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Just so you all (no one?) know, i have not seen any news since weeks, and only just now realized what has occurred in Japan. and now tsunamis.

Of course i am sad for the death and destruction, but i'm more sad that civilization refuses to respect the fragile web of life circumstance of Higher Intelligence has allowed on this beautiful planet.

Quarterly profit margins indeed.

Unfortunately, with this civilization it takes disaster to prompt a slight awakening. Unfortunately, there remains no respect for the fragile web of life, nor the surface upon which it is nourished.

Before i knew this was happening, i walked the banks of the Weser as it began to overflow, gently. And was conscious of the power.

Perhaps i'm not sad. I'm angry.

The lesser part of me screams, "Wake the fuck up!" A more evolved part reminds that the vision of our place in it all is available to all.

Oh yeah, the area around two nukes are evacuated, because they can't cool them down. Would anyone care to argue about the next 10,000 years with me?

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 02:02:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I'm now reading that they want to release radioactive gas from the reactor with the failed cooling system.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 02:36:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I wonder if that is really necessary. It might be if the containment vessel is compromised.

So, in what may be my last act of "advising", I'll advise you to cut the jargon. -- My old PhD advisor, to me, 26/2/11

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 02:40:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I read that they want to vent some gas to prevent excessive steam pressures inside. The US is sending "cooling materials" by air force plane. The plants are boiling water plants. Perhaps we are rushing some heavy water over there. Perhaps soon to be heavy steam.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 04:05:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Or specially-marked dry ice.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 04:27:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Insane. I'm reading that all the emergency generators for three reactors in the plant failed (remember Forsmark?), and they don't have the proper cable to connect their mobile generator trucks to the system...

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 02:48:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I have just posted a link to NHK in the Salon to the effect that the reason they're releasing radioactive gas is that the pressure readings are too high for the containment vessel (!)

Maybe we could move discussion from both this thread and the Salon to a dedicated thread?

So, in what may be my last act of "advising", I'll advise you to cut the jargon. -- My old PhD advisor, to me, 26/2/11

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 03:00:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Good Idea

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 03:01:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Can you collate relevant info from both threads in the body?

So, in what may be my last act of "advising", I'll advise you to cut the jargon. -- My old PhD advisor, to me, 26/2/11

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 03:03:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: No Comment (4.00 / 3)

Give me a few minutes, dinner is just served :)

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 03:17:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: No Comment (4.00 / 3)

you eat while catastrophe beckons?

Hmmm, think i'll join you.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 03:21:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Wait a Minute (none / 0)

Also Sprach Migeru:

... they're releasing radioactive gas is that the pressure readings are too high for the containment vessel

If their control systems are down how the hell are they measuring containment pressure?

A tire gauge?

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 03:44:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Wait a Minute (4.00 / 4)

They do have battery power. The problem is with getting enough energy for the cooling system.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 03:48:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]

That Higher Intelligence must be looking pretty stupid now for allowing us here.

So, in what may be my last act of "advising", I'll advise you to cut the jargon. -- My old PhD advisor, to me, 26/2/11

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 02:42:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]

HI has more important things to be busy with, despite having a system which monitors everything. Also, we're not given to know much of the plan, except perhaps a few known visionaries over the millenium, and millions of "crazies."

Think of the programming necessary to monitor the expanse of all that we're just beginning to discover.

I'm simply dumb, trotzdem i'm thinking part of the plan might just be to let the various uncountable points in the system work out their own so-called destiny or "free choice."

I'm thinking Olaf Stapledon had a good sense of what's happening. About inbreath outbreath of the universe, and meeting the Starmaker and all.

Though that was just metaphor phor what actually exists.

I'm guessing there's more to the story than anyone can posit. And the days when i had direct experience of that all-encompassing understanding are so long ago, i might as well be talking about tooth transmitters.

Except i've never forgotten, and never will, where i went, and why.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 03:14:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I submit the wisdom of great Oglala Lakot leader Red Cloud is more appropriate:

You white-eyes could fuck up a crowbar.

(paraphrased)

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 03:36:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Though he was a card-carrying member of the Appeaser Party.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 04:26:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Counterpunch: On the Brink of a Meltdown (By ROBERT ALVAREZ)

We shouldn't need yet another major nuclear power accident to wake up the public and decision-makers to the fact that there are better, much safer ways to make electricity.

So, in what may be my last act of "advising", I'll advise you to cut the jargon. -- My old PhD advisor, to me, 26/2/11

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 03:02:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]

didn't we discuss this a couple of years ago and muttered darkly about the idiocy of putting a nuclear power plant in a major earthquake zone ?

As the Finns discovered with their nuclear plant, having the best plan in the world doesn't make it idiot proof

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Sat Mar 12th, 2011 at 08:20:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Libya no-fly zone (4.00 / 3)

I'm now a fan of General Merrill McPeak, retired, who tells it like it is:

No-fly zone over Libya ?

