Japan hit by 9.0 earthquake.

[Amaris]

Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

I saw this a few minutes ago, and it's just so sweet, I had to post it (after bursting into tears). It's a man being reunited with his lost bestest good friend (the doggie is alive):

That's sweet! I think I'd be crying too if my cat was found and brought to me. Very glad he got his dog.

Me, too. It makes my think of my sweet little dog who is no longer with us, and that just adds to the whole emotion about it all.

Also makes me think of all the animals that may have died during all this too. The loss of life from all these events is very sad, so it makes me mad when someone says they deserved it for Pearl Harbor. WTF? They are vile and a waste of good oxygen.

Oh, I don't like to think about that.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

I guess his deity needs to buy a GPS system because if it was divine punishment for greed it would have hit Tokyo's financial district and not rural communities based largely around fishing with a lot of one-story homes and nary a skyscraper in sight.

Yep, ye olde karma seems to go in for collateral damage quite a lot, and its aim seem to be about as good as a typical Goa'uld warrior in Stargate.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

Tokyo's outspoken conservative governor Shintaro Ishihara has apologised for describing Japan's deadly earthquake and tsunami as "divine punishment".

Nice to see dumbfuck religious assholes live in other countries besides America. We wouldn't want to have a monopoly on stupidity.

In 2001 the same guy said

"old women who live after they have lost their reproductive function are useless and are committing a sin"

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

In 2001 the same guy said

"old women who live after they have lost their reproductive function are useless and are committing a sin"

Old men who attribute randomly occurring, natural disasters to the actions of cloud-dwelling, mythological beings are a useless waste of carbon compounds.

 

[Jadzia]

Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

Germany will shut down all seven of its nuclear power plants that began operation before 1980 and it is unclear whether they will start up again.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/15/germany-nuclear-idUSLDE72E17620110315

Radiation levels had become "significantly" higher around the nuclear power plant on Tuesday after explosions at two reactors, and the French embassy said a low-level radioactive wind could reach Tokyo within hours.

The IAEA said it had been informed "that the spent fuel storage pond at the Unit 4 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been on fire and radioactivity has been released directly into the atmosphere".

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/15/japan-nuclear-iaea-idUSLDE72E07320110315

Radiation dose rates of up to 400 millisievert per hour are being recorded at the site. To put that into perspective:
- Normal background radiation ranges from about 0.5 - 2 millisieverts per year.
- Airline crew are get about 9 millisieverts per year.
- People get about 12 millisieverts from one standard CT heart scan.
- Exposure to over 100 millisieverts per year is a level which has a significant risk of causing cancer.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

I think the poor workers at that site are probably goners.

 

[JarodRussell]

Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

Germany will shut down all seven of its nuclear power plants that began operation before 1980 and it is unclear whether they will start up again.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/15/germany-nuclear-idUSLDE72E17620110315

Why? Are they expecting 8.9 earthquakes and tsunamis, too?

 

[Ayelbourne]

Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

^^
We were already planning on slowly shutting down all of our nuclear power plants over the course of the next few decades, and replace them with cleaner ways of power production.
However, last summer, our current administration decided to increase that timespan (thanks to much financial "motivation" from the companies running those plants, no doubt).

The recent events in Japan have now forced our administration to do a 180° on the issue if they still want to stand a chance in the upcoming elections.
So, at least something good came out of this mess.

 

[bigdaddy]

Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

Someone should edit the title because it seems the quake has been upgraded to a 9.0.

Also it's up to a 6 out of 7 on the "oh fuck we are screwed" nuclear scale.

Old men who attribute randomly occurring, natural disasters to the actions of cloud-dwelling, mythological beings are a useless waste of carbon compounds.

I approve this message.


Germany is so fucking stupid! What will they use when it's 100 in the summer? They are acting like children. Maybe later this week Germany will have schools have nuclear drills and have the children hide under desks! Fucking idiots running the country.

^^
We were already planning on slowly shutting down all of our nuclear power plants over the course of the next few decades, and replace them with cleaner ways of power production.

Are these magical "cleaner... power" invented yet? Honestly what would replace them? Solar that is a waste of space, or wind which is ugly, annoying and kills wild life?

Maybe I'll be a new Jesus and I will make water into wine and then wine into power.

 

[Ayelbourne]

Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

Are these magical "cleaner... power" invented yet? Honestly what would replace them? Solar that is a waste of space, or wind which is ugly, annoying and kills wild life?

Only stupid wildlife. Let's just say we're helping evolution along a bit.

Also, I don't see how putting solar panels on your roof is a waste of space. The roof is already there, and it's not like you're gonna put anything else up there.

 

[Saul]

Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

Well, I was exposed to 40 times normal nuclear radiation today.
That's still safe, but that's just today.
I wonder what the hell happens tomorrow and the next day and the next. It's unending.
Lots of people seem to be getting out of Tokyo fast.

