Thursday, June 30, 2011

IAEA reports, nuke profits

IAEA:

Radiological Monitoring and Consequences of Fukushima Nuclear Accident (2 June 2011)
http://slidesha.re/jc7RmP


IAEA Marine Environment Monitoring of Fukushima Nuclear Accident (2 June 2011)
http://slidesha.re/lY4FJ2



The Japan Times Online

38 years of nuke profit up in smoke?
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110629a2.html

By analyzing Tepco's financial statements, Oshima put its cumulative profits from its nuclear power business at ¥3.995 trillion between the business years of 1970 and 2007, which ended in March 2008. Tepco operates three nuclear power plants — the six-reactor Fukushima No. 1 plant, four-reactor Fukushima No. 2 plant and seven-reactor Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata Prefecture.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. faces a potential damages bill exceeding its profits from nuclear power generation over a 38-year period beginning in 1970, the year it opened the crisis-hit Fukushima No. 1 plant, according to a recent study.
The cost of power generation per kilowatt hour came to ¥10.68 for nuclear power, ¥9.90 for thermal power and ¥7.26 for hydraulic power on average during the 38-year period, when expenses for disposal of radioactive waste and subsidizing... local governments hosting nuclear plants are added to direct costs, he said.
The cost of nuclear power rose to ¥12.23 per kwh when pumped-up water power generation using power generated by reactors at night is taken into account, the economist added.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Strontium and strange animals

("Now They Tell Us" Series) Strontium Was Detected 62 Kilometers from Fukushima I in April and May
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/06/now-they-tell-us-series-strontium-was.html

東日本大震災と原発事故: Mutant Rabbit Born Near Fukushima Daiichi

A new-born rabbit without ears is seen in Namie City which is located just outside the 30km exclusion zone of the Fukushima Daiichi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLgcP9A2D3o

Cat gets caught barking by a human and resumes meowing

v=aP3gzee1cps

You as a Dog
http://www.doggelganger.co.nz/

Soylent Brown

Japan scientist synthesizes meat from human feces
http://www.digitaltrends.com/international/japanese-scientists-creates-meat-out-of-feces/
Somehow this feels like a Vonnegut plotline: population boom equals food shortage. Solution? Synthesize food from human waste matter. Absurd yes, but Japanese scientists have actually discovered a way to create edible steaks from human feces.
"Throw another $#!* on the barbee!" Maybe they could aim for catfood or dogfood instead. Algae? Biodiesel? Wouldn't you rather eat soylent green?

Friday, June 17, 2011

My Radiation

Got the little 2-page paper from city hall. Online:
http://www.city.funabashi.chiba.jp/information/p015704_d/fil/kuukansenryou-houkoku.pdf
www.city.funabashi.chiba.jp
They measured radiation at a dozen or so schools around town. Numbers ranged from 0.14 microsieverts/hr to 0.69 microsieverts/hr. These new official numbers are about 3-15 times the levels reported for Ichikawa or Tokyo at
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/radiation-levels.html?date=20110617
or at
http://atmc.jp/
(0.044µ, 0.051µ)

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Recompute

Recompute - Sustainable Cardboard Computer
http://recomputepc.com/index.php
Say Hello to Recompute! Learn what Recompute is all about and how small changes can make a big impact in our world.

Thursday, June 09, 2011

wats gud fr dh guus…

White House & NRC Recommend 50 Mile Fukushima Evacuation, Yet Insist US Safe With Only 10
Fairewinds' chief engineer Arnie Gundersen emphasizes the need to enlarge evacuation zones around US nuclear plants to 50 miles. Reducing US evacuation zones to only 10 miles during a nuclear power accident compromises public safety.

White House & NRC Recommend 50 Mile Fukushima Evacuation, Yet Insist US Safe With Only 10 from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.

Feishal rekagnishan (feisbuk)

Facebook rolls out facial recognition for all
http://www.tgdaily.com/security-features/56459-facebook-rolls-out-facial-recognition-for-all
Last year Facebook rolled out its facial recognition feature, which allows users to tag their friends in photos based on facial features. When the feature was first announced, it was limited...
Skynet NEEDS facial recognition in order for its terminators to function correctly. That's why it sent "Mark Zuckerberg" back to create it.

Friday, June 03, 2011

Brian Eno as Guest DJ on NPR

Guest DJ Brian Eno : NPR
http://www.npr.org/2011/05/31/136723328/guest-dj-brian-eno
In advance of his new album Drums Between the Bells, the influential artist and producer shares some of his favorite new and old music.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

This Could Also Explain How Your Blogger CAPTCHA Gets Solved: Chinese prisoners sold to spammers

Chinese Prisoners Allegedly Forced to Play 'World of Warcraft'
www.pcworld.com
One former prisoner says he had to farm virtual gold that the prison guards then sold in the real world for cash.
http://soc.li/KLDAhnh
Prison guards were reportedly able to sell the virtual currency for up to 6,000 yuan a day, which is about $930 -- not a bad sum. The prisoners, who naturally never saw any of the money, also had quotas to meet. According to Dali, "If I couldn't complete my work quota, they would punish me physically. They would make me stand with my hands raised in the air and after I returned to my dormitory they would beat me."

