Whatever one thinks about the near-criminal strategy taking place behind the scenes as to how Japan is handling the bailout, one thing is certain: the 50 Tepco workers who are currently laboring at Fukushima, doing all they can to restore the plant back to life, even at the cost of their own lives, are doing a tremendous service to their fellow citizens (futile or otherwise), and deserve to be called heroes. The Mail has compiled what little information is available about these impromptu martyrs, of whom five are believed to have already died and 15 are injured while others have said they know the radiation will kill them, in a piece that everyone should read, especially those who are wondering just who it is that is doing everything in their power to offset Hitachi's criminal conduct in the construction of the power plant as disclosed earlier. "The darkness is broken only by the flashing torchlight of the heroes who stayed behind. These first images of inside the stricken Fukushima Dai-Ichi power plant reveal the terrifying conditions under which the brave men work to save their nation from full nuclear meltdown. The Fukushima Fifty - an anonymous band of lower and mid-level managers - have battled around the clock to cool overheating reactors and spent fuel rods since the disaster on March 11."
Despite sweltering heat from the damaged reactors, they must work in protective bodysuits to protect their skin from the poisonous radioactive particles that fill the air around them.
But as more radiation seeps into the atmosphere minute by minute, they know this job will be their last.
Five are believed to have already died and 15 are injured while others have said they know the radiation will kill them.
The original 50 brave souls were later joined by 150 colleagues and rotated in teams to limit their exposure to the radiation spewing from over-heating spent fuel rods after a series of explosions at the site. They were today joined by scores more workers.
Japan has rallied behind the workers with relatives telling of heart-breaking messages sent at the height of the crisis.
A woman said her husband continued to work while fully aware he was being bombarded with radiation. In a heartbreaking email, he told his wife: 'Please continue to live well, I cannot be home for a while.'
One girl tweeted in a message translated by ABC: 'My dad went to the nuclear plant, I've never seen my mother cry so hard. People at the plant are struggling, sacrificing themselves to protect you. Please dad come back alive.'
But it is becoming even more pressing that the Fukushima succeed after it was revealed today that Tokyo's tap water has been contaminated by unusual levels of radiation.
While only praise can be showered on these 50 or so volunteers for the true greater good, the biggest punishment possible should be doled out for those who knowingly let this catastrophe occur, if indeed corners were cut in the design of the NPP, and also for those who continue to lie to the population in an attempt to prevent a panic (yes, we have all heard the Mutual Assured Destruction lies of a government that does "what is best for everyone") while simply allowing an ever greater number of people to succumb to radiation poisoning or worse.
Yep. It's on the top of his hood.
There may be something to it, but I would say watch Trading Places (obviously not a scientific study, but a good example to stimulate discussion) and realize that circumstances have a huge role in how people act. (Nature/Nurture) Remember when people have nothing to lose they lose it.
Ms Creant -
I think we have to delve further into this conversation.
If you look anywhere in domestic/global you will find that the general behavior of blacks is quite bad. Just to name a few domestic examples think of: Camden NJ, Compton CA, Detroit MI. Those are some of the worsed areas in America and you will find a certain demographic in the majority. Even in the nicer cities the bad areas are always of a population overwhelmingly represented by blacks. Now if you zoom out and look at the world you will find the same thing. Just look at the entire continent of Africa and the only place that you really find any kind of stability is South Africa which happens to be represented by an overwhelming white majority. You can break it down country by country and find an overwhelming correlation that supports those facts. The fact that crime, unemployment, disease, and an unwillingness to become educated is for some reason engrained in the black DNA.
If you also want to look at technological breakthroughs of the human race you would likewise find a deficiency as it relates to blacks.
If you want to look at something as simple as music it is extremely rare to find complex and beutiful works often associated with Mozart, Bach, Chopin, etc etc. in the black culture.
I could really write an entire book on the subject but it's not unfair to say that in general blacks are more aggressive, less educated, riskier and unwilling to further themselves. I want to be specific that I am not painting every black with the same brush but if we are talking in general terms I would say that's pretty accurate if you're willing to observe it for what it is.
If you want to have a conversation about looting, look no further than Wall Street and Washington.
While those wearing the white, cone-shaped hats around here want to focus on some god-damn television sets among the poorest people in this country, and I'll show you TARP, ZIRP, QE1, QE2, and synthetic economies created under pyramiding debt which now totals $14,000,000,000,000.
Nothing, NOTHING on planet Earth compares to the looting and fleecing of this country by our educated, assimilated, country club elite.
And they are all FUCKING WHITE.
You racist fucking clowns are a joke.
First of all they are not all white.
Second of all the housing boom was the direct result of Washington forcing the banks to make loans to minorities particularly concerning FNM/FRE. Strange how an overwhelming majority of defaults occured by minorities, but you didn't hear them bitch when they were living high on the hog. Have you ever wondered why the minority community received such a disproportionate number of loans that defaulted? You can start by asking Maxine Waters and Barney Frank.
