Bill Roper's Journal

I can't tell you for sure that these ground-level photos of the arriving tsunami in Thailand are genuine (because photoshopping is always a possibility), but they're very frightening.

Jeff had asked over dinner last night about the intensity of the New Madrid quakes of 1811-12. My 1968 Britannica didn't have the data, but this page does.

In this case, destruction is measured in terms of loss of human life, which certainly isn't a bad measure. The Sumatra quake is now at #9 on the list and I suspect it will move higher before long.

I had a nightmare last night.
( Cut tagged for your viewing avoidance )

When carrying a protest sign, it's important to know what it says, especially if it's written in a language not your own.

Reputedly, the signs in this picture were helpfully translated into English by a retired U.S. Army Sergeant. If true, I hope that he left the area before they found out what the signs actually said.

If not true, well, it's an amusing round of Photoshopping. Snopes says they're fake, so...

(I thought those stencils looked too good.)

I know that many of you are upset that Bush won. I'm not, nor -- I must admit -- would I have been extremely upset if Kerry had won, although I don't believe that he was the better of the two candidates.
( More hiding behind the cut tag )

So I was talking to my brother -- who works in the oil and gas industry -- today about some family matters and the discussion veered from the price of oil to the upcoming Presidential election. My brother, shooting from the hip -- once again appropriate, since he's down in Texas -- said that he thought that if Kerry were elected oil might hit $100 / barrel, because Kerry would empty the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in a futile effort to drive down prices, after which we would be over a barrel, so to speak. (I'd be surprised if oil got that high, but I'm surprised that it's this high, so what do I know?)

He also noted that they can't get a firm quote on pipe for a pipeline, because the suppliers won't give you a quote valid past now because steel prices are up by about 50% and no one wants to get stuck with expensive inventory in case steel prices retreat to a more normal level. If you want to buy it today, they'll give you a price and if you say yes, they'll buy the steel to make the pipe.

Meanwhile, on a completely non-political subject, I went down to Hot Dog Island for lunch today and found myself sitting one table away from Jerry Krause, the former general manager of the Chicago Bulls.

This article from the Times of London quotes from a leaked report that gives a great deal of information about Saddam's work to bribe France, Russia, and China via the Oil for Food program and how he skimmed off profits for his own use.

One of Kerry's criticisms of the invasion of Iraq is that the U.S.-led coalition is actually a "coalition of the bribed and coerced", because Bush was unable to get countries like France and Russia on board.

However, this New York Times article reports on a Congressional investigation that suggests that there was, in fact, a coalition of countries -- including France, Russia, and China -- bribed by Saddam Hussein through the U.N.'s Oil for Food program.

As far as the "coerced", I recall that at least one news organization -- memory tells me that it was CNN, but I can't find a citation at the moment -- would not report a number of negative stories about pre-war Iraq because they feared for the safety of their reporters in the country.

I suppose I have a point here, but I'll leave it to you to connect the dots.

It seems that Mount St. Helens is considering erupting again.

For pictures of the event when it happens, click here -- at least for as long as the webcam survives. :)