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General => General Discussion => Topic started by: juice on March 10, 2011, 11:49:49 PM
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Tokyo (CNN) -- An 8.8-magnitude earthquake hit Japan early Friday, triggering tsunami warnings and sending people fleeing out of buildings in the capital. The quake rattled buildings and toppled cars off bridges and into waters underneath. In Tokyo, crowds huddled together and tried to reach relatives via cell phone. Its epicenter was 373 kilometers (231 miles) from Tokyo, the United States Geological Survey said. It triggered a tsunami warning for various countries, including Japan and Russia, the National Weather Service said. "Earthquakes of this size are known to generate tsunamis potentially dangerous to coasts outside the source region," it said.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/11/japan.quake/?hpt=T2 (https://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/11/japan.quake/?hpt=T2)
These things seem to be happening awfully frequent now in days. I hope everyone is alright.
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(https://asset.ninemsn.com.au/img/000/000/153/124/japan4.jpg)
(https://asset.ninemsn.com.au/img/000/000/153/125/japan3.jpg)
:sad: tsunamis are so sudden, and it's extremely hard to reach stranded people for quite a while. i wish all those effected all the best
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My prayers are with everyone affected by this disaster. I was watching live coverage and the devastation was just unreal. At least 15 foot waves travelling at about 40 MPH.
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We were in Tokyo last march during an earthquake/tsunami as well. Lucky it wasn't like this one.
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That flaming house riding the tsunami is the fucking shit.
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That is awful.
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I hated how that article tried to relate it to the U.S.
"It could affect Hawaii."
"The U.S. military base is okay."
For fucks sake, a nation was just devastated. When things like this happen we need to support them instead of worrying about how it may or may not affect us. Maybe it's just me, I don't know.
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Saw the live coverage on tv while I was at the gym. Absolutely terrible, the natural disasters lately are horrific, my thoughts to every poor bastard involved in this.
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That flaming house riding the tsunami is the fucking shit.
+1
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That is horrible. I really hope that the region will get out of it okay.
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Fuck that's a bad! ack44 weren't you in Japan?
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Was also watching the coverage this morning, the damage is terrible. It was also pretty sad to watch.
There are also some rumours that there is a alert out regarding nuclear radiation leakage from one of the plants that is heavily damaged.
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Sad to see. Why is it that tsunamis seem so damn frequent of late. I don't remember them in the 80's. 90's?!
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I hated how that article tried to relate it to the U.S.
"It could affect Hawaii."
"The U.S. military base is okay."
For fucks sake, a nation was just devastated. When things like this happen we need to support them instead of worrying about how it may or may not affect us. Maybe it's just me, I don't know.
I didn't really notice it. It talked about the damage done, and said that it could also affect lots of other countries, as well as hawaii and possibly areas on the west coast. *shrug*
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Sad to see. Why is it that tsunamis seem so damn frequent of late. I don't remember them in the 80's. 90's?!
Mother Nature is starting to take revenge on the human race for how we are treating her.
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To be fair, the first thing most people are going to wonder about an earthquake in the Pacific is "OH SHI- WILL IT HIT HAWAII?", So, I'm pretty sure they're just covering the questions they know will come pouring in.
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you know they never report the important shit in these news, how long did it last?
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Sad to see. Why is it that tsunamis seem so damn frequent of late. I don't remember them in the 80's. 90's?!
The end is near?
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Sad to see. Why is it that tsunamis seem so damn frequent of late. I don't remember them in the 80's. 90's?!
Global destabilization.
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Wow, the footage is just awful.
And I think that newscasts in the USA are right in reporting that it could potentially affect Hawaii and maybe even the mainland west coast. I wouldn't expect other countries such as China or something to report the potential threat to the US, but you get the idea.
I've been watching Good Morning America- they were actually talking about all of the countries along the entire pacific ocean coastline that could potentially be affected by this.
