8.9 Earthquake causes Tsunami to hit Japan

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A terrible situation in which no-one has been subject to a dangerous amount of radiation.

Really, the way people are reacting to this is hilarious. 10,000 have died and we've ignored all of that because of an incident at a nuclear plant that has killed no-one.

It's also hilarious that every year people die in coal mining accidents and oil rig fires and gas explosions and no-one cares. It's an acceptable risk to take for us to have energy. But when something happens at a nuclear plant that hasn't actually harmed anyone, it's "OMG END OF THE WORLD WE MUST SHUT DOWN ALL NUCLEAR PLANTS RIGHT NOW ITS TOO DANGEROUS".

The double standard to which nuclear energy is held is ridiculous. It's as if people hear the word "nuclear" and their only thoughts are bombs and 50ft mutants.
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True.  The sooner we go Nuclear Fusion the better, but people probably think that means some kind of crazy ass meltdown.
 
And no doubt certain groups will encourage that myth.

Can anyone tell me why it is that environmentalists are so opposed to the one financially viable non-fossil fuel?

Is it because they're not actually concerned about having the most effective forms of energy production at all, and want to force everyone to change their lifestyle even when it isn't necessary?
 
And no doubt certain groups will encourage that myth.

Can anyone tell me why it is that environmentalists are so opposed to the one financially viable non-fossil fuel?

Is it because they're not actually concerned about having the most effective forms of energy production at all, and want to force everyone to change their lifestyle even when it isn't necessary?
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It's because they are idiots, and believe the minimal risk is too great.  I mean, seriously, a regular coal power plant, on average, outputs more radiation than your average nuclear power plant.
 
A terrible situation in which no-one has been subject to a dangerous amount of radiation.

Really, the way people are reacting to this is hilarious. 10,000 have died and we've ignored all of that because of an incident at a nuclear plant that has killed no-one.
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Nuclear reactors are akin to airplanes. For the most part, a harmless form of travel, but when one goes down 200 people die at once. Meanwhile, 30,000 people die on American roads each year, but only a handful at a time. It's the shock value of 200 people dying at once that sticks in the minds of the average citizen...

However, I feel compelled to suggest that the situation with the Fukushima nuclear plant is still something to be taken very seriously as long as sensationalism is avoided (Which, unfortunately, the news outlets in my country love to throw in for flavor). Unlike the earthquake and tsunami, if something truly catastrophic happens at the reactor it will be something that cannot be rebuilt or grieved over. It will be a cancer that can never be brought into remission.

Personally? I'm praying for the whole lot over there. Many Japanese face terrible trials by fire, now, and they don't need a major release of radioactivity to make things worse.
 
A terrible situation in which no-one has been subject to a dangerous amount of radiation.
Really, the way people are reacting to this is hilarious. 10,000 have died and we've ignored all of that because of an incident at a nuclear plant that has killed no-one.
It's also hilarious that every year people die in coal mining accidents and oil rig fires and gas explosions and no-one cares. It's an acceptable risk to take for us to have energy. But when something happens at a nuclear plant that hasn't actually harmed anyone, it's "OMG END OF THE WORLD WE MUST SHUT DOWN ALL NUCLEAR PLANTS RIGHT NOW ITS TOO DANGEROUS".
The double standard to which nuclear energy is held is ridiculous. It's as if people hear the word "nuclear" and their only thoughts are bombs and 50ft mutants.
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True.  The sooner we go Nuclear Fusion the better, but people probably think that means some kind of crazy ass meltdown.
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Well, I hadn’t been thinking “conspiracy”, and maybe that was naïve.
But I see your knock at environmentalists, and raise you coal-fire power as the culprits. (At least in the states.)
We aren’t as advanced as you kids over there. Only about 20% of our electricity comes from nuclear energy (I think places like France get ~78% from nuclear power).
The majority of our electricity comes from coal or gas fired power. We <3 that stuff over here, despite possible mining death tolls. I live in western PA, and it is a HUGE mining area. It’s basically one giant mining town. Any attempt to switch to a different power source meets anger here at jorb loss potential. There are billboards on our turnpikes that say “Sun sets and wind dies. Coal has powered you for 100 years.” They forget to add “coal burns up”. (srsly wtf is that? Sun sets… no kidding Sherlock, invest in a frackin’ smartgrid, to store the renewable energy. And ugh, I said “frack”. Let me get more angry – why aren’t you taxing the marcellus shale collection, PA?)
Our nuclear stations in the US are pretty old and will need to be replaced soon. It takes like, 20-30 years to build a new one, and yet no one is starting any new constructions. Nuclear energy is much cleaner than fossil fuel burning plants. So if anyone was trying to make nuke E look bad I’d point my finger elsewhere first.
While I do feel this is worth worrying about for Japan (because it’s like pouring salt in a wound, they really don’t need any more on their plate right now) I can def see your point, in relation to the US. This “spin” is probably going to be used to halt any plans to create more power plants in the US, indefinitely.

