It’s my experience that it’s best to inform before information comes from other sources and generates worry.  Therefore, yes, I was in Sendai at the time of this 5.0 earthquake, and it woke me up, but, as the saying goes, I was shaken, not stirred.

In case the information on the USGS site expires, here’s the skinny:

Magnitude 5.0 – NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

2008 October 29 15:48:40 UTC

 

Today I took the Shinkansen
Up north to Yamagata.
Was early on the platform, then
Stood waiting, drinking water. 

I saw another train pull in.
It was the final station, 
And all alit amid the din
Of public address nation. 

Before the passengers embark,
The train crew boards the wagon –
For five minutes a holy ark,
A fire-breathing dragon. 

But lo! two women try to board
Before the cleaning’s o’er!  
Lo! they are swiftly spit, my Lord,
Right out the other door! 

So hey! McCain! and yo! Barack! 
You’ve got no need to worry. 
Send all these train crews to Iraq:
They’ll clean up in a hurry. 

 

Time flies, and through the ages
Wise men wondered where it went.
Though wise, these many sages
Found not where – nor what it meant. 

They would, if they had flown
In unison have shown

Time flies into all those Pratt & Whitneys
While you try to find a way to sit, knees
Jammed into a seat
Oh, let me repeat

Time gets burned up in those Pratt & Whitneys
While they serve you something fat with chick peas,
Make you watch that silly film with Britney’s
Road trip ‘cross the states –
My, how that creates

A roar in my ear and a buzz in my brain –
Attempts to find sleep are now fully in vain. 
In stupor I languish, to torpor succumb –
I know it, too, will pass…

So why did philosophers not figure out
What I have discovered without any doubt:
That time flies to end up quite undignified,
Sucked up by a jet to be Pratt-Whitney-fried.
I’ve got an idea that isn’t too dumb:
Wise men fly business class.