Meanwhile, Super Typhoon

Haiyan is turning out to worse than feared--and it was feared plenty bad at the start.  Around these parts we tend to minimize the suffering of people who are not us and exaggerate our own suffering and strength and heroism and bootstraps and shit, but it doesn't take much of an imagination to understand how big of a disaster Haiyan really is when we can see how much Hurricane Sandy damage remains a year later in the wealthiest country in the history of the galaxy.  Sandy in 2012 and Haiyan in 2013.  Welcome to the new normal, motherfrakkers.