Edit: Interesting, PBS just pushed out an article saying that in the face of global warming, people (including environmentalists) all had been looking at nuclear power as the "lesser evil". They don't think this will negatively impact our plans for further nuclear power development.
I guess time will tell.
 
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Opine, you live in Western PA?  How interesting, I live in Western PA (Go to school in Erie, family based in Butler).  Yes we eat, breathe, drink, and shit coal around here.  It would take quite a revolution in thinking around here to stop using coal - it simply won't happen unless we run out of it or theres a federal mandate of some type.
 
My room and office were trashed.
Building next to my room (9th floor):
196329_10150104609171470_612431469_6864185_347544_n.jpg


My office:
172418_10150106708251470_612431469_6882380_4868634_o.jpg



My $3,000 Yamaha MOTIF XF8 was thrown off its stand and laying on the floor.  PC monitor scratched beyond repair.

My office continues shaking even now as I type this reply.
Radiation has several of my coworkers and myself feeling dizzy/sick, but the levels are not high enough to cause real damage.

Convenience stores are empty, and the streets at night are darker and more barren than ever, as many have evacuated.

And just because my week wasn’t quite bad enough, my girlfriend left me.  I mean, why not, right?


But I am among the lucky.
Nowhere in my story did I mention how I drowned in freezing cold water, got smashed by debris, or burned to death while trapped.
None of my friends or family got hit too hard, and my radiation poisoning is only temporary.


We will just see how long that lasts, given the upcoming 8.X to hit Tokyo fairly soon.


L. Spiro
 
Hope anything worse won't happen......

**L. Spiro's name ringed a bell, and I could find a bit more from somewhere else.....
 
Opine, you live in Western PA?  How interesting, I live in Western PA (Go to school in Erie, family based in Butler).  Yes we eat, breathe, drink, and sh*t coal around here.  It would take quite a revolution in thinking around here to stop using coal - it simply won't happen unless we run out of it or theres a federal mandate of some type.
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Well, hello fellow PAer  :) I probably live ~45 mins from your family. I'm close to downtown Pgh.


My room and office were trashed.
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I'm glad to hear that you and your friends and family are okay. What a devastating situation.
(And sorry to hear about your mean girlfriend on top of everything else!)
 
throughout the pacific plate or ring of fire their have been earthquakes on every side of the plate, haiti was southwest of the plate, new zealand was southeast of the plate and japan was northwest of the plate. so now theirs only the united states west coast which is on the northwest of the plate. scientist predict californias fault line is going to rupture in the next 30 years. its going to happen. even though it is impossible to predict earthquakes they suspect this is true. tomorrow theirs going to be a supermoon. some scientist think the supermoon along with the sun and their gravitational pull is going to trigger natural disaster on the planet. moving plates. if im right contact me cuz im filthy
 
What perspective are you thinking of when you say Haiti and the USA is west of the Pacific Plate and New Zealand is East?  lol Just thought it was funny because you had some other post saying (go left, or right from the camera's perspective) in your background project.  It is as if you see a mirrored version of reality (unless I'm the one with mirror vision!)

Human suffering aside, (and please no one interpret this the wrong way) I'd say its about time for a Global-Scale disaster.  Apparently something, massive volcanic eruption, massive earthquake, massive mega hurricane, plague, flood, drought, etc. happen at somewhat regular intervals on this planet.  Its naive to think that somehow as humans we can just dodge these events.  "There is a flood/volcano/hurricane coming, what do we do?" you can't stop it, thats for sure.  Re-rack the billiard balls and start again - Hopefully with less greed, evil, torture, and war.
 
Apparently something, massive volcanic eruption, massive earthquake, massive mega hurricane, plague, flood, drought, etc. happen at somewhat regular intervals on this planet.
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No they don't. They happen randomly at very irregular intervals. It is highly unlikely that any cataclysmic event (I assume you're talking about "killing the dinosaurs" kind of disasters) will happen within the next million years. Or within the next ten million years. It's not like the gods are sitting up on Mt. Olympus saying "OK, it has been 65 million years since the last mass extinction; the next one is due on Thursday. Make sure it isn't late; these things have to happen exactly so often!".