Friday, May 27, 2011

DR. GABOR MATÉ on DN

http://www.democracynow.org/appearances/dr_gabor_mat

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/2/15/dr_gabor_mat_when_the_body

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/12/24/dr_gabor_mat_on_the_stress

DR. GABOR MATÉ: You know, in other words—see, it never used to be that children grew up in a stressed nuclear family. That wasn’t the normal basis for child development. The normal basis for child development has always been the clan, the tribe, the community, the neighborhood, the extended family. Essentially, post-industrial capitalism has completely destroyed those conditions. People no longer live in communities which are still connected to one another. People don’t work where they live. They don’t shop where they live. The kids don’t go to school, necessarily, where they live. The parents are away most of the day. For the first time in history, children are not spending most of their time around the nurturing adults in their lives. And they’re spending their lives away from the nurturing adults, which is what they need for healthy brain development.

AMY GOODMAN: Canadian physician Dr. Gabor Maté, his book, _Scattered: How Attention Deficit Disorder Originates and What You Can Do about It_.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

May Link Dump - Fukushima

It's actually September, reader. These are some post-dated(?) posts. I tend to throw links up on FB, where they could be read by a few dozen people, and which can be easier than Blogger, altho limited and perishable. I am picking a few links and skipping the handful of news items (mostly Fukushima-related) that I post more or less daily.

http://atmc.jp/food/

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/nuclear-reaction/

http://fukushima.greenaction-japan.org/

http://www.cnic.jp/english/cnic/index.html

http://blog.safecast.org/

New Work Reinforces Megaquake's Harsh Lessons in Geoscience
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/332/6032/911.full

High-tech analyses of Japan's March earthquake overturn long-held views of fault behavior and warn that another disaster may be looming.... Simons and colleagues see “the possibility of a sibling to the 2011 event” that could be “similar to what just occurred offshore,” but half as far from Tokyo. So researchers are anxious to find out whether the stress transferred southward from the 9 has accelerated slow slip on the fault and thus defused the threat of a quake.
Schoolyard Radiation Policy Brings a Backlash
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/332/6032/909.full
The Japanese government's most controversial misstep in response to the Fukushima nuclear power plant crisis may have been the release of guidelines on allowable radiological contamination in schoolyards.
The education ministry calculated that children could spend 8 hours a day in a schoolyard exposed to as much as 3.8 microsieverts per hour, and 16 hours a day indoors exposed to 1.52 microsieverts per hour, and not exceed the 20-mSv limit.

Fukushima Revives The Low-Dose Debate
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/332/6032/908.full
The general public avoided exposure to high levels of radioactivity, but questions linger about the long-term effects of contamination.
Across Fukushima and neighboring prefectures, small amounts of cesium-134 and cesium-137, isotopes with half-lives of 2 and 30 years respectively, lie on the ground. Cleanup workers have stripped contaminated topsoil from some schoolyards, and remediation or permanent evacuation is likely for the worst areas.

Radiation Monitoring Data from Fukushima Area 05/13/2011
http://www.slideshare.net/energy/radiation-monitoring-data-from-fukushima-area-05132011-7986654
In March, the U.S. Department of Energy released data recorded from its Aerial Measuring System as well as ground...
Includes radiation measurements for the Shinkansen route from Tokyo to Sendai between and at stations.


http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2011/05/26/5536460.htm
The 60 billion yen project on a vacant 19-hectare site of a former Panasonic plant will see the construction of 1,000 homes as well as various facilities that will be powered using solar power generation and home-use storage battery systems, the consumer electronics giant said. The planned town, called Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town, will also promote the sharing of electric vehicles.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Darkening Tokyo



http://darwinfish105.blogspot.com/2011/04/blog-post_18.html

Dark is the new light.
Before and after the disaster.
The audio track is also a free
Creative Commons licensed
download on Jamendo.
"Sounds From The Past" by mindthings
http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/34403

Monday, May 16, 2011

Friday, May 13, 2011

NASA - Aquarius - Sea Surface Salinity



http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/5707412073/
NASA video release May 10, 2011
[This movie clip contains 10 seconds of surface flows colored by sea surface temperature, followed by 6 seconds of wind currents, followed by ocean currents. ]
Aquarius is a focused satellite mission to measure global Sea Surface Salinity.

Monday, May 09, 2011

Jumieka Langwij

http://www.jumieka.com/

Linggwis dem aidentifai "pior" Jumiekan, fain muosli a konchri, wid riijanal difrans, laka wahn mixcho a sebntiin sentri hIngglish ahn Wes Afrikan, muosli Shwi, kanschrokshan ahn vokiabileri, wid som Panish ahn Puotigiis iin de tu fi a gud mixop. Di haxent ahn kiedens kohn frahn Sikatish ahn hAirish.

Kansda di ischri a Jumieka, dis shudn sopraizn sens di bolk a di papiulieshan dem a disendant frahn slieb kiaa kom frahn Wes Afrika, fos bai di Panish, den dem laan hIngglish frahn dehn British uona, uobasior, hadvenchara, ahn mishaneridem.

Sunday, May 08, 2011

Nature: Reactors, residents and risk

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110421/full/472400a.html
. . .

Conventionally, nuclear plant operators have considered some accident sequences so unlikely that they have not built in complete safeguards — such accidents are called 'beyond design basis' events. . . . The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant has seven reactors, making it the world's biggest in terms of electrical output at 7,965 megawatts.

Gundersen: Fukushima Groundwater Contamination Worst in Nuclear History

Fukushima Groundwater Contamination Worst in Nuclear History from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.



http://fairewinds.com/content/fukushima-groundwater-contamination-worst-nuclear-history

http://fairewinds.com/updates