Lebanon's political tsunami.

The Lebanese have long believed in conspiracy theories, more often than not blaming others for all the ills that have struck this paradisiacal parcel of land along the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean, turning it at times into the devil's lair.
Lebanon's political tsunami. Experts defended the agency’s decision to warn that waves of 3 metres (9 ft 10 in) or more might strike Japan’s Pacific coast after a huge earthquake hit Chile, but acknowledged the risk of making residents blase about the danger next time.
“In the end, (the warning) was a bit excessive. I would like to apologise for the fact that the warning lasted so long,” Jiji news agency quoted Japan Meteorological Agencyofficial Yasuo Sekita as telling a news conference after all warnings and advisories had been lifted, some 25 hours after the first alert.
Tsunami warnings are common in Japan, one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries, but Sunday’s alert was the first for a major tsunami in 17 years and only the fourth since 1952.
The alert came after the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) had issued a Pacific-wide warning that included Hawaii and stretched across the ocean from South America to the Pacific Rim.
“I don’t question the wisdom of their warning. The key thing to remember is that they cannot underwarn. That is not an option,” Dailin Wang, an oceanographer at the PTWC, told me by phone from Hawaii
Predicting the height of a tsunami is a complex task that requires not only knowing the quake’s magnitude but harder-to-grasp information about the impact on the sea floor and detailed data about the coastal areas that could be hit, Wang said.
Still, warnings of impending disaster that don’t pan out could encourage people to ignore future alerts, he said.
“If we do that all the time, we cry wolf and lose credibility,” Wang said. “We have to improve.”
Japanese people are already fairly immured to tsunami warnings, despite past tragedies, including one that killed 140 people 50 years ago after a massive quake struck Chile.
On Sunday, only about 6 percent of residents in areas warned of waves of 3 metres or more evacuated, a Yomiuri newspaper survey showed.
“Citizens were not sufficiently aware of the danger of tsunami,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano.
“We don’t know when a tsunami will occur again, so together with local authorities we must review this problem,” he said.
Japanese weather forecasters might have been expected to be cheery after a tsunami that hit the country’s coast on Sunday proved smaller than feared.
Instead, the agency apologised for “crying wolf” when it urged some 1.5 million people to evacuate ahead of a possible major tsunami.
In the past, such accusations could have been easily laughed off with a shrug and an explanation to the uninitiated of the ways of the land -- that a great many people in Lebanon tend to believe that the CIA was made up of all-powerful, Machiavellian, omnipresent, all-knowing super scheming gatherings of James Bond-like spies who control much the world's destiny. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth

making Sushi

Some of these items are optional, depending upon what kind of sushi you would like to make.For instance, you would not need nori seaweed or a rolling mat if you are making nigiri, which is a hand sculptured ball of sushi rice topped with a small slice of fish or other toppings.
The Basic California Roll
If you are going to introduce someone to sushi, this is the way to do it. A California roll contains crab meat, avocado, and cucumber.
Spread about a cup of rice on the sheet of nori, leaving about an inch of uncovered nori at one side. Do not pack the rice, rolling will take care of that. The rice should be less than a 1/4 inch thick -- you should be able to see nori through the rice. The biggest mistake is using too much rice.
Put avocado slices on top of the rice first, one slice thick, near the edge of the rice, the edge opposite the uncovered nori. Unwrap and split a piece of imitation crab meat lengthwise into two pieces. Place the two pieces end to end on top of the avocado. Then add several strips of cucumber next to the crab and on top of the avocado. (If you put the avocado on last, it is a lot messier to roll.)
I prefer to place the nori on a sheet of plastic wrap on top of the bamboo mat, to keep the avocado and rice out of the mat. Slowly fold the mat over, tucking the end of the nori to start a roll. (Keep lifting up the mat and plastic wrap as you go.) Lessen the pressure slightly to straighten out the roll, if needed. Then continue rolling with medium pressure.
Remove roll from mat and cut into 6 or 8 even pieces. Important Tip: Keep the knife very moist to prevent sticking, remoistening before each cut. First cut the roll in half, then fold the two halves together and cut into thirds (6 pieces) or quarters (8 pieces). Sushi bars usually serve the roll sliced into 6 pieces, but 8 is easier. Turn the pieces on end and arrange on platter.
Tip: Sometimes, if the end pieces are quite uneven, the ends are cut off at the one-third point and stood on end. Then, the other section is cut in half at a slight angle. All pieces will then look more alike when stood on end.
Some sushi bars make an "inside out" California roll. The rice is spread over all of the roll, there is no uncovered edge as above. Then the nori is turned over onto the plastic wrap so it is rice side down. The ingredients are placed on one edge and the roll is rolled as before. After rolling, the roll is rolled in toasted sesame seeds prior to cutting, or sesame seeds can be sprinkled on top after cutting. Optionally, flying fish roe can be used in place of the sesame seeds (it actually tastes better, but sesame seeds are easier to find).
Preparing Sushi Rice (Shari or Sushi Meshi)
Rice cooked for sushi should be slightly harder in texture than for other dishes. You will need approximately one cup of cooked rice for each roll. It is easier and better to make too much rice than too little. Every recipe for sushi rice is different, but they all work. You might find a recipe on the bottle of rice vinegar, on the bag of rice, or on the package of nori.
Most recipes call for rinsing the raw rice until the water runs clear, but I often neglect this. The reason it is rinsed first is to remove talc from the rice. Most rice seems to be coated now with some sort of cereal starch, rather than talc, so rinsing could be omitted. They also suggest letting the rinsed rice drain in a colander, or zaru, for 30 - 60 minutes. It's up to you. Just promise me one thing - that you will not use instant rice, converted rice, or brown rice. The rice you use should be short-grained rice, preferably Cal-Rose.A fairly consistent recipe is to use equal amounts of rice and water, which will make the same number of cups of rice as the total of the rice and water. Another book mentions adding water until it is one inch above the rice, but I would go with the one-to-one ratio. The rice and water are brought to a quick boil, boiled for 1 minute, covered, simmered for 20 minutes, and let stand for 10 minutes after removing from the heat. It is optional to add a piece of kombu to the water and rice while it is brought to a boil, then removed. Another option is to add a few drops of sake or mirin to the water, but it will make little difference when the vinegar is added afterward.
Put the hot rice in a large bowl and pour sushi vinegar evenly over the surface of the rice, mixing it into the rice with quick cutting strokes. You should use one tablespoon of vinegar per cup of rice. Fan the rice at the same time to cool the rice quickly. What I often do is pour the vinegar into the pan and stir it in, then spread the rice out on aluminum foil on a cookie sheet to cool. If you are keeping track of the terminology, a hangiri, handai, or sushi oke is a rice cooling tub and a uchiwa is a rice cooling fan.
If you cannot find sushi vinegar, you can make your own. To make sushi vinegar, combine 1/3 cup white vinegar, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1-1/2 teaspoons salt, and a dash of MSG (optional) in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stir to dissolve everything and remove from heat.