50 Meter Motorcycle Hurdles:

This is an interesting video showing a deer hurdling a motorcyclist, and it might add another positive argument to the yes side of the column for wearing a skid lid.

Socialism Paper:

This is one of the best reasons that I know of to ignore socialists and work towards the promotion of the free market; it seems that they can never provide enough material to clean the mountains of undesirable substances that they create.

It’s Not All Bad News:

Jade, a nine-year old German Shepherd at the time of this story, was described as possessing an affection for children by the Wildays, her owners, and attribute her finding and saving a newborn baby’s life to that love.

In 2013, Roger Wilday was walking Jade in Stechford’s Marlborough House Community Park in Birmingham England. Jade suddenly sprinted to some bushes, laid down next to a discarded carrier bag, and would not return to her owner. When Roger went to retrieve Jade, he noticed that the carrier bag had moved, and originally thought that the bag contained kittens, but was shocked to instead find a six pound newborn baby. The police arrived and immediately rushed her to the hospital, and according to pediatricians, she was lucky to be found when she was, as further exposure could have been fatal.

Catherine Wilday said of Jade, “…she’s very keen on our [five] grandchildren. Whenever she hears their names she whimpers. She just loves kids.”

The staff at Heartlands Hospital named her after her four legged rescuer, and today the little girl would be three and a half years old, while the rescuer would be twelve. I hope that the younger Jade is a happy toddler doing well, and that the elder Jade is growing old gracefully.

Moment In Time:

Afternoon, March 11, 2011

Minami-Sanrikucho, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan

Takeshi Miura is speaking through the town’s public address system. He is the assistant director of the municipal government’s risk management section; by his side is another town employee, Miki Endo whom he has just relieved from manning the microphone. “A 10-meter tsunami is expected. Please evacuate to higher ground,” was the message that came over the loudspeakers that day, shortly after a 9.0 earthquake struck off the northeastern coast of Japan. One of their colleagues said, “Takeshi-San, that’s it. Let’s get out and get to the roof.” Miura’s reply, “Let me just make one more announcement.”

Miura and Endo were never seen again.

Within forty minutes of the earthquake, massive waves, some as high as sixty feet smashed into the Tohoku region, killing approximately 18,500, damaging the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, and causing the evacuation of over 160,000 people. The death toll could have been much higher had it not been for messages broadcast over the warning system.

One of the people heeding the voice of Miura that day, and taking refuge from the expected wall of water, was his wife Hiromi, as earlier Endo’s mother, Mieko, had heard her daughters voice and evacuated the fish farm where she worked. Hiromi had a message for her husband, “Every time I eat a warm meal or sleep in a warm futon, I feel so bad that you can’t. Your voice saved so many people’s lives. You did such a great job.” Likewise, Mieko’s husband Seiki had a message for their daughter, “I want to thank my daughter [for saving so many people] and tell her I’m proud of her. But mostly I just want to see her smile again.”

Six years ago this month, Takeshi and Miki stood their posts instead of fleeing for their lives, in order to give warning to others and give them a chance to save themselves.

The WaterCooler is an open thread, so ease on up, wet your whistle, and speak your piece.