Whoa. That's Crazy.

Even though I have grown up in the era of fast-changing technology, sometimes it makes me stop and say, "Whoa. That's crazy."

This morning in Spanish class, my friend asked me if I heard about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan that just happened. At the time I thought it was crazy that we already knew about it halfway around the world. Then I checked msn.com for the story. They already had not just photos and video footage, but interactive tools and maps, with links connecting to anything you could want to know about it. I mean that's expected of online news sources, but still that is crazy to think about the photographers, reporters, editors, web designers, programmers, and management that worked to give me credible information so quickly.

One of the side stories on msn.com just blew my mind - Google's crisis response page. Holy cow. It includes updated government alarms and warnings, bulletins and message boards, transportation information, power-outage information, and get this - a person finder! The idea isn't totally new, but it's nuts to see technology in action like that.

Just so you know, as of the time of this post, the Church reports that in 5 of the 6 missions in Japan every missionary is safe and accounted for. The last mission they are waiting to here from is near the epicenter where communication systems are down.

To me it seems like the best application for the speed of information that the internet gives us is so we can respond faster and better in order to save lives and aid in the recovery of infrastructures, which also keeps governments and economies stable, which makes the world a safer place.

I expect that the next wave of information will be ways that we can help. So let's help.