Odds ‘n Sods:

Japan earthquake and tsunami death toll expected to exceed 10,000; survivors worry about dwindling supplies, food.

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Robert J. flagged this: Japan ‘overwhelmed by the scale of damage’ 1,000 bodies are found scattered across coastline; body bags, coffins in short supply. Here is a quote: “”I never imagined we would be in such a situation” Watanabe said. “I had a good life before. Now we have nothing. No gas, no electricity, no water.” He said he was surviving with his family on 60 half-liter bottles of water his wife had stored in case of emergencies like this. He walked two hours to find a convenience store that was open and waited in line to buy dried ramen noodles.”

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Loyal content contributor J.B.G. sent this: Photo Gallery: The Day After the Tsunami. J.B.G. notes: “Don’t miss the picture of the empty supermarket shelves, near the end.” JWR Adds: The Japanese invented kanban (“Just in Time”) inventory control, now used in both industry and in stocking retail stores. They are now experiencing one of its key drawbacks.

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Bob G. sent an amazing series of “before and after” pictures from Japan with a “sliding window” views–just hover your cursor over the far right, and drag the “after” view across. The tsunami devastation is incredible.

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Nature Girl sent us this: Troopers: 800 motorists rescued after North Dakota blizzard. Nature Girl’s comment: “The part about the town suddenly ‘more than doubling in size’ caught my attention.”

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When politicians start talking about “Commonsense Gun Control”, watch out! Obama’s phrase “porous background checks” is politician speak for “private gun show sales”. Read between the lines, folks: The gun grabbers’ real goal is to institute the equivalent of a “No Fly List” for all gun purchases, even those transacted between private parties that both reside in the same state. There are two huge problems with this scheme: 1.) It is attempting to regulate intrastate commerce that has never been and never should be in Federal jurisdiction, per the interstate commerce clause and 2.) If the horrendous false positives rate of the TSA’s “No Fly List” is any gauge, then this will be a disaster.