[TheEnglishman]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20080512/tpl...ke-c3c492c.html
The headline was enough to shock me. The idea of 9000 people dying, it's just horrible. Very sad news indeed.

[Laharl]

you do know the death count will be much higher right?

sad news indeed

[Ironsight]

Hm, cyclones, volcanoes, earthquakes, sounds like the world is coming to an end :P

EDIT: wait, you mean the death toll is going to be over 9000? Truly this is the end of times.

[Caael]

* resists 9000 joke*

You think this is bad? 30000 have been killed in a Burma cyclone, and it's expected that 1.5 million will die by the end of it. It's shocking.

[Ravenblade]

Still pretty tragic though.. British Press is reporting the Burma thing to be in excess of 100 000 lives taken so far..

And they're refusing aid...x.x

[donotwant]

Laharl, on May 12 2008, 12:35 PM, said:

you do know the death count will be much higher right?

sad news indeed

To over nine thou-- link wouldn't open for me. :\

[Split Infinity]

Caael, on May 13 2008, 07:30 AM, said:

You think this is bad? 30000 have been killed in the Burma cyclone, and it's expected that 1.5 million will die by the end of it. It's shocking.

Fixed.

But honestly guys, you all know that these deaths are the direct result of global warming! Which is an indirect result of video games! :P

[Caael]

How could we have been so blind! We must consult Jack Thompson! *Dons spandex outfit while theme tune plays*

[pHantOm]

Good, thats 9000 less useless humans consuming our precious natural resources. Expect a price drop on gas everyone.

I'm jk lol. It is sad :P

[Someone Else]

pHantOm, on May 13 2008, 01:22 AM, said:

Good, thats 9000 less useless humans consuming our precious natural resources. Expect a price drop on gas everyone.

Somehow I knew you were going to say something like that when I saw you posted in this topic. XP

Could've been worse. Could've been in an underpopulated country...

[Golden Legacy]

http://news.bbc.co.u...fic/7397489.stm

Updated figures of 12,000 dead, thousands more still missing amidst the rubble... so saddening, I was tearing up when I first heard about it.

[Aquamarine]

This really does seem like the beginning of the end, with all these natural disasters... True tragedy.

Wind Dude, on May 13 2008, 05:43 PM, said:

Could've been worse. Could've been in an underpopulated country...

Doesn't that mean that less people would have been killed though?

And I noticed that a certain someone, who hates the way the Chinese government works, hasn't posted here. Could that possibly mean his hate has moved onto the Chinese people too, and that he feels no pity for these human beings? Who knows... And who cares.

[Ravenblade]

Say what you want about the Chinese government but Wen Jiabao's response to this crisis was impressive - he went straight the the stricken area to try and help. I find that to be admirable.

[Someone Else]

Aquamarine, on May 13 2008, 12:48 PM, said:

Doesn't that mean that less people would have been killed though?

Not necessarily.

[Eugine]

o.o

Personally, I cannot feel sad when a story is impersonal, but my condolences do go out to all the families who lost their loved ones.

It's a natural disaster, we humans can hardly do anything about this. Why not feel sad about the African situation? 30,000 children under 5 dies in Africa everyday due to human causes.

Anyway, yeah, I'm an emotional person, but reporting 12,000 people died in an earthquake (which is natural), who btw, I never knew cannot really affect me emotionally to the point at which I 'teard up'. o.o It becomes just another statistic.

[Laharl]

try telling that to the next hurricane that comes your way :b

[Eugine]

Yeah o.o
Then it becomes personal and emotional.

Anyway, like the BBC article did, it posted the struggle of one person, and I felt connected. If the article only reported statistics, then it would have just been another death x.x

[Ironsight]

Eugine, on May 13 2008, 03:45 PM, said:

It's a natural disaster, we humans can hardly do anything about this. Why not feel sad about the African situation? 30,000 children under 5 dies in Africa everyday due to human causes.

Maybe they should stop having sex with each other so much q:

[Eugine]

What a cheap shot against those Africans >___<

[Ironsight]

What? Thats how you get AIDS.

[Eugine]

I would go on a rant now, but I'm not in for another argument tonight (not that I wouldn't win anyway. I pwned those 360 fanboys so bad! (well, in my head xP!)

