Oliver Cromwell, attributed to Anthony Van Dyck

Thursday Morning EDT/

Thursday Evening Japan Time 

Dropping Over the Falls Update

Presented with the assistance of Oliver Cromwell 
b.25 April 1599 – d.3 September 1658
Called "Old Ironsides" he was a Puritan and a Roundhead soldier in the Civil War,
who brought down the Monarchy,
oversaw the execution of Charles I,
which he called a "cruel necessity" and,

Became Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
Within two years of his death the Monarchy was restored, 
His body was disinterred from Westminster Abbey, 
Hung on the gallows then beheaded by Charles II.
His head was publicly displayed on Westminster Hall for 25 years. 

Ollie's Wax Death Mask in the British Museum

"What is all our histories, but God showing himself, shaking and trampling on everything that he has not planted."

The death toll is now 178 and rising [now at 292 at 7PM EDT Thursday]  in the wake of the latest round of tornadoes to rip through the South this week.
155 tornadoes were reported in the United States  yesterday by the Storm Prediction Center, bringing the number to over 800 this month.
Monday in Pulaski County Arkansas the Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church was destroyed.
The Mamre Baptist Church near Peek's Hill, Alabama was destroyed and a man was found dead in the debris, one of 65 who died in the storms in the state.
The Ford Chapel United Methodist Church in Harvest, Alabama, the oldest of that denomination in the state was destroyed yesterday.

The New Bethel Baptist Church in Cherokee County, Alabama lost its roof and steeple. 

In Mississippi the Smithville Baptist Church and neighboring Smithville United Methodist Church were both destroyed.

The First Baptist Church in Cullman, Alabama was heavily damaged. 

In Autaga County Alabama the Boone's Chapel Baptist Church was heavily damaged. 

Last week's tornadoes damaged or destroyed many other churches throughout the South including the Zoar Baptist Church in Deltaville, Virginia. The destruction did not deter Easter worshipers who held outdoor services. 

Christ Church in Wetumpka Alabama was destroyed April 24 last year on Easter Day. This Easter the church broke ground for a new nave and sanctuary. 

"No one rises so high as he who knows not whither he is going. Not only strike while the iron is hot, but make it hot by striking. Do not trust the cheering, for those persons would shout as much if you or I were going to be hanged."

Slate Magazine asks the question "Did industry-government collusion contribute to Japan's nuclear disaster?" in an article title "Nuclear Incest" today which relies heavily on a report in yesterday's New York Times. "Culture of Complicity Tied to Stricken Nuclear Plant"

"A 10-year extension for the oldest of Daiichi’s reactors suggests that the regulatory system was allowed to remain lax by politicians, bureaucrats and industry executives single-mindedly focused on expanding nuclear power. Regulators approved the extension beyond the reactor’s 40-year statutory limit just weeks before the tsunami despite warnings about its safety and subsequent admissions by Tokyo Electric, often called Tepco, that it had failed to carry out proper inspections of critical equipment." -The New York Times

Meanwhile, the latest scheme to prevent radiation from seeping into the sea at Fukushima Daiichi is to build a gigantic holding tank at the site to hold all the radioactive water being created from the frantic cooling activities going on at several locations at the complex. There is no word on how long it will take to build such a huge tank or whether it will be engineered to be earthquake proof. 

TEPCO reports that one of their woman employees was exposed to high radiation at the site but she has not displayed any symptoms of radiation poisoning so far.

Meanwhile Goshi Hosono, Prime Minister Naoto Kan's special advisor on management of the nuclear crisis. said "There is no way Tokyo or Kyoto will come into harm's way." and that the crisis was receding.

"Put your trust in God; but be sure to keep your powder dry."

General Electric has its best profit outlook  in a decade despite the uncertainty in the nuclear industry which is an important part of its business. All the plants at Fukushima Daiichi are of GE design and two were built by the company. 

Afterward..

"I have seen in this revolution a circular motion of the sovereign power through two usurpers, father and son, to the late King to this his son. For ... it moved from King Charles I to the Long Parliament; from thence to the Rump; from the Rump to Oliver Cromwell; and then back again from Richard Cromwell to the Rump; then to the Long Parliament; and thence to King Charles, where long may it remain."- Thomas Hobbes

Alfred Adler

Sunday Morning EDT/
Sunday Evening Japan Time Unthinkable Disasters Update

Edmund-This is the excellent foppery of the world, that,
when we are sick in fortune,--often the surfeit
of our own behavior,--we make guilty of our
disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars: as
if we were villains by necessity; fools by
heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and
treachers, by spherical predominance; drunkards,
liars, and adulterers, by an enforced obedience of
planetary influence; and all that we are evil in,
by a divine thrusting on: an admirable evasion
of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish
disposition to the charge of a star!
-King Lear, I,ii, Wm. Shakespeare

 With the Assistance of Medical Doctor, Psychotherapist and founder of Individual Psychology,
Alfred Adler (February 7, 1870 – May 28, 1937)

Striving For Perfection Through Feelings of Inferiority 

"The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well."

