Saturday, March 26, 2011

What happens if you pour a billion gallons of seawater on a pile of nuclear waste?

BBC

26 March 2011 Last updated at 11:11 ET

Japan nuclear plant: Radioactivity rises in sea nearby

Levels of radioactive iodine in the sea near the tsunami-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant are 1,250 times higher than the safety limit, officials say.

The readings were taken about 300m (984ft) offshore. It is feared the radiation could be seeping into groundwater from one of the reactors.

.... BBC News - Japan nuclear plant: Radioactivity rises in sea nearby

Friday, March 25, 2011

Remembering the Triangle Fire 100 years later

By Allan Chernoff, CNN Sr. Correspondent March 25, 2011: 11:19 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNN) -- As labor unions battle to retain collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin, Ohio and other states, they are marking the centennial of a tragic factory fire that started the movement that first won those rights.

A scene of surreal horror engulfed the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in Manhattan 100 years ago on March 25, 1911 during a disaster that ultimately would lead to better and safer conditions for all working people in the United States.

It was a Saturday afternoon, 4:40 p.m., shortly before closing time. About 500 young, low-paid immigrant garment workers, who labored six-days-a-week, were crammed by their sewing machines and cutting boards, busy creating the popular women's blouses that buttoned down to the waist, known then as shirtwaists.
.... Triangle Fire and workers rights - Mar. 25, 2011
Time magazine pictorial: Remembering the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Michelle Obama's Childhood Obesity Let's Move Campaign Helps Bullies - The Daily Beast

The first lady would be horrified by the idea that her Let’s Move campaign, which is dedicated to creating an America without any fat kids, is a particularly invidious form of bullying. But that’s exactly what it is, says Paul Campos.

Michelle Obama's Childhood Obesity Let's Move Campaign Helps Bullies - The Daily Beast

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

How long is a day on Saturn?

LiveScience.com

How long is a day on Saturn? It depends on where and when

SPACE.com Staff

Date: 23 March 2011 Time: 04:43 PM ET

Saturn is sending astronomers mixed signals — radio signals, that is.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft recently found that the natural radio wave signals coming from the giant planet differ in the northern and southern hemispheres, a split that can affect how scientists measure the length of a Saturn day. But the weirdness doesn't stop there, researchers say.

The signal variations — which are controlled by the planet's rotation — also change dramatically over time, apparently in sync with the Saturnian seasons.

.... Weird Saturn Radio Signals Puzzle Astronomers | NASA & Cassini Mission | Saturn & the Solar System | LiveScience

Friday, March 18, 2011

1896 Tsunami

I quote Wikipedia:

1896 Meiji-Sanriku earthquake is located in Japan

Wave heights of up to 38.2 meters (125 ft) were measured. Nearly 9,000 homes were destroyed and 22,066 deaths were recorded. Most deaths occurred in Iwate and Miyagi, although casualties were also recorded from Aomori and Hokkaido. An unusual number of the victims were found with fractured skulls and limbs either broken or missing, testifying to the power of the tsunami.As was their normal practice each evening, the local fishing fleets were all at sea when the earthquake struck. In the deep water the wave went unnoticed, and when they returned the next morning they found themselves sailing amongst a mass of debris and bodies. The tsunami also caused damage in Hawaii where wharves were destroyed and several houses swept away, wave heights of up to 9 meters (30 ft) were measured.

75 years later, where did Japan build nuclear power plants?

1896 Meiji-Sanriku earthquake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thursday, March 17, 2011

NBC News March 28, 1979: Three Mile Island accident

NBC covers Three Mile Island accident

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

msnbc video: March 28, 1979: Three Mile Island accident

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

How is the Yen doing?

The Yen

How is the Japanese yen doing? You might be surprised.

XE.com Currency Charts - Yen to Dollar
XE.com Currency Charts - Yen to Euro
XE.com Currency Charts - Yen to Gold

Cruel and unusual treatment of Bradley Manning

Cruel and unusual treatment of WikiLeaks suspect

By Terry A. Kupers, Special to CNN

March 16, 2011 8:53 a.m. EDT

(CNN) -- Army Pfc. Bradley Manning has been imprisoned in the Quantico Marine Corps Brig for nine months, suspected of giving highly classified State Department cables to the website WikiLeaks. He has not been tried, yet is kept in solitary confinement in a windowless room 23 hours a day and forced to sleep naked without pillows or blankets.

