Hmm, take a careful re-read. I wouldn't (and didn't) call him insightful. Past experience of his writing screams "take care". What I did say was that in this case they are interesting, and he does have some insight into the Japanese.
As I originally said, he does still over-react, but there are items to reflect on nevertheless.
It's worth noting that the USS Ronald Reagan was dispatched in relation to the relief effort, whereas Cringely is talking about the nuclear issue - which are two distinct entities. From a cultural perspective the two incidents stack up differently. On the other hand some US tech was dispatched to help with the reactors, but in a low-key way that was never reported.
You should never absorb without critique what people are saying, but in this case there is material of worth in his writing.
First sorry for misunderstanding your point. Though I still say its a warning sign when someone you think is usually full of it starts making sense (even if its in another area)
That said my understanding was the USS Ronald Reagan was dispatched to both help with relief efforts and provide assistance in getting power to the area (they were close enough to the plant that they were forced to flee when things got rough).
The RR has two defining characteristics. One it can produce fresh water by itself and two its (ironically) got its own nuclear power source. So my understanding was it was also providing power to the surrounding area.
Regarding the RR, I did see about the power thing - but I wasn't sure the extent of that. Or how much that affected the reactors (iirc the issue was not that they had no power, but that the power connects to the plant were disrupted and they had to reconnect them).
As I originally said, he does still over-react, but there are items to reflect on nevertheless.
It's worth noting that the USS Ronald Reagan was dispatched in relation to the relief effort, whereas Cringely is talking about the nuclear issue - which are two distinct entities. From a cultural perspective the two incidents stack up differently. On the other hand some US tech was dispatched to help with the reactors, but in a low-key way that was never reported.
You should never absorb without critique what people are saying, but in this case there is material of worth in his writing.