Dr. Hawass on Losing Another Library

Dr. Hawass updated his blog last month to discuss the blasphemy of the Egyptian losers who burned out the National Treasure known as the Egyptian Institute.

Readers of The Omni Report KNOW how deeply Dr. Hawass affects us personally. We Love Him, We Hate Him, we didn't think we'd have to live without him because no matter how we feel, the man is polarizing and exhilarating in such a refreshingly annoying way that there just isn't words.

All of our hate went out the window the day we learned of the second worst library destruction in Egypt's history. If you are unfamiliar with the GREAT UNPARALLELED BASTION OF LEARNING known as The Library of Alexandria, then read this.

On December 17, 2011 the Egyptian Scientific Institute, founded by Napoleon in 1798, was burned to the ground. Now we know where Zahi Hawass was that day. In his own words.

We are printing this in whole but you can also read his blog directly at the link below.

"December 17, 2011: A Sad Day in My Life
This is a sad day for all of us who love Egypt. No one can believe that the Egyptian Scientific Institute has been destroyed.

On December 17, 2011, I joined the many people who watched the disaster on television. I was horrified to see the library burning in front of my eyes. This day will never be forgotten by intellectuals, and indeed all who love learning, not only in Egypt, but all over the world.

I was terribly upset to see young people in front of the building rejoicing at what they had done. When I looked at their faces, I could see that the majority were people who had nothing to do with the Revolution. I saw one boy of about 12 who was asked why he was there. He replied that he wanted el-Ganzory (the recently-appointed Prime Minister) to leave the government. I am sure that someone told this boy to say these words. Why can we not give el-Ganzory a chance to work and to bring safety and security back to the country? I saw another person say that we need the military to leave. This is not wise. The military council helped ensure the success of the revolution. They have promised to complete the elections and the new constitution before June 2012, and I think we should give them a chance to do this.

The day after the Institute burned down, my dear friend Salah Montaser, a famous columnist who has a daily feature in the Al-Ahram newspaper, called me and told me that almost 90,000 books had been lost, containing over 300 years of our shared history. As we spoke, we both had tears in our eyes.

The Egyptian Scientific Institute was founded by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798, and holds about 20,000 manuscripts and rare books. It is the oldest scientific academy in the Arab world. It is registered as an antiquities site and is therefore the responsibility of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. I could not believe that the people who burned it down were Egyptians. Samir Gharib, one of Egypt’s great writers, told me that he saw one woman whistling with joy; he could not believe it, or understand at all why she was doing this. But I am sure that they are ignorant, and do not understand what they have done.

Many great books of our history are now ashes. A first edition of the Description de l’Egypte, published by Napoleon’s scientific expedition, was burned, but fortunately there are other copies in Egypt, one at the Geographic Society, another in the house of Documents and Books, and an incomplete on at Assiut University.

I think the looters and other ignorant people who did this should listen to what the late Shiekh el-Shaarawy (a great Muslim thinker who would offer advice to the people every Friday) used to say. According to our famous cartoonist, Moustafa Anssien, he said that the true revolutionary who turns in fury to destroy capitalism should first calm down and work instead to build the glory of his country.

I hope that UNESCO and scientific institutions all over the world can cooperate to bring back the glory of this Institute. This is not only our history; it is the history of the world.

I find it very distressing that so many crooks, looters, and thieves have taken advantage of the Revolution to come out of their holes not only to rob and steal, but also to hurt all of us. I can see that many good people are silent, and many crooks have loud voices. We need our young people to protect the Revolution, to stop demonstrating in Tahrir Square and give all of us a chance to make this work. Egypt needs to become stable again so the economy can grow. We need to move forward, to build our country by finishing the elections peacefully and choosing a new president. We should all stand firm in front of the crooks who have come out of their holes not only to destroy the revolution, but also to destroy Egypt."

We really do kind of love you more than we hate you, Dr. Hawass and we are only left thinking this is surely one of the signs of the upcoming global apocalypse.

Dr Hawass.com

Original Omni Report article on the destruction of the Institute

Our Open Letter to Serena Williams

ewwwww...fuck that!

From a recent article with Serena Williams,
"I just want to be able to do other things that I’m doing and expand on that. I think that helps keep my motivation up … I don’t love tennis today, but I’m here. I can’t live without it.