Third of all the minorities who got homes they couldn't afford to begin with are still living in those homes absent having to make any rent payments at all (I've talked to some who are at one year now) That must be nice, although I wouldn't know, as I've always been timely on my payments.
Fourth of all 98% of blacks voted for a President who has effectively continued the policy of bailing out WS. I guess they should have done their mutha fuckin' due diligence. Also, if you don't like that WS was bailed out you know where to find the 98% demograpic that voted for the person approving non-stop WS bailouts....be sure to ask them why they would approve bailing out a culture you deem to be 100% white.
And finally nothing I said was rascist. If you pulled your head out of the sand you would see what I was talking about are factual observations.
Bitch.
I've never met a racist pig or a religious fanatic who hasn't completely legitimized their racism or fanaticism to themselves. If you ask Richard Reid (the shoe bomber) if trying to light his feet on fire was appropriate, he'll think you're the stupid one. Unfortunately, in this example, he's probably right.
You may have yourself and a few others convinced, but everyone else looks at you with the same shock, awe, disgust and bewilderment that most people feel toward fanatical religions and the brain-washed, narrow-minded, garbage-filled mentality that accompanies them.
Ok.
Well if all you can do is call me rascist without addressing anything I've brought up who's the narrow minded, brainwashed individual with a garbage filled mentality?
Seriously though...you're comparing me to Richard Reid? From you I was expecting Hitler, maybe even Kambanda from Rowanda but Richard Reid? First time for everything!
There is little to discuss with racist pigs.
I brought up the looting and fleecing of America by Wall Street and Washington, and you immediately talk about Maxine Waters. Similarly, if I bring up the health of the American economy, and you talk about declining profit margins of white robes at your KKK clothing store, I'd think you're adding no credibility to the discussion.
Furthermore, I'm not comparing you to Richard Reid or Hitler or other notable names, because at least they had balls to carry out their convictions.
You're just an anonymous, ranting racist pig on an internet forum. If you put a price on human behavior, that's about as cheap as it gets.
You are utterly banal and lacking any meaningful reason for me to carry on this dialogue with you.
Indeed, walk away. If you can't find your neighborhood from here, just look for the burning crosses in the front lawns.
Bottom of the ninth, you're losing 50-0.....great time to quit and tell me I'm banal.
Rowanda? Is that a joke?
Wow MM, you're quite hysterical, aren't you? Yup, there are banksters that have looted - and the size is enormous! But there are blacks that looted too - the devastation they have created in their society - at that time and place - is also enormous to their neighbors around them.
Doing one of these shrill liberal type rants is quite assinine. Bringing up religion, etc is something to save for your PBS dial-in. These are all serious points. These are discussions that are going to have to be done in public soon, because welfare, multi-generational dependency AS WELL AS corporate welfare, political favoritism, etc are no longer going to be paid for by those that produce/create value in our society.
Bulls-eyes will be soon be on our now overly dependent minority communities, corporate rent seekers, politicians, etc. Get used to these dicussions. Ad homimums only work on the Rachel Maddow show...
One's morals and values are instilled through the family structure. In most cases, blacks that come from a good solid hardworking family are some of the best people you'll meet. It isn't in their DNA. To the contrary, it is the welfare system that destroyed the black family structure in America causing so many births out of wedlock. The liberals of America "may" have thought they were doing good with Welfare, but instead they have destroyed the black community. THIS is why many black communities feed on their own with drugs and violence. BTW, the reason the LA looting left the Korean areas without a scratch was Koreans on the rooftops of buildings shooting any troublemakers.
What about Africa?
Is that to be blamed on the overly zealous US welfare system as well?
Like I said...pick any country (in the WORLD) and analyze, it's not exclusive to America.
I'm so sick of these bullshit misnomers.
++ You nailed it, Baby. At the time I saw the irony in New Oreans and just shook my head.
+1000 Mscreant!
Hey Trav. Go fuck yourself. Seriously.
Also, get the fuck out of here with the racist bullshit. Whites loot too. NOLA is just overwhelmingly black.
But seriously, go die somewhere, alone.
It has to go even farther back and deeper than flash-in-the-pan Beck. This started a while back and, somehow, gathered enough momentum to persuade the feeble minded that we are an inferior breed of human being.
I literally have no fucking clue why it's that bad. Obviously, most of them have never been to the utter shitholes for countries I have nor dealt with their 'people'.
Yes this has definitely been going on for quite some time now but I was only refering to the immediate responses to this crisis. Actually this reminds me of George Carlin's bit on how we are led to believe we are all sick or somehow not up to par.
Yes, and if we are going to pick on a media reference for that, may I nominate the NYT, CNN, ABC, NBC and CBS as candidates.....Hmmmm?
yeah...it's almost as the ones controlling the message don't like white people...
I think you are making a fundamental error here. It's nothing to do with 'breed' - it's culture.
In an earlier post, you noted that you and your neighbours regularly carry firearms, but they're not used. Compare this with (say) inner-city Baltimore. Both areas are in the US, but both have completely different cultures. If you were to take a baby out of one of those Baltimore slums, and bring him up in your family, do you genuinely have any doubt he wouldn't be as law abiding as you are? If not, then you surely agree that these behavioural differences stem from cultural differences.
