Wind maep

http://hint.fm/wind/

Lightning and Neutrons

http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2012/03/nuclear-lightening.ars

-: inexplicata of the day :-

Lightning strikes produce free neutrons, and we're not sure how

Scientists confirm that lightning strikes generate low energy neutrons, but eliminate both of the explanations we had for how this might work.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.125001

Haiku Break

A haiku poem by Hiryoshi Tagawa (1914-1999) goes: 

"The green man at the emergency exit/ Always fleeing." 

The familiar pictogram of a running figure was created in Japan and became an international symbol for emergency exits. 

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/vox/AJ201203240034

dharma power

Buddhist federation speaks out against nuclear power
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/people/AJ201203210053
The Japan Buddhist Federation has called for a society that does not depend on nuclear power not to repeat the mistake Buddhist organizations made…

Port of Morrow, Ashes to Ashes

http://www.npr.org/2012/03/17/148596469/on-port-of-morrow-the-shins-sail-back-to-the-1970s 

Singer, songwriter and driving creative force James Mercer discusses changing lineups and embracing vintage sounds on a long-awaited new album.

I got on my physical bicycle tonight and physically rode down to the physical Tower Records in my physical neighborhood and physically bought (with physical money) the physical CD (also Pink Martini & Saori Yuki '1969' which is also an Oregon band BTW), brought the music back home and ripped it the old fashioned way like it was 1999.

James Mercer of The Shins perform LIVE acoustic, in the KEXP studios!

More videos are online now at the KEXP Blog: http://blog.kexp.org/2012/02/29/live-video-james-mercer-of-the-shins/

One Spent Fuel Pool Has More Radioactive Cesium-137 Than Every Nuclear Bomb Ever Exploded In The Atmosphere

Nuclear Engineer Arnie Gundersen: Fukushima Meltdown Could Result in 1 Million Cases of Cancer

The Obama administration is backing an expansion of nuclear power plants, but…

"I’m on record as saying that we should close the 23 reactors with the Mark I design. … These containment vents prove to fail three times out of three. …

In addition, the fuel is stored on the roof, essentially, in unshielded, unprotected areas. And there’s more nuclear cesium-137 in the fuel pool at the plant in Pilgrim, Massachusetts, than was ever released by every nuclear bomb ever exploded in the atmosphere. So we have an enormous inventory of nuclear material way up on the roofs of these buildings, and I think it’s time to close these Mark 1s down, because of those two design features."

https://www.democracynow.org/2012/3/12/nuclear_engineer_arnie_gundersen_fukushima_meltdown
☢

Electro-magnetic coupling of the Sun-Earth system

NASA SDO - X5.4-class Solar Flare, March 7, 2012
Right at midnight UT time the active region 1429 unleashed a powerful X5.4-class solar flare. X-class flares are the strongest of the flares. They are major ...

http://fedgeno.com/documents/on-the-relation-between-solar-activity-and-seismicity.pdf
►

Seven centuries of records of ancient earthquakes in the Mediterranean region show that the century-scale variations in the number of strong earthquakes closely follow the secular cycle of solar activity. Two well expressed maxima in the global yearly number of earthquakes are seen in the 11-year sunspot cycle - onc coinciding with sunspotmaximum, and the other on the descending phase of solar activity. A day to day study of the number of earthquakes worldwide reveals that the arrival to the Earh of high speed solar streams is related to significantly greater probability of earthquake occurrence.
The possible mechanism includes deposition of solar wind energy into the polar ionosphere where it drives ionospheric convection and auroral electrojets, generating in ‘turn atmospheric gravity waves that interact with neutral winds and deposit their momentum in the neutral atmosphere, increasing the transfer of air masses and disturbing of the pressure balance on tectonic plates.
The main sources of high speed solar streams are the solar coronal mass ejections which have a maximum in the sunspot maximum, and the coronal holes with a maximum on the descending phase of solar activity. Both
coronal holes and CMEs are monitored hy satellite-home
and ground-based instruments, which makes possible to
predict periods of enhanced seismic risk.

http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/727/1/44/fulltext/apj_727_1_44.text.html

Solar CME speed and geomagnetics. Interesting. (I don't understand it either.) Now I wonder if there could be something to the folk reports of "earthquake clouds".

http://www.khalilov.biz/pdf/About%20possible%20influence%20of%20solar%20activity%20upon%20seismic%20and%20volcanic%20activities%203.pdf
▶

It has been determined that in the period of solar activity increase (11-year cycles) there increase seismic and volcanic activities in the compression zone of Earth and at the same time there decreases the activity in the tension zones of Earth.
On the basis of the discovered stable 11-year and 22-year cyclicalities in the seismic and volcanic activities and their high correlation with solar activity there has been made the long-term forecast until 2018. The next maximum of seismic and volcanic activity with very high amplitude for the compression zones of Earth is forecasted for the period 2012-2015.

