High Levels of Plutonium Detected

March 29, 2001


Radiation effects...
March 25, 2011


March 23, 2011


March 18, 2011

Stand And Die

h/t Edgar

The title is a gaming phrase, popular in the MMORPG realm. (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game)

It comes from a combat tactic used when a battle has gone horribly wrong. Rather than running around and making the battle more dangerous for players that are recovering, or providing support roles, a player that is 'checking out', is expected to just stand still and take the death.

It seems that Goldman Sachs executives are familiar with the strategy. They are ordering their employees in Tokyo to stay there. If they get scared and want to take their families away from the danger, then they are out of GS and will never work for GS again.

Clearly it's Goldman Sachs intention to make money off of their employees all the way to the bitter end. If their employees and their families end up dying in Tokyo, well, that's just a cost of doing business I suppose.

We already knew that Goldman Sachs pretty much considers human life to be expendable. Now it's clear that the Vampire Squid sees it's own employees as being essentially valueless and expendable too.

Goldman Sachs Employees Told Not to Leave Japan

At least four Goldman Sachs executives flew into Japan last week to speak with nervous ex-pat employees about radiation fears, according to a person familiar with the situation. They also conveyed another message: don't leave Japan and don't leave Tokyo.

Employees at the investment bank's Japan offices are worried about radiation levels affecting their families, the person said. Many were asking if they could temporarily relocate out of the country or perhaps move to a location in southern Japan, farther away from troubled nuclear power plants. The were told that they should not leave Tokyo, according to the person.

continued...
http://www.cnbc.com/id/42304574

New Babies

My Friends Are Purrfect

This is Jynxie. I had the opportunity to babysit her yesterday, after her spaying.

Willow and Her Giant

A short interlude in the ongoing disaster saga.

Two dear friends of mine performing at The 2011 North Texas Irish Festival.

'Fukushima crisis eerily similar to 1979 Three Mile Island accident'

Richard Thornburgh gives the Japanese a little leeway, because they got hit by a big quake and tsunami. I don't really understand why people keep acting like this is unexpected. It's never been a secret that Japan gets hit by big quakes and it will continue to get hit. It's no secret that tsunamis can be generated by big quakes.

Japan rolled the dice and lost. The politicians, bankers and General Electric chose to look at profits and National Pride and let those concerns, override the safety concerns. This happens all the time. It's the way humans do things. We push limits until we have a disaster. Then we back off for a while and repeat with the next generation.

Anyone who can do simple statistical calculations knows that big events will occasionally happen. They are not unexpected. People have expected a big earthquake and tsunami to hit Japan, for as long as people have understood the relationship. After all, it's happened before and it will happen again.

The folks who built the first plant forty years ago, did Ok. They were betting that the disaster wouldn't happen on their watch. They rolled the dice and won. It's a sure bet that this was going to happen. It was just impossible to predict which generation would have to deal with it. And that lack of predictability is enough to create enough doubt, that safety concerns can be ignored.

I hope that Japan can get these reactors under control and prevent these plants from turning into radioactive geysers. I'm scared for the people of Japan because the situation looks dire to me. I've learned that the seawater being pumped into the cores is turning into steam. This could lead to salt building up, and insulating the core from cooling. I hope that the pressure spray from the steam is preventing this, and blowing the radioactive salts out of the core. I don't know enough to know if this is happening.

If the salts are building up, then I fear a complete meltdown is just a matter of time.

Karl Denninger on Market Watch is making the claim that if all 21 reactors meltdown, the USA will be fine. From the sound of his argument I think he's arguing that the surface area of the USA is big enough, that if spread out, the radiation dose per acre will be small. But the weather and plumes don't work that way. Material carried by the wind from the Pacific, precipitates as rain and snow in the Rockies. the Western Watershed could become dangerously polluted by the plumes and wipe out a good amount of the USA's food supply.

Knowing our USDA / FDA though, the government will lie and declare radioactive vegetables and milk as safe to eat. We can guess that, like with the Gulf Of Mexico, they'll implement a smell test. If you can't smell the radiation, then it's safe to eat...

Another Safe Explosion That Is Different Than Chernobyl

I know I'm supposed to feel better that these reactors don't have graphite control rods. So if they meltdown and spew radioactive steam high into the atmosphere, the disaster will have a different style than Chernobyl. And Different = Safer.

As it is, those reactors are being cooled with seawater mixed with boron. Take a guess where the highly radioactive waste water is being discharge. I hope the Japanese can learn to eat something other than seafood, and rice...

Loan Sharks

I wasted several hours at a local car dealership yesterday. The car I was originally interested in, was of course, already sold. So I was on the verge of buying a slightly older car with more miles and features I didn't care about, for a similar price.

Everything seemed fine when working with the sales people. They worked out an interest rate and payment plan that was within my budget.

Then we get to the final guy as a 'formality'. Turns out the Welfare Whore Maggot Bankers that are still stealing hundreds of billions of dollars of public money, wanted 12.5% - 18% in loan shark interest. The humorless finance guy with a crappy demeanor, explained in so many words that the shittier the car, the more the bankers want to rape the customers. Cheaper cars cost much more than expensive cars.

Screw the thieves. They are still stealing my money through my tax dollars. I'm not volunteering to give them a bigger cut of my pay for no good reason. For no fracking reach around...

Screw Them.

I'm back to looking at bicycles. I'll fix my POS van.

Explosion At Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant

The word from officials is that everything is Ok. The steel shell around the core is still intact.

Just guessing here... But if all of the cooling mechanism is gone, there is nothing to prevent the core from melting down. Reactor cores require constant cooling to prevent them from melting down.

In the video he discusses applying pressurized water to keep it cool. IF the core is exposed, there is nothing to pressurize the water in. The water will be turned to radioactive steam and jet back out.

This nuclear power plant is almost in the center of Japan. If this blows, will it be necessary to evacuate the entire nation of Japan?

BBC Podcast on this disaster.

My Prayers Go Out to the Japanese

At the time that I'm writing this, the tsunami is expected to strike Hawaii In one hour.





Russia Affected


Australian Seismologist


More Tsunami Footage

We Are Not The Huns!

For Kitty

REALLY NOT SAFE FOR WORK

One of my favorites songs from this sick and twisted bunch of Englishmen...

I think they must have watched 'Bringing Up Baby', one too many times...




Oh, another one.
Do not watch this one.
Really. Don't watch it. It's offensive.

Socialist!

Sorry DB, I've been swamped by work and haven't had time to give you the rebuttal I promised. Work that pays the bills comes first. Because I'm a capitalist!

It's still on my list of things to do though.

For the next few days I'll be out of pocket for a four day weekend of music with a Michael Black concert and jam session, then an NTIF weekend complete with after hours sessions...

A couple of examples of Michael Black's talents.




And Roy Zimmerman explains why you are all socialists!