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Sad to see. Why is it that tsunamis seem so damn frequent of late. I don't remember them in the 80's. 90's?!
It's more a case of a more globalized community, with instant 24/7 access to information. These sorts of things have always happened; we just hear about it more now.
My thoughts and prayers go out to those effected.
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These things seem to be happening awfully frequent now in days.
Sad to see. Why is it that tsunamis seem so damn frequent of late. I don't remember them in the 80's. 90's?!
Urbanization is a significant factor into an up tick in the frequency of major disasters, especially the propensity for people to move to disaster prone areas. The last major New Madrid earthquake resulted in farmers saying their animals ran off and everyone basically putting themselves back together. A repeat, which many expect is coming, would result in many urban centers becoming dependent on outside aid. If it does occur, it will be a major disaster. Then you have places like Dakar, where we see regular disasters of flooding because migration toward the urban center resulted in poor communities populating the region's floodplains. It used to flood and nobody cared, now it is a regular place for a disaster.
Awareness and better technology are another factor many people ignore. Faster and better sharing of information across the globe also helps make us more aware of events like this. News is no longer hand picked for people based on what paper they read or what tv station they watch. Technology also allows the relevant communities to now have more complete records for global data. Not too long ago if a human didn't witness and pass it outside their area, it didn't happen.
The big question is whether or not events that cause disasters really are occurring at a higher rate. There are popular, and valid, charts out there that show dramatic increases over the last 100 years, and especially the last 20 years. Both of the above factors have influenced the increases in those charts, which is expressed by those that created the charts. The thing to note is that floods and hurricanes have risen dramatically while earthquakes have risen a little but stabilized, quite possibly just a capturing of better reporting in the data. This suggests that possibility that weather related events have outpaced the influence of reporting and are starting to occur more frequently. It really doesn't prove it, though, since it's still hard to quantify the affects of migration.
If nothing else we'll definitely know more in a few decades now that we are paying attention to this topic, but for now the jury is out. Over the last five years we've had some up and some down in frequency, so at least it isn't an every year gets worse scenario.
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An American sent an eye report from Tokyo https://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-569316?hpt=C2
Doesn't seem that shaken up.
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This ain't cool. :( Such big disasters are so unexpected...
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Sad to see. Why is it that tsunamis seem so damn frequent of late. I don't remember them in the 80's. 90's?!
Mother Nature is starting to take revenge on the human race for how we are treating her.
This. I hate to open up this can of worms, but it's global climate change, the secondary effect of which is more frequent and more severe weather events worldwide.
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Sad to see. Why is it that tsunamis seem so damn frequent of late. I don't remember them in the 80's. 90's?!
The end is near?
" . . . and there will be earthquakes in one place after another". Written 2,000 years ago.
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I have a friend in Japan teaching English who felt the earthquakes (duh). His village is up in the mountains, so no tsunami risk, but still, crazy shit.
Also,
These things seem to be happening awfully frequent now in days.
Sad to see. Why is it that tsunamis seem so damn frequent of late. I don't remember them in the 80's. 90's?!
However, Professor McCue said earthquakes on plate boundaries often came in quick succession. ''We had a sequence of earthquakes in 1906 where there were at least six 'grade earthquakes' around the Pacific. And now we've had Chile last year and this one,'' he said.
''It's something we observe in all extreme events - they are clustered in time. That's what we observe they do but we don't have an answer for it.''
https://www.smh.com.au/world/disaster-clusters-keep-scientists-guessing-20110311-1brfp.html
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Sad to see. Why is it that tsunamis seem so damn frequent of late. I don't remember them in the 80's. 90's?!
The end is near?
" . . . and there will be earthquakes in one place after another". Written 2,000 years ago.
wow they must have been real good observers of natural magma activity. good for them.
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Sad to see. Why is it that tsunamis seem so damn frequent of late. I don't remember them in the 80's. 90's?!
Mother Nature is starting to take revenge on the human race for how we are treating her.