Just the abstract:
►

Solar activities play significant roles in electromagnetic coupling of the Sun - Earth system. By comparing the 11-year sunspot cycles and global earthquake events during 1963 to 2010 period, it is possible to reveal the correlation of solar and seismic activities. In the present paper, the monthly values of sunspot cycles number 20 to 23 and earthquake events at different magnitude scales were analyzed to examine the relationship of these values and to understand the coupling mechanisms in solar and geomagnetic activities. The sunspot numbers are obtained from Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA database, and earthquake events are extracted from Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) database. We found a significant correlation between high speed solar wind (HSSW) and great earthquake events (M ≥ 6.0 Richter scale).

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=6015869

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the high-speed solar wind. And stop thinking dirty thoughts about those coupling mechanisms.

Seismic record

http://www.kyoshin.bosai.go.jp/kyoshin/topics/html20110311144626/main_20110311144626.html

Here are some seismic records, in case you want to use the recording on a large turntable-like device to re-play earthquakes.

One thing I still find amazing yet absolutely accurate is that 5 minutes after the start of the earthquake it is still rocking at an intensity of Shindo 3 over a wide area. 

Triple Disaster × 7

 Video isn't very good at capturing an earthquake, but in some cases you get an expressive imprint.

70th floor of the Landmark Tower in Yokohama. Hundreds of miles from the epicenter, but still...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n--60WNpKXU
3.11に横浜ランドマーク展望レストラン

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26cDWmeSH-s
Miyagi. Since I was underground⇒outside I sometimes wonder what people inside felt. This building makes a surflike sound as it accelerates and you hear the crowd responding to the rollercoaster sensations (2-3g in some places).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8W3AqfOlwk
It's never a good idea to head down to the river to watch the tsunami come in, but our videographer seems to get just enough time to react to each escalation (with accompanying nonverbal grunts) and ends up OK atop maybe some playground equipment (?) at Minami Kessennuma Elementary School.
津波を見に行ったら流されそうになったので近くの学校へ退避

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIR7MvPjY9s
Going back home to the seaside in Namie where she was born and raised, 5K from the plant, 7 months after.
【東日本震災から7ヵ月】福島県浪江町の海岸沿い＊私の生まれ育った海
震災7ヵ月後の福島県浪江町請戸地区。福島県第一原発からおよそ5キロ地点です。

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cv5c66osXY
Cows inside the 20K perimeter in October '11.
福島第一原発から２０ｋｍ圏内の牛達が道路を闊歩 2011/10/2
一時帰宅した時に撮影した野良と化した牛達です。

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPnVglzxg8g
He finds the hottest spot at his house in Fukushima City is the rainwater drain at 14.5μSv/h (alarm goes off above 10μSv/h) and he wonders if that will be OK when it only falls to half that after 30 years...
放射線量測定器のアラームが鳴り止まない～　福島市渡利
撮影2011年6月8日　 福島市渡利の自宅庭の雨水の溜まり場所では、最高放射線量が14.5μSv/hに達し、放射線量測定器の10μSv/hオーバーを注意

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu69Q0suq0Y
Asphalt is bad but moss is worse -- in Namie.
放射能汚染浪江町津島
原発利権屋が許せないですね。山奥の農民に何の罪があるのでしょうか？

SCRAP: ᚠμ©× TEPCO +

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI718wgTIFI
ᚠμ©× TEPCO
by SCRAP
to the tune (?) of Rockaway Beach (Ramones)



Song set to SCRAP musician Nobu's pics of his abandoned hometown of Namie, including what looks like suiting up and going back in to extract belongings from his apartment. 

Marshall Islanders and Islands, R.I.P.

http://www.wbez.org/worldview/2012-02-23
About the 67 nuclear weapons tests in the Marshall islands, including "Bravo" which was 1000 times the size of the Hiroshima bomb and the US govt's deliberately planned (proven by USDOE documents) exposure of the Marshall Islanders who recvd 9 lifetimes of radiation exposure. Over an inch of snow-like radioactive fallout (vaporized coral) fell. Burned, hairless irradiated islanders evacuated after 2-3 days. Listen from minute 6. Extremely racist govt archive audio from minute 13.

TOP LANDING : TAITO : トップランディング

nostalgia circa 1989

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUplJv5Mgzc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_YqnZAQ8nE

How near is here?