It’s not that I’ve fallen out of love with it. I’ve actually never liked sports and I never understood how I became an athlete,” Williams continued.

I don’t like working out, I don’t like anything physical. If it involves sitting down or shopping, I’m excellent at it."

An Open Letter to Miss Serena Williams,

We can't stand you. Retire already, you skanky, mean-spirited, cold-hearted, fugly bitch. How dare you make fun of the sport that earned you millions. You are ungrateful and a disgustingly self-centered, shallow and stupid human being.

You have your father to thank for making you the athlete that you hate being so much. How can you even wonder how that happened? You were there weren't you? You are so fucking dim-witted and thoughtless that it's ridiculous how fucking stupid you really are.

We are so not sorry about your ankle. In fact, we are elated we won't have to watch you at the Aussie Open. Have a fun trip home and stay there!

Love,
The Omni Report

News Article

The Da Vinci Debacle

The Virgin & Child with Saint Anne
Before and After

A restoration gone wrong has apparently ruined a $150 Million dollar original Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece, leaving it a "garish mess."

To say that Curators at The Louvre are aghast and upset is the new understatement of 2011. They are pretty much outraged and people have quit and more about to be fired.

The "botched cleaning job" was undertaken by French and English restoration experts who fought severely over the method and solvents to be used. And yet, with no resolution, the painting was cleaned and cleaned and cleaned until all of it had been touched by the solvents and now the painting looks...different.

You can see for yourself above.

Daily Mail News Article

News Article

L'Institut d'Egypte Destroyed

December 17, 2011

An incalculable treasure has been lost. Egypt's L'Institut d'Egypte, The Egyptian Scientific Institute, founded by FUCKING NAPOLEON in 1798 was burned to the ground on December 17th.

Everything has been lost although Egyptian "officials" are saying that "Protesters and volunteers have been working non-stop to try and salvage the manuscripts and books."

Here are two pictures of what those books look like now. A library of 200,000 volumes incinerated by fucking barbarians.





This is a tragedy somewhat akin or on par with the Alexandria Library loss.

We are personally devastated by this. The state of Egyptian Antiquities are highly unstable right now. WHERE IS THE PHARAOH?

As soon as Zahi Hawass was booted out, all hell broke loose. This is the worst disaster we could imagine short of a terrorist taking out the Sphinx.

One Molotov cocktail is supposedly responsible for this. ONE.

Dr. Hawass wherever you are, we hope you are able to withstand this senseless tragedy. We know you must be inconsolable or raging with anger. We are so sorry.

We just learned about this today. Does anyone know if this was covered by US media AT ALL?

"On 16 December 2011, Egyptian military forces violently attacked the three-week sit-in at the Cabinet building in Cairo. The protesters were demanding that the military ruling council hand over power to civilians.

Military police and central security forces continued to brutally attack, kidnap, kill, detain and torture protesters at Tahrir and in the surrounding downtown Cairo area, as well as systematically sexually assault and beat women. L'Institut d'Egypte, or the Egyptian Scientific Institute, was set on fire on Saturday morning, 17 December 2011.

L'Institute d'Egypte was a research centre created by Napoleon Bonaparte during the 18th century French Invasion of Egypt. It was home to thousands of rare books and manuscripts, including Napoleon's historic 'Description de l'Egypte.' Protesters and volunteers have been working non-stop to try and salvage the manuscripts and books."

Fucking Heathens! Everything Zahi tried to do for the past 40 years has been virtually wiped out and now this. His once grand Pharonic dream, of a new Egypt with new museums and a new bright future, will NEVER be.

News Article

News Article

And in More British News...Fenton the Dog

Ahhh, the calm tranquility of London's Richmond Park. The deer are plenty and are grazing peacefully. The traffic on the boundary road is light and the day is just clear and perfect. What a nice day to walk the dog.

Once you watch this video you'll see why it's gone viral. And if you've ever owned a dog that tends to chase things, you can feel this guys embarrassing pain.

Care to bet on who can run faster - a herd of deer, a dog named Fenton or a man? Hint: It is SO not the man.

And since the deer were not hurt, we find it hilarious.

The Edmund Fitzgerald

On this day in 1975, one of the United States' most tragic maritime disasters occurred on Lake Superior.

The Supertanker Edmund Fitzgerald was lost at sea with all hands. 29 men died in what would be one of the most mysterious Great Lake shipwrecks of all time.

