Earthquake & tsunami hits Japan

[dik9]

I think the Japanese pm has resigned himself to a meltdown situation after that press conference? Seemed like he was praising the staff that remain knowing the inevitable?

[thetank]

Going to just sit back and wait for all the doomsayers and spin doctors to have their say then see what's showing on the Geiger counter in a few days/weeks time.

this

[kinboshi]

At least the other. Fukushima plant (no. 2) is in "cold shut-down".

Sounds like the radiation in the immediate vicinity of the Fukushima plant (no. 1) is dangerous for those working on it to prevent the situation getting worse.

[Waz1892]

Going to just sit back and wait for all the doomsayers and spin doctors to have their say then see what's showing on the Geiger counter in a few days/weeks time.

EU Energy chief has already said Europe should look at what options we have to met the energy needs of Europe without Nuclear energy.

[kinboshi]

Going to just sit back and wait for all the doomsayers and spin doctors to have their say then see what's showing on the Geiger counter in a few days/weeks time.

EU Energy chief has already said Europe should look at what options we have to met the energy needs of Europe without Nuclear energy.

 

Any comments from him on the tens of thousands who die every year in the coal -based electricity supply chain,  and the millions affected by the pollution it causes!?

[kinboshi]

http://www.nikkei.com/news/headline/article/g=96958A9C93819490E3E7E2E3E28DE3E7E2E1E0E2E3E3E2E2E2E2E2E2?n_cid=TW001

Looks like almost ten thousand of those missing from tsunami-struck Minamisanriku were safely evacuated before it hit the town.

Now there's some good news.

[redarmi]

Dan, I heard on the news that the Japanese earthquake was 8,000 times stronger than the Christchurch quake.

I've looked in vein for a website that can give me a laymans description of how this can be the case.

Got any links that can enlighten me?

To put this in perspective my best mate now lives in Christchurch and emailed me to say that he had never seen anything like it in his life and it was totally devastated and he was taking his family back to the UK for a while but he didn't see how it would be possible to rebuild in any short time.  8000x stronger is hard to imagine based on this. Incidentally my mates wife works right at the epicentre of that quake and her office building was razed to the ground but she is pregnant and had phoned in sick that day....small mercies huh???

[outragous76]

First of all I'll say that although I don't know him well, I think Guy is a decent guy

But, quite obviously, due to your previous differences with tikay you decided to attack him over his comments due to your previous issues even though I'm pretty sure you knew there wasn't any malice or wrong doing by his comments. I'd go as far as to say if Cos/Vinny/Me or whoever had said it you'd probably have ignored it or agreed with it. If I'm wrong then I apologise but I'm 99% certain I'm not and if I'm right then I think it's pretty terrible that you would use a situation like this just to have a go at someone you don't like. I guess it's not possible for me to post this without it effecting our friendship but it's what I think so there we go.

I also totally disagree that Alex was hounded after his comments. I hope he continues to post on blonde but I don't think anyone was out of order towards him. I remember making a similar rant myself a while ago so I certainly wasn't judging but it isn't right to tell people how they should react to worldwide disasters happening.

Ray (and others)
Firstly, i like you to and see you as a mate, and no your comments don’t bother me. What it does is give me an opportunity to set a few things straight for many people on this forum.

The Tikay thing
Nearly a year ago I stood up for what I thought was right against Tikay – thats obv not going to make me many friends on blonde. I don’t care, I stood up for what I believed and said things that many others who aren’t prepared to speak out on blonde agreed with fwiw. HOWEVER since then, I have met with Tikay, we agreed to disagree, we shook hands and moved on. I have NO issues with Tikay, I have interacted with him in a positive way on this forum (and at live events) many times since (and fwiw we have had disagreements – usually in private) since too. The drum bangers, i couldn’t care less  about to be quite honest. They just embarrass themselves.