Even if you're only talking about disasters comparable to the bubonic plague or Spanish flu, they're still very irregular and very unpredictable. The next one could happen next week or in a thousand years. It's random, so it's not like we're "due" to have one.
 
I'm not talkin about absolute destruction, I'm talking about things that pose a threat to civilizations.  I'm thinking bell curve.  Something of the scale of Plague or Spanish flu occurs x number of times per 1000 years (so not regular intervals, but things happen every so often and you can average the number of events over time).  Yeah sure you can't say that a meteor will destroy the earth in exactly 1,000,000 years...but we know that certain events have happened before, when they happened before, and can estimate that events of that type occur, on average, every x number of years.  When I say, "We're about due for..." I mean, this is something that I think should happen to man if we continue as we have for the past 100 years, not "It's 5 o'clock March 20, 2011, time for that volcano to erupt."
 
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throughout the pacific plate or ring of fire their have been earthquakes on every side of the plate, haiti was southwest of the plate, new zealand was southeast of the plate and japan was northwest of the plate. so now theirs only the united states west coast which is on the northwest of the plate. scientist predict californias fault line is going to rupture in the next 30 years. its going to happen. even though it is impossible to predict earthquakes they suspect this is true. tomorrow theirs going to be a supermoon. some scientist think the supermoon along with the sun and their gravitational pull is going to trigger natural disaster on the planet. moving plates. if im right contact me cuz im filthy
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oh correction, japan *eastside of the plate" but yeah thats my theory
 
Historically speaking, large earthquakes come in pairs with the second one typically (but not always) being a magnitude lower.

The 9.3 Indonesian earthquake was followed 3 months later by an 8.7 (which shook my office in Bangkok).
In November 2006 an 8.3 earthquake in the Kuril Islands, followed 2 months later by an 8.1.
An expert was able to give more examples than I can in a video I can’t find right now.

They are called doublets, and the expert I saw on video mentioned some that occurred 2 years apart.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/m483323n3684h50v/


The “big one” is expected to be closer to Tokyo, and is expected within the next 2 years.  I personally expect it within the next 7 months.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/110315-japan-earthquake-tsunami-big-one-science/
Scientists tend to agree that the Sendai earthquake will be linked to more large earthquakes in the same area in the near future.
http://www.newscientist.com/article...e-connection-are-huge-earthquakes-linked.html


L. Spiro
 
Actually planes are more unsafe than cars.  I know you have been led to believe otherwise but aviation uses hours and distance you travel and not the journey number.  By journey number this is the death toll:

Deaths per billion journeys
Bus: 4.3
Rail: 20
Van: 20
Car: 40
Foot: 40
Water: 90
Air: 117
Bicycle: 170
Motorcycle: 1640

You are 3X more likely to die on plane.


<< reply to guy on other page.
 
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Enlightening information.  Damn the propaganda!

I have to wonder though, these are death tolls?  What about injuries?  Probably 99% of plane crash victims die, but vehicular injuries surely dwarf most of the other categories.  It says you are as likely to die while on foot as you are when in a car; where do these people walk?  Is a walking journey from my couch to the bathroom?  If a ferry for 20 minutes or go jet skiing for 4 hours, are they each worth one journey?  Sorry, I don't expect answers to these, just thinking through type.
 
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Well, there are a ton of things to consider even with these stats.  But the claim that planes are safest form of transport is the biggest pile of baloney I have ever heard (and a lie that is often told is a lie that is often believed).  Any case, as you say, injury is probably more likely in car.  If you are in a plane during a serious problem, chances are you are going to die, whereas in car you may well survive with just cuts and bruises.  All luck of the draw.

It will also depend on country, some countries (the usual useless ones) have very poor air safety records.

Not surprisingly, air insurers go by death-by-journey stat.  It never ceases to amaze me how people make their own stats up to portray what they want to portray and it gives stats a bad name.  If you go out and collect proper data and fair stats, they are valuable resource.  But if you want to show something you want to, you can just warp the data to fit the pattern you want.  That is exactly what the aviation industry has done.  I mean what ridiculous notion, that you judge safety by hours or distance travelled, when most accidents on plane happen on take off and landing.  They are saying "Because the plane travelled thousands of Kilometres, that little unfortunate accident at the end where it crashed and burned doesn't really alter the stat of how safe the plane is"

My neighbourhood is the safest place in britain because I don't include all the robberies and muggings.  I only count crime that resulted in the criminal going jail for at least 5 years.

Yipee.
 
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