And cultures are different in different countries. The mere fact that you believe that some other countries are utter shitholes, means you must be open at least to the possibility that there may be countries or cultures that are better in some ways than your own.
Getting upset about the very idea suggests you've been brainwashed.
culture is created by people...I hope that you meant to say "biological" differences, in which case you would be correct.
Black babies adopted by white families have crime rates indicative of their parents', and diverge markedly from their adopted families'. In addition, their IQ correlates far more strongly with biology than where they are raised. This is true across all income spectra. And the asian babies tend to outperform the white siblings in families they are adopted into.
Upper-middle black kids score about as well as dirtpoor whites.
It has everything to do with breed. Most behavior is evolutionary in nature.
I'd be interested to see your sources for this, Trav.
Until fairly recently, I would have agreed with you, but then I read a book called Race and Culture, which looked at the issue from many angles, and very persuasively came to the opposite conclusion.
Of course, you'd probably dismiss the author, Thomas Sowell, a black academic ;-)
Sowell is a smart guy. The fact that you take him seriously attests to his intelligence, despite the fact that he has about as much expertise in the field as he has in quantum physics. You should check out other sources, including basic research. This is a total taboo in psychology - and for a good reason. Researching race differences is a career ender, unless the results are good for 'minorities'. Science can be as much of a fantasy world as the financial system.
Yes, he is a smart guy, and writes very well. His Basic Economics is an excellent primer (though rather mainstream when it comes to monetary theory).
He also comments on the modern career-ending nature of comparing IQ test results between ethnic groups, and strongly disapproves of its 'taboofulness'.
However, he's big on data analysis. And the analyses he did give were pretty persuasive. For example, IIRC, in the early 20th century, IQ tests were administered as a matter of course to American immigrants. Ashkenazi Jews scored particularly poorly, back then, yet their direct descendants, who have tended to live in the same neighbourhoods and largely interbred, have scores above average now. That is a somewhat abbreviated example, but I haven't the book to hand :-)
One area I certainly don't agree with him on is foreign policy. He's drunk deep from the neocon well and spouts their Koolaid big time.
Yes, he's a major neocon Koolaid pusher but most of the time he has common sense - which is rare - especially in academia. I have a degree in experimental psychology and I can assure you that you have to be careful what you believe. IQ research relies mainly on two sources for quantifying intelligence and measuring individual and group differences: Statistically derived/theoretical constructs and biological variables. There are a bunch of biological variables that are pretty solid and differ between races, including differences in cortical thickness and genes controlling brain development. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. These variables are taboo. Critics of IQ measurements usually attack the statistical constructs, i.e. tests, and totally ignore the biological findings. There's a thick layer of statistical analysis 'with an agenda' and general bullshit superimposed upon the solid biological evidence and you have to go below all the bullshit to see whats' going on. Most of this stuff isn't even worth reading before you check out the basics.
Regarding careers and testing, my view is that personality tests are more damaging than IQ test. Most of the tests used nowadays are extremely dubious with 'personality factors' that are statistically derived and connect badly to any biological reality. You can be 'disagreeable' on one test but high on the same attribute would make you an 'independent thinker' on another. Do you think you would get a job if you took the first one?
Interesting. I've often thought it can't be a coincidence that a disproportionate number of great sportsmen and innovative musicians were black, but I wasn't aware there were substantive biological differences in the brain. Can you point me to some reputable links so I can research the subject a little more deeply?
I know that IQ testing came under a lot of flack around the middle of last century, because there was sometimes considerable pro-caucasian bias. The testee, in one example, was asked to choose the person with the most 'attractive' features, and there was a choice between line drawings of people with increasingly 'negroid' features. Obviously, the 'correct' answer was the person sporting the slimmest lips and nose - ie, the least African. Hard to see how the typical black subject wouldn't have got that answer 'wrong'. Though I suppose you could argue that an intelligent black person would be aware that the tests were designed by whitey, for whitey.
You can be 'disagreeable' on one test but high on the same attribute would make you an 'independent thinker' on another. Do you think you would get a job if you took the first one?
They might not get a job if they took the second one, either. Who wants to hire an 'independent thinker' these days?
BigJim, I appreciate your rational comments here. This crowd seems pretty difficult to carry on a debate with. I've tried a couple times and it mostly falls into ad hominems, and then if you press your point with undeniable facts, the subject gets changed or we get down to the inevitable "Well, fuck you then." response, which is always a great closer. lol
Apparently not in the discipline of nuclear power plant construction/management which as it turns out happens to be a pretty big deal.
It wasn't Asians who put the cooling pools on top of the reactors. Our much beloved General Electric did that - probably to save money in construction and to be able to make a lower bid for the project.
I guess if the government of Japan decided to contract GE to build a nuclear power plant inside of the Mt.Fuji cauldera you would somehow rationalize that should Mt. Fuji erupt it would be the fault of GE if something went wrong at the power plant.
