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Day: March 29, 2005

I Was Innocent, But He Believed It!

That’s what O.J. Simpson said today when asked to comment on the death of Johnnie Cochran.

“I’ve got to say, I don’t think I’d be home today without Johnnie,” Simpson said by telephone from Florida after learning of Cochran’s death in Los Angeles.

Simpson noted other members of his defense team but said: “Without Johnnie running the ball, I don’t think there’s a lawyer in the world that could have run that ball. I was innocent, but he believed it.”

Sounds like even O.J. couldn’t believe that. But did Johnnie really believe in Simpson’s innocence? You have to wonder, given this quote by Cochran:

“Give me a jury with only one Black on it and I’ll guarantee a hung jury [even though the client is guilty, of course].”

And there were nine Blacks on the Simpson jury.

Here’s Cochran’s closing argument in the Simpson case, and his most famous quote:

“Let me show you something. This is a knit cap. Let me put this knit cap on. You have seen me for a year. If I put this knit cap on, who am I? I’m still Johnnie Cochran with a knit cap. And if you looked at O.J. Simpson over there–and he has a rather large head–O.J. Simpson in a knit cap from two blocks away is still O.J. Simpson. It’s no disguise. It’s no disguise. It makes no sense. It doesn’t fit. If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”

RIP Johnnie. Oh and one more thing. O.J. wants to be sure you say “hi” to Ron and Nicole…for him.

UPDATE: O.J., others attend Cochran funeral in Los Angeles. 

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An Actual Tsunami and the Threat of a Tsunami

Apparently, that’s what it takes to put together a tsunami warning system in India.

Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal has told NDTV that a state-of-the-art tsunami warning system will be soon put in place in the country.

The proposed Rs 125 crore project, which has already been approved by the government, would give India the capability to know of a possible tsunami in five to 10 minutes.

“If we can buy and get the technology in place quickly, at least we will be able to tell if a tsunami is on its way so that we can inform our people,” Sibal said.

Sibal also said this system would be more efficient then the already existing Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning System located in the Pacific Ocean.

Though the state and the Central governments reacted promptly to the latest quake off Sumatra, predicting a natural calamity continues to be a challenge to scientists.

Now, how long will it take them to put this into action? Governments do nothing quickly. Hopefully, there won’t be another disaster in the meantime.

Tsunami 411

Via Wired: Why no tsunami this time? Answer lies in location.

The powerful quake that struck off Indonesia on Monday probably did not generate a killer tsunami because it was deep and in a fortuitous location, experts said on Tuesday.

But they said the uncertainty over whether there would be a tsunami after the 8.7 magnitude quake under the Indian Ocean floor showed just how little is known about earthquakes and their effects.

“That is why a tsunami early warning system is still badly, badly needed for this area,” said Jian Lin, a marine geophysicist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

Indeed.