Obviously the answer is they were not wearing their flag pins. It is such a terrible burden to be white and an American knowing the fate of the entire universe rests upon our broad and manly shoulders as all other nations look to us for guidance and assurance which we face with furrowed brow and a stern continence never wavering always steady. After all America invented the Big Mac and the Freedom Fry, Mickey Mouse, and the perhaps even the plumbers helper and no doubt future historians will wonder why it withered away. Wither hath it gone? Hither and yonder they searched, high and low, but nary a sign of it could they find. If only, if only, …if only more Americans had worn their flag pins, standing tall, facing into a bitter wind, a firm hand on the helm, we would have not withered hither and yither.

Unbelievably stupid (not you, Jonathan). And incredibly mean spirited as well, talk about kicking people when they're down.
As a dweller in Northern California its hard to forget that but for the grace of God or the FSM go I, and we.
When the next big one hits (and Loma Prieta was not the big one), I suppose we might be able to pat our selves on the back for preparation, infrastructure and response. But don't bet on it.

If Simon Winchester of the NYT op-ed page is so fucking superior, somebody should tell him about that bridge of mine in Minnesota I'd like to sell.

Let us not forget that the USA did invent some very ingenious and highly striking things.
For instance: carpet bombing.

Stupid Chinese. How dumb do you have to have your civilization arise in the middle of one of the Earth's most tectonically-active areas? I mean, just one look at the Himalayan thrust zone and you'd know that you should just move on before you create one of the largest early empires. And there's so damn many of them!

Still, you've got to give them credit for gunpowder, cannon, and fireworks. Stick your Galileo in that and smoke it.

If a 7.9 hits the Hayward Fault (the most likely Big One in California) the result won't be quite as bad

I used to live in Newark, a couple of miles from the Hayward Fault. Most of the houses (certainly the ones built in the past 40 to 50 years) are built on concrete slab foundations that are sitting on top of alluvial silt. When those magnitude 7 or 8 shock waves go through that, my understanding is that the ground is going to essentially liquify, and it should be interesting to watch them slide all over the place, ripping up gas lines. If they don't wind up burning to the ground, the houses may well remain intact, but property lines are going to need a bit of work.

with furrowed brow and a stern continence

Well, I guess it would be hard to face the world if we were incontinent.

The Chinese invented Mah Jong.
We USers invented Monopoly.
Discuss...

The one-child policy, made necessary by population pressures and poverty, makes the deaths of children in the collapsed school buildings even more devastating for their families.

To the Times writers I guess that's just one more reason to look down their noses at the suffering.

These are such overwhelming disasters.

I grew up within a mile of the San Andreas fault. I've experienced dozens of earthquakes in my life. The '89 Loma Prieta quake (7.1 on the Richter scale) lasted approximately 15 seconds. Had it lasted, say, 30 seconds, the Bay Area would have really been creamed. Had its duration been significantly longer than that, much less three minutes, we'd still be digging through rubble. Most people don't realize that the Bay Area dodged a huge bullet that day, simply because it was all over before it really began.

If this wasn't so funny , it would be absurd. The NYT 'ragging' on the 'inferiority' of the Chinese ------ the inventors of the "PRINTING PRESS" --- duhhh.

If this wasn't so funny , it would be absurd. The NYT 'ragging' on the 'inferiority' of the Chinese ------ the inventors of the "PRINTING PRESS" --- duhhh.

As an American living in the largely Chinese city state of Singapore, I can attest to how the Chinese feel about Americans. While many admire our (dwindling)liberties, they see us as pompous, arrogant bullies who love to show off our wealth and power even when there is no need to do so. They see us as voracious consumers of the earths limited resources and a threat to the future. Since 2000, they have become afraid of our willingness to impose our will on other nations.

The difference between the opinions expressed in the article about China and the opinions these Chinese have about us is....they are right.

For instance: carpet bombing.

We stole it from the British.

Buermann,

Are you a fan of the "Once Upon A Time in China" films?

@expatbrian: voracious consumers of the earths limited resources ... Considering how much of China is starting to look like a Superfund site, and how many endangered animals are regularly killed in superstitious attempts to improve the Chinese libido, that's funny.

Oh thank you a thousand times for posting this. That article was just sickening.

aimai

Ashley,

Brian lives where I do, the city-state of Singapore, probably the last city-state left in the world, with a mere population of 4 million and no natural resources, we do have a very strong understanding of the need for conservation. The population here is majority Chinese, but we do see things quite differently from the mainland Chinese (or as we call them, PRCs).

I can’t believe Hilary Clinton. Didn’t she agree to the rules before the race started that Florida and Michigan would not count? And now she speaks as if she cares so much about our votes counting. What about people like me who didn’t vote because we were told it wouldn’t count anyway?