my pram out of my hands one day and steer it straight toward the road. It was so strong that I wasn't able to stop the pram by force alone because it was dragging me with it - so I ended up flopping down on my bum, holding the pram with both hands, and leaning back with all my weight until the wind subsided. It was hilariously frightening.

 

[Chaos Raiden]

I hate it when people are messing with me.

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

EDIT: Shouldn't talk without thinking. Sorreh.

 

[Meg]

Wow....Japan kinda puts everything in perspective. I was worried about forgetting my allergy medication and happy I got an A on my math test. But in reality? Who cares.

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

*spins in circles on computer chair*

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... *five minutes later* Bored again. ._.

 

[V]

It's not just Japan either, NZ just recently, Haiti in 2010, and before that Sichuan in 2008 and the Indian Ocean quake and tsunami in 2004 who had these disasters too... Haiti is so poor they had a cholera outbreak following the disaster that left 316,000 people dead and a million homeless (it's still going on), as the conditions for survivors couldn't be improved fast enough following the events. They happen all too often. I really think governments need to open their eyes and realise that something needs to be done to protect people from being in a constant state of recovery and shock from natural disaster. Just hoping the next one will come after you've rebuilt everything without making it stronger makes no sense. -_-

I donated to Haiti appeal and the Indian Ocean quake, but this time I don't really have the means to or I would. People should help each other. Nature is a fearsome foe when she wants to be, and we are hardly a match for it if we just leave each other to fend for ourselves.

 

[Vergil'sBitch]

Strip all the technology away, and we are mere humans beings still trying to survive everything that nature throws at us. The ironic thing is, we also create technologies that can endanger lives (nuclear power).

CT: Can it get any worse?... meh... probably

 

[Osaka]

People have always said that we'll end up destroying ourselves, not nature. People will never learn.

 

[Meg]

@Lexy- That's a really good point. I remember when I was watching the news about Japan the day it happened and at one point thinking, "Oh my gosh. Haiti is still in trouble and THIS happens." Its sickening how people only seem to care about something for a little while. Like they feel bad for a little while and then never care again. With news, people only want to here about the current disaster. NZ and Haiti are old news already. Its depressing. ;_;

 

[V]

I guess it's the problem with the way we live in general. We can't care every moment about everything and everyone else because so much crap goes down in the world at every moment that we'd never have a minute off to enjoy our own lives, but still... if the human race was more geared toward cooperating with itself and helping itself, we would all get the benefits back when something bad happened to us. I say that - many people DO help and many people are generous, and it's the ones that aren't that seem to grab our attention over the ones that really care about their fellow men.

I just think a little care and consideration costs nothing. And some people can't even be bothered to spare that.

I hardly ever feel as though my life is bad or awful... I rarely complain because I don't think I have much to complain about at all compared to these victims. My life is luxury in comparison to so many people's! And yet my family or some people I meet are always whining about something. Something pathetically trivial compared to losing all your relatives and worldly goods in a disaster. Some of them need a slap. >:0

 

[Meg]

@Lexy- I get your point and agree. I just meant people (generalizing) seem to only care about the current disaster. Like as soon as something new happens they forget about the past one completely, but if you say that's the vocal minority then that's good.

Actually, the American Red Cross has (I believe) 3 million members! So there definitely are lots of people who care.

 

[V]

Attention spans are just short, I suppose. Disasters soon lose their news value, we're so inundated with information we tend to forget it or something else comes along, or we get bored of hearing of the same thing quickly these days. It's like the other day I heard someone say "I'm sick of hearing about this Qaddafi guy" (Libyan civil war). It's only been happening a couple of weeks and people are bored of hearing about it. Maybe it's because these things don't actually affect some of us personally.

There are still lots of people who do care though. I'm not big into some charities because many of them I think are run terribly - spend so much on advertising when on principle it should be going to the cause, or there are examples of some real dodgy stuff going on in some third world based ones, but when a disaster comes along I am always happy to support the Red Cross. They get in there and they get on with it, and their only goal is to help, not turn a profit. Admirable people.

 

[Drakkar]

I have thought that if I say what, ppl will kill me for that, I AM SURE.