Sunday, March 13, 2011

Open Thread


Weekend
Open
Thread



Japan tsunami and earthquake -
Live coverage - Guardian

• Up to 10,000 feared dead in Miyagi prefecture alone
• Cooling system fails at a second nuclear plant
• Japan PM: "worst crisis since WWII"
• 190 people exposed to radiation
• Original quake upgraded to magnitude 9
• Over 250 aftershocks so far

Cooling System Update At Nuke Power Plants
Experts Explain Worse Case Scenario

First Ever Nuclear Emergency In Japan
First Ever Core Meltdown In Japan Suspected
"a nuclear meltdown was suspected at the Fukushima No. 1
nuclear power plant's No. 1 reactor"
The Gulf of Alaska Quake (1964) made obsolete marine charts of the bottom of that Gulf. Now there is a similar effect from the Japan Quake:
Dr. Daniel McNamara, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, told The Huffington Post that the disaster left a gigantic rupture in the sea floor, 217-miles long and 50 miles wide. It also shifted Japan's coast by eight feet in some parts, though McNamara was quick to explain much of the coast likely didn't move as far.

McNamara found the way in which the quake actually sunk the elevation of the country's terrain to be more troublesome than coastal shifting. "You see cities still underwater; the reason is subsidence," he said. "The land actually dropped, so when the tsunami came in, it's just staying."

The enormous tremor also shifted the Earth's axis. According to CNN, the earthquake moved the planet's axis approximately 4 inches.
(HuffPo, emphasis added). Areas of Japan sank lower as the oceans are rising, and some of those areas are now "still underwater".

New Deep Water Offshore Drilling Permit Granted:

"The well was being drilled in waters 4,234 feet deep,
120 miles off the Louisiana coast south of Houma,
at the time BP's Macondo [Deepwater Horizon]
well blew out in April 2010." (Raw Story, emphasis added)
Oil Found In Gulf Seafood Exposing Government Propaganda:
"The federal government is going out of its way to assure the public that seafood pulled from recently reopened Gulf of Mexico waters is safe to consume, in spite of the largest accidental release of crude oil in America's history.

However, testing methodologies used by the government to deem areas of water safe for commercial fishing are woefully inadequate and permit high levels of toxic compounds to slip into the human food chain, according to a series of scientific and medical professionals interviewed by Raw Story."
(Raw Story).

3 comments:

  1. Our thoughts are with the Japanese people ...

    ReplyDelete
  2. The pictures and videos out of Japan are absolutely breathtaking in their portrayal of the awesome fury of this event. None of the tsunami videos out of Indonesia conveyed the true power of the event, to my mind at least. These left no doubt as to the magnitude of the event and the true destructive force of a massive 8.0+ quake.

    If this is a sign of things to come, as it appears it might well be, those living on or near the "ring of fire" fault zones would be well advised to get their affairs in order post haste. And the rest of us would be well advised to make preparations for the associated personal and economic disruptions that would be almost certain to follow.

    Already, many economics news articles and blog sites are busy comparing this event to the Kobe quake in '95. Although that quake was very massive (7.3, 6,400+ killed) and economically disruptive (~$100B), it was just a baby compared to Friday's event, already estimated at 9.0 and 10K+ dead. The economic toll and period of disruption will be hard to estimate for some time to come, and the actual change on the ground for the communities involved will be impossible to comprehend for those on the outside looking in, for whom this is primarily just a media "news event."

    Whatever else can be said about this event so far, it is CLEARLY THE EVENT of the 21st century so far. It’s time for the world in general, and THE U.S. IN PARTICULAR to GET THE FUCK OVER 9-11, and put the interests of the greater good before the petulant, cry-baby, “there goes a terrorist” shit the U.S. has subjected the world to ever since.

    Of course, those of us with a brain have long suspected that the whole 9-11 ruse was just a means for MOMCOM to expand its scope of influence (which it has succeeded at MAGNIFICENTLY!), but even leaving all that aside, it’s time to admit that people the world over hurt from events that are largely beyond their control, and that THIS EVENT – THIS EVENT – is the greatest disaster human kind has been subjected to in recent years, at least that wasn’t caused directly by human kind’s (read, the U.S.’s) own selfish actions.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Uh oh, there goes the neighborhood!

    Libya gains control of more rebel territory

    What will a conflicted capitalist "dictatorship" (the U.S.) do in the face of uncertainty, given that said uncertainty involves it's lifeblood; i.e., CHEAP OIL?

    Stand by for "News at Nine," but GUARANTEED, this story is ONLY going to gain momentum over the coming days, weeks, months, and years.

    ReplyDelete