Hah!… now they are saying the US military might have something to do with it. Or some international inter-governmental conspiracy. Or, perhaps aliens. People are starting to speculate in internet chat-rooms, and in bars, around the world, about what or who might have caused the catastrophic earthquake and subsequent damaging tsunamis.

“There’s a lot more to this. Why is the US sending a warship? Why is a senior commander who was in Iraq going there?” whispered designer Mark Tyler, drinking a pint of beer at a bar in Hong Kong’s Wan Chai district.

“This happened exactly a year after Bam,” said Tyler, referring to the earthquake in Iran which killed 30,000 on December 26 last year. “Is that a coincidence? And there was no previous seismic activity recorded in Sumatra before the quake, which is very strange,” he said, nodding sombrely.

I won’t be surprised if they start urging Mulder and Sculley to go investigate! Heh! Read the rest of the story here

Every now and then, us “BlogExlosioners are feel obligated to post something about this phenomenon. So here is my long-overdue BlogExplosion post. BlogExplosion for most of us was once a way to earn lots of traffic. Lately, I think the strive for more traffic has been replaced by the search for better blogs to read and share. If you don’t know what I am talking about (although the majority of folks coming by here do), you ought to check it out

Those of you from BlogEplosion, have you noticed that the newsletter is a tad late this month? I wonder what new stuff they have in store for us this month. I made a suggestion to them last month, one that I had made a while back. I thought, the more times they see that suggestion, the more interest I might generate from them. Then I thought, what if I let my fellow BlogExplosioners know about it, and they too send in their chorus? Perhaps we might find the feature added sooner than later! Here is what I suggested: A new feature to allow us to communicate with those who have blogmarked us.

For instance, when I go to my blogmarked list - not those I have blogmarked, but those who have blogmarked me, I see a whole bunch of people. Don’t you wish you could just group-send them all a message? Perhaps, it might be that when you blogmark someone’s blog, you have several options to allow the blog-owner to send you updates. Then when the owner of the blog posts up something interesting he or she has the option of sending out a broadcast message to those who have indicated they would like to receive updates or messages from those they have blogmarked. Or, perhaps, there is a way that you automatically get an update when that blog is updated. Maybe, there are several different options to allow communication back and forth between those who blogmarked you and those you blogmark. Further, perhaps it might even be a good idea to have a way to share blogmarks. You know? People who have blogmarked me may choose to view my blogmarks (if I allow them to do so). That way, we can create networks of networks. What do you think?

I can’t believe it! Why are some sections of media (and around blogosphere) still bothered about the question whether or not America (or Americans) is (are) stingy. The comments were never in the first place directed at America. If any fingers were pointed, they were more like imaginary fingers pointed by the press, or other overly sensitive Americans whining, “Look what they are calling me, Mom!”

And, that is the point. Has America become overly sensitive? On the one hand, we feel the obligation as a member of the global community of nations to participate in global affairs to help eradicate this world of evils (either natural, political or otherwise. Yet, in doing so, the US has not always been seen to be helping - sometimes they are seen as the enemy. So, we are caught in a dilemma.

While a lot of the problems that the US get itself into are from its decidedly political and the execution of its foreign policies, the situation we have here is a natural disaster of global dimensions. We should just give the political talk a rest, put our heads down and get focused on helping. The US government seems to be slowly getting this message and are responding admirably, including playing ball with their erstwhile thorn-in-the-side UN. But, around blogosphere and the media, we still have hypersensitive, opinionated journalists and bloggers who are still dancing to a tune long after the music has stopped.

I say we give this thing a rest, and go about our business of helping, caring and working to rebuild, reconstruct and heal. There is so much to be done, and in some parts of the affected areas, no aid has arrived almost two weeks after the devastation.

As I have said before, let me once again remind everyone that… “when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matthew 6:3). As Frederick Barton, an economist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, quoted in the Money Central article above, says, “Not to belittle what we are doing, we shouldn’t get too self-congratulatory.”

Rather than rest on our laurels and think we have now done our bit, we ought to continue to find ways to give and to support. The death toll continue to rise, even before we start factoring in deaths from diseases and the repercussions from the loss of livelihood and homes of millions. Already news about profiteers and other undesirables are coming in. Rather than whine and complain, let us support the work that is going on right now to help and repair. Let us pray, and when we have done so, let us give, and give more! Perhaps we can learn from the example of this man who shut down his company’s operations for two weeks in order to go with his wife and team to a remote area in India to help the orphans. In the meantime, he converted his company’s office to be the mission control central to coordinate donations and aid to this remote part of India that is currently missed by the world media and aid agencies because it is so remote. Why can you do to help? If you need suggestions, here are some, and I am sure you can think of some more.