After the Quake

It's half past eight now. It's been about twenty nine hours since the quake first hit.

I was on the third floor (known as the fourth floor here and in the US). I was setting up the class with the new teacher who was to be observing me. Two days prior, I had felt a mild earthquake in the same room, but I was the only one who noticed it. So when I felt a mild shaking, I asked him if he felt it. He said it did, and it grew a little in intensity.

I stood up, and began to open the doors in the school. There was a two-year-old, two three-year-olds and a five-year-old in the next room, waiting for class to begin. Their mothers were there, and were holding them normally, in a non-panicking fashion.

I looked out the large windows, and saw power lines swaying, but as I looked, the earthquake didn't subside, as it always had done, and just grew stronger.

I was holding onto the window frame, and could feel it shaking, and I started watching everything outside slowly move more and more. Then the window frame started to jerk violently in my hand. The Japanese assistant shouted out, and one child screamed. I remember watching the small building opposite, and its top floor, the same height as me, was stretching forward and back, in a large arc. It was close to striking another building. Trees, signs, antennas, power lines were all going back and forth, and the intense movement lasted a while.

The school doesn't have much around to fall, except the large clock in the hallway. It came down loudly, and that was the first thing that scared the children. I can't give exact numbers as to the length of the main shaking, but it was more than a minute. I stood over the children, putting my arms above their heads and reassuring them it was fine. All the mothers and staff spoke in calm hushed tones, and not one child cried.

Through the whole ordeal, I was planning my immediate movements if a larger shock hit us, and they always involved protecting the children first. Either picking them up and running, or just diving over them. I felt a strong protection for them, especially the ones I had known for a while.

Our school's policy is to keep teaching no matter what, so we went ahead with the planned lesson. I felt two major aftershocks during the hour-long lesson, and minor shocks throughout. The water reservoir in humidifier by the television was transparent. We could see the water level, and at almost no point in the first hour was it not moving.

Whenever a major aftershock would come, I would resume my position above the children. But nothing as intense as the first blast came along. For the class after, only one child was there, and she'd turned up before the earthquake started. She had a private lesson, and since she's such a nice girl, I just enjoyed the time. The aftershocks were smaller now, and less worrisome, but I was still nervous. I wanted to be outside, but I knew my building would be pretty much as safe as anywhere.

I kept checking my Kindle for tweets, emails and BBC news. When I learned that the epicentre was 250 miles away, my heart dropped. I knew there'd be people so much worse off. I updated Twitter and emailed Alyssa, who had told me she was trapped in Akihabara. My incessant checking was hampered only by the fact that I hadn't charged the Kindle in weeks, and after a while it could no longer support internet.

For the third class had nobody show up. I did administrative tasks until finishing time, and I ventured out into a changed city. I walked past shops that'd normally be open, but were instead covered in their own smashed merchandise. The train station had roped off all entrances, signs that showed the time of the earthquake spoke of no trains until further notice, and I knew things were really bad when Starbucks closed early. I grabbed a couple of burgers and a coffee from McDonalds, and just tried to kill time until something would better inform us.

Eventually that closed too, despite being 24-hour. I walked around, and saw an express train moving at about 2 miles an hour down the tracks. I also saw impatient people running across the train-tracks while the barriers were down. I went to a sushi bar, and killed time until it closed, trying out different things I wouldn't normally eat. An older man chatted with me a bit, about how it was his biggest earthquake and how he'd lived in Tokyo his whole life. But oddly, he mostly made jokes to me, even a couple in English.

And I was struck then at how well the people were taking this. They news of the devastation was out, and the inevitable death toll was being debated, but most people were in high spirits. As far as accidents go, while they are disheartened, they don't let it stop their lives. I was reading Haruki Murakami's Underground a few days prior, and one of the people interviewed spoke about how he could accept dying from sarin like he could accept dying in an accident: no anger, just peace and acceptance.

I walked to where I used to live, because I knew that Di and Kostya would probably be there, and I could get wifi on my phone, and sleep on the kitchen floor if I needed. We watched the news, and traded stories, and Skyped my sister until Di saw on TV and pointed out that the lines I needed to get home were running. I thanked them, and walked to the station.

I crammed into the most packed train I'd ever seen. It was the second one to come, I was too far back in the queue for the first. I managed to read a little on the way home, and when I got to Tama-Plaza, I looked around, and feared for my apartment, which isn't very new and not exactly earthquake-proof.