Lake Superior, known for its rough seas and terrible winter storms, claimed the Edmund Fitzgerald in 80 mile an hour winds and 25-foot high waves. The supertanker was not unlike the Titanic as far as the notion of "it's too big to be lost at sea". It sank fast, without sending out a single distress call. This wasn't 1875 but 1975 and the suddenness of the tragedy surprised everyone. The ship was equipped with state of the art everything...radar, sonar, communications. To this day not one body has been recovered.

The ship, discovered at the bottom of the lake a few days later, sits a silent tomb. Home forever for the crew of 29 that perished so suddenly and horribly that November night. The Son of the Late Great Jacques Cousteau, Jean-Michel, brought The Calypso to Lake Superior and were the first crew to use a submersible to dive to the ship, in 1980.

What made the wreck so mysterious was the circumstances of how it sank so fast without sending a distress call. Not one SOS. It was so weird that people came up with every theory under the Sun including Alien Abduction.

It has been determined in the intervening years that the hatches were insufficiently closed and that water poured through them, compromising the ship. One thing led to another and within minutes, all were gone. The Captain, Ernest M McSorley, was a veteran seaman. It probably surprised the hell out of him, too.

In 1995 the beautiful golden Bell, engraved with the ships name, was brought to the surface. It is now housed reverently at The Great Lakes Shipwreck museum.

The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum is home to an entire exhibit for the Fitz. Be forewarned - "The Wreck of Edmund Fitzgerald" is on a loop. (God Bless Gordon Lightfoot!) If you can't handle the song...wear earplugs. But go. Whitefish Point, Michigan is as beautiful and wild a place in all of North America and it's AWESOME. We don't even have words to describe accurately the majestic views of Lake Superior.

The museum is hosting it's annual Edmund Fitzgerald tribute later today that always concludes with a prayer and a ringing of the original Bell 29 times, once for each man lost.

For those of you old enough to have FINALLY gotten the Gordon Lightfoot tribute song out of you head...sorry... Here it comes again. It's a friggin classic!

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy.

With a load of iron ore - 26,000 tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early

The ship was the pride of the American side
Coming back from some mill in Wisconsin
As the big freighters go it was bigger than most
With a crew and the Captain well seasoned.

Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
And later that night when the ships bell rang
Could it be the North Wind they'd been feeling.

The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the Captain did, too,
T'was the witch of November come stealing.

The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashing
When afternoon came it was freezing rain
In the face of a hurricane West Wind

When supper time came the old cook came on deck
Saying fellows it's too rough to feed ya
At 7PM a main hatchway caved in
He said fellas it's been good to know ya.

The Captain wired in he had water coming in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
If they'd put fifteen more miles behind her.

They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the ruins of her ice water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams,
The islands and bays are for sportsmen.

And farther below Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered.

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral
The church bell chimed, 'til it rang 29 times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
Superior, they say, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early.
© 1976 Moose Music, Inc.

Wiki article on the Edmund Fitzgerald

World Heritage Sites in Grave Danger

The World's Heritage Sites are in grave structural danger.

Notably, India's Taj Mahal and China's Great Wall, two of the most iconic and well traveled tourist sites on Earth.

It was reported last month that the Taj Mahal could COLLAPSE within just FIVE years due to a rotting wooden structural beams.


"...believe the foundations have become brittle and are disintegrating.

Cracks appeared last year in parts of the tomb, and the four minarets which surround the monument are showing signs of tilting."

That's right, the 358 year old tomb is already cracking and tilting. The Taj was built near the Yamuna river, which has now run dry due to overpopulation, over building and deforestation. The foundation beams have been exposed and are now dry and brittle. Experts fear that if the foundation isn't shored up immediately the entire thing is going to collapse upon itself into a heap of rubble.

Astonishingly, NO ONE has been permitted to explore the foundations of the building for over 30 years. So for THREE DECADES, there hasn't been any maintenance at all in an age and era when maintenance would have to be a constant job at all times. It's no wonder the thing is going to perish. So sad.

This article has caused an uproar in India and inquiries are now underway to determine the exact state of the monument.

You can read more about this here: Taj Mahal News Article

Omni Report: Taj Mahal - August 2009

The Great Wall of China is falling victim to both legal and illegal mining operations which are undermining the foundation in various spots of its vast length.