Perhaps there was a tiny little smidgen of truth in Lysenkoism. Some traits can be inherited without specific changes in DNA sequencing. The study of this phenomena is called Epigenetics. This story tells of Professor Eva Jablonka who studies how such life events such as stress and cancer can cause epigenetic inheritence.

"I am a story teller. I read a lot of information and develop theories about evolution. For the last 25 years, before it became a fad, I was interested in the transmission of information not dependent on DNA variations," Dr. Jablonka says. "Epigenetic inheritance is information about us that is not explicitly encoded in our genes. Two individuals may have identical genes, but the genes present very different characteristics. They can be genetically identical but different epigenetically."

"Tears and complaints - the means which I have called water power - can be an extremely useful weapon for disturbing cooperation and reducing others to a condition of slavery."

TEPCO revealed their plan for solving the Fukushima Daiichi problem: Reduce radiation leaks in three months to cool the reactors within nine months. Meanwhile radiation spiked to 6,500 times the safe level yesterday in the seawater at Fukushima Daiichi. Obviously new radiation leaks are appearing, or attempts to plug old leaks have failed, or radiation is increasing inside the plant. No one can tell which is the problem and how does anyone create a plan when the exact problem is still unknown?

Tsunehisa Katsumata, the chairman of TEPCO apologized again, "We sincerely apologise for causing troubles. We are doing our utmost to prevent the crisis from further worsening."

"To injure another person through atonement is one of the most subtle devices of the neurotic, as when, for example, he indulges in self-accusations."

Hard information on radiation levels at the Fukushima Daiichi complex and beyond continues to be withheld by TEPCO and the Japanese government. 

Despite the catastrophe in Japan, India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh does not intend to retreat from that country's investment in a huge nuclear energy program. The Hindu quotes Singh:

“I am convinced that when all is said and done, when cool headed discussions take place about the future of energy, what are the problems with coal, what are the problems of with other hydrocarbons, in terms of their impact on climate change, there would be no reconsideration about the role of nuclear energy."

The Hindu also reported that Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh would not reconsider the clearance for the Jaitapur nuclear project. Ramesh was quoted so:

“Jaitapur stays and a ‘deeper think,' and not rethink, is required on nuclear energy and safety issues."

"War is not the continuation of politics with different means, it is the greatest mass-crime perpetrated on the community of man."

Repeating a pattern, rebels in Libya ran away again today when troops loyal to Muammar al-Gaddafi went on the offensive in Ajdabiya according to the New York Times.  The rebels were said to be wondering where NATO and the western countries were. It looks like the west almost doesn't care who wins  and will be content to watch the country destroy itself in battle.

"Defiant individuals will always persecute others, yet will always consider themselves persecuted."

Tornadoes that ripped mostly through the Bible Belt killed at least 35 people Friday and Saturday according to the Associated Press. Boone's Chapel Baptist Church was destroyed in Boone's Chapel, Alabama, in Autauga County Friday night. Another tornado collapsed the Refuge Temple Church in St. Stephen, South Carolina, injuring six worshippers. A tornado in Georgia touched down on Fort Benning's Harmony Church. In Bladen County, North Carolina the Elizabethtown Baptist Church was partially destroyed. Bethlehem Church in Monroe County, Alabama was destroyed. Amity Missionary Baptist Church in Tunnel Springs, Alabama was destroyed. On Saturday the sanctuary of Zoar Baptist Church in Deltaville, Virginia was destroyed. Last weekend a tornado shredded the town of Varina, Iowa but spared the St. Columbkille Church, although the parish hall was destroyed. God moves in mysterious ways. 

"The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions."

Nicolas Cage had some good news to ponder yesterday in his New Orleans cell after being arrested for domestic abuse battery, disturbing the peace and public drunkenness. His copy of Action Comics #1 which was stolen from him ten years ago was recovered after it turned up in the auctioned contents of  a storage locker earlier in the week. He can give it to his son Kal-El if the IRS doesn't seize it first. A copy sold at auction for $1 million last year. 

"All failures - neurotics, psychotics, criminals, drunkards, problem children, suicides, perverts, and prostitutes - are failures because they are lacking in social interest" 

Serial killers are forty times more likely to target prostitutes. Since Jack the Ripper and probably since the beginning of urban civilization this has been true. Prostitutes are available. They put themselves in the vulnerable position of being  alone with strangers. There may be a misguided impression among law enforcement that they are getting what they deserve or that they are not as high value a case as the murdered housewife or businessman. 

The Los Angeles Times turns to the opposite coast today to give us an overview of the grisly discoveries on Long Island. The Daily Mail in the UK also has a report. The Daily Beast tells the story of one young woman.

"It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them." 

Streamside, South Hiram, Maine, John Bonanno photo

Rowboats at Rest, John Bonanno photograph