This. I hate to open up this can of worms, but it's global climate change, the secondary effect of which is more frequent and more severe weather events worldwide.
err wat?
1) climate change
2) ????
3) tsunamis
does not compute
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Sad to see. Why is it that tsunamis seem so damn frequent of late. I don't remember them in the 80's. 90's?!
Mother Nature is starting to take revenge on the human race for how we are treating her.
This. I hate to open up this can of worms, but it's global climate change, the secondary effect of which is more frequent and more severe weather events worldwide.
Which is not caused by human activity.
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Of course not. Carry on... ::)
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Can we take all of this 'we are destroying the world' crap over to P/R and just continue on topic?
I just read that both Hawaii and Indonesia only suffered very minor damage. And civilians nearby some Japanese nuclear power plants are being evacuated.
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it's pretty ignorant to blame global warming on earthquakes. if you really think weather patterns have the slightest power over magma activity and continental drift, you should probably keep your mouth shut.
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It's such a great thing Japanese citizens are prepared enough to face this type of catastrophes. Can't say the same about many countries in the world, though.
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I heard that radiation had leaked from a nuclear power plant :(
the video I saw of the tsunami left me awestruck. I hope and pray for a quick recovery for Japan... it is a beautiful country.
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It's such a great thing Japanese citizens are prepared enough to face this type of catastrophes. Can't say the same about many countries in the world, though.
yup, wait till the next big quake hits turkey around istanbul, there will be a huge amount of deaths, and the economy will collapse.
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Mexico, for example. I recall times of the swine flu and how people went nuts without really knowing what was going on. People were even considering moving out because they thought the city was turning into some kind of Resident Evil or something. The authorities didn't know how to make the people calm and the economy went down pretty fast.
I guess something like that would happen again in the situation of being hit by an earthquake of such magnitude. :sadpanda:
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One thing that really stuns me about these events is just how widespread the consequences can be. It's not just, "if a building came down, claim insurance and rebuild it and life goes on." Earthquakes can ruin the infrastructures of huge areas. It doesn't matter if your house is still standing and your family's safe and sound, without safe roads, clean water, reliable food supplies and open supermarkets, etc, no-one can return to normal. A lot of companies can't get up and running again for some time, which leaves a lot of people on financially unstable ground til they can work again.
It's such a great thing Japanese citizens are prepared enough to face this type of catastrophes. Can't say the same about many countries in the world, though.
That is true, but to be fair, there are quite a few countries where earthquakes and tsunamis are a serious threat that are probably about as well-prepared as they can be.
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I mean the thing is Japan is located right on top of I think five fault lines, so their infrastructure really has to be prepared to handle anything.
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One thing that really stuns me about these events is just how widespread the consequences can be. It's not just, "if a building came down, claim insurance and rebuild it and life goes on." Earthquakes can ruin the infrastructures of huge areas. It doesn't matter if your house is still standing and your family's safe and sound, without safe roads, clean water, reliable food supplies and open supermarkets, etc, no-one can return to normal. A lot of companies can't get up and running again for some time, which leaves a lot of people on financially unstable ground til they can work again.
It's such a great thing Japanese citizens are prepared enough to face this type of catastrophes. Can't say the same about many countries in the world, though.
That is true, but to be fair, there are quite a few countries where earthquakes and tsunamis are a serious threat that are probably about as well-prepared as they can be.
Yeah, that's why I never specified. My point is that Japan is one of the most advanced and well-prepared countries in the world against such natrual events, and with good reason (considering they get lots of 'em most of the time)
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I am really sucked into all the footage of this. It's amazing to see such clear depiction of a tsunami. The whirlpools, the farmland flooding, the debris in the water, the water on fire... It truly is amazing how much power there is.
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Yeah, I can imagine Japan is one of the most sorted countries in the world for this sort of thing.