I saw some cracks in the road, but they could have been incidental. When I walked into the house at 1am, I saw that my shelving units were ok, my computer desk and shelves with monitors and speakers and mixers and tape delays were fine. Our rice cooker had fallen from the fridge but had been caught by its cord, my coffee pot was on the floor and the kettle was in the sink. The fridge had shifted a long way. But apart from that, the house was in decent order.

I spoke to my parents and read up on more detailed stories for hours, and finally got to bed at half past three. Aftershocks had been frequent, and at that point at night you could feel them every ten minutes. I was woken by a large one at 4am, and throughout the rest of the morning. After a while, and through sleep-hazed thoughts, they were just nuisances, and I felt like shouting at whoever was doing it to stop. They were no longer things to be feared, they were the ground just trying to wake me up.

School was at 10 as normal, and despite sleeping badly, I went in and gave the children who showed up a great lesson.

I have to give the children a lot of credit for getting me through the ordeal so smoothly. They calmness made it seem a lot less frightening. And they gave me a good reason to stay calm.

The aftershocks continue, and I felt two while typing this. They are, of course smaller, but anything would feel smaller after the first one.

I was only reunited with Alyssa nearly 28 hours after the first shock hit, but that's her story.

This is a long, rambling version of most of the important details, so that everyone can get a detailed account of what it was like for me.

Let us not forget how easy it was for us down in Tokyo, especially for me, with a running train service and nearby friends.

Internal Frustration Engine

So electric cars are the future. That's what people keep saying, and what the government keeps pushing for, and what every motorist with half a conscience believes, whether they like it or not.

I know electric cars are coming for good. Petroleum based transport is going to be reserved for underdeveloped countries for a few decades longer than everyone else, and within a century, will be for rich enthusiasts only, if at all. That's a shame, because the internal combustion engine is a wondrous piece of engineering and gives a wonderful, powerful output, which car design has revolved around for more than a hundred years.

But there are worse things that could replace the petrol car: the bus, bicycles, trains, roller-skates... all of those are less favourable than an electric car. In fact, electric cars are good. Very good. What they lack in manual transmission they make up for in maximum power from zero revs. But I'm going to miss changing gear, I'm going to miss it a lot.

But welcoming us into this overdue electronic age is something somewhat of a disappointment: the Tesla Roadster.

I was looking forward to it. On paper it looked good. Very fast, convertible, very cheap to run and based on a supremely good car (the Lotus Elise). There isn't anything not to like. Why is it a problem?

Well, when some people criticise the electric car, they criticise the range. On the Tesla Roadster, it is about 244 miles. And that is its problem: it is being designed to go for 244 miles on a single charge. A two-seater, roofless sports-car has enough batteries to take it for nearly 250 miles at a time. To me, that's a serious problem.

Battery technology has not solved the problem of efficiently storing charge. Keeping electricity available requires heavy batteries that weigh the car down enormously. And 250 miles of that charge is heavy. This causes the car to be sluggish and sloppy in corners, where the makes-lots-of-tiny-explosions-in-a-metal-block powered Exige has the vehicle whipped, because an engine simply weighs so much less.

So, in doing almost everything right with the Tesla, they made that mistake. They chose to load it with large, heavy batteries to take it long distances instead of being nimble. And how are you going to entice a true petrolhead if they have to spend a small fortune on a car too heavy to take corners well? Sure, it's quick in a straight line and can drive for hundreds of miles... but that's wrong for a Lotus: they've turned a Lotus into an American muscle car.

I love muscle cars in general, but it isn't what a small two-seater should be about. It shouldn't be about range or straight-line speed, it should be about 'Look! We have an electric car for you and it's better than the petrol version'.

Now, their reasoning for doing this is obvious: the American market. But in doing so, they're alienating a group very important to electronic adoption: the car enthusiast.

If the Tesla Roadster were lighter and had a 60 mile range, it would be the perfect track-day car. Car enthusiasts would go crazy for them, and their pursuit of the combustion engine would fade faster.

And it isn't just the Tesla Roadster either. The Tesla Model S has a 300 mile range. The Ecotricity 'Wind Power' car has a 150 mile range. Elektrikar, 200+ miles. Liberty Electric Car's e-Range Rover, 200 miles. Phoenix Motorcar's SUV, 250+ miles.