GE also didn't operate the plant either nor were they involved in the inspections/scandals involving that.
The reactor performed just as it should have. It was the fault of the Japanese for allowing such a reactor to be built in that location without additional safety measures being required. That's the real story here. That and the shitty enforcement of already lax safety standards.
You are right, but evidently there's a bunch of identical reactors in use in the United States. At least one of them is directly on the San Andreas fault. The Japanese operators were guilty of implementing lax standards and shortsightedness when they picked a spot for the reactors but they are not the only ones. I'm willing to bet a case of Johnny Walker that nothing will be done about the Cali nukes apart from some 'reviews' and that when the big one strikes shit will hit the fan seriously big time.
You are a liar, sir. There is more genetic diversity among black Africans than there is among the entire rest of the world.
Go die alone, you fuck.
Though you're begging for government intervention when disaster strikes. I loved to see our heroic journalists rushing up to traumitized Japanese asking the breathlessly, "Do you think your government is doing enough? Are they acting quickly enough in their response?"
I think many would, and have. Anyone who thinks otherwise does not know the American people. I don't blame them,though. Anyone who is not an American worker would have no way of knowing.
Heros in every sense of the word....
Selfless sacrifice is in short abundance in this day and age.
The Case For Nuclear Fukushima Daiichi Unit-3 Top Blown Completely Off Slideshow http://tinyurl.com/4wxngp8
did you notice the one set of photos that appeared to show the reactor casing blown in half?
Great series of photos!
I saw one slide in there that was Fukushima II though ...
banzai
Respect.
I am Chumbawamba.
Aye. Honor is thiers.
Ditto
I am NOT Chumbawamba.
LOLOLOL
I AM CHUMBADUMBA!
LOLOLOL!
Of course, you know you're mad, don't you? ;)
Now THIS is what a BAILOUT really looks like.
God dBless them.
Good on you, mate!
So who's going over to sell them cancer insurance?
AIG. They can then bundle the policies and break them into tranches. We can sell the lowest tranches back to Japan and then use that money to buy Japanese government debt. When the people start dying en masse the U.S. government can bailout AIG. It seems like a plan to me.
DING DING DING WE HAVE A WINNER!!!
Sleazy US insurance companies were selling "cancer insurance" to Japanese long before I was born. Those insureds who actually came down with cancer were denied coverage as an alleged (baselessly alleged) "preexisting condition." It's all in the history books, not that 90% of the people commenting here would know anything that happened more than a couple weeks ago.
Die in a fire Mad Max...
I just junked him too. Came too late to see the original reply.
This thread should really be about the heroes who are giving their lives while incompetents and criminals are getting off free. For now.
See comment #1092944.
Disappointed in you DCRB. Your comments are usually much more intelligent.
Yup, you're a piece of shit asshole with no heart and no brains. Good bye.
I know people living in the affected areas you putrid little fuck.
When you die; I sincerely hope you go out alone and scared you worthless piece of trash.
GOD bless them
As far as I'm concerned the efforts made by these men and women will never be fully appreciated. It's fitting that Tyler reproduce this piece here on ZH considering the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl is right around the corner.
Thanks Tyler for taking time out to honor them.
These few Japanese are displaying what is finest in human nature. God bless them.
Then there are the sociopaths on Wall St and Treasury... Jump you azz hats
Somebody posted a documentary on Chernobyl on ZH on Saturday. It was about an hour and 35 minutes long. I watched the whole thing. It was really great and scary. What those miners did was unbelievable. Those fucking guys are heroes. Their actions, whether they realized how dangerous it was or not, was amazing. It nearly brought me to tears. Humans still have a lot of humanity in them.
Amen.
I concur. However this happened, it should not detract from the selfless efforts of these workers. Heroes.
You are absolutely right.
Quantified along the lines of the entire island of Japan, and the many millinea of comprehensive Japanese culture wiped from the map while air the rest of us breathe is toxic for decades.
There are still good people in the world. I'm sorry that these few souls had to sacrifice their lives to prove it.
Hopefully they'll form a pact like the Chilean miners that will share amonst themselves whatever benefits they (or their surviving relatives) reap from their subsequent fame and notoriety.
True heroes. Their families needed to be rewarded and taken care of for generations.
Sadly, their future generations will be taken care of alright.
Not if modern finance has anything to say about it.
There is not even one hero in finance - affirmed again and again.
speaking of Chernobyl.. what is their advice to the Japanese? One word: "Run"
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/22/chernobyl-cleanup-survivors-message-for-japan-run-away-as-qui/Godspeed.
These brave people should have the support, commitment and resources of the entire world working with and for them.
Drag it all into the daylight. Honor where honor is due, and truth where there would be darkness.
Does anyone else feel like the power cord is Japan's version of the tunnel? People asked to risk everything to implement a solution that won't be used. Is this too obvious?
Look at the 10Year on yahoo finance. Must be a typo
http://finance.yahoo.com/
Why hasn't the Fukushima plant been entombed just like Chernobyl???