Here's an article about Haiti that really emphasises how bad it can be if a country isn't prepared (or in a case like Haiti really can't be prepared) and can't respond. Of course, Haiti was a very extreme case though, it was already an abysmally poor country before the earthquake.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10698910
Also, is anyone watching the news? There's a town called Kesennuma near Sendai of 74,000 people and basically the entire town is in flames.
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Terrible... :'(
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:-\
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Google has set up a people finder:
https://japan.person-finder.appspot.com/?lang=en
Japanese is the default language, of course.
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A friend of mine live in Japan 2 weekend a month. He says it's insane over there right now. The entire train system is shut down, something that never happens. People are walking for hours and hours just to get home, and many have just been setting up camp at their workplace.
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Yep, the Earth's crust does move. These things do happen. Unfortunately, people do get in the way. But, despite it all, nature is a wonderful thing.
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Friend's status as of 4 minutes ago.
"Aftershocks are swaying my building and rocking me to sleep. I'm getting too used to the earth shaking. Goodnight! 皆さん、おやすみ。お疲れ様です。"
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Fuck that's a bad! ack44 weren't you in Japan?
Yea, definitely the biggest I've ever felt.
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Friend's status as of 4 minutes ago.
"Aftershocks are swaying my building and rocking me to sleep. I'm getting too used to the earth shaking. Goodnight! 皆さん、おやすみ。お疲れ様です。"
Holy shit there is no way that I'd be able to sleep...
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Fuck that's a bad! ack44 weren't you in Japan?
Yea, definitely the biggest I've ever felt.
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Yea, definitely the biggest I've ever felt.
That's what she said.
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Mother Nature is starting to take revenge on the human race for how we are treating her.
(https://www.cinema-suicide.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/birdemic-shock-and-terror-review.jpg) :neverusethis:
But on a serious note this is tragic.
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Death toll rises to over 300.
I'm not impressed.
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Death toll rises to over 300.
I'm not impressed.
That's because they haven't really started counting the bodies yet. I would expect that figure to rise by several tenthousands in a couple of days.
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I really hope not, the Japanese always anticipated earthquakes and generally very affective in managing to survive disasters.
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I signed up years and years ago for email alerts/notifications from the USGS whenever there was an earthquake anywhere around the world. You can set the sensitivity of these quakes, because, there are literally hundreds of tremblors of varying degrees around the planet each day, so I set my sensitivity scale to only send me alerts/updates whenever there is a 5.5 or larger quake somewhere. Since this mornings first quake near Japan, which registered a 7.8, and including the 8.9, there have been 54 (and counting) aftershocks registering more than 5.5.
I used to have it set for anything above a 4.0, until the quake in Indonesia, and at that time I recall I had over 175 email alerts over about a three day period, so I changed it to 5.5.
EDIT: In the time I took me to post this....56 and counting.
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I hated how that article tried to relate it to the U.S.
"It could affect Hawaii."
"The U.S. military base is okay."
For fucks sake, a nation was just devastated. When things like this happen we need to support them instead of worrying about how it may or may not affect us. Maybe it's just me, I don't know.
Yes, but if you were in Hawaii would you want to know if a wave will wipe you out? What if you had relatives in Hawaii? On the Military Base? This is journalism doing its job.
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I woke up and the first thing I saw was the footage of the tsunami taking away cars and buildings... frightening.
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I hated how that article tried to relate it to the U.S.
"It could affect Hawaii."
"The U.S. military base is okay."
For fucks sake, a nation was just devastated. When things like this happen we need to support them instead of worrying about how it may or may not affect us. Maybe it's just me, I don't know.
Yes, but if you were in Hawaii would you want to know if a wave will wipe you out? What if you had relatives in Hawaii? On the Military Base? This is journalism doing its job.
I have to agree. A US news source pointing out concerns specific to our country only makes sense. Those are common places many in the US are going to care about as far as knowing individuals that might be affected. There's nothing uncaring about it, it's providing information focused towards their audience.
