Havent you heard? I'm the king of NY! (news thread)

[YojimboMonkey]

Second time in as many weeks I've had something good to say about Domino's: Pizza diet may have saved life of woman when Domino's driver noticed she missed daily order

[dieblucasdie]

Hey, it's been a depressing few weeks, how about a bit of good news?


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20035398-503544.html

President Obama has instructed the Justice Department to no longer defend the Constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, the legal prohibition on federal recognition of same-sex marriages.

Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement that the  Department will stop defending the policy because it has now been challenged in the Second Circuit, "which has no established or binding standard for how laws concerning sexual orientation should be treated."

"After careful consideration, including a review of my recommendation, the President has concluded that given a number of factors, including a documented history of discrimination, classifications based on sexual orientation should be subject to a more heightened standard of scrutiny," he said. "The President has also concluded that Section 3 of DOMA, as applied to legally married same-sex couples, fails to meet that standard and is therefore unconstitutional. Given that conclusion, the President has instructed the Department not to defend the statute in such cases. I fully concur with the President's determination."

[jess]

I was just coming here to post that. Indeed a needed bit of good news.

[Antero]

Hell yeah.

[Good Intentions]

There's been another bad, bad earthquake in Christchurch a couple of hours ago, worse than the one last year. Buildings come down and buses been crushed and people are dead. There's been a state of emergency declared and aftershocks keep on happening. I've been glued to the radio but had to turn it off once the civil defence dude they were talking to started crying because he wasn't sure where his wife was. This is scary.

Every single time I click refresh on the news there's more awful. Bodies being taken out of the YHA hostel. People in the CBD putting up signs saying 'HELP' in the windows cos they can't get out. The city has run out of ambulances.

I haven't been affected, nor do I know anybody who is, but a close friend of mine is still frantically trying to get in touch with a friend of hers who was in one of the buildings that got entirely destroyed (the CTV building). Since they've started using heavy digging equipment on that site in an effort of 'recovery' and to get at the fire which is smoldering under the rubble, I am steeling myself on her behalf for his name to be among the list of the likely victims they're reading out in about 15 minutes.

I put $20 into a collection bucket and other than that there's nothing I can do except sit and reflect on my friend's anguish and how there's nothing we can do.

[Good Intentions]

The news updates keep giving clear indications of the scope of the disaster: all of these resources have been mobilised (New Zealand is a prosperous country with strong international links and a highly functioning transport infrastructure, unlike, say, Haiti) and yet there are still dozens of bodies just lying there in Cathedral Square, the central hub of the city:

1.31pm: Teams of foreign rescue workers continue to arrive in Christchurch.

The latest details on foreign assistance have just been released by Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully.

From Australia: Two urban search and rescue teams totalling 142 personnel (72 NSW and 70 Queensland) and three dogs. A disaster medical assistance team comprising 23 emergency and surgical personnel.

From Japan: Urban search and rescue team of 67 personnel with three dogs arrived 4:00am today.

From Taiwan: An urban search and rescue team of 24 personnel with two dogs arrived 12midnight 23 February.

From Singapore: The first part of an urban search and rescue team totalling 55 personnel with four dogs has arrived. In addition, 116 Singaporean Defence Force Personnel who were already in New Zealand are now helping with the security cordon around the Christchurch CBD.

From the UK: Six Fire Service search and rescue experts have arrived. This is the advance party of an urban search and rescue team totalling 55 personnel.

Arriving today:

From Singapore: The remainder of its urban search and rescue team is expected to arrive later today. In addition, Singapore's two C130 aircraft carrying the second urban search and rescue team may also be available to transport people from Christchurch to Auckland if required.

From Australia: A field hospital providing 75 beds is due to arrive this afternoon.

Arriving tomorrow:

From the US: An urban search and rescue team of 80 personnel plus 40 tonnes of equipment is due to arrive at 1:00am 25 February.

From the UK: The main party of an urban search and rescue team totalling 55 personnel is due to arrive 10:30am on 25 February.

Ad Feedback From Australia: 300 Australian police personnel will arrive 25 February to help with the security around the Christchurch CBD.

1.26pm: Between 16 and 22 bodies may be at Cathedral Square, according to a police officer who was on site.

1.24pm: Police say there could be between 60 and 120 people in the CTV building alone.