How Tohoku, Kanto, Hokkaido, TEPCO, Kansai, Okinawa, other countries, and politicians see the spread of contamination. This is very accurate. Origin unknown.

Non-intervention in interplanetary affairs

 As the military budget surpasses one trillion dollars, over $3000 per capita, planetary exploration is scaled back (to $4.00 per capita). Soon, we'll have to just be content watching the Chinese missions.

Obama’s budget would cut Mars program, solar system exploration
The Obama administration’s budget would hit the NASA division that sends rovers to Mars and probes to Jupiter.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/presidents-next-budget-to-cut-mars-solar-system-exploration/2012/02/08/gIQAvrm3zQ_story.html

▻ Scientists briefed on the proposed budget said that the president’s plan drops funding for planetary science at NASA from $1.5 billion this year to $1.2 billion next year, with further cuts continuing through 2017.

Bodhi Linux +1

i'v been impressed that Bodhi Linux revives this 2004 Sony Vaio notebook with 240 MB memory and a 900 MHz Celeron processor to work as a multiregional dvd player, netbook, word processor, photo editor, etc whereas other lightweight OSes (Lubuntu, Xubuntu) failed!

Here on GOP's Isle (a.k.a. Gullibles Island)

Mitt Romney reminds me of someone. I finally figured out he's trying to do Thurston Howell III.

But that doesn't seem to be the end of it. If you think about it, Rick Perry has been trying out for the part of Gilligan. He's very good at it.

That means the Skipper has to be Newt Gingrich. At least his personal relationships are known to be sailor-like. As the majority leader of the House of Reprehensibles, he was third in line to the presidency. He also skippered that deliberative body into weather that started getting rough, and his tiny ship was tossed.

Sarah Palin is obviously Ginger. MaryAnne, with her homespun midwestern values, could have aged badly and morphed into Michelle Bachman if the series had gone on a few more decades.

Ron Paul is The Professor. When he isn't trying to abolish the fed he's making a radio out of a coconut or something. He is a doctor, after all.

"And the rest" has to cover Herman Cain here. He could be a one-episode character who washed up on the island, gains popularity when he promises to build a pizza restaurant, takes their money with some 9-9-9 scheme, and then leaves, taking their best hopes to be rescued with him. Perhaps an episode featured a campaign to elect the island's leader.

The question is: How could we be living in a Gilligan's Island script gone haywire? What I hypothesize is that a nuclear bomb test in the Pacific coincided with a popular broadcast of Gilligan's Island, somehow amplifying the existing television signal and embedding the plot in the subconscious minds of young impressionable children at the time. These children grew up with a Manchurian candidate syndrome, subconsciously seeking to replicate the plot of the fateful episode.

Alternate explanation: scriptwriter or casting director for Gilligan's Island was plagued by horrific premonitions of the 2011-2012 Republican Presidential candidate nominating process. This was probably caused by the Higgs Boson generated in our time-frame tunneling back through a wormhole into the 1960s.

This is so obvious, excuse me if other people have already noticed and done a skit of the concept on tv. Obviously i haven't watched much tv since the 1960s.

"Grass-eaters"

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111126b2.html
The remarkable decline of dating in the "herbivore" age:

 Sexes set record in dating disinterest | The Japan Times Online

A record-high 61.4 percent of unmarried Japanese males aged between 18 and 34 have no girlfriend, up 9.2 percentage points from 2005, a June 2010 survey by a research body showed Friday.

Post-human invader

Octopus Walks on Land at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjQr3lRACPI

We come in peace. To occupy your land.

President 1962

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AesVsRvOEo
1962.
JFK: Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

Home radiometry results

 after testing house for radiation October 16

Our house and garden seems to be around 0.11-0.14 microsieverts/hr, according to my friend's dosimeter. It's lower as you go up closer to the roof and eaves, not higher as with some houses. Inside is not much different than outside. We tested the sandbox in the park and at the daycare next door, and it was about the same.

He has found 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 in Chiba. In one case a house in Matsudo had those numbers for the first, second floor, and eaves, respectively. There is a spot along the river in Noda-shi where he measures 0.4. The hot spot in Andersen Park was 0.5 microsieverts/hr. Reality is about 3 times the silly numbers the gov't reports as seen at http://www.japantimes.co.jp/radiation-levels.html

I don't really need to strip all organic material and topsoil from the garden, because it is not any more or less radioactive than the surrounding area, and it would eventually become the same anyway. And if i did collect radioactivity in my rain catchment system, it was probably radioactive iodine, which would have decayed by now. Hot spots which exist in Chiba are about 6 miles or 10k north of here.