And when you think about it, for the urbanite, this range is ridiculous. On a daily basis, I drive less than 20 miles. The longest trip I go on is 53 miles each way. 250 miles at a time is completely unnecessary, and yet if I adopt one of these cars, I have to carry 250 miles worth of electric charge storage wherever I go. It's SUV syndrome: sell people stuff they don't need, even if they'll never use it.

But there's the problem. Average American consumers are scared of a short range, and car enthusiasts tend to hate unnecessary weight. But instead of compromising, the car manufacturer went, as usual, in favour of the American market.

But there is a solution.

Divide the battery into five separate cells, each removable and replaceable by the owner. Each cell powers the car for 50 miles. For everyday city use, and track-day use, the owner has one cell in his vehicle, giving him short range, but low weight and fantastic handling. The car goes from sluggish to nimble instantly. For carrying passengers and longer trips, add a few more cells. You don't need the handling, and you can use the range.

As well as greatly increased versatility and an appeal that stretches beyond the 'I only use my car for long distance driving' mentality, this will entice new buyers, as you can make having five battery packs an option. This will take the initial price down significantly, and mean that fewer batteries need to be manufactured and distributed. This decreases the abundance of corrosive chemicals and also increases efficiency further by carrying less weight in the car.

Having removable batteries also means that someone can charge a battery without the car being present. It also sets a precedent for swapping stations instead of charging stations.

Best of all, it makes cars more fun to drive. But until then, I'd rather have an £8000 Elise than an £80000 Roadster. And I can still change gears.

So... Watchmen

Usually it takes ages for a film to come out in England. Far too long. Marley & Me, a film that Alyssa and I ridiculed non-stop through December, is just being released here. Bolt, which she saw before I even arrived in Hawai'i, has just been released. With this in mind, and knowing I saw it last night, one might think that in America Watchmen was a contemporary film.

But in reality, it was released both sides of the Atlantic at roughly the same time, so while reviewing it now isn't exactly bleeding edge, I'm only behind most by a week or so.

And we got Taken, like, last year man, so there.

So I don't know if you heard: they made a film based on Watchmen. I say based on, because a direct adaptation (while desirable) would be impossible. There is just too much of the original source material. But we all knew that.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer put it best: "an enjoyably esoteric Cliff's Notes version of the book", which I couldn't agree with more. It is just about accessible if you haven't read the book, but if you're a fan, it's very much love/hate. Well, like/hate, but in my case, I loved it.

I read it in December, which I feel was the perfect time. Here's why.

I sat there, in the IMAX Cinema in Wimbledon, smiling broadly at this realisation, a visual extravaganza that brings the illustrations off the page the way I had imagined them all holiday. Nothing was overdone, and the cheesy moments weren't too distracting. It was a balanced complement to the book, and every visual brought back memories of the book (which I had just started to forget), and overwhelmed my senses with the wonderful portrayal of the only comic book characters I have actually loved because of the comic.

I marvelled at seeing the characters whom I knew and loved from the book actually doing what I wanted to see them doing: fighting crime and being emo about it, like real people. The Dark Knight was one of my favourite films of last year, but while it had moral complexity and emotional battles, the sheer depth and complexity of Watchmen overshadows it.

It didn't keep everything I liked, but despite what Nic thought, it by no means ruined it. And despite the complex story being crammed into a mere two and a half hours, even those who hadn't read it, such as my sister, loved watching it. Others couldn't follow it, which I can understand. But a hardcore fan of a book can never really love the film as much, which is true of both me and Nic and Cattrina. But the degree to which our feelings differed was quite enormous.

During the Nite-Owl-and-Rorschach-in-the-bar-investigation scene, the projector (allegedly two projectors) managed to be so bright that I had to adjust my eyes to see the shadows, where the characters were. I don't know what it was shot on, but the range was incredible. That scene felt real, and whether that came across on non-IMAX screenings, I hope that directors in the future can make me feel that absorbed with just applied contrast ratios.

All in all, I don't want to gush, but I want to be clear that the movie is definitely worth seeing. Ignore the fanboys who rage with hatred, I can say that it is not a let down at all. In fact, it's like no superhero movie ever made. It makes even the Dark Knight look shallow by comparison, which is a tremendous feat.