Now for this thread.
I haven’t had a go at Tikay – so where yours and other comments are directed im not too sure (note my initial post is before Tikays). My issue is with Gatso and his attitude to 2 things, firstly how he offends people, and secondly what he sees as loving something/black humour – whatever.
There was no reason he couldn’t have re read his post, realise that he clearly had offended someone, and just say “i think you mis interpreted what I said but im sorry”. Instead he chose another way. Like Keith said, its not what he said, its the way he said it. The fact there was no apology is the mark of the man in a situation like this.

The situation.
I DO NOT FIND HUMOUR (black or otherwise) IN THESE TYPE OF EVENTS.  I don’t love seeing people clinging onto roofs at sea. Etc etc. I don’t laugh when people fall over in the street, I rush to help. I agree with you and others who say you cant put your life on hold, your right you cant. But it doesn’t mean that just because Im not a popular member of a forum that I have to agree with you or others on something . I dont find these situations anything other than disturbing – and it would appear MrAlex felt the same. To suggest that me putting my point across is having a go at Tikay or someone else I don’t like is ludicrous. To suggest I am making a “spectacle” or whatever was said about me is insulting, but trollers are going to troll! Fwiw – i have had disagreements with Cos/Matt and many others on blonde related matters – i guess it usually gets taken to msn, but that is because I have their details. So you are wrong on that point im afraid.

I am allowed to disagree with people. I am not a shrinking violet. Trying to make me the villain in this situation is laughable. I stood up for MrAlex, myself and other people who share the same view who probably wouldn’t post through fear of the reaction that came about like this. All Gatso had to do was apologise to MrAlex for the upset he caused. Clearly he isn’t prepared to do that.

I don’t want this to drag on, but I obv couldn’t not respond. Ray I have no issue with you, and no doubt the haters are gonna keep hating. Life goes on

[kinboshi]

This is what we should be hearing on the main news channels, not the sensationalist fear-mongering:

"At around 5 PM Japan time today the UK government’s Chief Scientific officer John Beddington spoke to the British Embassy in Tokyo, and to others listening in on the teleconference, and gave us some information about worst case scenarios at the Fukushima plant.
I made the following notes on what was said and found it very reassuring:

1. Worst case scenario (reactor explodes) problems would only affect a 30 km radius around the plant.
2. No health problems expected outside this 30 km area. Today's reports of increased radiation in Tokyo are trivial. The increase in radiation they are reporting is not significant. It would need to be 100s of times that level to cause any problems.
3. An allowable dose would be 100 times the background radiation.
4. They can monitor radiation levels in the area from outside Japan, so there is no cover up going on. Conspiracy theorists stand down.
5. In Chernobyl the top blew off the reactor and then the core caught fire and burnt. This convection pushed all radioactive material higher and higher into the air where it reached 30,000 feet and so the spread was much larger.
Here, a build up of pressure as the radioactive material interacts with the containment floor would cause an explosion that would only reach as high as around 500 meters. This would contain any dangerous material within the 20 to 30 km exclusion zone.
6. If all attempts at cooling the reactors fail, a worst case scenario, then there would be an explosion, but this blast would only throw radioactive material up to 500 meters, and the 30 km containment zone stands.
7. Acceptable levels of radiation are based on the most susceptible members of society (children and pregnant mothers). So right now, the levels outside the 30 km zone are fine for all members of society.
8. No matter how strong the wind, the radioactive material released after an explosion of the core wouldn't make it to Tokyo.

These are just the main points I picked up, a transcript/podcast will apparently be uploaded to the British Embassy's Japan Web site. It was reassuring to hear a calm but informed perspective."


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/15/japan-nuclear-crisis-tsunami-live?commentpage=5#comment-9960976

[kinboshi]

This isn't much fun though:



A large earthquake with the epicentre 10km below Mt Fuji.  Felt strongly in Shizuoka, which isn't far from Tokyo.  The 6 refers to the magnitude on the Japanese scale, not the Richter scale.

http://www.jma.go.jp/jp/quake/00000000053.html

[mondatoo]

First of all I'll say that although I don't know him well, I think Guy is a decent guy

But, quite obviously, due to your previous differences with tikay you decided to attack him over his comments due to your previous issues even though I'm pretty sure you knew there wasn't any malice or wrong doing by his comments. I'd go as far as to say if Cos/Vinny/Me or whoever had said it you'd probably have ignored it or agreed with it. If I'm wrong then I apologise but I'm 99% certain I'm not and if I'm right then I think it's pretty terrible that you would use a situation like this just to have a go at someone you don't like. I guess it's not possible for me to post this without it effecting our friendship but it's what I think so there we go.

