gregladen | March 17, 2011... continuing ..
Good news and bad news, mostly just uncertain news. A cable needed to power equipment has been installed. It turns out that one of the reactors uses Plutonium. Ooops.
Cable reaches Japan nuclear plant
Fukushima on Thursday: Prospects starting to look good 'Worst probably over'
The story of the quake- and tsunami-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear powerplant continues to unfold, with reports suggesting that the situation with respect to the three damaged reactors at the plant may soon be stabilised without serious consequences. The focus of attention has now moved to…
gregladen | March 17, 2011Tennessee's House Bill 368 was passed on a 9-4 vote, with no testimony or discussion, at the House General Subcommittee of Education meeting on March 16, 2011. A version of the "academic freedom" antievolution bill, HB 368 would, if enacted, require state and local educational authorities to "assist teachers to find effective ways to present the science curriculum as it addresses scientific controversies" and permit teachers to "help students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories…
gregladen | March 17, 2011As we speak, several children lie gravely ill in Minneapolis, struck down by a preventable but sometimes fatal childhood disease.
One of the children is an infant who was too young to have been vaccinated, but caught the disease, apparently, from someone old enough to be vaccinated but who was not.
Get your children vaccinated.
Learn about measles here. Read about vaccination here.
gregladen | March 17, 2011When the Kentucky legislature adjourned sine die on March 9, 2011, House Bill 169 died in committee. A special session of the legislature will convene starting on March 14, 2011, but only to consider two unrelated items, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader (March 10, 2011). HB 169, if enacted, would have allowed teachers to "use, as permitted by the local school board, other instructional materials to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review scientific theories in an objective manner." No particular scientific theories were cited in HB 169, but the similar HB 397…
gregladen | March 17, 2011The quake, which was centered under the sea, did considerable damage to undersea communications cables. Originally the damage was thought to be minimal but it is apparently rather significant. At least five major cables have been damaged. Details here. Meanwhile, the US military has blocked several websites that are eating up bandwidth that is needed to facilitate Japan recovery efforts. These blockages affect users accessing the Internet from military facilities. "The sites -- including YouTube, ESPN, Amazon, eBay and MTV -- were chosen not because of the content but because their…
gregladen | March 17, 2011Japan needs your help after the earthquake, tsunami, and complex nuclear accident.
George Takei on the Japan Quake and Tsunami. Hat tip: Claudia Sawyer
I don't think the amount of heart makes as much difference as the amount of the donation, but it's a nice sentiment.
The truth is, Haiti needs your help more. A very large percentage of the people of Haiti who were rendered homeless from the earthquake there are still homeless, and the situation in that region is probably worse in many ways than it was the day after the quake. Missionaries are in there picking up the slack, which of…
gregladen | March 17, 2011I am (half) ethnic Irish and I grew up in a city that was as Irish as the Blarney Stone itself. When I was a teen armed with a false ID and a strong sense of purpose (that being to get drunk with my friends) we'd cruise the bars, starting on or near Madison, Lark and State (where I generally lived) in our regular hangouts, but quickly working our way up to the nominal Irish Bars (they were all Irish bars, but only some had Irish names). Somewhere between GJ's and O'Heaney's we would find the bar where Charlie Tapps was hoofing his Irish Tap Dancing act and ... well, join in. If I recall…
gregladen | March 17, 2011Daemonic underground gasses exploded to the surface in a fiery fireball in South Minneapolis today, blasting a huge hole in a parking lot, causing several cars to meltdown, and potentially damaging a newly rebuilt section of God's Highway (I35 W).1 The news agencies noticed it when checking the traffic cameras for their local traffic report.
Local Minneapolitonians: This was on 60thE and Nicollet, near the Crosstown Junction. Route 62, closed for a time, is reopened, but as of this writing, 35 W is closed both North and South as they are checking for damage. Of the just moments ago…
gregladen | March 17, 2011I am told that Scienceblogs.com has upgraded and hardened its server thingies, so you should no longer be experiencing technical difficulties in reading your favorite blog. However, if you still are, please send your IP address to Scienceblogs, using this email: webmaster AT scienceblogs.com
Thank you very much. You may now return to your regularly scheduled disaster.
gregladen | March 17, 2011A very good stab at addressing the question by Rachel Maddow:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
gregladen | March 17, 2011... continuing from earlier news
News, blog, and other items:
Singaporeans in Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures told to evacuate
Language used to describe atomic meltdown borders on reckless hyperbole
Know Nukes: The Japanese Earthquake & Anti-Nuclear Hysteria: Explaining how the Japan Nuke Disaster is not melt down, there will be no radiation leaks, and it is not Chernobyl.