Experts are warning that the Wall is crumbling away in sections. Since some of the mining is legal with permits to boot, conservationists can do nothing but sit and watch the ancient monument disintegrate before their eyes.


Green Diary reported back in 2007 that the Wall was suffering from great dust storms caused by over erosion and soil degradation from over farming - exactly the conditions that caused the American dust bowl in the 1930's - as well as over tourism.

These monuments are gargantuan and yet as delicate as flowers. Although they are protected as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, they are at the mercy of local governments, the environment itself, natives and hordes of tourists.

You can read more here: Great Wall News Article

Green Diary article

Omni Report: Great Wall - January 2010

Worldwide Admonishment From an Arctic Biologist and Photographer

Ok. This one is for all you haters out there who think "Global Warming" and "Climate Change" are just buzzwords for political farce or God-forbid, those of you who think its all just made up so Al Gore can make money.

Take it from Paul Nicklen, Artic photographer and award winner. Nicklen, a contributing photographer for the National Geographic, is passing along a message from the creatures he sees: They're in trouble.

Nicklen was four when his family moved to Inuit territory in Canada and where he has explored the region all his life and in later years as a biologist and a photographer.

Nicklen said that polar bears could face extinction within 50 to 100 years if ice continues to recede.

"We know the science. We know that ice is disappearing and after a while it just becomes a statistic. And with my photography I want people to understand that if we lose ice, we stand to lose an entire ecosystem.

"This is our one chance at life on this planet. Our planet is in trouble and we are not reacting fast enough."

We know why people...Republicans in particular...are so hostile to the idea of Climate Change. They are scared to death about it and try to hide the facts, smear the messengers and cry that it's not "Man-Made".

THE FACT IS THIS - WE ARE IN MORTAL DANGER. It's not just polar bears that will go extinct its US.

We applaud people like Paul Nicklen and thank him for at least raising the red goddamn flag about it.

Russian Ice Hockey Team Killed in Plane Crash

Lokomotiv ice hockey team.
They all perished in the plane crash

Terrible news from Russia today as we learn that most everyone on board a small plane were killed on take off.

The Yak-42 aircraft was leaving Yaroslavl, north of Moscow, and flying to Minsk in Belarus.

It crashed immediately after take-off from the city, which is on the Volga River about 150 miles from the capital.

The Emergency Situations Ministry said 45 people had been on board and only two are believed to have survived.

The Lokomotiv ice hockey team from Yaroslavl, a leading force in Russian hockey, were travelling on the plane.

They were going to Belarus for the opening game of the season in the Kontinental Hockey League against Dinamo Minsk on Thursday.

The wreckage, from Russian TV, on the Volga River

"Lokomotiv is coached by Canadian Brad McCrimmon, former Detroit Red Wings assistant, and includes several international stars in its ranks, such as goalkeeper Stefan Liv of Sweden and Czech Republic players Karel Ranuchek, Josef Vasicek and Jan Marek and Slovakia's Pavol Demitra.

Demitra, the Slovakian national team captain, played in the NHL for the St. Louis Blues and Vancouver Canucks. Other top names include Russian defensemen Ruslan Salei and Karlis Skrastins."

This is unbelievably tragic and hits close to home. Brad McCrimmon played for the NHL for 18 seasons. He spent years as a Philadelphia Flyers (1982-1987) playing with Big Tim Kerr, Brian Prop and the Sutter Brothers. He was a GREAT defenseman. After retiring as a player he became a coach on several teams.

He will be missed.



MSNBC News Article

Daily Mail News Article

Hurricane Irene Damage

Right now as of 4pm EST, Tuesday 8/30/11:

* 2.8 million people STILL without power - 500,000 each in CT and NY alone
* Governors begging outside utility crews for help
* 38 deaths..so far. People still missing in VT.
* Food being airlifted into Vermont - DOZENS of TOWNS cut off from outside world
* Vermont, Connecticut and New York state left devastated
* Hundreds of roads are impassable
* At least three towns in New York remained cut off by flooded roads and bridges
* During the course of Irene, 7.4 million customers lost power
* Over 1,000 people in NC still in shelters
* NJ and PA residents getting power back just today

In Newfane,Vermont the storm's effects were staggering: About 150 people were unable to drive cars to their homes, 30 of them effectively stranded in theirs, seven bridges were washed out, two homes were knocked from their foundations by surging floodwaters and one 19th century grist mill smashed into kindling wood right where it stood

Oh, and Sebastian Bach lost his house. Boo hoo. Sorry Sebastian, we love you, but we don't really feel sorry for your millionaire ass right now.

