The Energon Pub

I hope everybody from here in Japan is safe and that everyone who has friends and family on the east coast has heard back from them safe and sound.

Dead Metal wrote:Seriously, I get some of the most horrible news before I even get a chance to make my morning coffee, the floods and earth quake started just moments before I got out of bed...

That's about how it was for me too. I was bleary eyed and blissfully ignorant until I sat down in front of the computer with my cup of coffee and there it was on my home page.

Thoughts and prayers go out to all those effected by this. Been watching the news on tv and trying to get in touch with folks online trying to keep tabs on friends/associates both over there and also within line of potential harm from the tsunami.

I have to say Ryan that I am very happy to see that you have this so prominent on the Frontpage. Lets folks know just how much of a global community this fandom is and lets our TF family members that are dealing with this know that we are here for them.
I know that many of them have more urgent concerns than checking in on this site but I look forward to hearing from as many of our members that are living there just to know that they are o.k.

Thoughts and prayers to the people of Japan in this time of need.

I'm sure that everyone already knows but people living in California and Oregon should still be careful. Tsunami Warnings and Tsunami Advisories are in effect up and down the coast.

Thankfully most of my friends are in the Tokyo area and are scared but unharmed. Prayers to those who had friends and family in Sendai.

This sickens me. Stuff like this is a case where people should just go and help if they can. I actually have a friend who lives in Japan, and even if I haven't contacted them lately, I don't want to have to worry about if one of my friends is alive, just what I want to discuss with them. Haven't seen the vids, but I do not like having these disasters occur anywhere other than rural areas where no one lives anyway. How many years is it gonna take for Japan to heal from this?

On a somewhat lighter note, wouldn't it be handy if Japan actually had all those giant mecha to rescue those carried out to sea by the waves?

Incredible footage. Prayers and well wishes go out to the people of Japan right now.

It really is amazing isn't it? We sit here and think we've seen "power" with the invention of nuclear bombs, yet when the Earth shrugs our power seems like it's just a drop in the ocean. How amazing and powerful nature can be! It is truly awe-inspiring. Earthquakes and volcanoes are so deadly...and we just can't predict them, which makes them more so. I certainly feel humbled whenever I see nature's sheer strength at work.

Interesting side note: if you look at a map of the 20 most powerful earthquakes of the 20th century, they are all located on the Pacific Ring of Fire. Fun fact of the day.

Isn't California supposed to get hit too?

I love Japan and this honestly depressed me when I heard the news last night. I can't even imagine how terrifying it'd be to be caught in that. It's like I can't think of anything else to say besides that I hope everything won't get much worse for them.

This is sad stuff.

Woah, the power of that tsunami is simply terrifying. And so many people still close to the coastline in those videos. I hope as many people get to safety as possible. Just terrible.

SlyTF1 wrote:Isn't California supposed to get hit too?

They're supposed to get "hit", but the effects will be extremely minimal. They're estimating only 2 to 3 foot waves to hit the U.S. West Coast. Probably strong enough to knock you over if you're at the beach, and maybe if conditions were right to yank you out to sea, but nothing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like what Japan was hit with.

The Meteorologist guy on CNN is saying that the main brunt of the Tsunami is heading southeast toward South America, though it is unknown how powerful the Tsunami will be when it hits there.

There's a wave map on BBC (and probably elsewhere). I'm no expert but it doesn't look like it will be too dangerous for the US or South America. I worry about the smaller Pacific islands though.

This is terrible news. I'll be sure to keep Japan in prayer.

This is terrible news! I'm still in a bit of disbelief over it! I've just heard from one of my good friends in Japan, much to my enormous relief, though still nervously waiting to hear from others.

All my prayers go to all those affected, and the entire country. This is a very sad day.

Seibertron wrote:

Lord Grimlock wrote:i just want my transformers to be safe hopefully they are

This comment is really inappropriate at this time. There are actual living, breathing human beings whose lives are at stake here. The status of Transformers toys, or any material object for that matter, should be at the bottom of a list of concerns we have at the moment.