Human rights groups have condemned his treatment, and even State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley spoke out against it. Crowley has resigned, allegedly under pressure from the Obama administration. Defense officials say Manning is stripped of his clothes nightly to prevent him from committing suicide, yet his civilian lawyer says his client is at no risk.

The problem with the argument that Manning is being kept in long-term solitary confinement to prevent his suicide is that long-term solitary confinement causes suicide.

.... Cruel and unusual treatment of WikiLeaks suspect - CNN.com

Japanese emperor: Japan's Emperor Akihito speaks on nuclear crisis - latimes.com

LATimes

Emperor Akihito's speech underlines gravity of Japan's nuclear crisis

Instead of arcane court language, Emperor Akihito addresses the Japanese people in an unusually direct pattern of speech amounting to an imperial pep talk. He insists that the broadcaster interrupt his recorded speech if there are developments in the nuclear crisis.

.... Japanese emperor: Japan's Emperor Akihito speaks on nuclear crisis - latimes.com

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

All Things Nuclear • 40 Years of Doubts About Mark I Containment

Union of Concerned Scientists
All Things Nuclear

Insights on Science and Security

40 Years of Doubts About Mark I Containment

The New York Times ran a story today citing memos from September 1972 by officials in the Atomic Energy Commission, the forerunner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), showing longstanding concerns about the ability of reactors like those at Fukushima Dai-Ichi to contain a nuclear accident.

These documents and others that raise questions about the Mark I and similar pressure-suppression containment systems for reactors are likely to spur a discussion of its safety in the U.S. and elsewhere.

In the U.S., there are currently 35 operating boiling-water reactors, all of which use pressure-suppression containment. Of these, 23 reactors use the Mark I. In addition, there are 9 pressurized-water reactors operating in the U.S. that use ice-condenser containment, which has the same shortcomings.

The 1972 documents linked to by the NYT story were originally obtained by UCS through a FOIA request. UCS released them publicly with a press release in October 1972 - the month following the exchange of memos.

All Things Nuclear • 40 Years of Doubts About Mark I Containment

Bradley Manning: The troubling punishment of Pfc. Bradley Manning - latimes.com

latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-manning-20110314,0,986384.story

latimes.com

Editorial

Punishing Pfc. Manning

Former State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley was right to say that the Pentagon's treatment of Pfc. Bradley Manning is "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid."

4:37 PM PDT, March 14, 2011
Illustrating the fact that telling the truth can be fatal in Washington, an Obama administration official has resigned after characterizing the Pentagon's handling of Pfc. Bradley Manning as "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid." Former State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley was referring to the harsh treatment that has been visited on Manning, who is suspected of turning over several hundred thousand confidential documents to WikiLeaks.

Manning, who is being held in the brig at the Quantico Marine base in Virginia, has been confined to "maximum custody." He also has been subject to a "prevention of injury" order. The result is that he is kept in his cell 23 hours a day. According to his attorney, Manning is also denied sheets, forbidden to exercise in his cell and not allowed to sleep between 5 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Most recently, the attorney has alleged that Manning has been stripped naked at bedtime — the result, apparently, of Manning's sarcastic comment that if he wanted to commit suicide, he could use the elastic band in his underwear or his flip-flops. After requiring him to sleep naked for several days, the Pentagon says Manning now sleeps in "tear-proof garments."

Undercutting the argument that Manning needs to be protected from himself is the fact that he is not on suicide watch, which requires a recommendation from a brig mental health official. According to Manning's attorney, a brig psychiatrist said that Manning's comment about the elastic in his underwear was in no way prompted by his psychiatric state. It's unclear whether President Obama knew these details when he told reporters last week that the conditions in which Manning was held were "appropriate" and that "some of this has to do with Private Manning's safety."

It's hard to resist the conclusion that punishment, not protection, is the purpose of these degrading measures. Punishment may be in Manning's future; he was charged last week with an additional 22 offenses, including aiding the enemy. But Manning's treatment should reflect the fact that he remains innocent until proven guilty.

