next »

[Peevish]

The US is the wealthiest nation on the planet and we still haven't fully recovered from Katrina. If meaningful help can be given to Japan, it should be given. That's what makes the world better.

@Paul - don't underestimate collective financing. MoveOn.Org got over half a million dollars in a matter of days to support the protests in Wisconsin. There's a lot of attention on Japan right now, and there are roughly 5.9 billion non-Japanese people in the world. Donations from a small fraction of that can be meaningful.

But yes, large philanthropic groups or actual government aid will be more impactful. But it's good to do what you can.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

i didn't mean that collectively individual donations don't matter, because they definitely do, just that your individual fraction of that as an individual human being is so tiny that it doesn't matter which of the various charities you donate to in an attempt to have the most "direct" impact on the problem, and that spending significant time deciding between them or pondering whether to donate to haiti instead is a waste of time considering the scale involved, and also feels a bit self-important (as if one person's small individual donation were so important that they had to be sure it wasn't wasted or got the most bang for the buck). as super joe mentioned, the international red cross is probably what most people are donating towards, and even if it won't all go to japan at least it goes towards something useful -- even if it's just the coffee during a meeting or something that you wind up paying for, they need that coffee to help organize how best to deliver that fresh water

[Drum]

only silvio gessel can save japan





I cancelled my monthly Red Cross donation just before the earthquake hit Christchurch, NZ because I am dirt poor.  All I can give Japan is moping.

EDIT:

"your weapons are useless against me super joe. i'm like a big boss with no weak point, and you're a player character who dies in one hit"

Hitler folds pretty easy in Bionic Commando. and Joe has a lifebar!

[Peevish]

@Paul - Ah, then yes. Yes indeed.

Also, red tape is a bitch. When the Haiti quake happened, my friend was in nursing school, and they were trying to recruit nursing students to fly to Haiti and provide aid. But to take part in the program cost $7,000 and you weren't going to get paid while you were there. I do hope aid programs in Japan aren't so punishing to the aid-workers.

[Renton]

Any one have any idea if the airports are running?

[Cthulhu32]

Narita airport is flying so people can get in/out of the country. http://www.narita-airport.jp/en/flight/today.html#all  I'm not sure about other airports though.

[Dacke]

Researching how to give money is a good thing. Once you have figured it out, you will better know how to give in the future and you can inform others. Helping with general aid (rather than giving to a specific cause) is one good rule of thumb that will probably last you a lifetime.

[Superb Joe]

your weapons are useless against me super joe. i'm like a big boss with no weak point, and you're a player character who dies in one hit

i'm serious. read 23 things they don't tell you about capitalism. i know it has an attention grabbing title but it's not arguing against capitalism and it's written by an economics lecturer at cambridge.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

i probably shouldn't buy another book right now considering how many other books i own but have yet to read but will add it to my wish list on amazon

you could save me the money/effort and summarize the argument against it but i know that's not the way of super joe

[increpare]

i probably shouldn't buy another book right now considering how many other books i own but have yet to read but will add it to my wish list on amazon

you could save me the money/effort and summarize the argument against it but i know that's not the way of super joe

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

thanks, but there are parts of that video where he doesn't actually say why he believes something, he just says it. for instance, he said "thing NN [i forgot the number] is that markets need to become less efficient, not more efficient" -- why? he doesn't say anything else about that "thing", but he just goes on to the next thing. and it's kind of a counter-intuitive statement, so if he's going to make it he should indicate why he is making it. i realize he only had half an hour though.

[raiten]

Don't donate money to Japan

[Superb Joe]

things got really fucked up

[Drum]

I kind of was joking when I brought up Silvio Gessel but I guess this is a real conversation people want to have?  Maybe worth a new thread?  I was actually gonna start one on the Design board, ask people to create a new type of currency for a game that fixes the parts of capitalism that fuck up capitalism.  Maybe I still will, I dunno.

I don't know where Chang is going with those 23 things or what his recommendations are cause I am finding the lecture hard to listen to, but is it something like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demurrage_%28currency%29 ?  It's basically like regular money but it decreases in value if you don't spend it.  Is sorta designed to create a barter economy without, uh, bartering, and capitalism without, uh, capital.  Has the convenience and liquidity of cash but it's much harder to get a big surplus.  Big problem with how money has been designed (or not designed) is that it's a very abstract thing with no natural analog introduced into a very naturalistic system, which is partly why you get really fucked up results - especially when money became paper and lost gold's problems (gold is still shit tho).  Demurrage massively increases trade, levels things off so there's more competition, amongst other things.
I guess I am rambling now, but I have been slightly obsessed with this stuff.
If anybody is interested, maybe read Gessel's book http://wikilivres.info/wiki/The_Natural_Economic_Order or just skip to part iv.

[moi]

your weapons are useless against me super joe. i'm like a big boss with no weak point, and you're a player character who dies in one hit

that's what all bosses say just before biting the dust

[phubans]

Did you guys see this??

http://gawker.com/#!5781528/street+level-footage-of-a-japanese-town-washing-away

[Μarkham]

Your link got messed up.

Did you guys see this??
Crazy footage of a Japanese town hit by the tsunami.

[Mipe]

What is with Japanese fetish of overlay text and images? 

[iffi]

I think that's the most water I've seen flowing that fast since I visited Niagara Falls.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

regarding japan being a "wealthy country" it's true that it's a developed country and the third largest economy (formerly the second largest, but china passed it a while back), but it's also true that it has enormous debt. we think the national debt of the US is a problem, but no: japan's national debt is two times its GDP. the US's national debt is the same as its GDP (1x rather than 2x). the US is also in a recession, but japan has been, since the 1992, in an even worse recession every year, with barely 1% growth

so yeah, they're printing billions of yen to help out with the disaster, but you can't just print money forever without repercussions, eventually it causes inflation, lowering the value of their currency

not that these donations will matter to the wealth of japan, i'm just pointing out that it's a misconception to believe that japan is doing economically okay