"This is a pretty easy problem, for crying out loud."
For all the hand-wringing in Washington about a no-fly zone over Libya, that's the verdict of Gen. Merrill McPeak, a former Air Force chief of staff. He flew more than 6,000 hours, half in fighter aircraft, and helped oversee no-fly zones in Iraq and the Adriatic, and he's currently mystified by what he calls the "wailing and gnashing of teeth" about imposing such a zone on Libya.
"If we can't impose a no-fly zone over a not even third-rate military power like Libya, then we ought to take a hell of a lot of our military budget and spend it on something usable."
He continued: "Just flying a few jets across the top of the friendlies would probably be enough to ground the Libyan Air Force, which is the objective."
General McPeak added that there would be no need to maintain 24/7 coverage over Libya. As long as the Libyan Air Force knew that there was some risk of interception, its pilots would be much less motivated to drop bombs and more inclined to defect.
"If we can't do this, what can we do?" he asked, adding: "I think it would have a real impact. It might change their calculation of who might come out on top. Just the mere announcement of this might have an impact."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/opinion/10kristof.html?src=twrhp

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/opinion/10kristof.html?src=twrhp

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.

by Ted Welch (tedwelch-at-mac-dot-com) on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 02:29:06 PM EST

Re: Libya no-fly zone (none / 0)

He continued: "Just flying a few jets across the top of the friendlies would probably be enough to ground the Libyan Air Force, which is the objective."

Exactly, I don't know why you need to bomb the antiaircraft defences in Tripoli to protect civilians in Benghazi.

So, in what may be my last act of "advising", I'll advise you to cut the jargon. -- My old PhD advisor, to me, 26/2/11

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 02:33:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Libya no-fly zone (none / 0)

The secretary of defense, Robert Gates, has said that a no-fly zone would be "a big operation in a big country" and would begin with an attack on Libyan air defense systems. But General McPeak said that the no-fly zone would be imposed over those parts of the country that Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi doesn't control. That may remove the need to take out air defense systems pre-emptively, he said. And, in any case, he noted that the United States operated a no-fly zone over Iraq for more than a decade without systematically eradicating all Iraqi air defense systems in that time.
ibid

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.

by Ted Welch (tedwelch-at-mac-dot-com) on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 02:46:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]

The official US military doctrine (none / 1)

is massive overkill, in all circumstances, and zero risk to US personnel.

You fly over Libya without taking out all AA installations, you're taking a tiny risk of getting poked in the eye by an antiquated Russian missile.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 03:15:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The official US military doctrine (none / 0)

Yea, but there's always a reason NOT to do something if you basically don't want to do it.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Sat Mar 12th, 2011 at 08:28:30 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The official US military doctrine (none / 0)

That's why it's good that a retired US general, who has the relevant expertise, points out why the excuses offered are not valid.

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.

by Ted Welch (tedwelch-at-mac-dot-com) on Sat Mar 12th, 2011 at 04:20:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Sick celebs promote smoking (none / 1)

Modern rebels, while less glamorous, are equally influential. Charlie Sheen debuted "Charlie Sheen's Winning Recipes" on FunnyorDie today, in which he chain smoked and swigged "tiger blood." Yesterday, model Kate Moss lit up the Louis Vuitton runway with a cigarette in hand, presumably in protest to tighter smoking restrictions in the U.K (but less strict than tobacco companies had feared (according to some financial advisiors). And in what was actually one of her tamer stage acts, Lady Gaga debuted on a Paris catwalk last week with a lit cigarette in her mouth."
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2011/03/from_rango_to_lady_gaga_is_smo.html

Thus dooming some of their younger fans to futures in cancer wards.

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.

by Ted Welch (tedwelch-at-mac-dot-com) on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 02:59:01 PM EST

Re: Sick celebs promote smoking (none / 1)

It ain't the tobacco, it's all the chemicals which accompany it. People should be allowed to smoke freely, just not any of the shit available today.

(of course, today one can find just tobacco to smoke, but that's still a minutely insignificant portion of the statistics.)

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 03:20:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I have nothing against tobacco chewing... no smoke to smell.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 03:43:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]

One word (none / 0)

Spitting.

by Nomad on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 04:19:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]

One of my neighbors grew several tobacco plants a couple of years ago. One lady from about 50 miles away who had seen the plants while up here doing stump removal came back later to get a bunch. My neighbor had told her she could have some.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 04:12:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Well, it's the tobacco, too, but this is a good point. You could probably significantly reduce the health risks simply by regulating out all of the additives they put into cigarettes these days. It still wouldn't be good for you, but I suspect it'd be much less bad.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 04:22:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

...adding: But then people would bitch about the cigs not staying lit and tasting funny. It would be like an insane version of New Coke.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 04:25:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Sick celebs promote smoking (none / 1)

"But then people would bitch about the cigs not staying lit and tasting funny"

but then it's the people's fault. and "tasting like tobacco," (of course then, people wouldn't smoke so much, like it was supposed to be. special occasions and all.)

"insane version of New Coke."

here's to the original recipe. why it was called what it was called.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Fri Mar 11th, 2011 at 04:31:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]