Cyber Bishop wrote:Watching that wave go through the countryside, gutting and moving buildings and flooding everything was chilling for me.. Brought back memories of hurricane Katrina..

Prayers go out to everyone effected by this natural disaster.

Please keep the snide comments out of this thread.

Okay, um. *sigh*

I understand and agree that making ridiculous comments about the safety of toys and action figure warehouses in the wake of this tragedy is moronic; I also feel that Ryan and Cyber Bishops' heavy handed reaction to these comments are also off the mark. Come on fellas...this is the internet, and this is a website devoted to toys and action figures. Know your audience. Simply ignore or remove the comments you disagree with, but don't chastise people publicly. If your child behaves poorly at the grocery, do you smack them in the aisle? Your reactions here, as Moderators, definitely alters my opinion of this site, and may do so for others. Tread with determination and assertiveness, but not aggression.

My two cents. I am fully aware of the hypocrisy of this comment, but I use it with intent. Flame me if you want, but I felt it important to add this narrative.

AutobotTrainer wrote:Okay, um. *sigh*

I understand and agree that making ridiculous comments about the safety of toys and action figure warehouses in the wake of this tragedy is moronic; I also feel that Ryan and Cyber Bishops' heavy handed reaction to these comments are also off the mark. Come on fellas...this is the internet, and this is a website devoted to toys and action figures. Know your audience. Simply ignore or remove the comments you disagree with, but don't chastise people publicly. If your child behaves poorly at the grocery, do you smack them in the aisle? Your reactions here, as Moderators, definitely alters my opinion of this site, and may do so for others. Tread with determination and assertiveness, but not aggression.

My two cents. I am fully aware of the hypocrisy of this comment, but I use it with intent. Flame me if you want, but I felt it important to add this narrative.

I agree with your statement to some degree, but am left wondering where I was being heavy handed. All I did was let a member know that his or her comment was inappropriate (perhaps insensitive would've been a better word to use), especially being the first reply to the news post. I made no threat to anyone nor did I take any heavy handed approach regarding this. I'm also hoping that you are not seeing one person's actions and applying it to this entire site or to the 30+ member staff. That is unfair to all of us.

Our normal rules apply. No one will be insta-banned. All I ask is that people be courteous, respectful, and think about the appropriateness of your comments considering the magnitude of this situation.

TFBuyer wrote:

Cyber Bishop wrote:Watching that wave go through the countryside, gutting and moving buildings and flooding everything was chilling for me.. Brought back memories of hurricane Katrina..

Prayers go out to everyone effected by this natural disaster.

Please keep the snide comments out of this thread.

Seriously. If ever there was a need for some kind of "Auto-ban based on idiocy" sub-routine on this site...

Praying for safety for all affected.

This is not a case for "auto-ban based on idiocy" either. People make mistakes and some will make inappropriate comments. They'll just need to be sent a friendly reminder to be a little more courteous or sensitive pertaining to this situation.

Seibertron wrote:I agree with your statement, but am left wondering where I was being heavy handed. All I did was let a member know that his or her comment was inappropriate (perhaps insensitive would've been a better word to use), especially being the first reply to the news post. I made no threat to anyone nor did I take any heavy handed approach regarding this. I'm also hoping that you are not seeing one person's actions and applying it to this entire site or to the 30+ member staff. That is unfair to all of us.

I appreciate your response and openness. For me, personally (again, all opinion here), it was the choice of using a public forum to use an individual's actions for public warning. Giving a general "Keep it appropriate please" without using a user's quote (which is a form of calling someone to the carpet) would be more civilized and effective. Also, this action of calling someone out was followed by a thinly veiled threat, using all caps no less, which put a pall on the latter conversations (don't type what you feel, type what you think will be accepted).

I also agree that generalizing one incident to "all of us" isn't fair, but my reaction stems from an old Army quote I learned along ago: "A Leader's 'I did it only once' becomes the company's SOP."

Again, thanks for the back and forth. I'm happy to take it to Private Message from here.