The 50 are true heroes in the samurai tradition. However, their sacrifices would not have been necessary if the Japanese Government and TEPCO had acted responsibly and entombed the plant more than a week ago.
Because left uncooled it would have melted into the ground below, rendering the entombing useless anyway. They have to cool it first.
we have a "bingo"!
I agree...That horrible Japanese govt is making a sideshow here using Japanese martyrdom samurai style that died when Japan modernized over 200 yrs ago.A completely useless and wasteful sacrifice
True definition of survival would have encased these blown up piece of junk reactors that are still melting down spreading radiation.
In less than 6mth from now the Japanese government will successful send their economy into a fiscal meltdown, irradiate huge portions of the pacific/America, cause hyper inflation/riots in it's own country and help escalate tensions between China/US.
Disgusting situation. but drawing us close to the endgame
if this were kitty litter or even medical waste, or asbestos, or agent orange, you would be almost certainly absolutely right, chump.
but, its' not. personally, i don't think they can entomb this site, right now. there are 4 nuclear cores involved, hot, maybe more, and hundreds, quite possibly thousands of times the nuclear materials present at chernobyl, due to 40 years' m/l of waste being stored, literally, within pissing distance of the cores. for you, at least, you big hoser, you.
so, since there is a very, very, very high probability that entombment of this will not actually be contained for long by the "quicky job" you fuking trolls postulate, ad infinitum et ad nauseum, we come to the real reason why their idea of "survival" is far superior to yours, which is, basically, as with yer buddy, here, due to either psychosis or severe retardation.
asswipes.
On a long enough timeline
The survival rate for
Everyone drops to zero.
God bless the people of Japan and especially these workers.
At first I was doubting TEPCOs statements about there being 50 workers still on location. There is no doubt. These guys are rockstars.
True kamikaze spirit...except, with an actual honorable purpose this time.
+ 5
then
+ 50
then tears.
Bring their families to America.
Let us hope they receive more recognition than the many thousands who worked at Chernobyl
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquidators
and there are 50 guys at fukushima? and about that many times nuclear fuel, compared to chernobyl? with pretty much confirmed reports, if the neutron beams do indicate meltdown, of meltdown at at least one reactor?
And of course, according to IAEA and other industry lobby groups, Chernobyl only caused the death of 4,000.
Ever get the feeling you've been lied to?
You know, I am not anti-nuclear per se, but it's this cutting corners to make it look more profitable and then covering up mistakes in collusion with governments and media, not just at the time, but for years afterwards that really fucks me off.
Amazing courage, and am amazing sense of duty. Now lets make sure we pay the CEO as much as we can.
I love this comment.
Those 5 may end up being the lucky ones.
Hats off to their bravery. May God rest their souls.
Yes.
God bless them all and their families.
The Brave pay with their lives for the greed of cowards - Hope they find peace - IB
Amen. Virtually all natural disasters are a result of piss poor planning and corruption on the part of developers paying off corrupt politicians. An interesting read - Americans and Fire by a former Director of the National Park Service, Roger Kennedy.
http://books.google.com/books?id=vpXo_JuEU1cC&printsec=frontcover&dq=wildfire+and+americans+Roger+G.+Kennedy&source=bl&ots=t5oQkejhxR&sig=sLZnOixDDg48t8ArII1-VbhqhLw&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false
Amen. Virtually all natural disasters are a result of piss poor planning and corruption on the part of developers paying off corrupt politicians. An interesting read - Americans and Fire by a former Director of the National Park Service, Roger Kennedy.
http://books.google.com/books?id=vpXo_JuEU1cC&printsec=frontcover&dq=wildfire+and+americans+Roger+G.+Kennedy&source=bl&ots=t5oQkejhxR&sig=sLZnOixDDg48t8ArII1-VbhqhLw&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false
Amen. Virtually all natural disasters are a result of piss poor planning and corruption on the part of developers paying off corrupt politicians. An interesting read - Americans and Fire by a former Director of the National Park Service, Roger Kennedy.
http://books.google.com/books?id=vpXo_JuEU1cC&printsec=frontcover&dq=wildfire+and+americans+Roger+G.+Kennedy&source=bl&ots=t5oQkejhxR&sig=sLZnOixDDg48t8ArII1-VbhqhLw&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false
Having walked down operating Nuke Units, and been in plants during forced shutdowns I can relate to te environment they are working in, but certainly not the level of non-contained radiation, darkness, danger, lack of resources, and tremendous stress. These 50 fellows are heros, not the make believe kind, or the guy that is recruited into something and makes the best of it -- these are volunteers and now in all probability "walking dead". They are litereally sacrificing their health and ultimately their lives in doing the best they can to prevent or limit further disaster.
http://aucanary.blogspot.com/2011/03/japan-govt-ups-permissible-radiation.html
And some are young and leaving wives and children behind.
I honestly don't really comprehend it.
