Thanks, VM. I should point out that I didn't create the list. It came to me in an email that had been forwarded so many times that the quotes outnumbered the content, so I did a quick "reformat to original" and pasted it in here.

It seems that the horrific task of identifying bodies may be coming to an end, with the acceptance that some bodies may just never be identified or recovered. There's no un-shocking way to tell grieving family and friends that when several 12 tonne slabs of concrete fall flush together, the bodies between the slabs are no longer bodies. Couple that with the fact that the fires in the CTV building reached crematorium heat...

At least we're nuclear free, and no tsunami. Even Christchurch folk are contributing to Japan's disaster relief.

Woo-Hoo! As of today we no longer have to boil water. Our sewerage is back. Happiness is not a warm puppy, it's not having a cold potty.

Today's biggest aftershock a piffling 4.6 magnitude. Life is good.

One assumes that your 'cold potty' reference is not to the porcelain telephone but to a nice cup of cha.

Porcelain? Luxury! The sewerage problems and the fact that Christchurch has exhausted the world's supply of chemical toilets mean a return to to the good old outdoor dunny.

EnSuite as, bro.

Makes note to avoid festival season this year.

Discussion of earthquake very late in a Philosophy group meeting -about midnight - brought to light the fact that the Japanese have been "scientificalllllly" removing whales from the South Pacific.

This has changed the density of the southern ocean and hence the pressure on the earth below it. Also removing whalles has reduced the mixing of the warmer surface layers and the cooler deep layers of the ocean. This has upset the isostatic balance of the seafloor. This has led to a stress pattern devellloping in the seafloor.

Christchurch was the first point where the stresses found a reaction site and twisted the earth.

Later the stress pattern reached the coast of Japan and look what it did there.

?poetic justice? even if not set to music.

PS the reason Indonesia did not quiveer was that as the energy passes the point noth of Fiji where the faullt line runs to the west the wave form was diminished so did not reach critical energy levels.

If only philosophers were aware of archimedes' law...

I was wondering the same thing as delacuesta.

I suspect that the hour of the meeting, possibly the level of "thinking juice" left in the bottle and there being no bells on that leg may have a bearing on the conclusions. :-)

Philosophers are very aware of Archimedes law, especially when putting the ice in.