Take an aerial tour of tsunami-stricken Japan via Google Maps

I just noticed that the Google Maps‘ satellite imagery of Japan has been updated and now shows things post-tsunami. The devastation is astonishing. If you want to see just how extensive it is, you don’t need to get aboard a government aircraft to survey the damage. In Google Maps, just type in “Miyagi Prefecture Japan” and then zoom in.

Vast areas of previously inhabited areas — houses, business, and various buildings of all sizes — have literally been razed down to their foundations, leaving huge expanses of what once were bustling neighborhoods, even whole municipalities, are now . . . empty . . . except for the desultory heaps of wreckage and rubble strewn everywhere. All that trash and debris just lying around un-removed would be unthinkable for Japan, a country where cleanliness and order are highly prized and diligently fostered by Japanese. Perhaps these satellite images were added before clean-up efforts began. Or, it’s quite possible that the radioactive contamination emanating from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant makes clean up impossible in those areas.

This what’s left of the Nakahama Post Office:

How come we don’t hear anything anymore (not even in the prayers of the faithful at Mass) about praying for the people who are still suffering in Japan? Let’s not forget what happened there. It could happen here. At least in Japan there are steep hills and mountains up which people can run to escape the waves. There’s no such thing in those low-lying areas of the US, such as Florida. Imagine what would happen if a similar earthquake-generated tsunami were to come barreling into either coast of Florida. It would be curtains. Lights out. Game over.

A Very Madrid Wedding

My son Max was married to his lovely wife Anna last December. Nancy and I and the rest of us are overjoyed to welcome Anna into the family! With her and Max’s permission, I’d like to share with you some highlights of the blessed celebration. This slide show tells the tale.

A few factoids: The beautiful Catholic church where they were married is in Syracuse, NY; the groomsmen are three of my sons and my two sons-in-law; and Max, a petty officer 2nd-class in the U.S. Navy. He has a demanding job, so please keep him and Anna in your prayers, especially that God will grant them many children and many happy years together.

Now, be sure to turn your speakers on, turn up the volume, and enjoy the show!

(Pictures and slideshow by Brandon Lata, Fellici Studio: fellicistudio.com)

This stinks

What’s with all the oh-so-easily-freaked-out adults these days? It seems like hardly a week passes by without some new story hitting the news about how yet another clueless public school Barney Fife administrator, teacher, or bus driver freaks out over a minor or even completely innocuous infraction committed by a student and proceeds to suspend the hapless child from school or metes out some other ludicrously out of proportion punishment as a reprisal.

What’s going on? I thought grownups with common sense were running the show in our public schools.

For example, last week, two middle school boys in Ohio passed gas on the bus while on the way to school. A bunch of kids laughed. No big whoop, right? Wrong. The bus drive decided to make a stink about the prank and summarily suspended the boys from riding the bus to school because they were guilty of making “an obscene gesture.” He claims he had warned them before not to break wind again. They did. So, they got thrown off the bus.

Classy.

There are many other examples of such daffy adult overreactions. Consider, for example, Alexa,

. . .a 12 year old student in New York. She wrote with a green marker on her desk, “I love my friends Abby and Faith. Lex was here 2/1/10 :)” Because of a zero tolerance policy, she was cuffed and marched out of the classroom in front of her peers. She was taken to the police station across the street.

Or how about a Bonnie Eagle high school senior who, blew a kiss to his family and pointed to friends during the commencement ceremony as he walked up to receive his diploma. Punchline: The goofy principle was so outraged that, in retaliation, the graduating senior’s diploma was denied him.

There are plenty of examples of this kind of inane overreaction by school principles and suchlike adults who can’t seem to respond to situations with basic common sense. The old proverb comes to mind: “If the only tool you have is a hammer, you will treat every problem as if it were a nail.”

All of which causes me to ask in exasperation: When will these Adults In Charge put down their hammers, take a deep breath, think things through, and just grow up?

P.S. Since I predict that some might be tempted to remind me of Columbine and the need for strict rules of behavior in schools, let me duly note that, yes, I remember the Columbine tragedy and the many other heinous acts of violence committed at schools across the country.  They are not relevant to the category of juvenile misbehavior that these administrators I’m talking about have been wildly overreacting to. The way I see it, the notion that they are “simply trying to protect the kids” doesn’t apply to the kinds of zero-tolerance zero-thought overreactions I’m talking about in this blog post.

My new favorite song

I’ve always liked Paul Carrack’s vocal stylings and songwriting. Chances are, you’ve enjoyed them too for years, given that he’s enjoyed some solo commercial success as well as played with successful bands such as Ace, Mike + the Mechanics, and Roxy Music. Anyway, here’s a tasty 2007 recording of a song he wrote for the Eagles called “I Don’t Want to Hear Any More,” featuring The Eagles’ Timothy B. Schmit on bass and backing vocals, as well as (if you strain your ears you can kind of hear him), Don Henley. Though the earlier Eagles’ version is good, I must say that I much prefer Carrack’s version.

Caution! Listen to this tune at your own risk. You may find it will stick in your head for the next week. That’s what happened to me, but I’m not complaining 😉

Study: How to tell if someone is lying

According to this article on a recent UCLA psychological study, the indications of deception include:

• When questioned, deceptive people generally want to say as little as possible. Geiselman initially thought they would tell an elaborate story, but the vast majority give only the bare-bones. Studies with college students, as well as prisoners, show this. Geiselman’s investigative interviewing techniques are designed to get people to talk.