. . . unless these guys really do know and understand just how serious the matter is, and they are doing it precisely for those loved ones. (If anyone were to know and understand, it would be these guys.)
there may well be many "locals" from this and adjoining prefectures, who have lived near and been employed around the "nuclear electric power industry" centered at Fukushima. Their homes, gardens, neighborhoods have likely been rendered uninhabitable. they may also have been exposed to high radiation levels due to proximity and lack of mobility due to pure chaos.
i'm sure there are 50 stories and, here, and some of their family folks are expressing themselves, also. we'll learn more of these people, i hope. maybe not all of the people who are "higher up" in the engineering, corporate, regulatory, and political senses are monsterz, too...
shit happened, there. unbelievable shit, in many ways. people got hit with it. people stepped in it. many people are pretty much covered with it, i'll opine. and, people are stepping up to it, too. skilled, educated, self-sacrificing, caring, intelligent, brave, scared, styoopid, selfish, mean and greedy, fuking shitheaded morons pretty similar to us, too...
The Dirty Dozen
My prayers go out to these brave men. Many, many blessings to them and their families are my sincere wishes.
On behalf of the planet Earth, thank you. We'll try to deserve your sacrifice.
The ultimate sacrifice, especially considering the lying,incompetent,undeserving sacks of shit they serve.
History will NEVER forget you heroes
They are incredible heroes, but unfortunately if history is any guide they will be buried in history. Would their names be published? Do you know the names of the thousands who sarcified in Chernobyl? As human beings who has/had lived a full life they deserved to be known for just their last act as anonymous heroes.
Good point, but back in the USSR at that time the policy was to lie, deceive, deny...oh wait.
Seriously though, not taking anything away from that tragedy and the sacrifices that were made (and in some cases) probably at gun-point.
But in this case, the disgrace of this situation from beginning to ________, mark my words there will be a monument built in there honor, and rightly so.
Well done Tyler.
The pictures are surreal, what an invisible beast is radiation.
The Mail always has great pictures.
"Fiend Without a Face":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiend_without_a_face
It just makes me want to cry. Good honest people dying because of the greed and stupidity of others. The Japanese will come back. They are an awesome people.
Prayers to their families.
God was going to wipe humanity off the planet for our sinful ways, but then he said "fuck it, you morons are going to do it to yourselves anyway" and cracked open a Guinness.
is doug "short PMs" kass in those pics?
here he is on fast money and i bet there is no PM question asked
Yes, these people are heroes!
As for TEPCO top management, who now are increasing the companys debt load with a cool 2 trillion ($24.7 billion or so), I hold nothing but contempt.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific_business/view/1118323/1/.html
Tyler, THEY ARE NOT TEPCO EMLOYEES. May include some, but mostly they are engineers from Toshiba, Hitachi (who built the reactors) and Kajima, general contractor who built the plant.
Toshiba and Hitachi engineers were the ones who laid power cables, Kajima probably did the road repair.
In the meantime, Reactor 3 smoke is "black".
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/03/fukushima-i-nuke-plant-black-smoke.html
It does not matter who they are, the Fifty.
As an above replier said, they deserve a monument with their names on it.
Are those control rooms below/side of the reactors?! Wont the eventual meltdown come through above them?
Good Article Zero Hedge.........The Japanese people are in shock. dont know how much more they can take. They had 3 big aftershocks last nite....On the Interactive Quake map you can watch 735 Quakes happen since March 11....Pray for Japan
if you have not seen the map.......view it here.
http://nakedempire2.blogspot.com/
Humans,
On the precipice they tend to find focus.
all
I am a know nothing about nukes and have no dog in the fight that is now emerging in Japan. What I would like to know is "how does iodine get from this plant to Tokyo" if that is what is occurring at all? To date I've been told by our own media "Japan is no big deal." To date i've been told "there is no need to worry about our own nuclear safety protocols." Yet to date I still don't understand how such a catastrophe so far from Tokyo can impact a city "of 30 million" although i can understand why that "city of 30 million" is acting a "little on the edge" right now by "buying all the bottle water in the country." I did have a back and forth with a guy equating this to "eating a banana" on zero-hedge. "The 50" i imagine "have a different view." Now cue the cameras to the "Tom Cruise vs. The Colonel for a Few Good Men moment" i guess. "those aren't real and innocent people we're murdering so we can watch it happen"--just "entertainment"?
.
I'm exactly like you, I "know nothing about nukes and have no dog in the fight", but basic logic tells us that if we're seeing the readings that are being reported in Tokyo, the surrounding countryside, and the atmosphere all the way to Europe, the release has been many times greater than has been admitted. It's that simple. Something doesn't add up, and since the "distant" readings are independently verified, the "discrepancy" must be due to what is being reported at the site itself. That's my take anyway.
Tokyo water system specs in hand (thx davepowers on this site). Will provide an analysis this evening sometime. Stay tuned.
As a child I always worried about such an event. As I grew older I didn't think that it would ever happen. There is no cold war. No countries want to use nuclear weapons. But look...we are destroying ourselves with "peaceful" technology. How ironic.
It looks like Humanity is the weapon. We are our own worst enemies. I have lost respect for my own species. I believe we are failures now.
