A week ago, we had a 6.5 quake in California, which killed two people. As you likely already know, that was followed by a 6.7 quake (2x absolute magnitude) in Iran that shattered the historic city of Bam. As of the CNN update that I watched with this morning's coffee, the death toll there is 25,000 and climbing.

Doc Searls opines this shows that how real terrorism comes from Mother Nature. No. Leaving aside the attempted devaluation of the word 'terrorism', that's not the operative agency.

My home stands about two miles from the Mother of All Faults, the San Andreas. I'm not sure exactly how much extra I paid for the code-required plus self-inflicted earthquake upgrades - the tiedowns, the extra shearwall, the beefier rebar, tiebacks and beams in the foundations and retaining walls, but it's easily in the tens of thousands. When the Big One comes, the place will be beat around, but it and my family will still be here.

I had the money, and an enforced code requirement to make sure I used it. The Iranians certainly weren't ignorant of their risks; the Persians are far more ancient in their land than we upstart Californians in ours. But they lived in a poor district, and where they had the money, it was apparently used for bribes to officials to look the other way from substandard constuction. Poverty and corruption, and the social and government system that breeds them. Those were the real killers.

And while I periodically bitch in this blog about the California cost of living, some part of it is the price of life. Just pay up.

Update: Hoder posts on the distrust between Iranians and their government and its impact on the relief in Bam.

Update 2: The Blogfather has a roundup on the story. The Guardian, of all places, has the same angle on the story as my post. If you'd care to contribute to the relief, you'll have to get around both the US sanctions (if you're here, that is), and the corruption of the Iranian government - which includes the local Red Crescent/Cross. Iranian bloggers are recommending Mercy Corps as a conduit.
2:47:50 PM    

Over at Winds of Change, there's a highly informative post by Trent Telenko, and ensuing discussion, re where shortfalls and bottlenecks are appearing in equipment supply to the US armed forces. Traditionally, but sadly, it's the Guard and Reserve, now in demand as occupation and garrison troops as we rebuild a strategic reserve, that are getting the short end of the stick. Post-action analysis on Iraq is showing that we won quickly due to both better equipment and training. From StrategyPage of 12/29:

Researchers at the Army War College did a study, interviewing 176 participants (including Iraqis) and concluded that the major factors were the new technologies (GPS smart bombs and satellite communications like Blue Force tracker) and the much higher skill levels of coalition troops. The Iraqis had expected smart bombs, but they were unable to cope with the sheer speed of the advance and the fighting. And when the Iraqis fought, and they often did, and quite steadfastly, the better trained American troops just blew them away. The Iraqis were in shock from all this, and after about 20 days, resistance collapsed.

There is a Silicon Valley angle to this story: The Bradley fighting vehicle in heavy use in Iraq was once produced in the FMC facilities in San Jose. But as Bush discovered on a visit earlier this year, Bradley doesn't live here any more. Production ceased in 1995, and the facility is now used for San Jose airport parking overflow. The work force of skilled machinists and others is long dispersed. And it'd be pretty hard to argue that the line should be restarted here, given the costs of doing business in California. As the Winds discussion speculates, it's more likely that instead production of the Stryker LAV will be accelerated, since the lines are already up and rolling, even though it's not a real replacement for the Bradley.
1:50:43 PM    

Congratulations to Kevin Werbach on the arrival of his second child, Esther Ann.
12:35:14 PM    

This is a shocker. Anti-spam company Mailblocks founder and CEO Phil Goldman died suddenly of as yet unknown natural causes on Christmas Day. He was only 39. I worked with Phil at Apple Computer systems software in the late 80s, when I was doing CD-ROM and multimedia stuff and he was a key member of the team on Multifinder aka 'Twitcher' aka System 6.0. He later went on to fame and fortune, founding WebTV along with fellow Apple vets Steve Perlman and Bruce Leak. I last saw him at the AlwaysOn conference a few months back, and he looked in great shape. He leaves a wife and two young children, and my thoughts and sympathies are with them.
12:28:59 PM