Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been, as have we all, horrified at the scope and scale of the destruction caused by the earthquake and resultant tsunami in the Indian Ocean. As so many others have noted, the loss of human life is so staggering as to be nearly unfathomable. One person killed, or two, or three, or perhaps a few tens of people we can grasp mentally. But when you start to talk about numbers going over 100,000 - and possibly more than 200,000 when the final counts are done - the numbers become just a statistic. A number on a page.

Your Maximum Leader and his family have made a contribution to the International Red Cross. Your Maximum Leader also encourages minions to donate to the organization of their choice. Other charities are UNICEF, Oxfam, and this comprehensive list at The Command Post.

Your Maximum Leader fears that the final death toll from this disaster will be over 250,000. When one considers that many small islands around Sumatra and along the Indian coast haven’t yet been heard from; and the full extent of damage and loss from areas that are accessible hasn’t been fully assessed the toll can only increase dramatically. And one would have to figure that privation and disease will start to take their toll as well.

This may well be the most horrible natural disaster to strike in your Maximum Leader’s life. He is hard-pressed to recall any disaster as widespread, or as lethal.

Your Maximum Leader’s prayers are with those who suffer in Asia as a result of this catastrophe. And his hopes are with those who bring relief.

Carry on.