Lord, we broke the planet!
"Broke the planet" I don't think so. This planet has survived asteriod hits and super volcanos. Once the human "surface nuisance" kills themselves off, the planet will do just fine! And I'm sure the cockroaches that survive the global annihilation will evolve into some very interesting life-forms that will be much more resistant to radiation.
You should remove yourself from the gene pool as your fatalistic bullshit is not helpful and bound to create more problems. "We broke the planet" get a hold of yourself, if I was there I would be slapping you until you cried..
OMFG, just kill yourself now.
ALL of you fucking Eeyore apocalyptics, just DIE. DO IT. Stop nibbling on the barrel, PULL THE TRIGGER
omg omg jfc jfc.
Calm the fuck down.
Take a god damn xanax trav. I've never seen someone get so frantic about arguing with anonymous strangers.
i'm goin +++++ for "Eeyore apocalyptics", bob_d.
i was gonna say, if ya feel that strongly abt it, why doncha just bite his dick?
but i won't. lol! you take the xanax, T & i will put on a pot of French "neutron beam" Roast, and get chronic-ly zero'd in as best we can. i'm too wasted to drink. i won't be able to ride my bike safely. i'll bar tend, 'k?
How old are you, Trav? 16...Mebbe 18 on the outside. Your avatar speaks volumes. I think you need some other hobbies... This blogging doesn't really seem to be a good fit for you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_accidents
China kills thousands of coal miners EACH YEAR. Dead, as in, not merely an increased risk of cancer in the future. Looks like they x'd off 6000+ in 2004 and 4749 in 2006, among other bad years. Not to mention that basically 100% of coal miners will get black lung disease, and die from it if something else doesn't kill them sooner. The US tends to have a couple dozen coal miner deaths EACH YEAR. Again, dead, not merely increased risk of cancer.
I'm not trying to be heartless here, but ZH's recent coverage of Fukushima has been worthy of the National Enquirer, at best. It's like people getting terrified of "terrorism" when car accidents and smoking are the real preventable killers. Yes, the "Fukushima Fifty" are putting their lives at risk. I'll bet a couple of them don't see 2012, and many get cancer within 10-15 years. That's awful. But so are the vastly greater deaths from coal mining, which gets no coverage here or almost anywhere. Just to cite one example.
So are you trying to make a case for Nuclear Energy, a means of energy that can lay waste to entire portions of continents? It's insanity.
No, I am making a case for little metal boxes propelled across the surface of the planet at great relative velocities which will kill, in one country only, up to 50,000 people and maim many more every year.. Driven a car lately? Relax clarence..
no, your posts are insanity.
and this site, on this topic, exists to do nothing but inspire utter fucking hysteria.
I don't know what happened to ZH in the past couple of weeks, but it jumped the shark somewhere. Are the moonbat guest commentators ghost writing this shit?
S U P E R m o_o n bats, trav†
+1000 rads to "jumped the shark." It's like every idiot who comments at yahoo! news decided to comment at ZH.
I'm starting to think Tyler got "replaced" involuntarily, or made an offer he couldn't refuse, and now ZH is going to be some pathetic mishmash of Mad Money, Infowars, and the National Enquirer.
"entire portions of continents"!
WTF, what statistic did you straight-line to get that conclusion!
I don't buy your logic. Yes other things can and do kill people. Coal mining is dangerous. We all know this. This is a massive nuclear crisis on top of one of the worst natural disasters in recent history.
By your logic we may as well not discuss the earthquake/tsunami at all. After all, more people die from heart disease.
The logic is very simple. Many people are getting hugely excited over radiation exposure that represents a significant health risk, but by no means guaranteed permanent harm, to fifty people. Those same people, for the most part, couldn't care less that thousands and thousands of people die EACH YEAR as a direct result of the other main option for large-scale baseload electric power. EACH YEAR. That includes one to three dozen in the US, some in various other first-world countries, and thousands in China and some other developing nations. This is just typical, asinine, immature focus on one dramatic "risk" while completely ignoring a far larger, very real, proven risk.
This is a massive nuclear accident, by nuclear industry standards. And it's killed fewer people so far than a relatively small coal mining accident.
I'm not in any way diminishing the enormous tragedy of the earthquake and tsunami, or the fact that this is one of the worst nuclear reactor accidents the world has seen. What I'm pointing out is that one of the worst nuclear reactor accidents the world has seen isn't killing very many people, while the major viable alternative kills people on a weekly if not daily basis.
on Tue, 03/22/2011 - 08:50
#1085400
This issue is immediate and it is interesting and it can directly and immediately effect the markets. However, the sum total of this single incident is likely far less than the aggregate of "brown" conditions in place today and occurring on a daily basis.
It's called the self-defeating way that humans discount the future...
I'm not an advocate of coal. It is, as you say, dirty, and dangerous.
But how many GWatts is produced by coal every year, vs how many by nuclear? And as industry, military and governments downplay the severity of nuclear accidents, radiation exposure, long term costs and consequences of Uranium mining, as well as the long term costs of decommissioning the radioactive crap NPPs produce, it's even harder to make a balanced comparison.
