Japan

I've posted a couple of links in the past about preparing for the apocalypse, but what's happening in Japan right now is way more serious. The devastation of the tsunami combined with a potential nuclear meltdown makes for a disaster of Roland Emmerich proportions and is a pretty sobering reminder of how easily things can fall apart.

The first traces of radiation reached the west coast this morning. It's not supposed to pose a threat to us here, but the word "radiation" is one those terrifying words like "infertility" and "mutant babies."

Google created Person Finder during the Haiti earthquake to help people locate friends and family members, and they've got it up and running again for Japan. It's cool to see the power of Google used for something other than providing a free blog and email (though I'm happy for them to keep that up).

There's not really much we can do in a situatin like this except donate to a relief organization. Donating money has never been something I've really done, generally following the xkcd school of thought regarding charity. But hey, there's all sorts of great options available, and it's not like $5 is going to break the bank.

And the real disaster is this whole situation could be hurting the launch of the iPad 2 (and this was sarcasm, which I know doesn't always play well on the internet).