10% (or more) of Auction Final Prices to Charity

Well the nuclear situation isn't close to being stabilized yet, but it's looking a whole lot better than it did just a couple days ago. Japan's firefighters and self defense forces have all my respect for the brave work they are doing over at the Fukushima plant. Apparently all 6 spent fuel rod pools are now relatively cool and keeping that junk from heating up and wreaking all sorts of havoc on the northern part of the country. We should also know tomorrow if the pumps can start working again in machines number 1 and 2. Let's all keep our fingers crossed as they work step by step to get things stabilized.

Good Squid is based in Niigata which is about 150km from the Fukushima nuclear plant. You might think that's not so far, which is true, but there are huge mountains in between and the wind almost always blows from west to east. We have seen very slight radiation level increases, but they  nothing even close to being harmful. For example where I live now in the western district of Niigata, the level was 0.048μSv/h. A dental x-ray gives you .01μSv. Granted, the dosage is cumulative, but unless you are a small child, it is well within safe levels.

Business continues as usual here at Good Squid and will into the foreseeable future. Yes, the thought of fleeing back to the US crossed my mind at the height of the disasters, but things are still OK for now. Even if things do take a turn for the worse, I could also consider moving operations to the southern part of Japan, many hundreds of kilometers away from Fukushima.

This week with all the stress, I was still able to start about 30 auctions and I have decided to give 10% of the final selling price to the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund. This applies to all auctions ending on Sunday, March 27th. If the prices are considerably higher than usual, I'll be very happy to give more than 10% to the fund. I am hoping to scrap together at least a couple hundred dollars. It is the least I can do to help the people who were caught in all of this.

Here's a sample of this weeks offerings.

• Nagomi Virtual Drug Orchid Illusion - PCLP-00484
• El Topo (Alejandro Jodorowsky) - AML-0045
• The Holy Mountain (Alejandro Jodorowsky) - AML-0046
• Lost Highway - PILF-2507
• Excalibur - NJWL-22018
• THX-1138 Laserdisc - NJWL-11162
• The Lost World (DTS) - PILF-2635
• Screamers - MGLC-97086
• Leni Riefenstahl (Visual Pathfinders) - SS098-0050
• SPFX: Empire Strikes Back - PILF-2080
• The Making of Star Wars as told by C3PO and R2D2 - PILF-2079
• Visitors (V) LD-Box Sets - NJL-11443 and NJL-11576
• Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition - PILF-2434
• Godzilla 40th Anniversary LD-Box - TLL-2235