Massive Earthquake In Japan Triggers Tsunamis

[piqaboo]

Ya think?
Tho I think its an Aussie company that makes the mindbogglingly huge ones.

[dai bread]

Probably. They've got mind-bogglingly huge farms there. Mind you, their carrying capacity is in terms of acres per sheep, so they need big farms. We, who run sheep per acre, smile pityingly.

[Shapley]

John Deere makes pretty big ones, but I think Steiger makes the really big ones here. I don't know if Japan's farms are big enough to turn one of those around, though...

[piqaboo]

The aussies use them in the mines. Wheel diameters > 12 feet, things like that. I saw some of them working on the dam on the Yangtze River. Not far away were the guys w shoulder baskets and brooms, sweeping up small debris into the baskets, then walking it to the edge and dumping it over, repeat.

I love your comment about sheep capacity. Well said!

[Shapley]

Here's a big John Deere.


This one, The Challenger MT975B claims to be the World's largest production tractor.

[jamiebk]

Lets talk...R-E-A-L-L-Y big http://cfnewsads.thomasnet.com/images/large/817/817350.jpg

[Shapley]

I thought we were talking farm tractors. Must be the Midwesterner in me...

If you're going to talk Earth-moving equipment, you need to think a little bigger:

[Shapley]

Here's what happens if you leave your bulldozer parked too close to that big machine:

Bulldozer 1
Bulldozer 2
Bulldozer 3


Here's another view of the machine, to give it some perspective:

Krupp Bagger 288

[jamiebk]

Nothing in the world tops those rotary excavators...king of the hill for size and power. Uber-cool too!

[Haggis@wk]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b-2iByq ... r_embedded

This is the most terrifying and gut wenching video I've seen todate of the damage the tsunami caused. It's as Biblical as it can get, truly scary, those poor people.

[dai bread]

I hadn't realised it overcame their seawall so much. It makes me glad I gave them a hefty donation.

[Haggis@wk]

I hadn't realised it overcame their seawall so much. It makes me glad I gave them a hefty donation.

There's a morbid fascination watching these kinds of videos. I wondered what happen to the big boat that was on the left side of the initial video.There is nothing like a spanking from Mother Nature to expose the the vanities of man.

[Giant Communist Robot]

I see the chief of Tepco, the company that owns the Fukushima Daiichi plant, is having dizzy spells and entered the hospital. In the middle of this crisis. Boy, did they get the wrong guy to run that company.

[Giant Communist Robot]

It keeps getting worse with every piece of news coming out of Japan. I'll be thinking they will finally get this thing under control and then the problem gets bigger. With the benefit of hindsight, they should have asked the Russians immediately for advice.

[Haggis@wk]

It keeps getting worse with every piece of news coming out of Japan. I'll be thinking they will finally get this thing under control and then the problem gets bigger. With the benefit of hindsight, they should have asked the Russians immediately for advice.

Well, the Russians are certainly masters of maskirovka....oh, wait, you meant something else......

[Shapley]

They announed today that the 'Faceless 50', who have offered to sacrifice themselves in order to remain on site to do what could be done to contain the damage, will likely begin dying "within weeks". My hat is off to them.

[Haggis@wk]

They announed today that the 'Faceless 50', who have offered to sacrifice themselves in order to remain on site to do what could be done to contain the damage, will likely begin dying "within weeks". My hat is off to them.

Japan's Nuclear Rescuers: 'Inevitable Some of Them May Die Within Weeks'

[piqaboo]

They should not be faceless. That's heroism and should be recognized as such.
I guess that very western-centric of me ?

[Shapley]

They should not be faceless. That's heroism and should be recognized as such.
I guess that very western-centric of me ?

I suppose no cameraman will venture in there, or is allowed to venture in there, to show their faces. I'm sure that, at some point, their faces will be known to the world. I think, for now, the Anonymity adds another dimension to the selflessness of their sacrifice.

[Giant Communist Robot]

Russians have offered their help. The iodines' short half-life made its' danger transitory, but I see now they are finding cesium isotopes. With that stuff spreading through the dust and soil maybe covering the whole radius in concrete would be a good idea.