Seibertron wrote:

SlyTF1 wrote:Isn't California supposed to get hit too?

They're supposed to get "hit", but the effects will be extremely minimal. They're estimating only 2 to 3 foot waves to hit the U.S. West Coast. Probably strong enough to knock you over if you're at the beach, and maybe if conditions were right to yank you out to sea, but nothing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like what Japan was hit with.

The Meteorologist guy on CNN is saying that the main brunt of the Tsunami is heading southeast toward South America, though it is unknown how powerful the Tsunami will be when it hits there.

So far there hasn't been much of a rise in sea levels along the West Coast of the US. 8Ft. seems to be the highest rise in sea level reported in California. South America is someplace we may want to keep our eyes on next, not only because of the tsunami, which shouldn't be too bad but also because of the fact that there has been seismic activity near Argentina in the last 2 hours. It's been relatively small (4.8 quake) and very deep but after what we've seen both in New Zealand and now in Japan, which are both along the Pacific Ring of Fire, everything else along that Ring is going to become a part of the ripple effect at some point. S. America has had a lot of small activity the last 2 weeks as has the US west coast.
We haven't seen the last of this and I'm just hoping and praying that the next areas hit aren't going to take as big a punch as Japan has, especially since I'm in one of the coastal spots here in Washington state. It's a very short jaunt from my house down to the Ferry Terminal on Puget Sound.

Please keep the info coming as far as anyone hearing from any of our fellow site members in Japan.

AutobotTrainer wrote:I also agree that generalizing one incident to "all of us" isn't fair, but my reaction stems from an old Army quote I learned along ago: "A Leader's 'I did it only once' becomes the company's SOP."

Again, thanks for the back and forth. I'm happy to take it to Private Message from here.[/color]

No need. We're pretty open here. I've been doing this long enough that I don't take this criticism personally.

For everyone else, please keep the rest of this topic on track.

My prayers go out to all those affected in Japan, and I pray:

O God, who hast established the earth upon firm foundations, graciously receive the prayers of Thy people: and, having utterly removed the dangers of the shaken earth, turn the terrors of Thy divine wrath into the means of the salvation of mankind; that they who are of the earth, and unto earth shall return, may rejoice to find themselves citizens of heaven by means of a holy life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord,
And let perpetual Light shine upon them.
May their souls
And the souls of all the faithful departed
Through the mercy of God
Rest in peace.
Amen.

Our Father Who art in heaven hallowed by thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven, and give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Amen

Cliff Jumper wrote:My prayers go out to all those affected in Japan, and I pray:

O God, who hast established the earth upon firm foundations, graciously receive the prayers of Thy people: and, having utterly removed the dangers of the shaken earth, turn the terrors of Thy divine wrath into the means of the salvation of mankind; that they who are of the earth, and unto earth shall return, may rejoice to find themselves citizens of heaven by means of a holy life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord,
And let perpetual Light shine upon them.
May their souls
And the souls of all the faithful departed
Through the mercy of God
Rest in peace.
Amen.

Our Father Who art in heaven hallowed by thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven, and give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Amen

Thank you for sharing your prayer(s) with us. Words such as these can be very comforting to people the world over during difficult times, regardless of their personal and spiritual beliefs.

This is really crap. Libya, NZ, and now this. I hope everyone pulls through.

Yeah, this is definitely a strange day.

Seeing the wave hit was kind of surreal. It almost seemed fake and while we wish it was, it isn't.

I'm glad to know that the HLJ crew is alright. My worry now is how many others are alright.

I was going to start my day with hunting down some new toy goodies, but after hearing about this, I'm going to hold off for a bit. Getting a damage assessment of everything and figuring out how I can help is taking more importance than a couple pieces of plastic.

Wow ... Cali's getting 8 foot destructive waves from the Tsunami, eh? That's crazy.

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-cresc ... ?track=rss

Oh dear god!

I hope those missing people are okay.

God rest those poor souls and the transformers, but mostly the people and families that were destroyed by this disaster.