 

[Jadzia]

Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

Are these magical "cleaner... power" invented yet? Honestly what would replace them? Solar that is a waste of space, or wind which is ugly, annoying and kills wild life?

Also, I don't see how putting solar panels on your roof is a waste of space. The roof is already there, and it's not like you're gonna put anything else up there.

I like the idea of solar+wind for domestic use. The average house has more than enough roof space for solar cell panels and a one meter diameter wind prop. Battery storage could be private or shared between several houses to help balance load. There could even be a local power grid, whereby you share your electricity with your neighbours, and your neighbours do the same in return.

Microgeneration is viable for domestic use.

Well, I was exposed to 40 times normal nuclear radiation today. That's still safe, but that's just today.

10 times background is "low level" radiation.
100 times background is often cited as the danger threshold.

You are in between the two.

See chart 3 in the link below.

http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/science/radiation-detection.htm

 

[bigdaddy]

Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

Are these magical "cleaner... power" invented yet? Honestly what would replace them? Solar that is a waste of space, or wind which is ugly, annoying and kills wild life?

Only stupid wildlife. Let's just say we're helping evolution along a bit.

Also, I don't see how putting solar panels on your roof is a waste of space. The roof is already there, and it's not like you're gonna put anything else up there.

Is that Germany's plan? To buy solar panels for everyone's house? If so great, but I feel they don't have any plan and are just making it up as they go along.

 

[Ayelbourne]

Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

Is that Germany's plan? To buy solar panels for everyone's house?

You'd have to pay for those panels yourself. But keep in mind, that this is pretty much a one-time investment(plus the occasional maintainence) without an attached electricity bill each month.

But there are also large arrays of solar panels being build.
Other alternatives besides solar and wind energy are geothermal energy, hydro-electric powerplants and energy from biomass(livestock produces gases like methane which in turn can be used to produce power)
And frankly, I'd rather have a windpark or a solar array in front of my house than a nuclear deathzone.

If so great, but I feel they don't have any plan and are just making it up as they go along.

They kinda have to. Who knows what new types of power plants we could have 20 years from now.
The plan is to simply not build any new nuclear power plants and shut down those that exceed their "life expectancy".

 

[SmoothieX]

Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

This is definitely the most riveting natural disaster reality TV since Hurricane Katrina.

 

[Jadzia]

Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

You'd have to pay for those panels yourself. But keep in mind, that this is pretty much a one-time investment(plus the occasional maintainence) without an attached electricity bill each month.

But there are also large arrays of solar panels being build.
Other alternatives besides solar and wind energy are geothermal energy, hydro-electric powerplants and energy from biomass(livestock produces gases like methane which in turn can be used to produce power)
And frankly, I'd rather have a windpark or a solar array in front of my house than a nuclear deathzone.

If homes had good enough insulation, we would not need central heating, since the heat given out from people, from cooking and from electrical appliances would be enough to keep a house warm.

Houses are not made with that degree of insulation, however. We could build houses with 50cm thick wall cavities and fill them with polystyrene, that would leave windows as the biggest problem for heat loss, but those are easy to upgrade as window technology improves.

A lot of electronics could be made lower power too, because we can miniaturize integrated circuits so much now, as we do with microprocessors.

 

[Jadzia]

Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

Two more reactors at the stricken Fukushima nuclear power station are at risk of overheating after their cooling systems failed.

Cooling in reactors 5 and 6 appear not to be working properly, with slight rises in temperature recorded.

IAEA says the Fukushima plant operators are considering removing panels from these last two reactor buildings to prevent a build-up of hydrogen.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/16/3164949.htm

 

[Lindley]

Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

IAEA says the Fukushima plant operators are considering removing panels from these last two reactor buildings to prevent a build-up of hydrogen.

That does seem like the obvious solution. Why didn't they do it sooner?

 

[Emher]

Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

It seems that the Tokyo governor is just as bad as some American religious nuts

Tokyo's outspoken conservative governor Shintaro Ishihara has apologised for describing Japan's deadly earthquake and tsunami as "divine punishment".
"The remarks hurt victims, Tokyo residents and victims," he told a news conference. "I deeply apologise."
Mr Ishihara, 78, said yesterday that Japanese people were becoming "greedy" and highlighted the case of people who continue to pocket their parents' pensions by delaying death notifications.
"It is necessary to wash away the greedy mind... by using the tsunami," he told reporters.
"I think that it is divine punishment."

Rest of story here

Ishihara is a fucking asshat. Trust me, this is the guy that effectively wants to ban anime and manga because he deems it immoral and corrupting the people of Japan. I'm surprised it took him this long to make a statement about this.

He's just one of those people that will make the general karma points of humanity go up once he croaks.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Re: Japan hit by 8.9 earthquake.

How long do these things take to cool down? It seems more problems are developing on reactors that haven't been functioning for several days.