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I was watching the coverage of this last night when the EAS interrupted coverage with a tsunami alert. That was a first for me. I hope for the best for those in Japan, as one who went through '89 Loma Prieta quake, 8.9 is fucking huge and scary to think of.
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I signed up years and years ago for email alerts/notifications from the USGS whenever there was an earthquake anywhere around the world. You can set the sensitivity of these quakes, because, there are literally hundreds of tremblors of varying degrees around the planet each day, so I set my sensitivity scale to only send me alerts/updates whenever there is a 5.5 or larger quake somewhere. Since this mornings first quake near Japan, which registered a 7.8, and including the 8.9, there have been 54 (and counting) aftershocks registering more than 5.5.
I used to have it set for anything above a 4.0, until the quake in Indonesia, and at that time I recall I had over 175 email alerts over about a three day period, so I changed it to 5.5.
EDIT: In the time I took me to post this....56 and counting.
Holy crap. That's insane.
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Sun is finally rising in Japan! Search and rescue can really start now.
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Friend's status as of 4 minutes ago.
"Aftershocks are swaying my building and rocking me to sleep. I'm getting too used to the earth shaking. Goodnight! 皆さん、おやすみ。お疲れ様です。"
Holy shit there is no way that I'd be able to sleep...
He just posted this one.
"Japan has an earthquake alert system that sends alarms off on cell phones a few seconds before a major quake is going to hit an area. Being woken up by that at 430am a few minutes ago after the events of the last day was pretty terrifying.... The earthquake wasn't that bad this time but I just got shot with enough adrenaline that going back to sleep is impossible."
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Sad to see. Why is it that tsunamis seem so damn frequent of late. I don't remember them in the 80's. 90's?!
Mother Nature is starting to take revenge on the human race for how we are treating her.
Or not. :laugh:
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hory shit
(https://i.imgur.com/Oq0Y3.jpg)
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That's so....symmetrical
:|
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Damn, that looks awful, intimidating and yet fascinating at the same time.
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This morning we were worried because a my friend's mother is the ambassador of our country over there. Next minute she was talking in the radio. *relief*
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Been following a bit of the footage today, just horrible. The only small relief is that Tokyo hasn't been too badly affected, because really could have destroyed the country's entire economy. But still, it's completely devastating.
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Yea, definitely the biggest I've ever felt.
I would love to be banned.
huh?
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Yea, definitely the biggest I've ever felt.
I would love to be banned.
huh?
You have word censors switched on. He said "that's what ..... she said" (without the dots)
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This is pretty crazy shit. Turned on the radio this morning and heard about the earthquake, my first though was about where it had taken place, because my brother lives in Hong Kong and had the epicentre been on the south west coast of Japan HK could have been in real danger. Now my thoughts are with my friend Nick who lives in Tokyo, luckily the city is well prepared for such phenomenon but I am still worried about him as he spends a lot of time in other parts of the country and I text messaged him over 14 hours ago and have had no response. He probably has bigger fish to fry right now than checking him messages however, but I'm still eagerly awaiting his call.
Edit: Phew, just got a message from him saying he was OK, now here's hoping they can get the country back to normal ASAP.
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Nuclear plants messing up now too. Sheesh.
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I thought the US exported some coolants to deal with the nuclear plant?
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Been following a bit of the footage today, just horrible. The only small relief is that Tokyo hasn't been too badly affected, because really could have destroyed the country's entire economy. But still, it's completely devastating.
Funny you should mention that, I went into work this morning and a customer was telling me all about it. He told me that Tokyo is completely gone, all the tall buildings fell over and not much is left of it. I came home and called bullshit on him
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Okay, holy crap, Facebook status update of my friend in Japan:
"hey guys, cheers for the messages. im safe n sound. actually atm im in the city closest to sendai, and 30km away from the leaking nuclear reactor, but, im heading home tomorrow to the saftey of my little mountain village."