We're not sure why people are complaining that Irene was over hyped. Are you kidding? Were you the ones huddled in your hallways and basements at midnight because of Tornado warnings? Tornadoes that struck 3 miles from YOUR home? Are you the ones going without power for the next two weeks with no roads leading in or out of your town? Were you the 9 year old kid killed by a falling tree?

There is no over hyping safety. Period.

Irene

WEATHER CHANNEL

Hurricane Preparedness by Ready.gov

National Hurricane Center

Red Cross Hurricane Page

Checklist

The World's Most Expensive Car Crash

What do you get when you crash a £250,000 Bentley into a Mercedes, a Porsche, a Ferrari AND an Aston Martin?

This:



"It was a line-up of the finest supercars in one of the world's wealthiest hotspots, Monte Carlo's Place du Casino.

But what started as a parade of high-priced horsepower turned into an impromptu game of demolition derby - when a hapless blonde scraped her £250,000 Bentley Azure down the side of a £75,000 Mercedes S Class.

Her 2.7 tonne beast then crashed into a £140,000 black Ferrari F430, before going head on into an £80,000 Porsche 911 and a £140,000 Aston Martin Rapide.

The driver, and her two passengers, then had the humiliation of watching hundreds of tourists circle the scene as they were unable to open the doors of the British-built convertible."

HILARIOUS! $800,000 worth of cars - smashed in under 25 seconds.
We're waiting for the video to surface...and we'll bring it to you!

What a Difference Three Months Can Make

These astonishing pictures show what an incredible effort the Japanese tsunami survivors and volunteers have made in cleaning up and rebuilding after the disaster.

Amazing!





We are super-impressed with the remarkable efforts they have made so far. Let's hope the people of Tuscaloosa and Joplin can also be inspired by this and show how quickly they are cleaning up and rebuilding as well.

Good job!

Mike Bettes Loses It on Air...Rightfully So...

Mike Bettes, of The Weather Channel, and crew arrived on scene at Joplin, Missouri last night approximately one hour after the tornado hit.

He was live on air and instead of doing a report, he and his crew immediately starting looking for survivors.

He then gave a very emotional report where he started crying after witnessing the horrific devastation.

Link to video at Weather.com

Mike searched for survivors:



Cheers to the Weather Channel. Yes, they hype up the "tornado hunt" way too much. THIS ISN'T FUN, guys! But when it counts they are there.

And they have the best news anchors and staff in the business.

America's Tsunami

What's left of Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Faye Hyde sits on a mattress in what was her yard in Conord, Alabama as she comforts her two-year-old granddaughter Sierra Goldsmith

Homes and businesses are completely destroyed
along 15th St. in Tuscaloosa, Alabama

The tornado's that have destroyed parts of the American south have been dubbed by British newspapers as "The American Tsunami."

Thankfully, England's newspapers have turned from the royal wedding long enough to send prayers and acknowledgement of the cataclysmic destruction from yesterday's storms. Indeed it has pushed the imminent nuptials OFF the front pages for once and taken over the headlines. IN EVERY NEWSPAPER. (Thank God the World or at least some editor still has some sense left.)

It was the worst tornado outbreak in over 40 years. We've never in our life seen anything like it and pray to God we never see it again. Over 300 people died in one night.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the people whose lives were ruined yesterday. We cannot pretend nothing happened and watch the Stupid Royal Wedding. We know better and will be unable to sit and watch pomp and circumstance knowing so many people died and so many more are without homes, jobs, roads and power today.

God save us. If this is what's to come in 2012, we're all fucked!

PLEASE DONATE GENEROUSLY TO THE RED CROSS. PEOPLE NEED YOUR HELP.

Red Cross.org

"More than 1,600 people sought refuge in 65 Red Cross shelters Wednesday night as the storms forced them from their homes. Red Cross shelters are open in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, Arkansas, North Carolina and Texas."

PS: Okay...we lie...we're gonna watch the stupid royal wedding..just a little... ;)
But we're all still fucked.

