Roy McDonald is my new hero

HuffingtonPost link:Republican NY State Senator Roy McDonald's Awesome Defense Of Gay Marriage:

"You get to the point where you evolve in your life where everything isn't black and white, good and bad, and you try to do the right thing.

You might not like that. You might be very cynical about that. Well, fuck it, I don't care what you think. I'm trying to do the right thing.

I'm tired of Republican-Democrat politics. They can take the job and shove it. I come from a blue-collar background. I'm trying to do the right thing, and that's where I'm going with this."

stop doing things that temporarily have a large impact

Always make changes so that they can be quickly reverted!

You never know when you need to quickly undo something.

i.e. work smarter, not harder.

i'm grateful

I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to work for and with a variety of companies from around the world.

My present company is particularly international, and I've really enjoyed the chance to interact with a number of people from European and Asian countries.

While working at a Japanese system integrator, I was able to meet quite a few Korean and Chinese companies working as integrators also. That was quite fun too.

The workaholic stance is quite pervasive - the effect of Confucianism?

account of volunteering in one of the disaster areas

Volunteering at Soma City, Fukushima by Justin Boley

Volunteering for the Tohoku Earthquake

From the Tokyo Voluntary Action Center:
Volunteering for the Tohoku Earthquake

Please read this first

Please do not go to the disaster area yourself

At the moment, professional, trained workers, organizations and local residents are working at the disaster sites.
Transportation, safe locations, food, information and fuel are all scarce. At this stage, volunteers could cause further shortages and confusion by traveling to the site themselves.

As of April 19th, we have received news that volunteer centers have opened in the disaster area, but we ask that those living outside Fukushima prefecture remain cautious. Local residents are working together with trained, organized professionals. Let us avoid causing further difficulties.

The scale of the damage is enormous. We expect the support and recovery effort will need the long-term support of many volunteers. We'll post information about donating aid as soon as the structure to receive it is in place. Please give what you can.
We also ask that you maintain your investment in and support for this cause, and will post aid requests from disaster sites as we receive them.

The website has a lot of useful information about how to help. At this point it seems that donations are the best way for us to help. They also have a twitter account where they are posting volunteer info in Japanese: http://twitter.com/#!/tokyovolunteer

back in Tokyo yesterday

Everything seems pretty normal in the 23 districts, but the trains are definitely a bit emptier than normal during my morning commute.

The weather is getting warmer and the flowers are blooming. Today's a lovely sunny day.

From the Tokyo Gaijins list:

Hi everyone,

I've been asking people around and researching for the best possible and most practical way to help the Tohoku Earthquake/Tsunami Disaster victims.

Here is what I found...

Clothing donation

• They are not accepting any material donation from individuals at the moment. They are still busy taking care of necessities such as food, water, toilet, logistics etc. Our good intention could actually be a burden. Apparently, there were too many random clothing donation when Niigata earthquake happened a couple of years ago, and they had to use manpower to sort and throw them away. Some people suggests to contact Salvation Army (http://www.salvationarmy.or.jp/index_english.html) and Second Harvest (http://2hjdrbloge.blogspot.com/) but I couldn't find any information on how to donate clothing, sorry :(

Voluntary work

• A lot of people asked me to organize a trip to affected areas when things stabilize. Personally, I really don't think its a good idea but I did ask some people anyway.

Here is what one of the members of Foreign Volunteers Japan (on Facebook) commented...

- How many more times do I have to explain this: Let the professionals and, most importantly, the Japanese, assess and organize the initial disaster aftermath. There will be years of rebuilding, when many volunteers will be required. At the moment, an influx of well-intentioned foreigners, without allocation of a job, will only add to the hardship. You can do better, by working on fundraising efforts in Tokyo, rather than impulsively put yourself in harms way, where you will be more a hindrance than a help.

Again, I think the best way to help is by donating money. We have some charity events in the next two weeks. I will send the details very soon. Hope you can make it!

Regards,

Ricky

mit blog following the Fukushia Nuclear Plants

http://mitnse.com/

Information about the incident at the Fukushima Nuclear Plants in Japan hosted by http://web.mit.edu/nse/

Very educational blog posting info and analysis of the events at the Fukushima nuclear plants.

In the face of all the conflicting information, it's a nicely organized, if technical, source of information.