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I just found out my brother, who teaches English in Japan, is alive in well. :)
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Oh, shit... It has been dreaded, and now it has happened: Explosion and possible meltdown in the Fukushima nuclear plant (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12720219)
This seriously doesn't look good. :(
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I thought the US exported some coolants to deal with the nuclear plant?
You expected them to arrive right away?
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Holy shit. They're talking nuclear meltdown as being almost inevitable.
rumborak
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Would a meltdown event reach as far as Kyoto? I've got friends down there right now.
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Supposedly not, no. They're evacuating people in a 20km radius right now, and if stuff escapes, it would be blown eastwards because of the winds, onto the sea.
rumborak
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I really hope the airport out of there doesn't get irradiated... :-\
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Supposedly not, no. They're evacuating people in a 20km radius right now, and if stuff escapes, it would be blown eastwards because of the winds, onto the sea.
rumborak
Have we ever seen radiation effect on the ocean? How far would it spread?
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News here is reporting that almost nothing has leaked, despite the explosion and some collapses in the building.
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Yeah, but the explosion isn't the issue. It's the potential inability to cool the reactor. They're flooding it with sea water right now to bring down the temperature. If that doesn't succeed you will have a meltdown that will cause another explosion, this time with radioactivity flying everywhere.
Have we ever seen radiation effect on the ocean? How far would it spread?
I think once the cloud is over the water it's essentially considered "safe". There's nothing east of Japan for a loooong time, and the cloud will just get absorbed by the sea.
rumborak
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I think once the cloud is over the water it's essentially considered "safe". There's nothing east of Japan for a loooong time, and the cloud will just get absorbed by the sea.
rumborak
I guess I don't understand how radiation reacts with ocean water? What happens to sea life? Is it no longer radioactive in water? Couldn't the radiation travel in ocean currents to other parts of the world?
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It could, but the sea is so vast that it will just dilute.
rumborak
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I think once the cloud is over the water it's essentially considered "safe". There's nothing east of Japan for a loooong time, and the cloud will just get absorbed by the sea.
rumborak
I guess I don't understand how radiation reacts with ocean water? What happens to sea life? Is it no longer radioactive in water? Couldn't the radiation travel in ocean currents to other parts of the world?
Ocean water is already radioactive. So is propably the chair you are sitting in.
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I think once the cloud is over the water it's essentially considered "safe". There's nothing east of Japan for a loooong time, and the cloud will just get absorbed by the sea.
rumborak
I guess I don't understand how radiation reacts with ocean water? What happens to sea life? Is it no longer radioactive in water? Couldn't the radiation travel in ocean currents to other parts of the world?
Ocean water is already radioactive. So is propably the chair you are sitting in.
pssh shows what you know...
I'm on my couch! ;D
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This stuff is getting crazier by the hour, I wish there was something we can do to help.
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I mean there are probably people who will start setting up aid funds, which I'm sure my parents will donate to in due time, and I will too on their go-ahead.
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For those interested in donating, a major fansubbing group called Crunchyroll is going to be matching donations made here:
https://www.crunchyroll.com/deals/japan-earthquake-donation-fund-391
Additionally, here is a list of organizations and individuals known to be taking donations:
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2011-03-11/relief-funds-for-march-11-earthquake/tsunami-in-japan
Lastly, maybe a bit frivolous, but here is a list of some Japanese celebrities who have confirmed their wellbeing since the earthquake:
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-03-11/anime/manga/game-industry-members-check-in-after-quake
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Thanks for posting that Genowyn.
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I used to cautiously support nuclear energy because it is really the only solution that can maintain the energy levels needed. But damn, if a nation like Japan can't build a reactor safe enough to withstand a well-within-range earthquake, those things are just too damn dangerous.
rumborak
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I used to cautiously support nuclear energy because it is really the only solution that can maintain the energy levels needed. But damn, if a nation like Japan can't build a reactor safe enough to withstand a well-within-range earthquake, those things are just too damn dangerous.
rumborak
Yea, same here. I'm a supporter for nuclear energy but if one of the most technological advanced nations has problems keeping it safe...
