From Wikipedia:

Feed (2002) is a young adult dystopian novel of the cyberpunk subgenre written by M. T. Anderson. The novel focuses on issues such as corporate power, consumerism, information technology, data mining, and environmental decay, with a sometimes sardonic, sometimes somber tone. From the first-person perspective of a teenager, the novel presents a near-futuristic American culture completely dominated by advertising and corporate exploitation, corresponding to the enormous popularity of internetworking brain implants.

Every time I see Facebook memories I’m reminded of a line from Feed:
“People had been getting nostalgia for fashions that were closer and closer to their own time, until finally people became nostalgic for the moment they were actually living in, and the feedback completely froze them.”

And of course The Onion has a post related to the issue.
http://www.theonion.com/article/new-facebook-notifications-alert-users-when-they-n-37795

So far, it has been one disruptive bunny.

Floods and cyclones in Australia, floods in Brazil, the earthquake in Christchurch, revolutions in the Middle East, civil war and foreign military intervention in Libya and the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan.

Even pandas have turned vicious: a panda attacked a zookeeper at San Diego Zoo.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/03/calosha-investigating-giant-panda-attack-on-keeper-at-san-diego-zoo.html

There is some amazing  footage of a car getting hit by the tsunami.  The driver managed to survive.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cpt0WKZI9D8

People fleeing the tsunami turned around and helped others to escape its path.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxL36ngIJA8

A news crew barely escaped the tsunami and then were able to help other survivors to safety.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrv8EAUptp8

There is footage of the tsunami arriving at Sendai airport.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_6iDBoOvb0

Footage of the tsunami arriving at street level.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpuLlIrUYsI

Numerous reporters have commented on the general level of calm and the minimal level of looting occurring.  The response to supply evacuation centers with food and heating seems to be slow, but in some evacuation centers people are still taking part in their daily exercise routine.

Thousands of people were trapped at Tokyo Disneyland on the day of the quake when the trains stopped running.  Spending a night in Disneyland in those circumstances would be a surreal experience.

You can make donations for tsunami survivors at: http://www.redcross.org.au/japan2011.htm

I lived in Japan for 4 years and have travelled extensively around the country.  It always make an event more personal when you’ve been to the place where it’s happening and have friends there.

Most of my friends are in Osaka and Tokyo, and as far as I know they all seem to be okay.  Some of my friends in Tokyo had scary experiences when their office buildings shook violently and they were stranded at work when the trains stopped running.  Another friend has cracks in his apartment building.

The scale of the tsunami is amazing.  There’s a video showing its arrival.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12725646

And now there is the issue of the nuclear emergency.

The Big Picture: Quake Aftermath

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/03/japan_earthquake_aftermath.html

A: Did you hear Carla’s boyfriend bought her a rose for Valentine’s Day?

B: That is so adorable. Did Jason get you anything?

A: Not yet. This is the third year we’ve been going out and I haven’t mentioned Valentine’s Day once to him. I’m such a good girlfriend.

B: It’s so Americanised anyway.

A: Yeah. When I was young, I used to get excited about it, but now it’s no big deal.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRdp9hbs05g