Wass happenin ya’ll? Its been an easy few days recently. My cats are in heat again so the dirty toms are serenading us all from the backyard. Big Tenz had a rough day of chess yesterday hehehehe … he brought his projector to the Farm and we have been enjoying wide-screen Planet Earth sessions. The neighbor girls are really curious and want to know how much such an entertainment system costs.
I just finished the book Generation Kill, which is probably the best Iraq War book I have read so far. What amazes me every time is the nonchalant listing of casualties and destroyed military vehicles and aircraft. Does anyone remember hearing of 20 Black Hawks going down outside of Nasiriyah during the first week of the war? Or the 100-odd Marines killed and wounded in those first days?
Today, it became slightly apparent what the Chinese government has been up to with these weekly warnings of massive aftershocks coming to bury us all under cement and brick. Yesterday, SMS buzzed through the stratosphere telling everyone that the government officials of Guangyuan and Dayi counties predict a 7.5 earthquake to hit between 3 and 4pm. The other day, when a 5.8 aftershock hit the area, the government released information about the 400,000 buildings which were destroyed by that aftershock, just an hour or so after the fact. No quake hit yesterday.
The Mass Panic of last week, when the entire city of Chengdu emptied out into the fields around Third Ring Road, was followed by a series of aftershocks which reportedly destroyed 75,000+ buildings. Now we all figured that this was your typical government bullshit. Numbers spat out to create a semblance of order.
The whole scaremongering seemed to be the familiar crude tactics of a government that completely disrespects its people and considers them to be morons. Alas … how wrong can they be?
I hold out hope that these weekly fire drills are not just to keep the minds of the people off of the Mandate of Heaven and dead school children, but a sneaky and effective training session for a possible massive flood. This NYT story bolsters my optimism.
Tonight i will write a story entitled: Will Autumn Ever Come?