Police reiterated there was no chance of survival at CTV site, however the Japanses search and rescue team has been  assigned to the site because of the high number of Japanese students who were in the buidling.

[jebreject]

Jesus.

[Antero]

Holy fuck.

[Antero]

Why did this one hit so hard?  Are earthquakes rare in NZ?

[Good Intentions]

No, though they're unexpected in that part of the country. The faultline it occurred on was one people weren't aware of beforehand until the first earthquake back in September (this technically was an aftershock, but more devastating), because it hadn't acted up. But this was a very unfortunate combination of factors: a very shallow earthquake of quite high magnitude right by an urban centre -- its epicentre was in the city's harbour, about 10km away from the centre of town. The fact that five months ago there was a 7.3 earthquake can't have helped at all: having this on top of the residual damage of that one seems to have been too much for the buildings that have collapsed.

For the September earthquake there were no fatalities. That one was in the very early morning, whereas this one struck at lunchtime, when people were out and about.

[G.C.R]

I'm sorry to year your friend had people at CTV, Marinus. That feeling of not being able to do anything is pretty hard. I went to give blood, but they didn't need my blood (which is a good thing actually, they've had so many donors.) After that I just sort of didn't know what to do... a couple days on you just want to stop listening to the news, especially after hearing the announcer on the National radio afternoon show: "we heard a lot of grieving people on this show yesterday, and there'll be more grief coming up on today's show too..." Oh for fucks sake

[Little Sixes Little Nines]

I have friends whose flats are completely destroyed, and one friend who is still missing, two days on. fucking fuck.

[davy]

 

[YojimboMonkey]

Wow, that's terrible.    to our contingent, I'm glad you guys are OK but I'm terribly sorry to hear about your friends and friends-of-friends.

[jebreject]

Seconding that. Jesus.

[Good Intentions]

The lack of info being released by the police isn't helping. We're getting numbers, but no names.

[Good Intentions]

A journalist friend of a friend wrote this article about being in the quake and its immediate aftermath.

[Annamal]

Everyone I know in Christchurch is safe (including all 250ish colleagues which is remarkable considering that our main building down there is trashed). Everyone *they* know, almost certainly isn't.

This is pretty much the worst thing ever to happen to New Zealand (maybe with the exception of WW1 or the influenza epidemic) and so many people in Christchurch are managing to be amazing human beings in spite of it.

Serious Awwwww moments here:
http://karenhealey.livejournal.com/923757.html

[G.C.R]

Anna! What up? Come to my house and lets eat burgers sometime.

[Good Intentions]

The local internet news aggregator has posted this montage of before and after pictures of the worst affected parts of Christchurch. It seems the old masonry buildings fared the worst -- a testament to the building codes, perhaps, but a disaster to the historic heart of the city. And the two modern buildings which collapsed, the PGC and CTV buildings, are where the bulk of the casualties were.

[Annamal]

Anna! What up? Come to my house and lets eat burgers sometime.

We totally need to do this thing =)

The burgers they are awesome by the way =)

[FreddyKnuckles]

we know this guy quite well.  The articles have been calling him cocky or self promoting etc.  He may have some of those qualities but the truth is he's just a really odd dude.  Really smart and really nice.  He only has a high school education, which is pretty impressive for a guy who's accomplished what he has.  I've met a few others around town who didn't have a degree but had at least a few years of college.  this dude has no formal education after high school. 

Which makes me wonder what he'll do now.  If he'd left amicably it would be pretty likely he could get picked up by another office.  But no one wants to be known for making their boss look bad, and its going to be very tough for him to get another job.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/50412.html

[FreddyKnuckles]

Anyone see the piece about Sheila Jackson Lee in the daily caller? I never understand why you would avoid making a comment. The person writing the story is going to go even further out of their way to trash you if you give them the cold shoulder. 

Anyway,  pretty funny stuff

http://dailycaller.com/2011/03/02/congressional-bosses-from-hell-sheila-jackson-lee/

[clare]

Fark. Earthquake in Japan. Mag 8.9 and 10m Tsunami. Tsunami warning for most of the Pacific basin.

[Nick Ink]

Fark. Earthquake in Japan. Mag 8.9 and 10m Tsunami. Tsunami warning for most of the Pacific basin.

shocking video footage of this on the bbc now - this massive wave, frothing with debris and burning buildings, and people just running and driving around as it advances over whole towns. Very grim.