Manning's lawyer was unsuccessful in convincing Quantico's base commander that his client should be removed from prevention of injury status and reclassified from maximum custody to medium detention. The matter is likely to reach Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. Mabus should take a fresh look at Manning's complaint and not be influenced by Obama's comments, which essentially restated the Pentagon's position. If Mabus reviews the evidence, we expect he will agree with Crowley that the treatment of Manning has been "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid."

Bradley Manning: The troubling punishment of Pfc. Bradley Manning - latimes.com

The Abuse of Private Manning - NYTimes.com

March 14, 2011

The Abuse of Private Manning

Pfc. Bradley Manning, who has been imprisoned for nine months on charges of handing government files to WikiLeaks, has not even been tried let alone convicted. Yet the military has been treating him abusively, in a way that conjures creepy memories of how the Bush administration used to treat terror suspects. Inexplicably, it appears to have President Obama’s support to do so.

Private Manning is in solitary confinement at the Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Va. For one hour a day, he is allowed to walk around a room in shackles. He is forced to remove all his clothes every night. And every morning he is required to stand outside his cell, naked, until he passes inspection and is given his clothes back.

Military officials say, without explanation, that these precautions are necessary to prevent Private Manning from injuring himself. They have put him on “prevention of injury” watch, yet his lawyers say there is no indication that he is suicidal and the military has not placed him on a suicide watch. (He apparently made a sarcastic comment about suicide.)

Forced nudity is a classic humiliation technique. During the early years of the Bush administration’s war on terror, C.I.A. interrogators regularly stripped prisoners to break down barriers of resistance, increase compliance and extract information. One C.I.A. report from 2004 said that nudity, along with sleep deprivation and dietary manipulation, was used to create a mind-set in which the prisoner “learns to perceive and value his personal welfare, comfort and immediate needs more than the information he is protecting.”

Private Manning is not an enemy combatant, and there is no indication that the military is trying to extract information from him. Many military and government officials remain furious at the huge dump of classified materials to WikiLeaks. But if this treatment is someone’s way of expressing that emotion, it would be useful to revisit the presumption of innocence and the Constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

Philip Crowley, a State Department spokesman, committed the classic mistake of a Washington mouthpiece by telling the truth about Private Manning to a small group (including a blogger): that the military’s treatment of Private Manning was “ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid.” He resigned on Sunday.

Far more troubling is why President Obama, who has forcefully denounced prisoner abuse, is condoning this treatment. Last week, at a news conference, he said the Pentagon had assured him that the terms of the private’s confinement “are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards.” He said he could not go into details, but details are precisely what is needed to explain and correct an abuse that should never have begun.

The Abuse of Private Manning - NYTimes.com

Sunday, March 13, 2011

A 5-year old boy, a tragedy without end - CNN.com

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A 5-year old boy, a tragedy without end

