![]() The shaking earlier in the week turned out to be the foreshocks of the largest earthquake in the nation’s recorded history. In the end, the magnitude-9.0 Tohoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami killed more than eighteen thousand people, devastated northeast Japan, triggered the meltdown at the Fukushima power plant, and cost an estimated two hundred and twenty billion dollars. Thirty minutes after Goldfinger first stepped outside, he watched the tsunami roll in, in real time, on a two-inch screen. One of them pulled out a cell phone and started streaming videos from the Japanese broadcasting station NHK, shot by helicopters that had flown out to sea soon after the shaking started. Almost immediately, though, it became extremely uncool, because Goldfinger and every other seismologist standing outside in Kashiwa knew what was coming. Now, Goldfinger realized as the shaking hit the four-minute mark, the planet was proving the Japanese Cassandra right.įor a moment, that was pretty cool: a real-time revolution in earthquake science. The presentation was met with polite applause and thereafter largely ignored. In 2005, however, at a conference in Hokudan, a Japanese geologist named Yasutaka Ikeda had argued that the nation should expect a magnitude 9.0 in the near future-with catastrophic consequences, because Japan’s famous earthquake-and-tsunami preparedness, including the height of its sea walls, was based on incorrect science. For decades, seismologists had believed that Japan could not experience an earthquake stronger than magnitude 8.4. Oh, shit, Goldfinger thought, although not in dread, at first: in amazement. ![]() ![]() His watch swept past the three-minute mark and kept going. He thought better of it, and lurched away. The base was lurching, too, back and forth a foot at a time, digging a trench in the yard. The building itself was base-isolated, a seismic-safety technology in which the body of a structure rests on movable bearings rather than directly on its foundation. The flagpole atop the building he and his colleagues had just vacated was whipping through an arc of forty degrees. The trees, still hung with the previous autumn’s dead leaves, were making a strange rattling sound. It was, Goldfinger thought, like driving through rocky terrain in a vehicle with no shocks, if both the vehicle and the terrain were also on a raft in high seas. The earth snapped and popped and rippled. Nor, from the feel of it, was there ground on the ground. There was a chill in the air, and snow flurries, but no snow on the ground. At a minute and a half, everyone in the room got up and went outside. Goldfinger, who is tall and solidly built, thought, No way am I crouching under one of those for cover. The seats in the conference room were small plastic desks with wheels. Then it ticked past the sixty-second mark, making it longer than the others that week. The earthquake was not particularly strong. The speaker at the lectern was wondering if he should carry on with his talk. The conference was wrapping up for the day. When the time for a journey to Brazil is right (which is now, for US travelers who no longer need a visa for a visit), you’ll see that an authentic culinary experience undoubtedly involve cassava.When Goldfinger looked at his watch, it was quarter to three. Nutritionally dense and easily adaptable, cassava has played a large role in diets across tropical countries. ![]() It can be sprinkled on other foods as seasoning, or it can be the star of the dish.īe it a spontaneous trip to Brazil for some beachfront cassava fries or a visit to a tropical restaurant, you will not be disappointed with the flavors you discover. Cassava is often boiled, fried, or toasted, and it’s served both savory and sweet. Removing the poison can be done by peeling the cassava, then soaking, cooking, or fermenting it to eliminate risks.Ĭassava is not especially appealing by purely physical characteristics, but the flavors that lie under its thick skin come alive through a number of versatile preparations. Proper preparation is key as cassava contains the poison cyanide to protect it against parasites and diseases. It’s carb-heavy and nutritious, and it’s the third-largest source of carbohydrates in the world for humans. Cassava has many benefits it’s highly adaptable and can grow in drought regions. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |