A 60 year old man has been found two days after the earthquake floating ten miles out to sea on the roof of his house.

Meanwhile, insurance companies expect a tidal wave of claims. Looks like it may be a good time to short them.

As if huge tidal waves, world record earth quakes and melting nuclear power plants aren't enough, now a volcano is erupting in Japan, sending rocks two and a half miles into the air.

So far, a total of six nuclear plants have been reported to have cooling problems, and authorities have pumped seawater into at least two of them in a last ditch effort to stop a runaway reaction. All six will likely be lost for further power production for the foreseeable future. This leads to the question of how badly the loss of this power generation capacity will affect the Japanese people and economy. It will take years to build replacements, while the entire nation will have to make do with whatever they can throw up to generate power. This seems to me the next big problem that will need to be addressed by Japanese authorities, after they figure out how to house and feed all the people who have lost everything. An incredible disaster.

Barack Obama's amazingly consistent smile from Eric Spiegelman on Vimeo.

This is a truly weird video. Obama was recently at a public function where he had his picture taken with 130 visiting dignitaries, but that is a normal job for the president. What this video demonstrates is the strange sameness to O's face in every shot. It's like he is a zombie or something.

Saturday porch pictures.

Without American leadership, how do you suspect things would go in the the big bad world outside our borders? Kinda like this.

How is that noose tightening there, Obama? Thanks for the leadership, pal.

Honestly, I cannot imagine why the Italians, with their deep dependence on the oil from Libya, haven't joined with the rebels and made sure, militarily if necessary, that the Khaddafi regime is ousted. The US could destroy the Libyan air force using drones alone, and could then begin harassment of their heavy guns. I don't think any Libyan tankman would feel very safe knowing that at any time an unseen, unmanned drone could send a missile up the snout of his machine.

This is a breathtaking lack of leadership from our government, and the rest of the world better take clear notice that the days when America would stand up for Democracy and the downtrodden are over, at least until 2012.

Wombats. Beady eyed, furry, cuddly, and with a funny nose.

And best of all, they are irresistible babe magnets!!

Finally, they have the talent of producing cubical scat. What an animal!

The girls and I went out for a little Friday evening sushi, and had a pretty good time of it eating raw fish. A trip to Borders afterwards was also rewarding. Believe it or not, these two below can actually read and write!! A nice way to start the weekend.

The Japanese tsunami comes ashore in Emeryville, on the east side of San Francisco Bay.

Japanese tsunami hits the Sendai airport.

God help Japan.

There are warnings for the California coast here.

News from Hawaii here.

A juvenile cowfish off Kona, Hawaii. Scientists explain that many aquatic species defend themselves in their juvenile stage with transparency, as we see here.

Here is a closeup of the Victoria Crater on Mars, taken from space and showing the tracks left from the travels of NASA's Opportunity rover. Epic.

Ah, I miss the fall. This is the road to Horse Meadow in the Tahoe Sierra. In my imaginary perfect life I would take three weeks off in the fall and just live in a junky trailer among the aspen, like some irascible Edward Abbey character. Cooking bacon and flapjacks for breakfast in the cold morning air. Tossing spinners in the creek for trout. Not talking to anyone for so long that I might just forget how. Yep. Hayduke lives!

Click on this panoramic photo of a rare snow fall at Joshua Tree. Nothing better than snowy cacti in the desert. Gila Monsters probably hate it.

This is an image taken of the International Space Station during a solar transit. That is sunspot 1166 in the background. A truly amazing picture, given the distance between these objects, and the scale.

This is the thinking cap. Gross but funny, the color is the worst part of it.

Somehow, this just amuses me to no end.

Found it here.