(CNN) -- It started with a 5-year-old boy who had the decency to do the right thing.
It is about to end with tragedy layered upon endless tragedy.
Eric Morse, who was 5 in 1994, was asked by some older boys in his Chicago neighborhood to steal candy for them.
He said no. He didn't want to steal.
The older boys, who were 10 and 11 at the time, determined that Eric, who was growing up in a home marked by frequent parental absence, must be punished for his honesty. The 10-year-old, according to court documents, had an IQ that was below 60. The 11-year-old had an IQ of 76. They had led wretched lives of neglect and squalor.
On October 13, 1994, the two older boys encountered Eric and Eric's older brother, Derrick Lemon, who was 8. They asked Eric and Derrick if they would like to see a clubhouse.
Eric and Derrick agreed to follow the older boys.
The older boys led them to an abandoned apartment on the 14th floor of the Ida B. Wells housing project, a high-rise building that had the reputation of being a home base for drug dealers.
They led Eric and Derrick into the empty apartment. It is where they would execute Eric.
The older boys lifted Eric up and dangled him from an open window.
His 8-year-old brother would testify later that he was able to grab Eric's arm and pull him back in.
But then, Derrick testified, the two older boys ordered Eric to look out of a second window. If he refused, they said, they would strike him in the head with a brick.
Eric, afraid, complied. The older boys then picked the 5-year-old up and dangled him out the second window.
Again, his 8-year-old brother tried desperately to save him. He grabbed on to one of Eric's arms.
But, Derrick would testify, one of the older boys, seeing that he was trying to rescue his little brother, bit the hand with which he was holding Eric. With the boy's teeth sinking painfully into the flesh of his hand, he had to let go.
Eric's body dropped 14 stories. Derrick would later testify that he ran down all 14 flights of stairs. He believed, he said, that he might be able to get to the bottom in time to catch his brother.
The two older boys were almost immediately arrested by Chicago police. They were found guilty of murdering Eric. A judge sentenced them to be held in a juvenile prison until they turned 21. They were 11 and 12 at the time of the sentencing hearing.
There was much discussion at the time about what would happen to them, and to their communities, once they were released. The fear was that, without extensive psychiatric help, they would emerge from juvenile prison as adults who were a threat to society. And in fact, since their release, both have been in and out of Illinois prisons for various crimes.
Which left the fourth child who was in that 14th-floor apartment that October day in 1994: the 8-year-old brother, Derrick.
He received some counseling, but at a court hearing some years after Eric's murder, the social worker who treated Derrick testified that she had deep concerns about what was happening to him.
He was all but emotionally dead, she testified. He was haunted by the memory of the murder, she said, and about what he perceived as his failure to hang on to his brother and save his life. She said that he was depressed, anxious, and was unable to cope with daily pressures.
In her testimony, she told the court: "He thinks of himself as almost worthless."
No one knew with certainty then what would become of Derrick. And no one knows, even now, the totality of the factors that have formed his life.
But here is what happened last week:
In a Cook County criminal courtroom, prosecutors asked a judge to send Derrick Lemon away for a long prison term.
He is 24 now. He stands guilty of murdering a man named Illya Glover at a family barbecue in 2006. Glover was shot to death when he tried to stop Lemon from attacking a female relative at the gathering.
Lemon will be sentenced next month. He faces a term ranging from 45 years to life in prison.
Seventeen years ago, a 5-year-old boy did the honest thing by saying he would not steal the candy for the older boys. Somewhere, in his dismal and impoverished childhood, he had figured out that there was a difference between right and wrong, and that he should choose right.
Soon after, the older boys whose demand he had defied invited him and his brother to that supposed clubhouse on the 14th floor.
And since that moment, only anguish without end.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Bob Greene.

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/03/13/greene.boy.murder/index.html?hpt=T2

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A 5-year old boy, a tragedy without end - CNN.com

Friday, March 11, 2011

Cosmic Log - Tsunami awes even the experts

This tsunami map shows a narrow red band that crossed the ocean and struck Crescent City California.

Cosmic Log - Tsunami awes even the experts

The Japan Quake took two days to reach its peak

The USGS has a webpage which lists Latest Earthquakes M5.0+ in the World - Past 7 days. Below I capture three days of that data. Note this begins as a 7.2 temblor 2011/03/09 02:45:20. The main 8.9 temblor occurs at 2011/03/11 05:46:24 which is 51 hours later. In that 51 hours, there were 22 temblors of 5.0 or greater. Four of them were magnitude 6.0 or greater. Who knew the big one was coming?

Latest Earthquakes Magnitude 5.0 and Greater in the World - Last 7 days

Versión en Español
Magnitude 5 and greater earthquakes located by the USGS and contributing networks in the last week (168 hours). Magnitudes 6 and above are in red. (Some early events may be obscured by later ones on the maps.)
The most recent earthquakes are at the top of the list. Times are in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Click on the word "map" to see a ten-degree tall map displaying the earthquake. Click on an event's "DATE" to get a detailed report.
DISCLAIMER
Update time = Fri Mar 11 9:12:19 UTC 2011