I also totally disagree that Alex was hounded after his comments. I hope he continues to post on blonde but I don't think anyone was out of order towards him. I remember making a similar rant myself a while ago so I certainly wasn't judging but it isn't right to tell people how they should react to worldwide disasters happening.

Ray (and others)
Firstly, i like you to and see you as a mate, and no your comments don’t bother me. What it does is give me an opportunity to set a few things straight for many people on this forum.

The Tikay thing
Nearly a year ago I stood up for what I thought was right against Tikay – thats obv not going to make me many friends on blonde. I don’t care, I stood up for what I believed and said things that many others who aren’t prepared to speak out on blonde agreed with fwiw. HOWEVER since then, I have met with Tikay, we agreed to disagree, we shook hands and moved on. I have NO issues with Tikay, I have interacted with him in a positive way on this forum (and at live events) many times since (and fwiw we have had disagreements – usually in private) since too. The drum bangers, i couldn’t care less  about to be quite honest. They just embarrass themselves.

Now for this thread.
I haven’t had a go at Tikay – so where yours and other comments are directed im not too sure (note my initial post is before Tikays). My issue is with Gatso and his attitude to 2 things, firstly how he offends people, and secondly what he sees as loving something/black humour – whatever.
There was no reason he couldn’t have re read his post, realise that he clearly had offended someone, and just say “i think you mis interpreted what I said but im sorry”. Instead he chose another way. Like Keith said, its not what he said, its the way he said it. The fact there was no apology is the mark of the man in a situation like this.

The situation.
I DO NOT FIND HUMOUR (black or otherwise) IN THESE TYPE OF EVENTS.  I don’t love seeing people clinging onto roofs at sea. Etc etc. I don’t laugh when people fall over in the street, I rush to help. I agree with you and others who say you cant put your life on hold, your right you cant. But it doesn’t mean that just because Im not a popular member of a forum that I have to agree with you or others on something . I dont find these situations anything other than disturbing – and it would appear MrAlex felt the same. To suggest that me putting my point across is having a go at Tikay or someone else I don’t like is ludicrous. To suggest I am making a “spectacle” or whatever was said about me is insulting, but trollers are going to troll! Fwiw – i have had disagreements with Cos/Matt and many others on blonde related matters – i guess it usually gets taken to msn, but that is because I have their details. So you are wrong on that point im afraid.

I am allowed to disagree with people. I am not a shrinking violet. Trying to make me the villain in this situation is laughable. I stood up for MrAlex, myself and other people who share the same view who probably wouldn’t post through fear of the reaction that came about like this. All Gatso had to do was apologise to MrAlex for the upset he caused. Clearly he isn’t prepared to do that.

I don’t want this to drag on, but I obv couldn’t not respond. Ray I have no issue with you, and no doubt the haters are gonna keep hating. Life goes on

Apologies if I misread it, certainly no issue my side 

[kinboshi]

The 50 or so people who are working on the Fukushima No.1 plant to try and deal with the situation deserve a lot of recognition.

They're the ones in danger from the radiation, and they are on strict rotation shifts to help ensure they aren't exposed to unnecessary levels of radiation.  I really hope this situation is under control as soon as possible.  Can onyl hope that another big quake doesn't hit in the meantime.  Doesn't really bear thinking about.

[Bongo]

Much like the people here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windscale_fire

Not sure if they've been posted here but The Register had a couple of great pieces about the situation:
Fukushima is a triumph for nuke power: Build more reactors now!

And the follow up:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/15/fukushima_update_tuesday/

[kinboshi]

Good article explaining the dangers from radiation:


http://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/2011/03/fukushima_crisis_radiation_exp.html

[Bongo]

I've just done a little research and found Wind Turbines have killed more people than Chernobyl did.