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From what I understand, the reactor wasn't the problem, it was the failure of redundant power backups needed to keep it cool.
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If anyone wants to fucking rage, it's only one click away:
https://img269.imageshack.us/img269/1214/ohamerica.jpg
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Good God, WTF?
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I guess I don't understand how radiation reacts with ocean water? What happens to sea life? Is it no longer radioactive in water? Couldn't the radiation travel in ocean currents to other parts of the world?
(https://www.simpsoncrazy.com/content/wallpapers/episodes/MutantFish_1280.gif)
Sorry. ;)
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If anyone wants to fucking rage, it's only one click away:
https://img269.imageshack.us/img269/1214/ohamerica.jpg
Saw that when Ian linked to it on Facebook. Just ridiculous.
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I used to cautiously support nuclear energy because it is really the only solution that can maintain the energy levels needed. But damn, if a nation like Japan can't build a reactor safe enough to withstand a well-within-range earthquake, those things are just too damn dangerous.
rumborak
I'm still all for nuclear energy, even though tons of anti-nuclear people are doing their usual "See what happens!" while not giving any possible alternative that would generate anywhere near the efficiency that nuclear power gives. Without knowing the construction of the plant itself I can't really comment because I'd really like to say that they should've seen it coming since Japan has always been a notorious earthquake zone. Building any type of structure like that is next to impossible with something as big as an 8.9, at least in that kind of environment.
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I understand the problem that there isn't really an alternative that can provide the same amount of energy that "cleanly", and that's why I've always been a cautious supporter of nuclear energy. But, as also can be clearly seen, there is a stark difference between what is deemed "safe" by whatever authorities, and how it actually stands up when the shit hits the fan.
I mean, it's the same stuff in Germany. Germany has formalized its exit from nuclear energy about 5 years ago, to be replaced with renewables. But, of course the equation doesn't work. The result: Existing power plants are used beyond their design age. Nobody wants to build a new plant, but the replacement energies are not up to snuff. Bottom line, ancient power plants are running when they shouldn't. I would not be surprised if that's the same in Japan.
rumborak
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My friend and I had a conversation a few nights ago about alternate energies and such. As an architect he's always trying to find ways to build self sustaining houses and while we both agree that that is definitely the way to go at the moment all these alternative forms of energy are kind of a pipe dream considering how inefficient they are. Sure you could have an all solar energy house out in Arizona that is 100% self sufficient but up in the Northeast you'd need to design a house that uses solar, wind and water energy and that's just not feasible at the moment. The nuclear power plant near me provides more than enough energy for a large chunk of lower New York and only releases steam as its byproduct.
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(https://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/jpq031311/j01_RTR2JTXO.jpg)
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My friend and I had a conversation a few nights ago about alternate energies and such. As an architect he's always trying to find ways to build self sustaining houses and while we both agree that that is definitely the way to go at the moment all these alternative forms of energy are kind of a pipe dream considering how inefficient they are. Sure you could have an all solar energy house out in Arizona that is 100% self sufficient but up in the Northeast you'd need to design a house that uses solar, wind and water energy and that's just not feasible at the moment. The nuclear power plant near me provides more than enough energy for a large chunk of lower New York and only releases steam as its byproduct.
exactly. the people saying "oh well, they shouldn't have nuclear power" are the same people that said "nuclear power won't work in the first place."
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If anyone wants to fucking rage, it's only one click away:
https://img269.imageshack.us/img269/1214/ohamerica.jpg
Saw that when Ian linked to it on Facebook. Just ridiculous.
Yeah. Pretty sure we more than evened the score with Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Funny how everyone seemed to forget about those.
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If anyone wants to fucking rage, it's only one click away:
https://img269.imageshack.us/img269/1214/ohamerica.jpg
Saw that when Ian linked to it on Facebook. Just ridiculous.