And I have spoken to enough people who read it and enjoyed the film to say that I'm not being blinded by my own unrealistic expectations.

Also, see Taken. It's pretty good.

One Hundred and Forty Characters

I've been a member of Twitter for a long time. More than a year (that's almost a decade in internet years). It's only in the past month that it's become a more central point in my life. I mean, unlike most crazes, the internet has a habit of keeping the influential ones around. YouTube, Facebook, LOLcats (though less pervasive these days), they've all become an internet staple, years after inception. Luckily, some have died out as quickly as they were born, but that's probably a good thing. To see a video about this, click this link. Actually, don't.

But now I'm pretty active on Twitter. I'm following a decent number of people so that I'm not bored, and enough people are following me. So if you read this and you aren't on Twitter (and following me), then stop being such a techno-prude and get with the new. Ish.

My Flickr Account expired, which was pretty sad. I tried to upgrade, but PayPal just tried to take money from my old debit card and everything failed, and I can't upgrade again until those payments expired. That's just an apology for anyone who has tried to download the Original size of my pictures and found themselves unable.

I have set up a music page, with most of the stuff I have recorded over the last few years. Here is one of my favourites, and the image from XKCD that inspired it.

I'm about to go and pick up some food for a dinner party tomorrow, and before that I'm getting the tools to switch my CD Player (in my BMW) with the one from the Mercedes. That way I can keep my MP3 CDs and the dude buying my car (later today) saves £30.

Then I'm finally off to see Watchmen. It's taken nearly a week to see it, but the wait is over. I read the comic over Christmas (like so many others) for the sole purpose of hating the film. Now I can feel indignant with Nic and Cattrina.

I'll let you know how it goes. My sister loved it.

Back with a Brand New Invention

So I spent a month redesigning my blog. It wouldn't be worthwhile if I didn't now keep it up to date.

Well, I last made a major change to my blog back in 2006, which I was in California. And then I just copied the bash.org layout. A year or so later I added a random colour interface, which I liked, but the random colour interface is back with some serious additions.

The random colour generator is now based on HSL values, rather than RGB. On top of this, it links in to my Flickr feed via PHP/XML, and fetches photos that complement the background colour. The photo page (a new addition) also displays my 15 most recent photos (with a fun portrait resizing algorithm).

Although I don't like it, I used a little javascript to hide the unnecessary sidebar elements. It was too cluttered without it. I also used javascript for the Twitter widget. And I hope to expand my links list. Email me if you want your blog there.

While I designed it primarily for webkit browsers (Chrome/Safari), it looks best with the new Firefox (3.1). That has better shadow support and all links look fantastic with it. That's because Firefox has better CSS3 support, and I've used it extensively.

As of today, my car is sold. It is with a heavy heart that I let it go, it's been the most faithful and reliable vehicle I have driven, and pretty darn quick on top of that.



It was sold on ebay for £400, which I think is a steal, but I had to sell it, because it was out of insurance and tax, and I didn't want to pay for another year of either. But I have many, many good memories of driving that car, and it won't be forgotten.

I'm back from Hawai'i. I don't really want to be, but I am. It is paradise out there, and I wouldn't have minded staying another two months, but there are ends to everything and my holiday there is now over. It is an incredibly beautiful place, and winter made it very liveable (despite the occasional shower).



Living in the land of the LOST was a major highlight in my life, even though I didn't meet any (major) characters. I did, however, get quite hurt. I detailed most of my injuries a couple of posts ago, but now I have illustrated them.

The injuries to my hands:



The injuries to my legs:



I am mostly healed now, but I haven't had to use so many plasters (band-aids) since I was under ten. I felt like such a kid.

Innocent Smoothies are fantastic, but are rather expensive. I still drink them from time to time, and when I do, I enjoy the humourous notes on the side of the bottle. On the ingredients list on one particular drink, it listed, '1 Apple, 1.5 Bananas, 1 Small Church (not really)' or something along those lines. Since then, I have had a desire to consume a small church.

Lisa had a party (which Alyssa was sadly too ill to attend), where we made things out of crackers and sweets. You can guess what I made.



When I publish this post (and republish the blog), I will fix any errors and dead links that may have been, and it should be mostly operational. I hope this design lasts long enough to be enjoyed by all. I'll be adding more as time goes on.

Despite what I said at the beginning, it's good to be back. Things are starting again.