Japan tries air, land tactic to quell nuclear disaster
Northrop Drone Set to Overfly Japan Reactor, Seek Data on Damage
Japanese choppers dump water on stricken reactor
Japan relies on the Fukushima 50's bravery…
gregladen | March 16, 2011As I write this, I'm told that there are eleven water cannon vehicles heading to the disaster-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, to attempt to cool down nuclear material that is exposed and exuding (I dare not use the word "leaking" lest I be thought an alarmist) radiation at a rate that seems to be as alarming to the engineers and nuclear experts on the scene as it is assuaging to the arm-chair nuclear engineers in the US and elsewhere who are telling us that Fukushima is no more dangerous than eating a seedless grape.
The following conversation was heard in the Japanese Police…
gregladen | March 16, 2011From MoveOn:
House Republicans have declared an "emergency" today. Is it about unemployment? The situation in Libya? The disaster in Japan? Nope, it's about defunding NPR.
They're taking up an emergency bill that would ban any federal money from going to NPR or its affiliates.
A right-wing blogger's hidden-camera video has NPR on the defensive, even though it was so misleadingly doctored that even Glenn Beck's website questioned its credibility.1 But Republicans want to use this moment to take away NPR's funding for good.
Unfortuately Moveon appears insufficently savvy to give me a link to…
gregladen | March 16, 2011I assume by now you've seen this: "You Can Stop Worrying About A Radiation Disaster In Japan -- Here's Why".
I repeat, there was and will *not* be any significant release of radioactivity from the damaged Japanese reactors.
By "significant" I mean a level of radiation of more than what you would receive on - say - a long distance flight, or drinking a glass of beer that comes from certain areas with high levels of natural background radiation....
I'm so glad to hear the situation is under control. And that Business Insider, an online journal, is getting us this important information in a…
gregladen | March 16, 2011Whenever someone starts with "I'm Confused" you know what kinds of crap is coming next.
For more information and essays about the Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Reactor problems in Japan CLICK HERE.
gregladen | March 16, 2011This is not intended to incite panic... for panic, see the post "Where is the nearest nuclear power plant to my house that is currently melting down!!!11!!." The purpose of this post is to facilitate addressing a question we've been discussing on my facebook page: If you lived near a nuke plant, would you routinely stock a reasonable supply of iodine/iodide tablets to take, just in case, and why or why not?
If you are in the US, click here. That's the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and they are there to help you find out where your nearest operating nuke plant is. I don't know about the…
gregladen | March 15, 2011I honestly think that it is too early to have this conversation, but alas, the conversation has been forced.
I have yet to express my opinion about the efficacy or safety of the future use of nuclear power, or any way in which that opinion may be affected by the current tragic events in Japan. I did report (link to, really) with little comment on the current failings of the Fukushima nuclear plants (very much underway at this time), and when commenters took the opportunity to explain how nuclear power is totally safe and that this was demonstrated by how nicely things are working out at…
gregladen | March 15, 2011Another sequence of headlines and news reports, continuation of THIS POST:
Fukushima update: No chance cooling fuel can breach vessels: Still nothing to get in a flap about
The story of the three quake- and tsunami-hit reactors at Japan's Fukushima plant continues, with indications that one of the three worst-hit reactors has sustained further damage. A fire also broke out at another reactor, shut down at the time of the quake and not previously thought to be a problem, but this has now been put out. None of this suggests that the reactors' crucial containment vessels could be breached,…
gregladen | March 14, 2011Because it's not a person, it's a radio show. Run by a person. And some other people.
I want to extend my warmest congratulations to Desiree Schell and Skeptically Speaking, the Canadian skeptics radio show and podcast with the motto: "Call In. Question Everything."
Desiree has been cranking this show out for almost two years, and the second anniversary will be this coming Sunday, when the 104th show will be recorded. That show will air on Friday, March 25th.
Skeptically Speaking exceeds or equals the best of the best in skeptical radio, and over the last two years has been enjoyed by…