Anyway, seismologists predicts a huge Earthquake by 2025, which will affect North America, especially the Caribbean region badly o.o
Pray for me (And GL! o.o). Or, should those Califonians be more worried?

[Split Infinity]

DarkSword, on May 14 2008, 11:36 AM, said:

What? Thats how you get AIDS.

You can't learn sex ed if you can't afford to go to school. :P

[Mallick]

DarkSword, on May 13 2008, 06:36 PM, said:

What? Thats how you get AIDS.

And overpopulate; maybe the asians should stop having sex too.

[Ravenblade]

As far as I was aware, China is already limiting childbirths. And it isnt that they have sex more, its that we're too evil to sell them condoms at prices they can afford =D! They probably have sex much less than any of us! Well...save you guys =P But seriously, some really awful things being said in this topic =(

[Eugine]

The death toll is now 20,000 o.o

[TheEnglishman]

Yes but they believe it could reach 50,000.

[Mallick]

Ravenblade, on May 14 2008, 06:20 AM, said:

As far as I was aware, China is already limiting childbirths. And it isnt that they have sex more, its that we're too evil to sell them condoms at prices they can afford =D! They probably have sex much less than any of us! Well...save you guys =P But seriously, some really awful things being said in this topic =(

They're not. They're attempting to, but it doesn't work.

[Ravenblade]

Um...but it has worked - it slowed down their population growth a hell of a lot. Yeah in rural regions, controls are slacker but they need to be so that a family can have at least one son to support itself.

They're planning to discontinue the policy in about 15 years as populations growth has become more sustainable.

[Eugine]

I think they're actually doing well in limiting births. Anyone knows what the population would have been without the one child policy?

[Split Infinity]

There's problems though; one-child families mean an excess of spoilt brats, and in the case of Chinese farmers, they need a son to look after the farm when they die, so they're forced to drown their newborn daughters to get around the law.

[Eugine]

hmm, one child doesn't really mean you're destined to become spoilt.

I think the advantages far outweighs the disadvantages anyway.

[Ravenblade]

Um, female infanticide is illegal in China. And also, the government has said that they're allowed to have another child if the first is a girl. They can keep going until they have a boy. Its not an official law, but its the way it works. They're working really hard to stop those girls being drowned ._.

Although Split is kinda right about the being spoilt bit. The term they use in China is "Little Emperors" for these kids, cos their parents dote on them so much. They're really worried anything will ever happen to them etc..

[Split Infinity]

Eugine has a point though. Despite the totalitarianism of it all, it's good to see that somebody is actually taking steps to slow population growth. Earth is simply not designed to cater for so many people.

[Ravenblade]

Yeah that's true. It'll probably end up being used in all countries in the end =( Cos we simply arent paying enough attention.

[Laharl]

so........about that Earthquake....

[Ravenblade]

5 million homeless, and several tens of thousands dead =(

China will get over it though.

Apparently many Chinese bloggers think it was a government conspiracy..

[TheEnglishman]

Really? Seems strange considering their fast response.

[Ravenblade]

I think their point is that Beijing should have known in advance (how..?) and that the buildings were designed to fall down easily.

The advantage then being that they could use their 'fast response' as you put it, to win public approval regarding their competency as leaders.

[Eugine]

Atleast they didn't handle it like how Mr. Bush handled Katrina xP.
I think the response was great, and I applaud the government.

[Ravenblade]

True, the government responded well. Of course, if it hadn't then it may well have been overthrown, but eh, technicalities of an unstable regime =P

[Split Infinity]

Ravenblade, on May 18 2008, 01:03 AM, said:

I think their point is that Beijing should have known in advance (how..?) and that the buildings were designed to fall down easily.

The advantage then being that they could use their 'fast response' as you put it, to win public approval regarding their competency as leaders.

That's one of the dumbest conspiracy theories I've ever heard.

[Mallick]

Ravenblade, on May 16 2008, 02:59 AM, said:

Um...but it has worked - it slowed down their population growth a hell of a lot. Yeah in rural regions, controls are slacker but they need to be so that a family can have at least one son to support itself.

They're planning to discontinue the policy in about 15 years as populations growth has become more sustainable.

When they started with the one child rule, all the chinks spread out across the world, and now what? You go into the city, and 90% of the people you see are ****in' asian.

[Ravenblade]

XD That was probably a really good strategy for genocide of the rest of the world!