Merged 8.8 quake in Sendai, Japan

[Bill Thompson]

People seem to be overlooking the upside to the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan.

Some stocks have gone on sale.

no

People seem to be overlooking the upside to the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan.

Which is?

Charlie Sheen has been knocked out of the headlines.

 

[Rolfe]

You obviously have different headlines to the one I see.

Rolfe.

 

[Bluespaceoddity]

Actually, this isn't even accurate,

Please correct the inaccuracies.

I've already posted that attributing the loss of life to the explosions at Fukushima 1 was not correct. The only death was at Fukushima 2 and was not caused by reactor malfunction. Including that was my mistake as I noted in an earlier reply. If there are other errors in my comment go ahead and correct those.

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Charlie Sheen has been knocked out of the headlines.

Others see that as a bad thing: http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=203441

 

[dudalb]

You obviously have different headlines to the one I see.

Rolfe.

Im the US, until Friday, it was Charlie Sheen 24/7 on the newcasts......

 

[Fast Eddie B]

My wife, Karen, is a believer. But not anywhere near a fundamentalist.

But she has a friend who is. They're pretty much best friends, and she seems like a generally nice person.

But they were discussing the tragedy in Japan, and her friend said, "Of course, only 7% of Japanese are Christian".

Karen saw zero point in going down that road, and related it to me in disappointment.

While its a simple statement of fact, it seemed TOTALLY irrelevant to the discussion, and a callous thing to even mention.

Sad.

 

[dudalb]

My wife, Karen, is a believer. But not anywhere near a fundamentalist.

But she has a friend who is. They're pretty much best friends, and she seems like a generally nice person.

But they were discussing the tragedy in Japan, and her friend said, "Of course, only 7% of Japanese are Christian".

Karen saw zero point in going down that road, and related it to me in disappointment.

While its a simple statement of fact, it seemed TOTALLY irrelevant to the discussion, and a callous thing to even mention.

Sad.

In the end, most fundementalist religions come down to "Destroy all Infidels".

 

[Bill Thompson]

OK, well then a potential benefit might be that Charlie Sheen may have been knocked out of some headlines. By the way, that is tongue-in-cheek.

 

[Stray Cat]

In the end, most fundementalist religions come down to "Destroy all Infidels".

Yes, it's amazing how "Love thy Neighbour" goes out of the window as and when required isn't it?

And us atheists are supposed to be the immoral ones.

 

[dudalb]

To be fair, I have seen some Athiests who are just as intolerent as religious fundies.

 

[jimbob]

Imperial Japan wasn't a very nice empire, even by the standards of empires.

Imperial Japan is still an Empire, unless they've ousted Akihito in the last couple of days.

I'd forgotten about that.

Exapansionist Imperial Japan wasn't nice...

And amongst certain people, it could be considered to be similar to using a swastika to demonstrate support for Germany.

 

[a_unique_person]

I have been thinking, and was wondering if someone more knowledgeable could answer a question for me.

On first glance, one of the critical mistakes that seems to be made with this powerplant is to stick it right on the coast in an area that is Tsunami prone (the word itself is Japanese!).

But then it occurred to me; a nuclear powerplant needs water right, as a coolant. Without it, it seems meltdown is pretty much a certainty. Do they pull water from the mains, or do they have an isolated source on site that they just recycle or something?

Seems to me, if they use mains supply, there's a real danger in the event of a large earthquake of that supply being interrupted by damaged water systems. Even if the pipes to that particular plant did not fail, damage elsewhere in the system could drop water pressure to the point that it's unusable.

(I believe loss of water pressure has proved a major problem for firefighting efforts in multiple historic disasters including the Kobe quake, the Christchurch quake, and 9/11).

Wouldn't it therefore make sense to locate a nuclear power station in close vicinity to a large natural source of water, in the event of the unthinkable? Like, I don't know, the sea? And wouldn't the threat of having zero coolant due to water mains failure be worse than having to resort to dumping sea water on the plant because a Tsunami damaged the site?

Does this seem plausible, or have I missed something?

That this coast country has had a history of massive tsunami inundation in 1896 and 1993. This is not a 1000 year event. So the infrastructure should be able to cope with an extreme tsunami, not just a minor one. The current tsunami was to be expected. With only a little more work and expense, it would have coped flawlessly. Larger batteries, a standard power interface for attaching hire equipment, inundation proof containment of the backup generators. In relation to the total coast of the plant, a minor amount. That or built at a cliff that is higher, or further back from the coast and on higher ground, not directly on the coast as it was.

 

[Bill Thompson]

I think Doc's post and discussion thread is just trying to fuel anti-theist passions and he is not serious.

I think that girl who made a video where she mentioned "shaking Japan" in fact did not understand or visualize massive deaths.

Same thing happened with some Egyptians after 9-11. Seeing the twin towers falling was a happy religious experience just as long as no one told them about all the deaths.

 

[William Parcher]

Tsunami Killed Thousands Of Seabirds At Midway

At least 1,000 adult and adolescent Laysan Albatross were killed, along with thousands of chicks, said Barry W. Stieglitz, the project leader for the Hawaiian and Pacific Islands National Wildlife Refuges. Many drowned or were buried under debris as waves reaching 5 feet high rolled over the low-lying atoll about four hours after the magnitude-9.0 earthquake struck Friday.

Biologists are less sure how many ground-nesting Bonin Petrels may have died, because these birds live in underground burrows and would have been buried in areas covered by waves. Stieglitz estimated the death toll would reach the thousands. Since the Bonin Petrel feed at night, however, Stieglitz said he was hopeful many were out foraging when the tsunami hit before dawn.

 

[commandlinegamer]

Is it just me or does Emperor Akhito have an unusually large head?

 

[GlennB]

Is it just me or does Emperor Akhito have an unusually large head?

I had a huge double-take thingy watching him on TV. Looked like the head was cgi'd onto a fake body. Totally weird. [/ot]

 

[dudalb]

Tsunami Killed Thousands Of Seabirds At Midway

First time a attack originating in Japan has hit Midway since 1942.......

 

[wipeout]

This being Japan, I do have to wonder where the robots are. I've heard nothing about robots being used at the reactors.

Surely this is the time if there ever has been to be designing, creating and using robots.

 

[BenBurch]

This being Japan, I do have to wonder where the robots are. I've heard nothing about robots being used at the reactors.

Surely this is the time if there ever has been to be designing, creating and using robots.

I'd be amazed if there are not off the shelf robots that would be useful here.

 

[Undesired Walrus]

I had a huge double-take thingy watching him on TV. Looked like the head was cgi'd onto a fake body. Totally weird. [/ot]

Glad I wasn't alone in this.

Freaky stuff.