As far as media coverage on "royal" wedding vs other major important things, we like Dan Rather's take on it. Read here HERE

The Ancient Japanese Stone Tsunami Markers

This centuries old stone monument in Aneyoshi reads:
"High dwellings are the peace and harmony of our descendants.
Remember the calamity of the great tsunamis.
Do not build any homes below this point."

Hundreds of stone markers dot the Japanese coastline warning the dangers of a tsunami. Some of these markers are by all accounts well over 600 years old.

Some are simply high water markers that note how far the water had come in during a tsunami.

Others have written words on them giving brief but elequent warnings from the past.

One such marker in the coastal town of Kesennuma reads: "Always be prepared for unexpected tsunamis. Choose life over your possessions and valuables."

Another from Natori is more blunt: "If an earthquake comes, beware of tsunamis."

12 year old Yuto Kimura of Aneyoshi, home of the marker pictured above, explained to The Canadian Press: "Everybody here knows about the markers. We studied them in school. When the tsunami came, my mom got me from school and then the whole village climbed to higher ground."

The town of Aneyoshni heeded the warning from their ancestors. Unfortunately, many other towns did not.

As of today, April 7th, 2011 more than 12,000 people have been confirmed dead. That number is expected to top 25,000. Another 100,000 people have been displaced from their destroyed homes.

Many of the ancient stones were destroyed in this tsunami after centuries of standing alone as a testament to the past. We wonder if this generation will replace them to warn succeeding generations to come.

I Shouldn't Be Alive...Japanese Dog Edition

And in the only good news to come out of Japan recently, a beautiful little brown dog was found on a rooftop floating in the Pacific Ocean this afternoon.

Rescuers tried to retrieve the dog using a helicopter but the noise frightened him and he kept hiding in the house under the eaves of the rooftop. They then sent in a Japanese Coast Guard ship, that was able to get him out safely.

He's in pretty good shape for having been out to sea for three weeks and will make a full recovery.

Rescuers searched the submerged house for people to no avail. No one was found.

The Face of Shame and Defeat

This is Akio Komiri, Managing Director of the Tokoyo Electric Power Company as he is wrangled out of a press conference where he broke down into tears finally admitting that the radiation spewing from Fukushima is strong enough to kill.

"Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency admitted that the disaster was a level 5, which is classified as a crisis causing 'several radiation deaths' by the UN International Atomic Energy."

Sad. Sad. Sad. The entire situation is Just. Sad.

You've Never Seen Anything Like This!

Think you've seen enough tsunami footage that you've seen it all?
We thought we did too. Until we saw this.

We had to watch it 3 times to fully grasp the scope of what we were seeing.

This video shot in Miyako, Japan shows the wave as it was hitting. You can see the vantage point from a rooftop where it was being taken. Clearly there are buildings around and what looks like an alley. Diagonally across you can see two people on another roof. In the span of less than 3 minutes it is all gone. Trees and power lines come down and there's not even a car to be seen.

Japan "On The Brink of CHAOS"

Ishinomaki today...

Another town is reporting ANOTHER 10,000 people missing.

"Officials from the coastal town of Ishinomaki confirmed that 10,000 of their citizens were missing. The unimaginable figure is the same given as in the town of Minamisanriku.

Ken Joseph, an associate professor at Chiba University, is in Ishinomaki with the Japan Emergency Team.

He told the Evening Standard: 'I think the death toll is going to be closer to 100,000 than 10,000.

'Why is there no food? I have been to every disaster zone in the last 20 years and I have never seen anything remotely like this. I think we’re on the brink of chaos.'

He said the Prime Minister was 'a wonderful man in many ways' but indecisive as a leader: 'In yesterday’s press conference on the nuclear reactor, he looked like he was going to cry, like a man having a nervous breakdown.

'Where is the sense of urgency? We need somebody to take charge. We’ve had an earthquake followed by fire, then a tsunami, then radiation, and now snow. It’s everything.

'There is nothing left. The world needs to step in. Where are the Americans? The Japanese are too proud to ask, but we need help and we need it now."

We've seem the Japanese PM on TV all week and yes, we agree, he looks like he is going to cry at any moment on live TV.

We wish we could do something besides donate to the Red Cross. We wish we could help. When you see the pictures of entire towns just...gone...it's like why are we at work today? We should be helping people. But there's nothing to do really. Our military needs to start getting food to them. ASAP.

Oh Superman where are you now?
When everything's gone wrong somehow...