I wouldn't use the word altruist to describe this, but yes I do find the account moving.
Not all of them are about altruism but a fair chunk of them are, and those were the ones I found the most relevant so I focused on them i guess.
Agreed. Thats either crazily prepared (tvtropes) or appropriately prepared and awesome to read.
I worked in a German civil service association for dealing with catastrophes, and what I saw there was a few centuries behind.
In Europe there is also some environmental protection interest that prevents the preparation of better dikes. It is all fine till the next disaster strikes. It is great to see a culture that values preparedness.
(I am not sure if this is the right place to post this, if I'm wrong please just tell me so and I'll delete the post, ok? No need to give me -20 karma. )
So, I just stumble upon this compilation of tweets from the recent tragedies in japan, with translations. Link to forum post where I found it: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=79383.msg2080663#msg2080663
While it may not seem very relevant at first, I actually found a fair lot of them were related to things that are: the volition of humanity, sanity waterlines and how a less mad world might look, "MoR!hermione" type people and possibly it contains evidence that the right social climate can make them more likely, the notion that a society of rationalists should win (this one may be a bit far fetched), and considering the length of this list probably a few things that I missed!
It is also rather hertwarming! :) ((free fuzzies, so now that money is freed up for you to spend on utilions instead. :P ))