Furthermore, coal is cheap. More people may indeed directly die from coal-fired energy production, but you're committing the classic economic fallacy of not considering the unseen. Nuclear is much more expensive than coal, and the money spent on it is money not spent on hospitals, medical research, alternative technologies, etc, all of which would be saving lives.
So before jumping to the conclusion that Nuclear is safer, maybe you need to re-examine your assumptions.
Heating your house by burning the furniture is pretty cheap too (assuming you did not pay for the furniture)
Burning coal in the way that is going on and being proposed will all but kill this planet....I'll take my chances with a few nuclear hot-spots over that any day...
Am I the only OTHER person who can remember from social studies class about the AIR in London during the onset of the coal-powered industrial revolution??
Do these people fancy that the air in Beijing even during the Olympics was a health hazard because of anything other than coal power?
Coal releases radiation in abundance along with heavy metals. Hell, even in diesel Europe they are finding abundance of respiratory cancers...these are due to DIESEL CARS.
And here we are hysterical over nuclear because of "meltdown" and "radiation."
For a site whose members fancy themselves critical thinkers, there is nothing but a lot of lemming activity around here.
Ya know, I think I remember something about that too. However, what I don't remember is it being nec. for 100s, 1,000's, 10,000s, 100,000s of people to die when there was an accident at one of those plants.
I also don't recall in that chapter entire cities being evacuated (decades so far for Pripyat) if a piece of coal became dislodged.
I know it's in your character to somehow make nuclear fallout and coal pollution analagous. You do it with such mastery.
For the record approx. 100,000 americans have died from coal mining accidents in the last 100 years.....not to mention 4000 new cases of "Black Lung" in the U.S. each year....Let's not even get into how many Chinese die...
Here is the catch... fallout from coal and nukes are basically different sides of the same coin...
You are missing my point...
It is said that about 100,000 died cleaning up Chernobyl alone. Although impossible to determine there have been estimates that up to 1,000,000 died as a direct result of the fallout and the clean up.
It's an apples to oranges comparison.
a million deaths, sure buddy, lets see real stats from credible sources, simply "it is said" doesn't cut it
"Nearly one million people around the world died from exposure to radiation released by the 1986 nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl reactor"
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2010/2010-04-26-01.html
And to obtain the full book from the New York Academy of Sciences
http://www.nyas.org/Publications/Annals/Detail.aspx?cid=f3f3bd16-51ba-4d7b-a086-753f44b3bfc1
Green peace reports the number @ 200,000
Liquidators (Russian: ????????????) is the name given in the former USSR to approximately 800,000[citation needed] people who were in charge of the removal of the consequences of the April 26, 1986 Chernobyl disaster on the site of the event.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquidator_(Chernobyl)
Like I said the real number is impossible to determine but the numbers are big and out there.
It could help if you did your own research.
My first post (junked into oblivion) noted that you get about four times more radiation standing outside a coal plant than you do outside a nuclear plant.
But who cares about facts anyway.
Not if you're standing outside Fukushima, or Chernobyl for that matter.
Perfect! You are an ideal example of how people focus on rare, exceptional events and completely disregard ordinary risks that are often of greater magnitude.
Chernobyl was an exceptional disaster, with a reactor design that was insanely dangerous, and the designers didn't bother to warn the operators of its operating characteristics.
I would rather not be standing outside the Fukushima plant right now, but how many people reading here, who will never be within 1000 miles of a reactor accident, live within a few miles of a coal plant and breathe those nasty heavy metals every day?
And you're the ideal example of how people cherry pick data and don't see the whole picture. Yes, Chernobyl was an insanely dangerous design, but as we've been repeatedly told, because our reactors are so much safer, major nuclear accidents can't happen here in the West. Oh. Look - one just did.
Uranium is dirty and dangerous to mine, process, use, and dispose of. None of the externalities of storage are met by the industry, and they extend for centuries, if not millenia. And when nuclear goes bad, it goes bad in a big way. The Chernobyl story (and the Fukushima story, for that matter) has not fully played out yet, and won't for centuries. The sarcophagus is cracking, no one knows how much contamination has leached down and is spreading beyond the local aquifers, and the genetic damage to the people who were exposed will echo down through our gene pool forever.
And as I pointed at the start of this conversation, I'm not a big fan of coal, just pointing out that your comparisons of risk/cost wrt to nuclear are completely flawed.
No, I remember that too trav.
ZH is about 90% lemmings now. We just need to point them toward a cliff, and watch.
Its not that bad yet. But here goes: History channel is airing a program right now called "Journey to the Earths core". Talks about a mine in south africa that provides half of the worlds current gold harvest. "A handfull of people die each year from rockslides/collapses"
You can't eat gold. It wont make your car move to the store to buy something you eat. It wont keep the lights on for you to see, but we are willing to have men die for it anyway.
Oh no, now you've attacked the REAL sacred cow of ZH, "gold bitchez." You might as well just move to Borneo at this point.