• Although deceptive people do not say much, they tend to spontaneously give a justification for what little they are saying, without being prompted.

• They tend to repeat questions before answering them, perhaps to give themselves time to concoct an answer.

• They often monitor the listener’s reaction to what they are saying. “They try to read you to see if you are buying their story,” Geiselman said.

• They often initially slow down their speech because they have to create their story and monitor your reaction, and when they have it straight “will spew it out faster,” Geiselman said. Truthful people are not bothered if they speak slowly, but deceptive people often think slowing their speech down may look suspicious. “Truthful people will not dramatically alter their speech rate within a single sentence,” he said.

• They tend to use sentence fragments more frequently than truthful people; often, they will start an answer, back up and not complete the sentence.

• They are more likely to press their lips when asked a sensitive question and are more likely to play with their hair or engage in other “grooming” behaviors. Gesturing toward one’s self with the hands tends to be a sign of deception; gesturing outwardly is not.

• Truthful people, if challenged about details, will often deny that they are lying and explain even more, while deceptive people generally will not provide more specifics.

• When asked a difficult question, truthful people will often look away because the question requires concentration, while dishonest people will look away only briefly, if at all, unless it is a question that should require intense concentration.

While we’re at it, for good measure, check out what the Catholic Encyclopedia has to say about lying and mental reservation.

 

Behold the world’s biggest tiny airport

This is cool. Check out the super-sleek, miniature “Knuffingen Airport” on display in Hamburg Germany’s Miniatur Wunderland. As this video shows, the mini airport features all the moving parts you’d see at any real airport: planes, trucks, passenger ramps, and so forth, all built to scale. Now, if only scientists could find a way to miniaturize airfare down to this level.

Lifenews.com: Steven Tyler of Aerosmith Haunted by Girlfriend’s Abortion

Long before he won accolades as an American Idol judge, Steven Tyler was a bona-fide rock star, with all that that implied. In 1975, when he was in his late 20s and the lead singer for the band Aerosmith, Tyler persuaded the parents of his 14-year-old girlfriend, Julia Holcomb, to make him her legal guardian so that they could live together in Boston.

When Miss Holcomb and Tyler conceived a child, his longtime friend Ray Tabano convinced Tyler that abortion was the only solution. In the Aerosmith “autobiography,” Walk This Way (in which recollections by all the band members, and their friends and lovers, were assembled by the author Stephen Davis), Tabano says: “So they had the abortion, and it really messed Steven up because it was a boy. He … saw the whole thing and it [messed] him up big time.”

Tyler also reflects on his abortion experience in the autobiography. “It was a big crisis. It’s a major thing when you’re growing something with a woman, but they convinced us that it would never work out and would ruin our lives. … You go to the doctor and they put the needle in her belly and they squeeze the stuff in and you watch. And it comes out dead. I was pretty devastated. In my mind, I’m going, Jesus, what have I done?”

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defines a traumatic event as follows: “1. The person experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others. 2. The person’s response involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror.”

Those who support abortion rights assure us that post-abortion complications are a myth. But Steven Tyler cuts through this fog of denial and lays it on the line: Jesus, what have I done? . . . (continue reading)

 

 

Hello?

A view to a kill? No. I’m going to pass on seeing Bin Laden’s corpse pics

I don’t plan to look at the pictures of Bin Laden’s corpse when they are released publicly. I’d be curious to know what you folks think about that subject.

Personally, I don’t want any additional gory images permanently embedded in my mind. For example, I wish that I had never seen the JFK morgue pictures. One news report I saw described the Bin Laden pictures as “very bloody and gory.”

“The Cross and the Switchblade” author, David Wilkerson, R.I.P.

The Protestant minister, perhaps most famous for his best-selling book, The Cross and the Switchblade, died in a head-on car crash on Wednesday. May he rest in peace. One news report says,

Wilkerson was driving east on U.S. 175 in Texas Wednesday afternoon, and moved into the opposite lane where a tractor trailer was driving westbound. The truck driver saw the car and tried to move out of the way, but still collided with the pastor’s car head on, according to Public Safety Trooper Eric Long. It’s unclear what caused Wilkerson to veer into the other lane. His wife Gwen was also involved in the crash and rushed to the hospital, along with the truck driver.

I read his book in the early 70s and enjoyed its dramatic depiction of how a committed Christian confronted violent gang members with the message of Christ. I didn’t hear much about Wilkerson over the years until just recently, when I read a “prophecy” he gave regarding the destruction of New York City which, thus far, as not come to pass.

Look at the little bunny rabbit who graced our family this Easter

Say hello to my 10th grandchild, the lovely Veronica Elizabeth-Marie, who was born last Wednesday to my daughter Bridget and her husband Al. She’s happy and healthy and just doing her job, 24/7, being a splendid little burrito of joy for la Familia Madrid. Nancy and I will meet her for the very first time on Friday, when Bridget and Al and their (now) three kiddos visit for the occasion of our daughter Hillary’s wedding this weekend. Can’t wait! Good times.

Jason Scheff Sings “Peg”

One of my all-time favorite bass player-vocalists, Jason Scheff, who helps front the legendary band Chicago, nails this Steely Dan song that was part of the soundtrack of my senior year in high school. Enjoy . . .

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