Yeah. Pretty sure we more than evened the score with Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Funny how everyone seemed to forget about those.
What scares me is that it seemed to me that about half of those facebook updates were actually serious.
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To be fair, the plants had no issues with the Earthquake itself. All reactors SCRAMmed exactly as they were supposed to at the first sign of instability. The tsunami damaged the backup generators for the cooling pumps. This despite their being 2 to 3 times higher than the worst recorded flood to date. Sadly, it was just one of those failures of imagination that will from time to time pop up and kick you in the nuts.
This whole thing is pretty intriguing to me. There really isn't any place on Earth better suited to dealing with Earthquakes and tsunamis. These guys were very well prepared and they're putting up a helluva fight in the aftermath. If this had happened in any other nation it would have been far more catastrophic. Strangely, it makes it harder to fully appreciate what these guys are doing. If 12 guys in Kazakhstan managed to keep a nuclear reactor from going supernova after two days with no cooling, we'd already be writing songs about them. Since it's Japan, who's kind of mastered this whole thing, I've just kind of figured that they'd take care of it.
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https://quakes.globalincidentmap.com/
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Not sure if this has been posted yet, but damn. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/13/world/asia/satellite-photos-japan-before-and-after-tsunami.html
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I'm very impressed with the way the Japanese people have been handling this crisis. They wait in long lines for hours for food and water and it's very calm and organized.
If something like this happened in the U.S., idiots would be looting the shit out of everything, everywhere and the gov't would have to initiate martial law.
My hat's off to the Japanese. :tup
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Not sure if this has been posted yet, but damn. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/13/world/asia/satellite-photos-japan-before-and-after-tsunami.html
That is insane.
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Holy crap.
:sadpanda:
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I'm just really disturbed about the possibility of a meltdown. I was in the epicenter of the earthquake in turkey and we had rumors of a chemical plant exploding and the chemicals being airborne. At that point, I can't even explain the fear in your brain. The fact that you can't outrun the wind and know in your mind that you are dead is the scariest thing ever. Just a sheer lack of options.
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I'm very impressed with the way the Japanese people have been handling this crisis. They wait in long lines for hours for food and water and it's very calm and organized.
Having been there couple of times, thats Japan for you. They don't take #/¤&( from nobody.
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Not sure if this has been posted yet, but damn. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/13/world/asia/satellite-photos-japan-before-and-after-tsunami.html
That is insane.
Wow, that really leaves a bad feeling in my gut.
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So I just read how 50 Cent and Gilbert Gottfried are under fire for comments they made on their twitter about Japan.
Gottfried was fired as voice actor for the Aflac duck.
You stay classy 50 and "Gottfired" :tdwn
(https://i.huffpost.com/gen/256721/GOTTFRIEDTWITTER.jpg)
(https://i.huffpost.com/gen/256723/GOTTFRIEDTWITTER2.jpg)
(https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/03/14/article-1366196-0B2C936D00000578-223_468x430.jpg)
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:facepalm: at some people.
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Now they're pumping radioactive water into the ocean.
Prepare for Godzilla.
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Now they're pumping radioactive water into the ocean.
Prepare for Godzilla.
That won't be an issue. The ocean is so vast, it will all dilute in no time.
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7+ aftershock...in Japan.....another Tsunami possible.
UK Sun reporting
and a quake just Mexico half an hour ago.
holy crap!
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My FB status of my buddy who lives there...
"Wow that aftershock was the worst since the day of the original quake. Hope everyone is ok."
one of his comments...
" we have had more than 500 earthquakes since the original. Many were above magnitude 5. A bunch were above magnitude 6. The reading for the one that just happened is 7.4 right now but they will update it officially later. The afterschocks have gotten progressively smaller over the last few weeks... but this was the worst one I can remember since the first day it started.."
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Tsunami warning lifted almost immediately.
But
It was still a good shake.