Heard this choir on NPR this morning

Wow.

I don't know how to say "omiyage" auf Deutsch...

But this Hachez dark chocolate Beth Biller brought from Germany is yummy. :)

It's hard to go wrong with proper dark chocolate from Europe. Green & Black's (UK) and Lindt can even be found in stores here nowadays, so we don't die of dark chocolate deprivation.

Interesting nuclear stats

Interesting stats from Amory Lovins: Of the 66 nuclear units worldwide officially listed as "under construction" at the end of 2010, 12 had been so listed for over 20 years, 45 had no official startup date, half were late, all 66 were in centrally planned power systems — 50 of those in just four (China, India, Russia, South Korea) — and zero were free-market purchases.

The College of Cardinals weighs in...

According to NHK, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety folks at Fukushima don't know the cause of some white smoke. It means there's a new Pope, sillyheads.

Hiya?

I'm pondering whether WhitePages' new "Hiya" will be better, or at least less annoying, than Plaxo. Any thoughts on it?

Aloha Irons!

 

When the great Fukushima quake struck, Iron Maiden were flying Seoul-Tokyo aboard "Ed Force One," booked to play in Japan the 12th and 13th before a Latin American tour leg starting the17th. They were diverted to Nagoya, and stayed the night before flying out. Of course, when you're a band flying from Japan to Mexico, and get a couple extra days off due to your Japan shows being cancelled, you stop in... Hawaii!

I heard about it from a guy on the staff of one of the airline lounges, who's a Maiden fan - he'd snapped it with his phone on his drive in to work.

Went over to check it out; saw a lady from Hawaiian Airlines who said that the people who clean planes were pretty excited about cleaning that one.

A Wiki-Wiki Shuttle driver let me stay on his bus around the turn-around point so I could get a good shot of it. He was a local guy, with family on the Big Island. He'd seen Iron Maiden in concert a couple times back in the day, and said he'd gladly pay $110 to see them if they'd just play Hawaii.

I think he speaks for a lot of us.

(Didn't see them, just their plane.)

Tsunami update

We left the house (1km from the ocean and only 12m up) about 3-3.5 hours before the tsunami surges started coming by, and hung out at my office, waiting for an official all-clear to go back home. We were safe, and based on the reports we saw, we were optimistic that the house was unaffected.  

Various spots around the Hawaiian islands got 2-3 meter surges; I heard reports of scattered damage. Nothing that size should bother our neighborhood, but there was a lot of uncertainty about how long they were going to keep us out of the house.

The house came through fine. Surges in Hilo were 4-5 feet - not enough to get anywhere near the house. The biggest inconvenience was waiting for Civil Defense to finally let people go home.  Kailua-Kona and Napo'opo'o on the west side of the island didn't fare so well; there was some flooding and some damage to structures and vehicles. 

The Adjustment Bureau

We saw "The Adjustment Bureau," and I feel bad that I've never really had a grand ambition, dream or destiny that I then gave up to be with someone, but I've seen people give up theirs to be with me.  How about you - ever walked away from something great for love, or been the person for whom someone else did so?