	MAG	UTC DATE-TIME y/m/d h:m:s	LAT deg	LON deg	DEPTH km	Region
MAP	5.5	2011/03/11 08:46:48	37.421	142.453	37.3	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.9	2011/03/11 08:40:56	37.465	141.122	38.6	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.5	2011/03/11 08:19:24	36.338	140.633	19.9	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.2	2011/03/11 08:15:41	37.034	144.612	27.8	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.2	2011/03/11 08:12:05	36.606	141.557	19.8	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.4	2011/03/11 08:10:47	34.695	139.655	30.5	NEAR THE SOUTH COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.9	2011/03/11 08:01:59	37.071	142.734	22.6	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.6	2011/03/11 07:56:16	37.130	142.305	34.0	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.7	2011/03/11 07:54:45	37.742	141.565	45.3	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.8	2011/03/11 07:42:55	36.406	141.919	29.9	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.9	2011/03/11 07:38:27	39.250	142.783	29.1	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.1	2011/03/11 07:28:12	36.802	141.911	24.0	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.1	2011/03/11 07:25:33	37.916	144.621	15.0	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.3	2011/03/11 07:14:59	36.648	141.811	25.0	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.9	2011/03/11 07:13:47	36.051	142.347	28.5	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.8	2011/03/11 07:11:00	37.899	142.734	30.0	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.3	2011/03/11 06:57:15	35.758	140.992	30.2	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.3	2011/03/11 06:48:47	37.993	142.764	22.3	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	7.1	2011/03/11 06:25:51	38.106	144.553	19.7	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.8	2011/03/11 06:15:46	36.126	140.234	30.2	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.4	2011/03/11 06:07:22	36.401	141.862	35.4	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.4	2011/03/11 06:06:11	39.025	142.316	25.1	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	8.9	2011/03/11 05:46:24	38.322	142.369	24.4	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.3	2011/03/11 00:14:51	-54.369	-116.808	10.0	SOUTHERN EAST PACIFIC RISE

MAP	5.0	2011/03/10 19:06:11	13.745	120.725	127.0	MINDORO, PHILIPPINES
MAP	6.5	2011/03/10 17:08:37	-6.862	116.765	508.1	BALI SEA
MAP	5.2	2011/03/10 16:54:45	38.053	143.253	4.7	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.1	2011/03/10 11:21:08	38.611	143.049	17.6	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.2	2011/03/10 09:02:22	38.652	143.146	21.9	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.7	2011/03/10 08:08:21	38.630	143.304	17.2	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.4	2011/03/10 04:58:18	24.710	97.994	10.0	MYANMAR-CHINA BORDER REGION
MAP	5.0	2011/03/10 01:20:24	38.408	143.033	25.1	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

MAP	5.4	2011/03/09 23:37:01	38.438	143.185	32.8	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.5	2011/03/09 21:24:52	-6.022	149.659	29.0	NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
MAP	6.1	2011/03/09 21:22:18	38.385	142.642	23.0	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.0	2011/03/09 18:44:35	38.502	143.199	23.0	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	6.1	2011/03/09 18:16:15	38.378	142.506	22.0	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.3	2011/03/09 13:57:28	8.631	92.395	23.2	NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
MAP	5.1	2011/03/09 13:51:42	-20.216	-174.350	132.5	TONGA
MAP	5.0	2011/03/09 13:24:08	-27.462	-68.853	108.0	CATAMARCA, ARGENTINA
MAP	5.1	2011/03/09 11:27:52	38.529	143.040	28.2	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.3	2011/03/09 08:02:36	38.606	143.103	15.4	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.1	2011/03/09 07:56:28	38.849	142.929	10.7	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.0	2011/03/09 07:13:48	38.246	143.108	9.9	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.1	2011/03/09 06:25:12	38.299	143.067	10.8	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.3	2011/03/09 04:45:54	38.543	142.740	27.0	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.7	2011/03/09 04:37:04	38.666	142.991	25.5	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.2	2011/03/09 04:32:10	38.727	143.001	32.1	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.2	2011/03/09 04:05:54	38.870	142.420	10.9	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.0	2011/03/09 03:19:00	38.795	142.962	19.9	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.2	2011/03/09 03:08:36	38.339	143.097	24.4	OFF THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	5.6	2011/03/09 02:57:17	38.402	142.825	17.5	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
MAP	7.2	2011/03/09 02:45:20	38.424	142.836	32.0	NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

MAP	5.0	2011/03/08 02:10:42	-30.349	-178.038	47.5	KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND
MAP	5.0	2011/03/08 01:26:59	44.246	-129.391	17.8	OFF THE COAST OF OREGON